How Different Are Your Dragons?

Yeah, this only applies if you work has dragons in it.

Anyway, how different are they? Do they fly? Do they talk? Do they breath fire? Do they have magic? Are they good natured, or malevolent? How big are they? Do they kidnap and eat princessess? Are they monstrous or are they Cute Monster Girls?

If you have something to add, please do.

I'll quote what I wrote in the other thread:

I tried it two ways in two different stories.

In one, dragons weren't really that tough—they were pretty well-armored, but they had no counter to a rain of arrows. They had a legend that their dead wouldn't rest unless burned to ashes, which turned out to be true, but they had no access to any other form of magic. (The past tense is necessary here—they're long since extinct.)

In another, dragons were the final species created by the gods to be The Paragon for the other races, only to fall prey to their own pride. Their style of magic is known as Flair, and it tends towards the Awesome, but Impractical. Again, their greatest weakness is their inability to use any manner of ranged weapon (though they're also much better armored in this version—coupled with their near-immunity to Power, and the rarity of directly offensive spells in Control or Subtlety, it's quite difficult to bring them down unless you target their eyes.) (BTW, can you tell I made this setting up when I was 10?)

Edited to answer some of the questions:

In the former setting, dragons breathed fire and flew. In the latter, their only method of "flight" is repeatedly teleporting over a short distance several times a second (an ability only available to those of them who're incapable of normal magic.)

In the former, dragons were basically intelligent animals—they never even learned to speak to humans. In the latter, their society is notoriously decadent, even more so now that their once-great empire has collapsed.

In both, dragons are blatantly inhuman, but can be good or evil. A dragon is the Big Bad of the latter, but he isn't so much evil as destructive—a particular branch of humanity has become the new oppressor after the fall of the dragon empire, and he unites several nonhuman and outcast human armies to slaughter the dominant human society. The primary reason the heroes fight him is that three of them are or used to be human, and the fourth likes humans enough to want to prevent their slaughter.

edited 13th Nov '11 12:46:21 AM by feotakahari

Well, in one story, all dragon lore as we know it originates from a single seemingly immortal creature who lives in a remote mountain pass in the Himalayan Mountains. It's not especially intelligent, possessing the same intelligence a predatory animal like a tiger or a wolf would have, but it does seem to understand human speech. It looks like an asian dragon, but it can breathe fire and it likes to eat yetis. The dragon is protected by a monk order and a martial art of their design is based on it's movements.

Dragons are creatures that need ridiculously high amounts of mana to stay alive and often have to take human, elvish or wyvern forms to preserve mana.

Have human-like intelligence and a language that can't be understood by humans. Many humans believes they're irrational, but they're not.

Dragons are organized in clans. There are five main clans, each ruling a different part of the world: Zhimoros from the wast, Draleer from east, Deldarale from North, Taumroth from south and Nyastrad is a nomadic clan.

Thoughts on humans verge from Humans Are Bastards (Zhimoros) to Humans Are Special (Deldarale) depending in the clan.

edited 12th Nov '11 6:43:48 PM by risingdreams

My dragons are legendary creatures that probably don't exist, but culture sometimes likes to make them up in stories.

...

Oh, and it's used as a title for a certain type of magical power.

My comics feature no real dragons, just Evil Alex's One-Winged Angel form. It's supposed to be based off of the real thing somewhere, but there's no way of telling which of its abilities were actually natural and which belonged to Alex. However, the fantasy setting I've occasionally toyed with (though my weariness with fantasy means I'm unlikely to write it) does feature dragons. They're more-or-less animals with some inherent magic abilities - primarily, flight - though they can't breath fire. Dragons can be domesticated, and Dragon Riders exist, though they're basically just elite cavalry units.

Size is about that of a mid-sized whale, if you're wondering. The wings are pretty small, but they aren't used for flying anyway.

edited 12th Nov '11 8:11:04 PM by nrjxll

My dragons are a fairly traditional Germanic style. They collect shiny things and make a nest out of the treasure, and they fly and breathe fire. They think like animals.

They look kind of like snakes that fly by snaking through the air. This is based on the connection between the word wyrm/worm and the slithering snake-shape and very old pre-Christian depictions of dragons or serpents in Germanic art.

To make up for the fact that dragons are apparently not real, they are native to other worlds of Germanic mythology, and the ones that do appear in our world (such as the dragon in Beowulf) are merely immigrants or dragons that got lost in between worlds and ended up in ours.

This is with very good reason, because even whole settlements of humans are often no match for dragons.

An older incarnation of my dragon was pretty much the same except it had a sort of dinosaur shape where the forelegs were also the wings.

edited 12th Nov '11 9:41:22 PM by annebeeche

Dragons in my fantasy setting aren't actually the beasts of legend anymore, with a few exceptions. 'Dragons' refers to their humanoid descendants, a species created by magic like the lamias. A massive interplanar war left the original species decimated, and the survivors were unable to find a place in a world ruled by advanced, organised humanoid species. To ensure their survival, most chose to permanently shapeshift into hybrid creatures, and are now considered to be relatives of humans, elves and lamias.

Dragons are pretty much designed physically like the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter, but are not dumb animals like HP dragons... they are, in fact, perhaps the most civilized beings in my 'verse, with an extremely convoluted — and sometimes even manipulative — system of politics/government, and many of them have Magnificent Bastard potential as a result of this.

They come in five colors: White, Black, Red, Blue and Gray. Special effort is taken to specifically note that there is no such thing as a green dragon. Each color has personality traits and sociopolitical inclinations associated with it, and experiences Fantastic Racism from dragons of other colors as a result.

White dragons are Proud Warrior Race Guys, more given to violence than most of the other dragon races but also known for being the most noble of all dragons due to their more chivalrous aspects. They dislike the Dark Lord's rule and policy, but they abide by the decision of the Council of Elders (the governing body of dragons) to not intervene in the war in any way because, well, rules are rules.

Black dragons are more cunning, manipulative and, above all, ambitious. They violate the Council's ruling and intervene in the war (always on the Dark Lord's side), but usually in very sneaky and underhanded ways that can't be traced back to them. White dragons distrust, if not outright despise, black dragons; black dragons don't feel any better about white ones.

Gray dragons are Exactly What It Says on the Tin: a more morally ambiguous variety of white dragon, possibly (as some believe) a hybrid species created by couplings between white and black dragons. Gray dragons don't always follow the rules and tend to be much less stiff and narrow in their interpretation of said rules than white dragons, but definitely have good in their hearts and have a strong tendency to fight against the Dark Lord whenever they intervene in the war.

Red dragons are fiery and passionate, given to violent fits of rage but also much more capable of love and compassion than the other dragon races. They can come out on either the good side or the evil side, depending on whether their passion burns hotter on the love side or the rage side. They are almost always Large Hams.

Blue Dragons are cold and dispassionate, and physically better adapted to cold weather than the other dragons races in addition to being emotionally frigid. They always analyze the situation before acting, and usually make decisions based solely on logic, with complete emotional detachment. They think red dragons are a joke... red dragons think blue dragons are unfeeling monsters who, by being stereotypical, give reptiles a bad name.

As you can see, this species has a civil war built into its genetic makeup, and that will indeed be a major plotpoint in the Mythology 101 Cycle.

Dragons are a form of Combat Familiar. They have the basic Familiar traits, being magical constructs intended to perform tasks either difficult or dangerous for their master or masters. Unlike most Familiars and even most Combat Familiars, they are not something an average mage is capable of creating and maintaining under their own power. A cabal of mages could soak up all their energy maintaining a single dragon, and most of them are or were tied to magic generators and machinery that manifests them. Only the strongest and most skilled mages could ever hope to manifest and maintain a construct of this much raw power. Their level of power and intelligence varies depending on the equipment that maintains them and the task they were created for. As Combat Familiars they were always intended to serve either as guards or shock troops, and are naturally inclined to use violence to solve problems.

They are, for the most part, extinct. The fall of the Belkan Empire destroyed all but a few of them and the remaining ones were left unattended; the intervening seventy-five years have not been kind to them. The creation of new dragons and other types of Combat Familiar is explicitly outlawed in the modern era. Small numbers of dragons still exist, most of them under the command of Summoners who can call a preexisting dragon to their location to defend them, though many Summoners are not able to exercise direct control over more powerful dragons. The summoning practice is a branch magic from both Belkan and Midchildan lines and effectively unique to only one or two planets.

Dragons encountered outside the presence of a summoner are considered dangerous to any other form of life, and though a small number are themselves intelligent, they are still bound by the dictates of their programming and will carry out their functions as assigned when they were created. Peaceful resolution of contact with a shock dragon is all but impossible, while guards can usually only be interacted with peacefully by keeping one's distance and acting nonthreatening.

Though their individual level of threat and power can vary, Bureau regulations deem a dragon to represent a Class Alpha Threat. They are not to be approached or engaged without a platoon-strength force of flight mages at minimum. The use of available starship support is strongly recommended.

I have three "classes" of dragons.

The high dragons are loosely based on the Chinese lung: a flying serpent (without wings), having antlers and a mammalian head (such as that of a lion or wolf). They can change into any animal they wish, including ones that don't otherwise exist (or can't).

The greater dragons have three forms: humanoid, reptile/amphibian/fish, and hybrid (having the head and tail of the beast on a humanoid body). They are normal faeries, slow-aging and allergic to metals.

The lesser dragons are talking reptiles/amphibians/fish that age slowly and are allergic to metals. They are a kind of chimera, a magickal animal.

The dragons are completely unified under the Dragon Emperor who is an ancient high dragon named Kimoruki. They have their own language (NOT called Draconic), which is ancient and magickally powerful. They have successfully conquered the sea faeries.

Like other bestial fey, dragons cannot have brown hair, scales or feathers.

edited 15th Nov '11 5:09:43 PM by nekomoon14

Well, I had an idea for a race of three clans, one up in the mountains, one in the deserts and one in the cities. They were dragon men descended from the real dragons, who died out thousands of years ago for various reasons who found a tribe of Amazons.

The ones up in the mountains are wild, reclusive and half-crazy like say, Lireal Baenre's two-headed dragon friend. The desert ones are more like the high-fantasy dragon types, who stayed dragons and are immensely intelligent nomads who carry libraries they value like gold. The third are incredibly human like, even having hair and human facial features. They are known as intermediaries and ahem friendly. They age at 1/3 the rate of humankind.

They were collectively known as the Val, raVal for the mountain dwellers, Valnha for the desert scholars and shaVal'ii for the city socialites. I started a journal way back in the day, with world building material and a reference to Elric of Melnibone. The leads were a young shaVal'ii theif, her brownie friend who would become the first of the gnomes of that world called Ruathna ("red" for her choice in clothes) who was inspired by the house elves of Harry Potter.

Pretty good for sixteen and eight years ago.

They sparkle.

Oh gods, please not Twilight, lol

Well, if they have scales, it kind of makes sense.

Also, I'm surprised at the number of people who need many plump paragraphs of lore to explain their dragons, and yet not surprised at all.

To be honest, that's why I designed my dragons the way I did. I wanted them to be mundane. I don't agree with that guy in the other recent thread on this that dragons have the same "Mary Sue Species" elements as elves, but I do want to see more works where they aren't a Big Deal.

Picture it: a fire-breathing turtle that is the last dragon in the world. What could be more innocuous? A non-fire-breathing turtle? Bo-ring, lol.

Sort of the same here. They are well-understood and, in the end, easily defeated. Time, weapons, and tactics have passed the dragon by, which is why they're so rare in the modern age. That morally creating a slave for combat is repugnant is just a bonus.

As with most of the Magic from Technology of my setting, I'm busy demythologizing the monsters. The struggle to defeat something is in the understanding of it, and the dragons lost that battle when Belka fell. The heavy response is a practical choice meant to minimize the possibility of failure or losses...and more importantly, ensure destruction.

edited 16th Nov '11 11:29:27 AM by Night

The only time I used dragons in one of my stories, I was pretty conservative about it.

Dragons are not a big deal: They're a small, isolated species without much control over the world. By and large they're not hostile to humans, even though dragons and the communities they live nearby often have antagonistic relationships.

They're flying lizards roughly twice the size of a horse. They don't breathe fire, but they spit acid. Since they have to fly, they're not very physically tough (hollow bones and all that). Even though they're sentient, they're unable to talk normal languages: They communicate in an archaic combo of growls, howls and hisses, and it takes a long time to say anything complex in Draconic. They're roughly of human intelligence, but their societies are quite primitive.

Dragons are carnivorous, feeding on herds of ungulates. They're cold blooded, and typically can be seen lying around on mountain ranges, basking in the sun. They've been known to eat people, but they do it very rarely (since killing people tends to bring dragon hunters). They come in several colors, from reddish to green going through brown and black. These aren't different varieties of dragons, just genetic traits.

Females are larger than males by a long shot: Defending the nest from hunters and enemy dragons is much more physically taxing than rustling cattle to eat. Dragons aren't very social, but they typically live in small colonies ruled by a few dominant females. In practice, they leave each other alone most of the time, lost in their own thoughts and memories.

Dragons utterly suck at toolmaking, mostly because they have claws instead of hands. They rely on magic for getting stuff done, but they're fascinated with technology. They're easily bribable with technological gizmoes they can operate.

"Dragons," as humans call them, are large, flying creatures that have escaped from The Tear (That's tear, as in ripping). They're sentient, but not sapient, and are predatory creatures. They tend to congregate at the tops of mountains, or in caves.

If a dragon appears in an area, it tends to be toast. Dragons can't breathe any sort of fire, but they are large, and have strong natural armour.

Dragons tend to be taken doen by riflemen and cannons, though some swordsmen have been able too.

Mine have two bodies: a big, Western-dragon style one, and a 6-foot humanoid dragon one. They're a tad less smart than humans and can only inhabit one of their bodies at a time.

Mine are largely mythical to the protagonist's people. They live in the mountain ranges, too far north to be seen very often by them.

They are about 7, 8 metres from head to tail, and have bat-like wings instead of front legs (total of 4 limbs). They have a separate 'thumb' on each wing, and when not flying they keep all their other fingers held very close to their forearm so that they almost appear not to have wings. They tend towards black, red and yellow in colouring.

They don't appear to be intelligent in a human way and do not speak with any intelligent races. They are, however, highly curious, and they breathe fire. It isn't known how they do this, but they are very interested in and attracted to magical discharges.

edited 22nd Nov '11 4:05:10 AM by LoniJay

Dragons come in all shapes and sizes, breeds and colors. The thing that seperates them from other wild mythics and creatures is the fact that they strive to ease their boredom, as opposed to seek out food and territory like other creatures they share the continents with.

They will regularly abandon their hoards just to see what beings will fight over them, or collect giant hordes solely to lure different species to them, since other than dying, there is no other reason to seek out a dragon. They also have hobbies, something other species seem to lack the free time to have. Thanks to this, dragons were able to develop a niche culture of their own, trading artwork, songs, wares and stories amongst each other.

It's not their sheer power, ferocity or size that makes the outstanding in the territories they occupy, but their adaptability and networking that assures their control. If they find stronger or more predatory species, they negotiate with them, share food and secrets with them. They lend their old burrows to them and offer them information regarding prey, and the other beings accept this and tend to think of dragons as partners rather than rivals. Regardless of an areas environmental status, a dragon will actively adapt to their area and thrive in it, to avoid discomfort.

Dragons have insane amounts of patience. Unlike most other creatures, Dragons don't mind sitting around doing nothing for hundreds of years, and don't feel the urge to be very immediate with their decisions. They wait as long as they like, and disregard other creatures lifespans waiting for a decision to be made, and sometimes even forget the lifespan of different creatures they negotiate with.

Dragons also love to drink alcohol. Tons of it. They also delight in the use of tobacco, moreso than any creature known to exist.

edited 30th Nov '11 2:48:45 PM by Vorpy

In my Grimmcroft series, there are dragons but for the most part we don't get to see them, though they are mentioned occasionally. They are more like hyper-intelligent animals, like very smart dolphins or parrots. There are also Four main kinds that people call 'dragons' and a few others, like hydras, basilisks, salymanders and cockatrices that are related:

• Dragon: Quadripedal and winged. Mountain dwellers, especially on those with volcanic activity. Like shiny things, collect gold to scatter about their nests for decoration. Mostly don't hunt humans, but have been known to take farm animals. A lot of villages leave out an offering of a slaughtered animal once every week or so if they have a dragon nearby, so it scares away other more dangerous animals (like hydras). Sometimes they hibernate in winter, if they live in a really cold region. Dragons also like hot springs. Live alone or in mating pairs (they mate for life). Most species are about fifteen feet tall. They actually can breathe fire, as a defense mechanism.

• Wyvern: Two legged with two wings for arms. Ocean cliff-dwellers, they mostly eat really big fish that live in the open ocean. They are very chattery and can talk somewhat, like parrots. Not hostile to humans but they are sometimes pests by following fishermen and trying to steal their catches. They are inquisitive and like to pester and play with humans as well. They live in huge rookeries on the sides of cliffs. I'd say about twelve feet tall, though there are a few shoulder-sized subspecies that are sometimes kept as pets. The huge rookeries on the coast of Blessem are something of a tourist attraction.

• Wyrm: Have nobs where wings once might have been and tiny legs which they don't use much. Desert dwellers, they dig big burrows under huge dunes. They are very bad tempered and while they don't hunt humans, if they see one they'll attack. If they see anything they'll attack, actually, even if it's bigger than them or another Wyrm. They have very hard, sharp beaked heads to dig through sand which they sort of swim through. They dig sand traps and then jump out and snatch up prey, which is mostly things like camels and antelope and ostriches. About fourteen feet long. Some species are also poisonous.

• Sea Serpent/Lake Monster: They have no wings or legs, in their place they have delicate fronds-like fins to disguise themselves as seaweed, and also have bioluminescent stripes. Most are ocean dwelling but some have been known to swim up rivers and live in freshwater lakes. They are very timid of humans and will swim away at the sight of one. They sing at night very haunting songs to attract mates (they also mate for life). They often get bullied by wyverns and hydras if they have territories that border them. They're songs have been implicated as the originators of myths about 'sirens' and their bio luminescence to mysterious 'sea lights'. They range in size, some species being as long as twenty feet, other small enough to be kept as pets in ponds and aquariums.

edited 3rd Dec '11 6:08:48 PM by NoirGrimoir