World: Any
Diet: Tough, woody plants, metal
Length: 29’5″
Lifespan: 200 years
Habitat: Savannah
Activity Cycle: Diurnal
Scutumera are dragons of steel, the greatest inventions of man turned against him. They are formed when waters of chaos find their ways into our weapons and armor, twisting them into a being half flesh and half metal. While an herbivore, using their sheers-like beaks to crop tough, woody plants, they are violent in the search of more metal to build up their armor. With steely hides rejecting nearly all attacks, they are fearsome indeed.
Scutumera prefer ferrous metals, but will eat less useful fare such as bronze, copper, and even gold or silver if they must or they are in an environment which encourages it. These metals grow out of their skin in plates shaped like knight’s shields of old, complete with heraldic depictions. The scutumera’s blood is a toxic stew of pigments, used to lay down a waxy layer on these shields and forming their designs, as well as a second layer of defense. A painted shield deflects even magic, making a steel dragon even more difficult to damage. Excess metals grow from the skin in nodules and spikes, and their remaining skin is tinted the colors of rust.
In seeking their supplies, scutumera prefer refined metals over ore, and have little difficulty taking them from unprepared settlements. With their mass, they can push through fences, and their snapping beaks can crop off limbs with ease. Most devastating, however, is their breath weapon. Channeled through their magnetic organs, a crackling ball of lightning flies from their throats and is drawn to the nearest source of metal, preferably an armored opponent. Once it makes contact with any object, it explodes, throwing out arcs of lightning in all directions and magnetizing any ferrous metals it passes a charge through. Anything that survives the initial strike is hampered by the magnetism, their weapons and armor locked to themselves, and the steel dragon happily finishes them off and takes as much metal as it wants.
