North American Dragon & Magical Creature Preserve

The American Dragon Preserve was founded in 1905 by a group of wizards whose descendants had emigrated west in the 1800’s from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are only about fifty wranglers and 25 staff who run the preserve, who are dedicated to the perservation  of dragons and magical creatures  The wranglers share an old west cowboy philosophy and ensure that people and dragons never meet.

The preserve itself occupied several million acres in the American south west. It was bordered along a densely non-magical populated area on one side, and desert and mountains on the other side.

There are three species of dragons native to America. The American Red lives in the desert and , although they have wings, they cannot fly after they reach adolescence because their wings do not develop properly. They are red in color, only ten to twelve feet long, and live in the cantos de la montañas, or mountain ridges. Their red color make excellent camouflage against the iron filled earth. They are often mistaken for giant lizards. There are an estimated fifty reds living in the American preserve.

The Verdemalo, also a desert dweller in the American southwest, probably migrated to the areas during the last ice age and following the mammoths. The Verdemalo is a large, green and brown scaled dragon with a wing span of 25 to 30 feet and is a fire breather. Native American legends in the west told of a giant flying devil that snatched misbehaving children while they slept. According to the most recent count, there are only one hundred fourteen Verdemalo remaining and they were all in captivity.

The last known American dragon species was the gigante volando demoniac, or the Flying Demon. They feed on American bison, mustangs, and other dragons. The population of the flying demon has dwindled from several thousand in ancient times to only thirty-five. Legend is that two dragons escaped from an evil place to guard the gates of the domain. The Flying Demons are the most mystical and the most intelligent of the three. When the evil lords return to earth, supposedly the Flying Demons are the gate keepers who will let them in.

The desert is alive at night with magical creatures. Giant arachnids scurry across the desert floor, looking for prey. The keepers at the preserve are forever rescuing hapless drunks who get tangled in one of the 10 foot webs while wandering around in the desert. The spiders grow to the size of small muggle automobiles, and their favorite food appears to be muggles* boracho.

Winged horses are another of the magical creatures that came out in the evening. The herd fly at sunset and late at night They are a rare, almost mystical sight; their white mane glowing orange-red from sun’s waning glow. When they flew at night, they glowed from the light of the moon.

Once, several thousand millennia ago, the desert was the bottom of a vast ocean, which was the home of a number of magical sea creatures. One species of the creatures remained, Desert Pixies, evolving into an animal that was dormant until the desert rains came. The creatures appear during the rain and frolicked like mischievous children. They are blue in color, stand about 18 inches tall, have long sleek bodies, and tuffs that looked like hair that stood up into a point. They have the unfortunate habit of dancing on the wet pavement of highways. While not usually hit by the on-coming cars, they are the cause of many accidents on the road. People see the playful little creatures in the slick roads, hit their brakes to avoid hitting them, skidding all over the roads, often running off a cliff. It’s suspected that the little buggers actually enjoy watching the cars skid all over the road and purposefully did their dance to cause as much damage as possible.

Then there are the spirits that walked the desert in the moon light. They aren’t ghosts, but most believe them to be. Although they were  never human and were never alive but they take the form of ghostly sirens. They look like beautiful women with long flowing hair and were dressed in white. Their pale bodies are iridescent and like the sirens of ancient lore, sang a mournful song. They always walk alone, and are usually seen walking along the sides of roads.  These creatures are extremely dangerous. Never approach a siren under any circumstance.

The only magical creature not indigenous to this country Is the pygmy unicorns. They were brought over to this country in 1910 in an attempt to breed with the flying horses. The breeding didn’t work out, but the unicorn are thriving in the desert.

*Muggle is a term invented by J. K. Rowling for her Harry Potter series. They refer to non-magical people.