Cargon Species Study

It's finally here! A proper study document that covers every detail of my living vehicle creature creation... The Cargon which has first appeared since 2012 and they have came a long way since then. About a year ago I was planning on making a series of visual study refs of this species before posting this. But I ended up changing plans so I ended posting this text document first.
The following text down below is the entire study document which has taken just about all year to carefully type up with some help with a few close friends of mine, and this species also serves as an important catalyst to me and Apler-Enigma's world concept to how I as well as other characters of mine with vehicle traits became the way they are. My living plane bird species "The Metavian" also gets mentioned in this document.

Before you get started on reading the Study Document down below, read through the Terms and Agreements first.
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Terms and Agreements:

This is a Closed Species of a specific living creation, vehicle with draconian traits to it. Out of respect please do not take or make one without my permission.
If you like what you see and are interested in using my species for your personal use, Contact me via Notes for Permission.
While asking for permission from me, You must specify a solid reason as to why you want to use my species.
There will be no altering or diverting from what the Study Document covers, lists or says.
Making a hybrid species is doable if there is a reason behind it and they follow the way hybridization works in said Study Document for the creatures.
Original Characters created outside of my permission or without proper paperwork having been filed, There will be a request to take down the artwork and character till Proper Permission has been filled.
Fan Art of this species is encouraged as long as I, "Sabre471", Gets the proper credit and gets notified about the fan art.
Thank you for reading the Terms and Agreements for the Cargon Species.
Jeffray Oceanic. 'Sabre471'

Cargon species and illustrations (c) Sabre471@DeviantART.com
Species Study Document written by Sabre471
Contributed ideas by Apler-Enigma and HannaLatias
Proof Read and Edited by HannaLatias and Zarrow
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Cargon Species Study Document
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Species Study page 1: Introduction and History
Contains: Summary, General Info, Species History, Notable Individuals

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Summary

Cargons are a species of semi goo creatures that resemble western dragons that live both on Earth and Ordeevia and take the form of everyday automobiles as their bodies. They are highly intelligent, resilient, curious, and playful creatures that live in small social groups known as packs. One to two individuals may also live with a family of a different intelligent species. Cargons are fully capable of speaking, learning, understanding language (including human language), solving problems, and feeling complex emotion. Making them a formidable race to coexist with human society and other intelligent species.
They are able to easily transform from dragon to car (and vice versa) in a smooth gooey transition with the car body being able to flex with their dragon body in dragon form. Their car bodies when in full vehicle form can also be just as rigid as a real car with limited flexibility in the suspension and some of the frame to get past obstacles that inanimate cars would not be able to normally get past.
All cargons are born with magic capabilities within their dragon entity but these capabilities are dormant; select few individuals are able to learn to awaken their special magic power through extensive training that helps them learn to grasp this talent. Cargons as vehicles are very friendly to their environment vs their inanimate counterparts and they generally respect the natural beauty of the world they live in.
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General Info

Common names: Cargon, Car-Dragon, Road Dragon, Cartaur
Gender Dimorphism: yes
Birth type: Egg layer
Gestation Period: 12 - 15 months
Average clutch size: 1 large egg ( 2 on rare occasion )
Egg size for Type A-B: 4.5 feet tall, 3.5 feet wide
Egg size for Type C: 2 feet tall, 1.5 feet wide
Growth rate: Fast
Average Breed rate: 8 - 12 years
Vehicle body style pool: Hatchback, Sedan, Wagon, Coupe, Sports car, Super car, Jeep/Buggy, Pickup/Van/SUV

Average life spans:
110y Males
130y Females

Maximum life spans:
190 years Males
230 years Females

Mature rate:
0-3weeks Hatchlings
3weeks-4years Whelps
4-8y Juveniles ( vehicle form becomes usable )
8-14y Adolescents ( vehicle form is fully grown first )
14-30y Young adult ( dragon form fully grown, sexually matures in this age range )
30-65y Prime adult ( best fertility is in this age range, breeding organs are fully mature )
65-110y Older adult ( fertility starts to weaken early on until they're not able to breed anymore )
110y-onward Elder Adult ( Individuals who have exceeded their average lifespan )

The following size formulas down below are suggested sizes for each cargon depending on what car model they are.

General size formula for Type A and B cargons:
Body height ground to shoulder tops = 2 car heights tall (with the equipped tires adding to the height)
Body height ground to top of skull excluding horns and ears = 3 1/2 car hights, dragon neck/torso length can vary.
Body length = about 2 1/2 to 3 car lengths long depending on the length of the neck and tail and the car model.
Body width = Is the same width as the car width excluding mirrors and fender flares.

General size formula for Type C 1-2 cargons:
Dragon length is usually slightly longer than it's car length by a couple feet.
Dragon shoulder height is usually the roof height of the vehicle form.

General size for Type C 3 cargons:
Ranges from 10 to 14 feet tall, depending on what kind of car they are.
Smaller cars tend to result in shorter heights, while the larger ones get the taller girthier heights.
Compact= 10 feet, Intermediate= 12 feet, Full Size= 14 feet

Related Species: Metavian ( Airplane Bird )

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Species History

gen 0 18xx - 1900 (very small and weak dragons in very small unseen numbers)
gen 1 1901 - 1925 (open bodied cargons.)
gen 2 1926 - 1945 (depression to war time cargons, Type B and C variations spawned in this generation)
gen 3 1946 - 1967 (Servant Cargons. Metavians also spawned with this generation)
gen 4 1968 - 2000 (The first generation of the modern cargon we recognize today and was the largest generation)
gen 5 2001 - onward (This generation along with gen 4 and a small bit of gen 3 would see Ordeevian life)
gen 6 Future time (This is the generation that could be born into Ordeevian life for those who were taken to Ordeevia prior)


The Cargon has been coexisting with the humans on earth since the late 19th century in extremely small numbers and remaining hidden from the human eye by disguising as small vehicles. Nobody knows how the cargon truly originated and came to be on earth. But some speculate that they were these living blobs of shape shifting goop from an abandoned and depleted alien planet that sought new life to start fresh with, needing a new species identity to build upon, and found Earth to be a suitable new home. The human's primitive technology at the time allowed the newborn species to remain hidden under the radar for quite a few decades, giving them plenty of time to learn their languages and cultures to mimic the humans to try and "fit in". They were discovered in the Depression era with their increasing size with the slightly larger and heavier closed bodied cars. But, since these intelligent creatures learned their language and cultures, they tried to be friends despite some of them being beaten or shot by some humans out of pure fear. In the War Time era, the military took huge interest in cargons for their large size, level of intelligence, and their ability to communicate and cooperate with humans. So many cargons were captured to study and be trained to use in the war to have an edge of power over the enemy.

After the war and going into the progressive 1950s, Cargons were widely known by the world and were accepted into human society as a servant species due to what they are and what they do and some were kept as exotic pets. Cargons grew larger than ever in body size to keep up with the rapidly evolving and changing human automobiles. The Metavian (An airplane bird) was spawned directly from the Cargon through DNA altering by man in an attempt to make self maintaining long running airliners out of birds, but the new sub species quickly became self aware before even entering service at their full grown age due to the high intelligence they inherited from their Cargon cousins, so they had to be handled very carefully due to their giant size.

Cargons started to be regarded as non-human persons by the late 80's to early 90's thanks to rallying human activist groups that felt these gentle giants needed to have rights of their own and shouldn't be treated like tools, and thus the era of the servant cargons came to a close and a new era opened for free willed cargons in the new mellennium to live alongside human society in peace for the most part, as they had to compromise to make room for these giants to live just like people (Metavians also followed through shortly on becoming free willed). However... some violent humans still actively sought to kill cargons for their own twisted beliefs. Cargon populations remained small alongside the overpopulating humans due to their much slower and more controlled breeding rate.

When the Ordeevians orbited around Earth, they discovered these cargons through both radio signals and visual studies during the Cargon's infancy as a species and witnessed cargons along with their metavian counterparts get mistreated and exploited by man in the early to mid century. Despite species relations improving, Ordeevians wanted to give these cargons even better lives. But their current ship at the time could only bring so many cargons over to Ordeevia during the 1960s But It wasn't until the 20xx's when the Ordeevians got the ship with an ample enough capacity to transport a large amount of these creatures to be put into a better life, some cargons ended up hybridizing with some Ordeevian races.
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Notable Individuals

Gracie - Female - Type A - 1987 Buick Regal
Berri - Female - Type B - 1989 Camaro ( Also owns a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala Sport Coupe to possess as an alternate body )
Echo - Male - Type A - 1992 Chevrolet Beretta GT
Rei - Male - Type C-1 - 1971 Ford Torino GT
Gyro - Male - Type B - 1984 Corvette
Flyro - Male - Type B - 1984 Chevrolet Caprice "Corvette Chaser" Wagon
Kimberley - Female - Type C-3 - 1998 Mercedes R129 SL73 AMG
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Species Study page 2: Appearance and Variations
Contains: Dragon Appearance, Variations, Form ordering

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Dragon Appearance

The dragon form resembles a wingless western dragon with a smooth, sleek and, pretty minimal appearance compared to a typical western dragon whose a lot more scaly and bulky in appearance with armor plating and spines, this is due to cargons being partially goo types which gives them that very smooth appearance that matches the smoothness of their sheet metal.
They can have some variations of usually one or two sets of metallic horns, have large ears, or a combination of the two along with a smooth pliable crest or sleek smooth hair that starts at the head, traveling all the way down the back and to the end of the tail. Some dragons have hair that just stops at the bottom of their neck and then pick back up again at the base of their tail to then stop again before the end of the tail.
All cargons have large four toed feet with claws on each toe and very thick and rubbery inflatable paw pads on all four legs with varying pressure to get the optimal traction on any surface it may walk or run on.
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Variations:

Type A
-Is a Cargon who's dragon form's mass is greater than the car's mass, but is able to hide all of it's mass inside of a pocket dimension within itself. Dragon form is large with a fully functional car infused in the dragon's body and able to carry occupants inside. The appearance is a typical feral dragon of western resemblance with the car being the main body.
-Advantages are sheer strength and durability of the large dragon body, but do however take up a lot of space when they allow their dragon mass to fully relax out from it's compacted state.

Type B
-Is just like Type A, but is in the form of a dragontaur. Is often nicknamed the "Car Taur" from how it's top half is a humanoid-type dragon while the lower half is the feral dragon infused with the car much like Type A with identical features.
-Advantages with Type B's is they are able to interact with objects a lot easier with their humanoid hands while in full dragon form, unlike Type A.

Type C 1-3    
-Is a Cargon who's dragon form's mass is less than the cars mass and is the opposite of Type A and B as its able to hide its car form within its smaller dragon body. Dragon form shows some external vehicle parts such as wheels, lights and, mirrors while lacking a cabin for any passengers. However, this variation of cargon is still able to carry passengers and luggage in an unconventional way (See "Item Mass Storage" under Common Abilities for more info)
-Type C's have three sub-variations being Feral (C-1), Dragontaur (C-2), and Anthro (C-3) and they are far smaller compared to Type A and B Cargons.
-This Type takes up the least amount of space when vehicle mass is compacted inside of the dragon's body.

Full Vehicle form
-The middle form between dragon form and cartaur form. This form is used when a cargon is on a smooth surface and wants to travel across it at a quick rate. Visually looks exactly like a normal inanimate automobile which was an effective disguise trait from hiding away from Humans in the early century.
-Key details to look for to tell it's a cargon if it's identity tag is not present is to look at the radio console in the cockpit of the car and if it's glowing with the dragon entity, then it's a cargon.
-A cargon's sense of seeing is very unique in this form as it's whole windscreen acts as a bunch of eye cells that process the light rays that comes into the windscreen into a visual image in the cargon's central brain in a wide panoramic view. Eye cells also can be in the headlights, and rear view mirrors of the full vehicle form. Other senses like hearing, touch, taste, and smell are also present in this car form.

Car Taur
-Common form shared with all variations of cargon, It's simply the full vehicle form with the extra anthro dragon torso formed on the hood portion of the car directly above the front wheels. This form is commonly used for vocal communication and interacting with objects without having to shift to full dragon form. The dragon torso automatically retracts if it's rate of movement passes 35 miles/hour for better aerodynamics.
-Alternately, the cargon can also form a small driver form anywhere inside it's cockpit or trunk area. This little form is purely for looks for interacting with passengers it's carrying while the main vehicle form has the primary vision, however when the dragon torso comes out of the hood, the dragon's visible eyes becomes the primary vision.

Genders
-Gender differences are very slight in Cargons with the differences only being spotted in the dragon forms, while the full vehicle forms have no gender differences.
-Males can be distinguished with having generally larger horns and a strong tail. They're also slightly heavier built than females. But when in full vehicle form, the weight difference between the male and female are identical.
-Females can be distinguished with their slightly thinner and curvier dragon body.
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Form ordering:

All of the following cargon types transform in this order:

Dragon ( main form ) <---> Full Vehicle <---> Car Taur or Driver form.

Note: In order for a cargon to go from dragon to cartaur form and vice versa, it has to transform to full vehicle form first.
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Species Study page 3: Anatomy, and Organs
Contains: Skin, Cells and Body, Regeneration and Death, Immune System

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Skin

Cargons are naturally smooth scaled owing to their goo-like nature and is very much like feeling the smooth surface of painted and well polished sheet metal. This skin can usually scratch easily, but heals up in regeneration overtime, thus scars are impossible to appear on a cargon. Their lower legs below their wheel joints are however a much thicker and more rubbery skin that is far more resilient to scratches, being hit by blunt objects, and general beating from running as these lower legs are quite strong.
The paw pads are large with varying softness depending on what surface a cargon runs on. These paws can burst if an object is sharp enough to puncture through them in combination with enough force of pressure being put on top of them, causing the cargon's footing to be a lot more clumsy and painful to walk on. Like the main skin, the rubbery legs and paw pads can regenerate with time when allowed to rest.
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Cells and Body

The cargon's body and cell structure is rather unusual for a living thing as their dragon mass is living goo made up completely of shape shifting cells that make up one big entity. This big entity is all held together by the Cargon's most vital organ which contains their dragon entity "The Black Box Brain" which is usually hidden in between the dashboard and the firewall of their car body. The black box processes all of the dragon's thoughts, feelings, and generally controls everything within it's body, it also doubles as the cargon's true heart that glows strong with life force. Without it, the dragon's whole body would breakdown into a clear and colorless gooey puddle leaving just the car itself behind which can quickly rust away if not preserved.
The cells can simulate both flesh, bone, metallic materials, and just about all the things a living thing would need. Therefore A cargon doesn't really need to have the proper organs that a typical living thing would need to survive. This allows a cargon to safely compact all it's dragon mass into a pocket dimension within it's Black Box when it transforms from dragon to vehicle, and then when it transforms to dragon again, all the cells come out to reform again.
When the cargon is completely in dragon form, you wouldn't even be able tell it's a goo type from how well the cells can mimic the solidness of it's body. The Cargon's nerve endings also line the whole car, allowing it to sense and feel everything around it's body. The vehicle portion of the cargon is it's true body that also has it's own set of mechanical organs that are lined with nerves to feel.

Notable parts

Central Black Box = The main brain of the entity that controls everything, and the true heart of a cargon
Engine = Muscle mass and iron lungs
Transmission and driveshaft = Spinal chord
rear axle and suspension = Pelvis and legs
front axle and suspension = Shoulders and forelegs
fuel tank = energy stomach
fuel pump = Seconday Heart that pumps the fuel to the engine
cockpit and trunk = carrying and storage stomachs
ECU (if there) = secondary brains
Windscreen = Panoramic eyes ( Also used to see above if headlight eyes are obstructed )
Headlights = Frontal eyes
Rear view mirrors = Rear eyes
Tires = feet
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Regeneration and death

Because of the gooey nature of cargons, they are able to regenerate any part of their body that they may have lost (including the head) As long as their only vital organ containing their entity, "The Black Box Brain" survives and given time to rest and eat up to regain those lost cells. Older individuals will regenerate slower vs younger ones. However, their dragon form doesn't go "splat" if you strike them with an object of any kind and they will still feel pain and shock from blunt and laceration strikes. While the dragon form is able to regenerate, the car body itself getting damaged and smashed up will take longer to heal up all those dents, crumples, and scratches. Especially if parts of the car body were torn off.

Destroying The Black Box will kill the dragon entity within the car, causing the dragon form to quickly lose it's shape and get reduced to a pile of lifeless colorless goop with the car shell being left behind. A cargon can also die of old age when it's depleted dragon entity in the black box brain just can't hold it's dragon mass together anymore, resulting in the dragon's mass slowly melting away out of it's car body as a lifeless liquid until the dragon entity completely fades away.

With the cargon's normal regeneration, Minor injuries like scratches and dents usually take an hour or two to heal, major injuries like smashed up body panels and some damaged components may take many hours to a day, severe injuries like panels and wheels getting torn off and components getting significantly damaged will take several days to a week to regenerate those lost parts, and critical injuries can take weeks to heal. While healing, the cargon must remain in a safe and secure place and having a steady food supply to get their strength back up, eating metals will help speed up it's regeneration.
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Immune system

A Cargon's immune system is as expected from a living machine... very resilient to most common diseases, viruses, and bacteria that could be thrown at it. This allows a cargon to have much higher tolerances to being exposed. to contaminated areas... however, some contagious diseases that a cargon does catch even if it doesn't affect it could be spread to smaller creatures like humans. When an adult cargon does get affected by a sickness, The illness hits a cargon very hard. Some illnesses can prove fatal, depending on how potent the virus, disease, or other toxic things are.

A sick cargon in dragon form shows signs of discoloration, fatigue in their body, and breathing troubles. While in car form the sick effects can be their engine losing power and responsiveness from having it's intake clogged and energy fuels not mixing correctly causing smoke and unburned vapors to pour out of the exhaust pipes. Engine can also skip and misfire in one or more cylinders from spark plugs going bad from said sickness. Higher body temperatures can also make a cargon's engine more prone to overheating. Sick cargons must be sheltered, protected, and cared for to ensure they recover.
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Species Study page 4: Energy Consumption
Contains: Food Consumption, Hunting, Tonic Immobility

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Food Consumption:

A cargon needs food to eat, water to drink, and oxygen to breathe to live and survive just like any other living thing on the planet it shares. The cargon's diet largely depends on where the individual lives and what's available around them, and they can eat just about anything that's organic to be digested into nutrients for it's body, fat for storing extra energy for long range trips, and energy to fuel both it's engine, and the central black box brain containing the dragon entity. Their preferred diet is mainly meat, But they can also eat fruits and even metals in both refined and raw form with the cargon's saliva helping make the metal softer to swallow easier.
They have many ways of eating from the regular chomp-and-swallow whole method to absorbing their food directly into their stomach using the same ability that's mentioned in 'Item Mass Storage'. Cargons can often consume food items that are larger than their own heads which results in their jaws stretching around their food to swallow it whole to let it's powerful stomach crush and grind it up. Logically with all living things, if a cargon eats more than it needs to, it'll start gaining extra fat to store those excess nutrients and energy.

A cargon can go without food and water for quite a long distance if food supplies become scarce... However if a cargon is starving, it's body will slowly eat itself just to maintain energy, starting with the safe to burn body fat, and then it starts eating it's own cells which will show up as red mist on the exhaust which is a clear visual sign of a cargon starving to death. A cargon can also get dehydrated if it's fluid level is low, making themselves and their engine more prone to overheating along with other typical symptoms of dehydration.
Common preys include mostly large mammals like Deer, They can also consume food that would normally be considered expired to humans due to their robust immune system, They'll even feast on scrap metal wrecks with one scrap car being able to feed at least 3 cargons.
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Hunting:

Because of their large size, power, and intelligence. The cargon has no natural predator, thus making it an Apex Predator on land. Primary exception to this would be the creatures that are above cargons in terms of power and numbers, Humans. Given that the humans have the appropriate tools or weapons to inflict harm. Given to how fast and long a cargon can sprint with engine power, cargons will chase their prey for an incredibly long distance until the prey gets tired out, this seems to be mostly done for fun since cargons can choose to just quickly kill and eat their prey. Because a cargon's large in size, it's hard for them to sneak up on prey without alerting it so most prefer just charge on into the prey.
Cargons will usually hunt in packs of 2 to 5 individuals to coordinate an organized attack that can take down even the most dangerous animals. Their high intelligence combined with their sheer size, endurance, and power makes them a force to be reckoned with and if you were the one on their menu, consider yourself as good as eaten. Cargons can also cooperate with other intelligent species they can befriend. Ones that are integrated into civilization don't eat live prey as much and instead eat the same foods that are in that civilization.
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Tonic Immobility

If a Cargon were to be flipped over upside down on their back, their engine will get starved of their own oil and will end up shutting off to prevent any damage as all the oil rushes to the top of the engine. The strength of their dragon muscle mass is halved without their engine and may also go into a trance for as long as 15 minutes before slowly correcting their orientation. This immobility phenomenon however doesn't happen as often to Type C cargons when they lay on their backs in dragon form due to them not needing their engine power as much from their smaller size. Cargons in general usually will twist and thrash to right themselves back upright before going into an immobile trance. Sometimes this is used as a method to forcefully calm down an agitated cargon by flipping them and holding them down upside down. For Type C-3 "anthro" cargons, they would have to be held and hung from their feet to trigger their Tonic Immobility.
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Sleep

While a cargon goes on in it's life of roaming around and eating, it also needs to sleep to regenerate both it's body and mind in a long rest. A cargon's sleep time typically lasts around 8 hours of rest. They are able to sleep in either dragon, full car, or cartaur form if they are light sleepers. Cargons that enter into a deep sleep will involuntarily change into full dragon form. They can sleep either outside as groups or indoors as individuals if there's enough room for them to fit.
It is possible for a single cargon to go days without sleep and not lose that much mental accuracy, this is usually done on long distance traveling. But it also results in that cargon having to sleep extra long in order for it's body to catch up on lost hours of sleep. Cargons also make use of Unihemispheric slow-wave sleep while driving in car form to sleep without the need to stop, but their driving speed would be mostly slow, depending on how much energy their body has left while traveling.
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Species Study page 5: Common Abilities
Contains: Engine power, Liquid Shifting, Item Mass Storage, Radio Wave Communication, Metal Generating

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Engine power

All of a cargon's great deal of endurance comes from it's engine, while the transmission transfers the power into it's muscle masses to allow it to run fast with seemingly limitless stamina. The engine also regulates the cargon's body temperature and cabin temperature depending on what environment it is in. Without this engine power, the energy within the cargon's muscles would burn out rather quickly and lock up from being strained if the cargon had to to throw around it's heavy weight. So they become very slow and unresponsive, and could also overheat or freeze without the engine to regulate it's body temperature in hot or cold climates. However, the engines themselves can overheat if a cargon overexerts itself too far, has a faulty or damaged cooling system or simply has become dehydrated. Like normal car engines, they need to be in their upright position along with a steady supply of oxygen and fuel converted from the food the cargon consumes to operate.
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Liquid Shifting.

All Cargons are able to make their dragon mass melt into a semi goo form when they shift between vehicle to dragon form (and vice versa) at any time. This goo form does not drip or make other objects wet, however they are still squishy and pliable in this shifting state. They are able to form a smaller anthro version of their dragon mass anywhere inside of their car cabin and trunk space as a driver form for pure looks (This form is squishy and pliable and they're still able to see perfectly fine in their pure car form). This small driver form can not leave their car body, however they can make a slightly larger version of their driver form form on the hood of their car body to be a "car taur". Common actions include interacting with objects as a cartaur, appearing to drive themselves, interacting with passengers directly, moving passengers and cargo around the cabin/trunk, self hitching if equipped with a tow hitch.
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Item Mass Storage

Any Cargon is able to use it's semi goo ability to take items and or live passengers (usually be swallowing them via the mouth) and convey them to either it's passenger cabin, the trunk, or it's stomach. It is also able to selectively spit out any item they choose that they happen to be carrying inside of themselves.
When a Type C Cargon shifts from vehicle form to dragon form (Feral or Anthro) while having items inside of it's cabin and trunk, all the mass of those carried items will temporarily merge with it's dragon body mass as soft fat deposits along the belly(cabin) and rump(trunk) and some of the tail region.
Live passengers that are also inside the cabin during the shifting will also end up as this temporary fat, but the passengers are also able to see out of the dragon's eyes in this safe state thanks to the dragon entity in the cargon keeping them safe until the dragon reforms them. Like the other cargons, it is able to selectively spit out any item and or person it may have stored within it's mass as well as pull it out from it's sealed and stretchy pockets on it's hips (and then putting them back in).
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Radio Wave Communication

Is a form of wave signal based communication much like telepathy, but in radio wave lengths to other Cargons, Metavians, and even talk through real radios if they choose to broadcast their thoughts across one or a few frequencies they choose. This communication form is commonly used to talk to other cargons while moving in full vehicle form. These short signals however can be jammed by external devices which can mess up a cargon pack's coordination due to lack of communication.
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Metal Generating

Like it's regenerating ability, a cargon is also able to generate blocks of refined metal formed out of it's own cells at the cost of some energy per kilo to manipulate and shape with their paws and hands until it solidifies. These generated blocks can be used to feed other cargons, to being used to craft some interesting items like sculptures depending on the individual, and even being used as a means to trap prey. This generated metal can also mimic any metal the cargon may have eaten as well as being reclaimed and absorbed by the cargon that generated it.
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Species Study page 6: Water Interaction
Talks about how Cargons interact with water, and the dangers they face if they have to swim.

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A Cargon's ability to swim is very poor due to it's body being adapted for a land dwelling life style. However, it is not impossible for a cargon to swim as most cargons that do go into the water are able to go in almost shoulder deep.
Very rarely cargons have been documented to swim short distances between islands, which is a huge risk taker for the cargon due to the amount of energy demanded for them to swim. Their car cabin sealing up air tight along with full lungs is just enough to make the cargon buoyant while it's legs paddle to keep it floating and generally move around in which their swimming speed is rather poor. Strong flowing currents can easily sweep a cargon away and can even pull it underwater. The cargon must keep its head above the water at all times as its nostrils on the snout continuously suck up air in order to keep it's engine running and feeding power to its muscle mass. It can close these nostrils to briefly look underwater, but if they don't pull their head up above the surface in time, the nostrils will force open from wanting air and water will quickly rush into the cargon's engine and lungs... quickly drowning the cargon. Also without it's engine power, the cargon would tire out pretty quickly from having to keep it's weight afloat and eventually the muscles would seize up in fatigue, causing the cargon to sink and drown.
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Species Study page 7: Age Progression
Shows the age progression from hatchling to young adult

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Hatchlings: 0 - 3 weeks old - starts at roughly the same size as an adult human

-Overall impression is very thin and wrinkly and the car body is not recognizable. Hair growth (if any) is little to none with horns/ears being very small and stubby.
-Freshly hatched Cargons do not have the ability to shift to full car form throughout it's infancy and early years. However visible vehicle features includes simple looking wheels, lights, and mirrors. Their skin coloration is pretty dark much like their adult counterparts, but lacks the complex markings of the adult. They are small enough to fit inside of their mother's car cabin when they need to rest.
-Colors of a hatchling are dark and fairly close to their adult colors, but the pattern is not defined.


Whelps: 3 weeks - 4 years old - from the same size as the Hatchling to about one quarter the size of an adult cargon

-Overall impression is soft fat and round without any sharp lines, proportions and features remains roughly the same as the hatchling but with a lot more baby fat.
-After a few weeks of feeding off of its mother's milk, the cargon whelp's body fills out with baby fat as well as doubling to tripling in size from it's original hatchling size. Their legs have also strengthened up enough to where cargon whelps don't need to rest in their mother's cabin while following around by the mother's side, plus their growing size makes them too large to fit in the mother's cabin anyways. Cargon whelps are also weened off of their mother's milk after a year usually when they grow their first set of baby teeth to then be introduced to solid food.
-Colors of the whelps lighten up to where they virtually have no markings to speak of and is overall soft, vague, and ill-defined.


Juveniles: 4 - 8 years old - about Half the size to an adult Cargon

-Overall impression is lanky and lean with the ears/horns and mane starting to grow out and body size getting much larger with a little more adult looking proportions. Car body starts to become recognizable, but lacks a functional cabin.
-The bodies of cargon juveniles start to grow out tremendously combined with a loss of baby fat to give that lean look. Juveniles also have matured enough for their dormant liquid shape shifting ability to be awakened as the mother at this point will teach the juvenile how to transform to both full vehicle and cartaur form, and the vehicle model that the young juvenile cargon develops into is copied from its mother while being only half the size. The mother also teaches the young one the important life skills it needs on how to survive in what ever setting they may live in, either in the wild or in civilization.
-Coloration of Juveniles start to show details of their adult markings but at a much lighter tint. Unlike the whelps markings, the Juveniles are well-defined.


Adolescent: 8 - 14 years old - about three quarters the size of an adult Cargon
-Overall impression is the car body becomes developed to it's full size on top of the still growing sub-adult body.

-In the Adolescent stage, The car body grows out to it's fully developed size and is fully functional. But since their dragon body is not quite fully grown yet, the car body looks like it is too big looking on them. From this point on they gain the temporary ability to freely shape shift their car form to different models they see around and if it's within their family's gene pool. This power however has a long recharge time of a few weeks, which is usually the amount of time an adolescent cargon stays interested in that model until it moves on to another model. Adolescents are also not as dependent on their mothers at this age and are able to defend themselves if they end up getting separated from their pack.
-The colors of adolescent cargons darken into their adult colors with extra markings (if any) starting to become visible.

Adult: 14 years old - onward - fully grown
-Overall impression is the body is much more robust and flush with the car body compared to juveniles and adolescents, but without the soft whelp look. A little chubbier than the adolescent, though some are still rather lean in the fully grown adult stage.

-As the young adult cargon's dragon body becomes fully grown and flush with the car model it currently is becoming permanent for the rest of it's lifetime as the ability to change vehicle models fades away. Usually once a cargon reaches adulthood, their body size won't grow any larger. Also being grown up, Young adults are independent from their mothers and can fend for themselves. but can also choose to stay with their mother and family to help contribute.
-The coloration of fully grown adults are full and vibrant with extreme variation, depending on what the cargon's genes determine for it's body colors.
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Species Study page 8: Mating and Reproduction (This section is for Study purposes ONLY)
Contains: General info, Genitals and Mating, Hybridization

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General reproduction info

Since Cargons are living things that grow, age, live life, and pass away. They must reproduce to keep their species going with the passing down of their genes to a new generation, then the cycle repeats. Though owing to their large whale-like size, impressive resilience, and long lifespan, Their breed rate is slow with females being only able to reproduce every 8 to 12 years depending on their fertility. Their fertility yields the best results in their prime years between 30 to 65 years of age.

The gestation period of Cargon mothers lasts between 12 to 15 months and typically lay one large egg. A pregnant cargon can still transform into vehicle form but the developing egg will take up a portion of the interior until the whole cabin is occupied by the womb containing the egg. Once the egg reaches it's fully developed size, the mother lays it and keeps it warm until it hatches within a few days to a week. Once hatched, feeding involves the mother's divots that are around it's genital slit swelling up into nipples filled with nutrients and fat for it's babies to bite and suckle from to help their little bodies grow in a similar way to how cetaceans nurse their young. This feeding lasts up to a year before the young is weened off of its mother's milk supply to then learn how to eat solid foods once they grow a set of teeth. Usually when cargon eggs are laid, the mother and possible other members of the pack would have set up a protective shelter to ensure the safety of the developing cargon whelps.
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Genitals and Mating

The cargon's reproductive organs are much like a cetacean's genitals in both looks and functionality, Both male and female cargons have near identical single genital slits. The male cargon's genitals has a long and flexible length of flesh with a tapered end that can erect out exactly like a dolphin's. But it has extra ridges along the bottom from the dragon traits, This organ stays retracted when it's not in use. A female's genitals is a longer slit with two divots arranged like a female cetacean. While cargons are not mammals, their bodies can mimic mammary glands for the purpose of nursing their young. These mimicked mammary glands also show up on the chest of their driver form at any size for pure looks. Mating rituals can only be done safely in their dragon form with the male mounting on the back end of the female to then make eggs that will hatch a successor generation. Alternately cargons may also mate for pleasure in creative ways and even get involved with other species when between non fertile times.
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Hybridization

As love has no boundaries, the cargon is compatible with a other species including Metavians, dragons, and other living machines. Technically it can hybridize with almost any species it sees thanks to it's cells being able to mimic other species' cell structures. But the looks of the hybrid offspring will be determined by who is the mother of the hybrid pair as the hybrid individual will reflect the core features of it's mother while about 20 percent of the father's traits slips through.
If the cargon is the mother, then the offspring will be a cargon too with some of the father's traits slipping through such as coloration, personality, and possibly some key physical features of the other species. If the other species is the mother, than the offspring will be of that species too with all of that species' core features combined with a small percent of the cargon's features and abilities. Life style and lifespan differences between the two species can complicate the relationship depending on what kind of species the cargon falls in love with and decides to mate with to hybridize and vice versa with the other species.
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End of study Document, hope it was a nice read.