For this RP, it is helpful to understand a few things about dragons in general, as defined by the RP’s canon, so that we’re not confusing each other by referencing different and/or conflicting ‘facts’ about dragons (ie: different reasonings behind why dragons hoard gemstones or w/e). Below are some important notes about what dragons were like, prior to being sealed away. Any questions left unanswered can easily be filed under “depends on breed/genetics/ability/culture” or something of that nature, and therefore is left up to your own creative liberties when designing a dragon character.
To begin, dragons are creatures that nearly cover the globe, with a gene pool so vast, allowing for so many different traits, that dragons took on an amazing range of appearances and abilities, making each one highly unique. However, basic dragon appearances still varied distinctly depending on what region of the world they lived in, similarly to different nationalities in humans. Compare a European dragon to an Asian one, for example, and you’ll find the differences in appearance quite clear. These different ‘types’ of dragons, though, are most accurately defined as ‘breeds’, highly similar to dog breeds, as there is only one species of dragon (and one species of dog), yet many, vastly different breeds of dragons. These different breeds however (again, like dogs) can and do interbreed, thus furthering the extremely diverse array of dragon appearances, as well as some diverse aspects about their culture.
Although these different breeds of dragons may differ somewhat in culture and relation with humans depending on where they live, they did share some fundamental similarities. One of which being the way they develop a use of magic. Unlike human mages and wizards, who have to refine their ability through learning about spells and hours of practice, magic ability comes to a young dragon through instinct, and the potential for magic is instilled into the DNA of nearly every dragon, as opposed to the lucky few in humans. Different breeds and even different individuals can harness their magic power in different ways, such as flame breath, elemental abilities, frost breath in the terms of Arctic breeds, or flight-without-wings for the Asian breeds- all of which are common, but more obscure uses for magic do occur in rarer cases.
Another thing to note about dragons would be their intellect. All dragons have the mental capacity to be very smart creatures; their IQ’s reaching rather far above the average human’s. Although, that does not necessarily mean all dragons seek knowledge, as that is often dependent on a dragon’s culture based on where they live, or even just an individual’s personality. For example, the Asians were most likely to value knowledge and learning, whereas the Arctics were typically of a more savage nature. They all shared the same intellectual capacity, however, similarly to how all humans did, yet the Europeans managed to advance far beyond, say, the Native Americans and Africans by the exact same point in history. At any rate, they are all capable of communicating through language, and have the capacity to read, write and educate themselves, as many breeds and individuals actively do.
One interesting quirk about dragons, that rings true for all breeds, is an admiration for shiny and/or reflective objects. Not really explainable, just a quirk in their mentality that they all shared, no matter what form in took on. Be it a European gathering a hoard of precious metals and stones, or an Arctic finding a home that has the smoothest, most reflective ice, dragons just plain like objects with some sort of luster to them.
Also, regardless of where they lived, it remained generally true that dragons… didn’t have much of a taste for human flesh (what carnivore would? They’re bony and scrawny). Dragons were meat-eaters, of course, but they often sought to find better food sources whenever possible. Although, if a dragon was of a breed with a less-than-stellar relation with humans, and/or caught with no other food source available, it wasn’t completely unheard of for a dragon to turn to humans when in need of a meal. However, ‘eaten by dragon’ statistics were still so low, even in areas like Europe and Africa where humans and dragons didn’t get along as well, that it would hardly be accurate to paint dragons as demonic creatures constantly hungering for human flesh- but, humans being as humans will be, they did it anyway.
And lastly, it is important to remember that dragons were always rare creatures. By today’s standards, they’d surely fall under the category of being an endangered species, or even critically endangered species. It’s not as if every human city had a dragon living right on its outskirts- in fact such a thing was fairly rare, and either a blessing or curse depending on location.
Strained relations with humans made their numbers even fewer in many parts of the world, heading into the Middle Ages. Places such as Europe especially, where relations with humans were probably the worst, and dragons were killed not only because of the potential danger of having one around, but also for their treasure, to protect livestock, or even just for the valor of having slain a dragon. The most detrimental blow to the dragon population was, of course, the creation of a spell that would store away a dragon in an unbreakable stone for what seemed to be forever. It could only be used by the most powerful of wizards, but that didn’t matter. Because of its tremendous usefulness, it spread across the globe quickly, and anyone who wanted to get rid of a dragon could hire someone magic-capable to do so. It didn’t even reach the point where all dragons had to be directly killed or sealed, as, once their numbers dwindled dangerously low, so did their ability to reproduce. As with any highly endangered species, too many of them lived through life without finding a mate, and, mainly unprotected, dragons had become extinct by the second half of the Middle Ages. And as they faded from the planet, so did the memories of them, as they eventually became nothing more than a myth.
Only the sealed dragons remain.
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Originally Posted by OverlordRoo
Still considering if I should make a Dragon character or not. I'll wait and see if anyone makes " just " a dragon so we stay evenly numbered.
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