Ridged Ripper (WIP)

character name

the basics

full name • Ridged Ripper

nicknames • (the name Skyshred would be nice if anyone ever gets close enough to name him.)

age • Ten years old

primary standing • Nest Defender

secondary standing • Hunter

faction • Unaffiliated!

species • Ridged Ripper Dragon; Strike Class

gender • Male

sexuality • Straight

the appearance

origin • How to Train Your Dragon

height and weight • 23 feet long, 1490 lbs (considered underweight for his species)

overall appearance • 

A Ridged Ripper dragon has four legs, two wings, a triangular head, and a tail that equals the length of it’s body from the spine beginning behind the shoulders and ending at the hind legs. The Ridged Ripper’s entire body is armored from the back of the head down with rings of bony, slightly pointed plates, not unlike a pine cone or an Armadillo Lizard, giving it a Ridged appearance and earning it part of its name. It also causes the Ridged Ripper to look segmented up close.

 The forelegs are only half as long as the hind legs and are built to tuck behind/beneath a slightly larger bone-plate making up the chest so that they completely disappear and reduce drag in flight, leaving early Viking depictions of the Ridged Ripper with only two feet. The Ridged Ripper has three short claws on it’s hind feet and five much shorter, though lizardlike uneven claws on the front feet. When it lands and is relaxed, it will be on all fours, but because the hind legs are so much longer it always looks crouched. Perching or angry, it instinctively hides it’s forelegs and rears on it’s hinds like a bird of prey or it’s distant relative, the Deadly Nader. 

The Ridged Ripper is built for two things which earn it it’s name: ripping diving speeds in flight (think peregrine falcon) and it’s signature ‘ridged roll’ attack (think armadillo lizard.) It’s head is much wider at the top of the skull and fans out into a ‘crown’ of wide, feather-like spikes which can flex or contract just a little to show expression. It’s nose is curved sharply down like a beak and is the most armored of it’s face with a dorsal spike between the nostrils (like most dragonkind.) It’s always depicted in Viking drawings as glowering because it’s brow is a barely-moveable bone that juts down and out like an arrowhead and gives it a constantly-fierce look over large and normally orange eyes. 

It’s body is compact, for a dragon, very tube-like in shape though a little flatter on the top because of the armored spikes. It’s wingspan is large for a dragon it’s size, and streamlined instead of long-fingered like a Monstrous Nightmare’s or a Deadly Nadder’s. The wings fold in and wrap around the dragon’s torso to be protected by the pulled-in hindlegs when the Ridged Ripper rolls into it’s signature ball. It’s tail has no fins and ends in a simple point, but the armor shortening and getting smaller the nearer the tip gives it a crocodile-like shape. This is so that the last foot or so of the tail can turn sideways, nearly flat, and fit in the Ridged Ripper’s mouth when it rolls up. 

Ridged Rippers are typically patterned with lighter scales on the lower jaw, always white/off-white headspikes, and very dark scales circling the eyes and streaming like racing stripes along their flanks and tails. 

Because of their armor, the Ridged Rippers do not have spines or spikes of any kind decorating their backs. This makes them more aerodynamic when diving.

This Ridged Ripper fits the norm for his species, except that he is slightly smaller and runty for it’s type. He is also missing a plate of armor between his wings, revealing a segment of odd, out-of-place and not fireproof skin-like scales. He is a dulled blue, with stormier night-sky colored stripes and lighter markings under his jaw. His eyes are an angry orange.

the personality

likes • Shiny Things, Sunbathing, Flying at Breakneck Speeds, Competition, Impressing other Dragons

dislikes • Humans, Tight Spaces of any kind, being on the ground, water, and being alone.

strengths • Like all Ridged Rippers, this one beats even the Night Fury in terms of speed but ONLY when flying in a strictly straight line of any kind, and only barely. Ridged Rippers are highly durable, able to crash through even rock without injury when they’re rolled up. They are also fireproof, like all dragons. 

weaknesses • Like all Ridged Rippers, this one is no good cornered. At all. All of the Ridged Ripper’s strengths come into play when momentum can be achieved. Once cornered, the Ridged Ripper will roll up on instinct if he cannot fly away. A Ridged Ripper also lacks fight-or-flight sensibilities. Like a bull that has been enraged, they instead become relentlessly berserk when attacked or startled. The hypothesis is that this is because they are so well-armored. Still, it is a weakness because any human understanding their poor maneuverability skills will take advantage of this to capture them. This Ridged Ripper in particular is missing a plate of armor between it’s wings, leaving that area open to all forms of attack, even fire, which most dragons would be immune to on the outside. In addition, the Ridged Ripper can only breathe tiny bursts of fire that have almost no range at all; the burst extends past the snout for about 12 inches at most. It is not a controlled stream, blast, or even torrent. It’s just a little localized fireburst.

abilities • 

Attack: 16
Speed: 22
Firepower: 4
Armor: 20
Jaw Strength: 10
Shot Limit: 3
Venom: 0
Stealth: 10

dreams • To find a mate.

fears • Water, darkness, being trapped.

overall personality • This Ridged Ripper is hot-headed and cocky enough to attack something that he has no chance of beating or is vastly outnumbered by, then stubborn enough to die fighting rather than just giving up or running away. He has no submission in him at all. He’s also got none of the creativity or empathy that characterizes the more advanced Fury breed. One trait he did get from his species was protectiveness. A common Ridged Ripper’s instinct is to live between two nests, hunting in the territory between and patrolling the entire area for it’s whole life for threats to nest, egg, and mate. One nest is located in an area sheltered from storms, the other in a very sunny and open space in case of attack. The Ridged Ripper will hound any threat until it has killed it, even chasing it far outside of its territory or long after the threat has learned it’s lesson. The Ridged Ripper will also stay in this territory it’s entire life and mates for life: all signatures of stubbornness. This Ridged Ripper, more out of instinct than compassion, will get itself killed before anything, even nonthreatening things, is allowed to get close enough to touch those in it’s family or “kettle.” This Ridged Ripper is no exception, but it has not found a mate, and so does not have anything to lavish it’s protectiveness on. He is very lonely and bad-tempered. Unlike lots of dragons, he doesn’t do ‘silly.’ Or ‘fun.’ The closest he gets is a peacockish show-offing, cavalier, cocky competitiveness.

the history

father • Wild Rocket Ripper, unknown, deceased.

mother • Sunspear, 40, deceased.

siblings • Two sisters, one month each, deceased.

important people • Stalwart Ailing of Heilwig

overall history •

This Ridged Ripper was hatched after a dragon named Sunspear in the land of Heilwig. Heilwig was a small, isolated kingdom ruled by a benevolent Lord Protector who’s traditional duty was to shield the land’s bountiful fields and ore mines from pirates and any wild dragons. Only the Protector's family members could own dragons as part of their duty to protect the land, and they traditionally used the Ridged Ripper Species for it’s extreme territorial nature, thus driving out all other species of dragons that could have settled on their little continent long ago. Traditionally, the Heilwig Lord Protector’s dragon had the armor plating between it’s wings amputated immediately after hatching. Not only did this make a sitting area for the future Lord Protector who would ride the dragon, but it symbolized how the two were partners working together to protect not only the land but each other. When a male was hatched, it was retired when it got old and kept in seclusion and captivity until a female could be secured. When a female was secured, it served as the Lord Protector’s dragon, then was bred with the former Protector’s male to ensure more.

Skyshred was to be his mother's successor, a partner and lifelong companion to the heir to the Lord Protector named Stalwart Ailling. Two days after his hatching, his mother Sunspear went mad, killed the Lord Protector, and destroyed half of Heilwig rampaging before she snatched him up and they fled into the wild.

At least, that is what the Heilwiggians thought happened. In reality, Sunspear had been close to breeding age when she met a wild Ridged Ripper male during a brief patrol when she was left alone for a short time. They fell in love and because Ridged Rippers mate for life, instead of staying obediently corralled, she wa worked into a frenzy when her hatchling was separated from her as well as her elusive, wild mate.

The Ridged Ripper grew up on an island south of Berk with his mother, her long-lost mate, and two younger sisters. One day he and his sire were out hunting to bring food back to Sunspear and his sisters only to return to an ambush. Sunspear had been killed by Stalwart, grown up and seeking revenge, and The Ridged Ripper was lured into a trap when he tried to rescue his ensnared younger siblings. The adult male, his father, flew in and freed The Ridged Ripper, who was injured, but knocked him into the sea in the process. It was a good thing, because otherwise the nature of the Ridged Ripper was to defend to the death stubbornly instead of the usual wild 'flight-or fight' response that would've gotten him killed. When The Ridged Ripper returned to the scene he found his family killed and his nest destroyed.

The Ridged Ripper tried to follow the scent of Stalwart, but because their breed’s tracking skills were just okay at best, he became confused and ended up in the area of Berk, instead. Luckily for the lonely Ridged Ripper, the humans are mostly away at a war.

the Role play sample