Dragons are perhaps the most extraordinary and the most ancient race in Ringworld able to evolve its own race as well as devolve it. We divide the dragons into groups called families and so far distinguish nine of them:
Elder
True
Paradragon
Quasi-Dragon
Pseudodragon
Zmij
Serpentines
Lindworms
Unlike humans, dragons can be divided into four genders depending on individual:
Male,
Female,
Hermaphrodite
Protogynous Hermaphrodites
As hermaphrodites they possess both female and male sexual organs at once whilst as protogynous hermaphrodites they can switch between male or female at will when certain conditions are met; such as temperature, humidity or even certain amount of minerals present in the body.
Magic
The dragons, much like elves, or dwarves possess their own magic system, however, unlike the runic system of the dwarves or vocal system of the elves the ones able to use it are only dragons themselves. The draconic magic is their birth right since they descent directly from the dragon deities.
It's a common mistake for novice scholars to try and list all human types of magic that the dragons use in their system. In truth it's the other way around. Let's not forget the history - the first humans to settle on Ismandor were soon enslaved by Dragons that were here before us, the dwarves or even elves! We were simply trying to emulate and imitate them and after thousands of years of practice we were able to adapt their magic to our capabilities. Of course, the dragons see this differently. For them we simply made mockery of their sacred language and scripture. We desecrated it, claimed it to be our invention and then forgot about its origin completely. For that reason solely, most dragons hate mages and sorcerers and call the system of magic used today an abomination. They also despise humans, well at least most of the dragons do.
Dragons simply bend Aether with their own willpower, gather it and then issue vocal command with an intend. There's no need for them to study the spells as the whole process come to them naturally, in fact dragons never considered even a concept of a spell since all they're doing is simply talking. The gathered aether forms around their heads as small vortex of magical energy and could be translated into a wizard preparing his spells, the difference here is that a dragon can cast any spell from the vortex completely avoiding any casting time. The number of vortexes a dragon can have depend on the type of dragon.
Reproduction
More than one type of reproduction has been observed so far in Dragons:
Sexual (intraspecies - between dragons of the same subspecies) - when two dragons mate with each other. This form of reproduction is quite rare. The acting female becomes pregnant and after about 3 lunar months she lays 1-35 eggs during full moon. The eggs can - depending on environment - take from one week up to a few years before they hatch. Conditions vary between certain subspecies and clans. Offspring produced in this way are always a draconic subspecies of the same hierarchy as the parents. For example, two red true dragons would produce another red true dragon.
Sexual (interspecies - between dragons of different subspecies and/or other species) - This type of intercourse seems to carried out mostly driven by curiosity or even entertainment rather than necessity. Depending on the species of the female the offspring can hatch from an egg or born from the womb. The duration of the pregnancy follows the rules of the females' species. A certain pattern has been observed which would suggest that the duration of the pregnancy seems to be shortened by a number of lived years divided by the duration. For example, pregnancy duration of a human female of 25 years would take ≈ 2.8 months (25/9 ≈ 2.8), while a 50 years old human female would take ≈ 5.5 months (50/9 ≈ 5.5). The number of individuals produced in this way vary between species involved and almost always result in a pseudodragon. It is quite rare for the mother organism to survive the ordeal.
Asexual (Parthenogenesis) - present in females, hermaphrodites and protogynous hermaphrodites. This type of reproduction occurs when no willing males are within the area and takes place automatically when the dragon reaches about 2,000-3,500 human years - provided it never mated with others. It is widely considered to be shameful among sentient dragonkin, with social severity varying between species and individuals often sparking conflicts.
Intraspecies Merging - present in all genders - takes minimum of three individuals of the same subspecies which must be willing to merge together. This type of reproduction produces a new organism that takes a higher place in draconic evolutionary hierarchy. For example, three paradragons would produce a new True Dragon; whereas three quasi-dragons would produce a new paradragon.). Theoretically, the dragons could evolve indifferently in this way; luckily, their cultural differences makes that virtually fail in practice.
Fragmentation - This form of reproduction takes places upon the death of the original organism and can be initiated from any internal organ provided that it hasn’t been completely destroyed. The most frightening reproductive cycle of all of the above types. This form of reproduction transfers all memories and knowledge into its new offspring. The number of dragonkin created through fragmentation varies between individuals.