My dragon

So to give a quick description, this is a 2 mile long, nuclear powered dragon of doom. I think I’ll going with a fission/fusion hybrid creature for this beast. Another piece of relevant information is that all dragons in this universe utilize pretty much all metals as structural substrates. In fact, barring very advanced technology, their corpses are the only source of dragon steel.

So the idea here is that the dragon uses metals in its sinuses and other resonance chambers to increase the variety of sounds it can make, along with the volume of the sounds. I had also thought about the possibility of the dragon using partially metallic vocal chords.

However, the question is why? What could they use this vast array of sounds in varying pitches and volumes for? Most intelligent creatures can get by with making just a few noises, so why would these dragons need such a vast array of sounds?

  • $\begingroup$ What does my dragon sound like? Nothing. Given your dragon, if you're near enough to "hear" it you're either dead (from radiation), deaf and soon to be dead (from the wind blast), or you're far enough and it is emitting such low frequency noise your ears are unable to pick it up. You're welcome for this brilliant solving of your problem. $\endgroup$ – Nyakouai Feb 1 at 13:34

These dragons make music.

Humans are intelligent creatures and we make a bafflingly large variety of sounds. When I listen to popular music there are all sorts of sounds I cannot identify. Heck even the Beatles "Across the Universe" has a lot of weird sounds - try playing it on ukulele and it is so nondense and thin.

Anyway: so too the dragon (not the ukulele, the variety). These dragons are enthralled by music in the broadest sense - found, imitated and invented sounds which they make up as they go. Like whales they sing constantly but unlike whales they sing on many levels and with many tones at a time.

Do the other nuclear dragons hear them? Possibly. These things are unlike other life forms, and may have sensory modalities beyond those of normal creatures.


Your Dragons communicate largely using infrasound as a means to transmit across long distances.

Similarly to Elephants, Hippopotamuses, Rhinoceroses, and even Alligators, these organisms find utility in the ability to communicate with others of their species over very long distances, especially given that as a 2 mile scale creature they require rather large territories.


Your dragons are self-sustaining MIDIs and synthesizers.

They sound like a slightly artificial version of any noise on the planet. All human languages, the output of all instruments, all birds, all insects, all mammals, all frequencies. They can re-create the sounds of a thunderstorm, a volcano, or the tiny scrunch of earthworms as they push through the light crust of soil formed by the hot after the rain.

Why would they want or need such abilities?

  • Amusement. How lonely must your dragons be?
  • Communication with other dragons. They can save the sounds they make (tons of space, materials, and energy to work with) and transmit them to others over vast distances.
  • Bringing animals to them for amusement, food, or to perform tasks.
  • Keeping animals away from them.
  • Direct communication with other intelligent lifeforms.
  • Changing landscapes over time. They can send out noises that cause landslides, crack the ground, perhaps even trigger small earthquakes. This can lead to places for water collection, or dispersion, areas for plant growth of different kinds, and so on.

Active sensor arrays

Being fusion powered your dragons have a particular appetite for hydrogen bearing matter. Using sophisticated multi-spectrum sound analysis they can scan their immediate environment for the resonance signatures of certain hydrogen-rich organics and minerals, much like EM spectral analysis but at a macro level. The sound is also used for motion detection and as a crude form of X-ray scanning hollow bodies such as buildings and caves.


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