Naming your feathered dragon

Feathered dragons hoard words—bitter regrets, last words of the dying, and especially names. Perfect names for these draconic logophiles could easily come from linguistic and poetic terminology. Meet your new draconic overlords, “Metonymy” and “Synecdoche”.

Book of Extinction resurrects extinct animals for Dungeons & Dragons, telling their extinction stories exactly as they happened and then reimagining each animal as a fantastic creature fit for the magical worlds of your table. But the intelligent monsters in this “dead monster manual” only become real parts of your campaign when paired with a name that makes them unique and shows players their personality. 

From jokes and riddles to names and the identities they represent, the avian dragons in Book of Extinction distinguish themselves from their reptilian counterparts by hoarding the ephemeral and transient. Such dragons often take their names from the rich tradition of literature, choosing to be known by the elements of poetry and rhetoric.

Roll on the following table or choose from the list below to name your feathered dragon.

Feathered Dragon Names

d100	Name
01–03	Polyptoton
04–05	Merism
06–08	Blazon
09–10	Aposiopesis
11–13	Hyperbaton
14–15	Anadiplosis
16–18	Hypotaxis
19–20	Parataxis
21–23	Diacope
24–25	Hendiadys
26–28	Epistrophe
29–30	Tricolon
31–33	Isocolon
34–35	Epizeuxis
36–38	Syllepsis
39–40	Enallage
41–43	Zeugma
44–45	Paradox
46–48	Chiasmus
49–50	Catachresis
51–53	Litotes
54–55	Metonymy
56–58	Synecdoche
59–60	Pleonasm
61–63	Epanalepsis
64–65	Hyperbole
66–68	Adynaton
69–70	Prolepsis
71–73	Congeries
74–75	Dactyl
76–78	Sceis Onomaton
79–80	Anaphora
81–83	Spondee
84–85	Amphibrach
86–88	Trochee
89–90	Bacchius
91–93	Pentameter
94–95	Lacuna
96–98	Logomachy
99–00	Contranym

Making extinct dragons: the Hawaiʻi ʻōʻō

For the dragons in Book of Extinction, there was truly no other choice than the Hawaiian honeyeaters of family Mohoidae. Each island had its own honeyeater, magnificent songbirds called ʻōʻōs by the native Hawaiian people. The birds’ brilliant yellow plumes were symbols of royalty for the ali’i, or Hawaiian nobility. These birds were driven to extinction by invasive species, overhunting, and habitat loss. The last to go extinct was the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, who marked the first extinction of an entire avian family—not just species or even genus—in the modern era.

The last documented sighting of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō in the wild was recorded in 1986. You can hear that endling singing for a mate he could not know would never respond in this episode of the Anthropocene Reviewed:

 

A new mythology for extinct ʻōʻōs

Because they represent a whole family of creatures, and because of their significance in telling the story of the present-day extinction crisis, the ʻōʻōs became feathered dragons in Book of Extinction.

We modeled each of these dragons after emotions. The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō became a despair dragon, making its lairs in graveyards and hoarding the last words of the dying, while the kioea became the wrath dragon of colosseums and arenas. Each new dragon gained a soulsong to charm or frighten enemies, and a magical burst of feathers rather than a breath weapon. Somewhat smaller than scaly dragons, feathered dragons often integrate themselves into societies with a robust written language, whether as folk heroes like the wrath dragon or, like the mighty pride dragon, rulers of entire nations.

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Do you agree with our list? What would you name your feathered dragon? Let us know in the comments below or in the Mage Hand Press Discord. There’s an Extinction-specific channel waiting for you!