Black Dragons

"Hatred drives them like a barbed whip, pushing them ever forward to wallow in the toils of sadism and evil." Thus draconic scholar Atarvex described the race of black dragons nearly nineteen millennia ago. His account seems apt, all these centuries later. Sadists even beyond the cruelties attributed to the frightening reds, black dragons seem to gain greater sustenance from the sufferings of others than the food consumed by other creatures. They perform their evil acts for no greater reason, it seems, than merely to cause hurt.

-Drakanav Codex, Chapter 11

Sociopaths and murderers of the worst sort, black dragons terrorize their territories with a fury few other dragons bother to muster. The dragon kind most likely to rampage, black dragons combine the short tempers of their white dragon cousins with a superior intellect and greater physical prowess. Cruel in ways their less-intelligent kin cannot contemplate and far less sophisticated than the greater chromatics, black dragons delight in causing physical and mental pain. These horrible sadists use their frightful presence and acidic breaths to crack minds and burn bodies, all the while cackling gaily and reveling in the despair and torment they create. 

Black dragons are the epitome of villainy, committing evil for evil's sake, and they require no greater motivation to pillage and plunder than simply because they can. Where white dragons lash out from a sense of frustration and red dragons launch into their murderous rampages in order to exert their dominance, black dragons kill because they want to. Some black dragons find offense in the most innocent comments and consider every real or imagined slight (and black dragons possess inventive minds) justification enough to cause localized genocide. Attempts to communicate with black dragons require continuous and unending supplication and groveling, and even then most creatures that try end up as captives, subjects of bizarre but unmistakably creative tortures, or food. 

Possessing distinctively large curving horns growing out the sides of their skulls just behind their jaws, black dragons strike impressive and easily recognized silhouettes. Aside from their iconic horns, black dragon faces possess as much individualism as those of any other dragon kinds. Most black dragons grow many smaller horns and hornlets all around their heads and faces, while a small number only gain their two major horns and no others. A few black dragons deliberately crack or break their horns (causing themselves considerable pain) and then let the sharp protrusions heal at jagged and unnatural angles. Black dragons tend to have relatively short necks and tails and thick, muscular bodies. Most black dragons' toes are connected by thick membranes of webbed skin that help them glide through the brackish waters of their homes.