The smallest of the lung dragons described as dragons with the head and fins of a giant fish, yu lung only grew up to 35 feet (10 meters) in length. Their body and tail were similar in appearance to those of a giant carp. They had blue-grey scales with colored markings. Their eyes were yellow and looked like a cat's eyes. Their two arms were tipped with sharp claws. A long beard flowed from under their snout.
Personality
Yu lung were docile, shy, and withdrawn. They were friendly with other aquatic species, and would even befriend humans.
Combat
Yu lung avoided combat as much as possible. If they were cornered, they would lash out with their fangs and claws. As a young adult, their jaws could be unhinged and could swallow a humanoid whole.
Abilities
A yu lung lacked the ability to polymorph self and invisibility, abilities other lung dragons possessed. The only innate magical abilities a yu lung possessed were bless and curse, which they could cast three times a day. Once a day, they had the ability to exhale a cloud of gas, with a diameter of up to 10 feet (3 meters). This gas cloud had the same effect as potion of healing.
Ecology
These dragons were scavengers, preferring to eat both organic and inorganic matter at the bottoms of lakes and rivers. They would occasionally eat fish. Yu lung were able to breathe water but could only breathe air for up to an hour at a time. They were strong swimmers and could also travel on land by dragging themselves with their powerful arms and claws, albeit for limited distances. The dragons lived in mansions of mud and stone on a riverbed. Unlike other dragons, a yu lung did not collect treasure.
Habitats
In Faerûn, yu lung could be found in Cormanthor in the River Ashaba.
Celestial Bureaucracy
The yu lung had no official position in the Celestial Bureaucracy. As a result, humans gave it no offerings nor worship.When a yu lung reached adulthood, they meta-morphed into another lung dragon. It was unknown which subspecies of lung dragon they would change into. This process occurred exactly at midnight after reaching the age of one hundred and one. They were then assigned their duties by the Celestial Bureaucracy depending on what subspecies they morphed into.
The Dragon Gate for Yu-Lung
In Chinese mythology, according to the Legend of the Carp, any carp, yu, leaping over the fabled Dragon Gate would transform into a dragon.
At the border between Shensi and Shansi provinces, the Yellow River meets the Dragon Gate, or the Lungman Falls. Yu the Great cleft the Dragon Gate when creating the rivers of the world, and to this day, Carp pass through and rise as dragons into the sky.
The Celestial Carp, each year, compete to jump through the dangerous gate. The reward for those that succeed is immediate transformation into a dragon, Yu Lung. An expression, Lihua Lung, means 'The Carp Becomes a Dragon,' and it is used to describe success in public exams.
📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology
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