The Golden Dragon is a rare Horned Chinese Dragon with wings. The wings are an adaptation for highland living, unique to Golden Dragons, a sub-species of Chinese Dragon. Golden Dragons live in the mountains of eastern and central Asia, where their wings enable them to travel easily.
History
As the horned dragons spread throughout eastern Asia, they began to adapt to their surroundings. Some forest dwellers developed brighter colors, not needing to camouflage themselves against predators. Coastal dwellers developed long tails so they could move through water more easily. Mountain dwellers, like the Golden Dragon, adapted with more compact bodies that required less food, and they developed wings for easier travel. All these adaptations helped them survive and thrive in the harsher mountain environment.
Story
Once each century, the people of the lowlands, river valleys, and forests sighted an incredible spectacle: the flight of the Golden Dragon from mountains to coast. However, since the event occurred so infrequently, with multiple generations between each sighting, many of the young believed it was only a legend. In truth, the journey wasn’t for the benefit of the people below; rather, Golden Dragons made the flight because the coast was their ancestral nesting ground, the place where ancient forefathers had first hatched. Once per century, Golden Dragons returned to the coast to lay eggs. The eggs would be half buried, so they looked like nothing more than dark rocks covered in sand and buffeted by the waves. After a year, though, the rock-like eggs would crack open, and the next generation of Golden Dragons would make its way west to the mountains, traveling only at night, arriving home months later.