Creates patches of skin with no scales. The skin shows through as a natural skin color or a pastel color. Since the marking commonly appears on the face, it makes it look like the dragon dipped its head into a pollen-filled flower.
The color must be a very light pastel. If you are having trouble picking colors, you may use the lighter, less saturated colors of the light palette.
Color Rules
The skin shows through as a natural skin color or a pastel color. This includes black, brown, cream, gray, and other colors.
Note that fur, hair, and scale colors are not the same as skin colors.
Layering Rules
Pollen is a special display trait that affects the scales themselves. Wherever this marking touches, the scales of the dragon are removed, revealing the color of the flesh underneath. Pigment traits can affect Pollen, but those traits will always be washed out (for example, vampire will appear pink or light tan instead of red or brown). It will always go on top. It even covers other special layer traits.
Shape
It may be as small as the tips of the snout and limbs or cover up to 50% of a dragon. The edges may be a gradient. It can also have 'scales' erased out of it that match the scales of the dragon. Finally, you can choose to create a 3D transition to the mark, such as the fur cutting off below:
Effect on Modifiers & Physical Traits
- If a mark would create scales, fur, or non-bony protrusions on a dragon, then those traits will not show in that area.
Interactions
- The following markings will create an altered area of skin color where it would cover pollen: Hailstorm, Tobiano, Appaloosa, Vampire, Dust, Starry, Flaunt, Frost, and Zebra (as well as any other Pigment layer marks). Dust and Somatic can create splotching where it touches as well, within regular Pollen color rules. The altered color will still follow regular Pollen rules, and should be adjusted to roughly match the mark (red-hued for Vampire, lighter for Tobiano, etc.). It should be different enough that it is clearly on an area with no scales.
- Chroma will display on top of pollen as normal.
- This will still display on albino dragons.
Charged Pollen
Can make the entire dragon scaleless. If the whole dragon is scaleless, then things like Heraldry and Plumes are optional, as they have no way of showing.