Dragons

"Son, there are two kinds of rulers here in the south; Kings and Dragons. One of them steals and hoards the wealth of the commoners, is constantly hunting for innocent animals and has seemingly no regard for sentient creatures.
The other is a giant lizard that flies and breathes fire."
-Unknown

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dragons are the largest sentient creatures in recorded history, matched only by the now-extinct Shuvuu in stature, but even these flying beasts only had four limbs. Dragons are hexapedal, insofar as they use all six limbs for transport, albeit not at the same time. Scales hard enough to withstand arrows and swords cover their outer body, save for the leather-like wings and the dragons innards.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Social structures among individual Dragons are vauge, but there is a rather complex relationship between southern and northern dragons in that they often tend to choose mates from the other hemisphere rather than from their neighbours. This can be explained by the simple facts that dragon mating is a rare comittment and the subsequent offspring is in no position to threaten the paternal Dragon's territory while also ensuring singular loyalty to their maternal Dragon. They often hold great oratory skill and charisma and can effectively rule their own territory by enforcing their wills on mortals in a feudal system known as a Dragondom.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Due to its inherent purpose as a powerful preservative, dragon spit is an extremely potent disinfectant, along with an equally strong intoxicating effect if ingested, which can be further distilled into some of the strongest alcoholic beverages in the world.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

While Dragons can technically live anywhere in Kontinent, they prefer to live near their main food sorces Elephants and Mammoths and consequently live either in the far north or south where these live, allowing them to protect their supply with greater ease.

Average Intelligence

Despite some characterizations as mindless beasts, dragons are perhaps some of the most intelligent creatures in all of kontinent, often learning several dozen languages over their lifetimes and have even been known to outwit some of the keenest mortal minds ever recorded. They are also masters of mathematical matters and can effectively calculate the incomes and expenditures of entire realms in minutes.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Dragons have exceptional sight, able to spot a deer in the woods from about 12,000 metres in the air in addition to their hearing and can often navigate their large cavern nests with nothing but their hearing to aid them.

Civilization and Culture

History

Dragons have existed since the beginning of recorded history, first living as simple beasts preying on the wild elephants and mammoths living in northern and southern Kontinent, a time preserved only in stories brought down to us through the ages. It was only with the emergence of other sentient species that began hunting the same mammoths and elephants that the dragons for the first time interacted with other sapient beings, first burning villages and hunting parties to preserve their food supply, but soon realizing that the fire it created only aided the hunters in their efforts to expand into dragon territory. Nevertheless, this battle continued unabated for a thousand years, an era that would become known as the Age of Giants. Some like the Kobolds came to worship the dragons, turning them into god-kings and doing their every bidding. Other times the dragons kept mortals as pets or simply paid them to kill other intruders. Regardless, the Dragons held mortals completely under their sway, for arrows and swords did nothing against the giant beasts.
It was only with the discovery of Old Magic that the balance of power became equal, aided by the later invention of gunpowder. Armed with weapons that could kill the dragons just as easily as they could kill any other mortal, the smaller beings of Kontinent overthrew their masters in an event subsequently known by many different names (The Great War, Bird War, The Dragon Wars and the Jötun rebellion) magic and cannons rent the dragons asunder, forcing them to either flee into the sparsely populated north or marry into the local nobility. Yes, the marriage of dragons into the aristocracy of the mortals is perhaps one of the greatest political moves ever made in history and was pioneered by the dragon Manfriend Great-Jaw, today the greatest and most prestigious of the Dragon bloodlines. By marrying nobility, killing a Dragon would from then on equal regicide, which the local monarchs where not keen on encouraging regardless of what form it took. Subsequently the dragons developed a system of feudal realms known as Dragondoms, living lives that consist mostly of resting on large hoards of taxpayer gold, calculating how to distribute it to various projects around their realm, making sure the local stock of elephant is plentiful and constructing elaborate works of art and history, a first for the dragons as a species.

Common Myths and Legends

How Dragons came to be
The gods were all dead, their bodies still freshly rent asunder by each other’s weapons as the blood fuelled a storming ocean below. As the gods began to rot, the myriad of miniscule beings that had once sprung unconsciously from the raw essence of the gods and mindlessly prowled their bodies now became awake, some venturing into this new existence with a curious disposition while others stayed and made themselves at home on the dead gods as their decaying corpses slowly fed the creation of the universe. All that is, except for a peculiar creature that lived in the heart of the god Vrach, “The unquenchable fury of a thousand raging fires”.
This creature instead took some of their raw soul inside it, becoming itself a raging fire that sought only to dominate, consume or destroy. Finding itself trapped inside the cooling heart, this creature of fire tore itself free of the confines of godly flesh and spawned a hundred siblings to help in its escape. First they broke their ribs asunder to fashion claws, bones and armour for themselves, giving them enormous resilience, strength and tempering their fury. They then gorged themselves like rabid dogs on Vrach’s flesh, giving them mortal forms but anchoring their soul magic so that they would not vanish like the old gods.
Finally this host of dragons ripped and tore their way out of Vrach’s stomach, fashioning large wings out of the gods skin and set out into the world to steal, ravage and kill.

Lifespan

900-1100

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Dragon scales are of varying bright colours on the “top” side of the dragon’s body, but turn into shades of blue and white on the “bottom”, giving it the appearance of a clear sky or a simple passing cloud to the unaware observer below.