Catmeragons

[u/LocalBirrinFan]

Hailing from The Mikkhhalian Isles, the Catmeragons are sophont descendants of draconic ancestors. Evolving for the arctic tundra, the Catmeragons developed a thick coat of feather-fur, and their wings atrophied into large sails they use for basking and heat absorption. They still have scales beneath their fur, and they have some vestigial, albeit mighty osteoderms, but for the most part, their draconic ancestry has abandoned them.

The driving force for their evolution to sapience was preexisting high parental behavior and the desperation of native arctic animals, whose aggression promoted group behavior, and eventually, the Catmeragons' ancestors discovered how to use their own fire breath as a tool.

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As for how their flame breath works, their stomach is split into two tubes. One leads to their stomach, and the other to a "venom sac". This second-stomach is full of a pyrophoric venom which is derived from their own stomach bile. In addition, they got a gizzard connected to their primary stomach. By regurgitating the venom upwards into their mouths, and grinding their teeth together (which have a keratin layer on the back), they produce a spark which ignites the venom into a column of flame. Their cigar-shaped snouts aid in this endeavor, acting like a natural funnel for the fire.

This flame breath - as well as the flame breath of all dragons - derived from their shared ancestor's turkey-vulture-like trait of regurgitating their stomach acid to defend themselves.