Dragons
Despite common misconceptions, dragons are not reptiles. Instead, they are synapsids—warm-blooded, egg-laying creatures more closely related to the ancient precursors of mammals. When dragons were created, the beings that underwent transformation were first devolved into a primitive state, then reshaped through magic, granting them their distinctive forms and abilities.
All modern dragons fall into one of three categories. However, many believe that ancient leviathans, dubbed Chthonic Dragons, still exist deep below the earth and beneath the seas. While legends of these primordial beings are numerous, no solid evidence confirms their existence. Many scholars presume Chthonic Dragons to be purely mythological, as they exist only in fragmented stories and scattered folklore.
Categories of Extant Dragons
Dragons alive today can be categorized into three primary groups:
- Chimeric Dragons – Dragons with unusual features, such as six limbs or traits borrowed from multiple creatures, appearing as though they were pieced together from different beings.
- Serpentine Dragons – Long-bodied, fluid in motion, often wingless, yet capable of defying gravity through no apparent means.
- Organic Dragons – The most biologically grounded dragons, typically four-limbed and shaped by natural environmental pressures rather than excessive magical alteration.
Each of these groups is further divided into smaller, more specialized classifications.
Scale Color and Superstition
For centuries, scholars have attempted to classify dragons based on the color and texture of their scales, often linking them to elements or abstract natural forces. While these classifications remain prevalent in folklore, modern research from the College of Aradest suggests that such correlations are largely coincidental.
While environmental factors may influence a dragon’s coloration and scale texture, no definitive connection exists between a dragon’s appearance and its elemental or magical affinities. Early scholars likely misinterpreted limited observations, leading to superstitious theories that—while deeply ingrained in popular belief—lack empirical support. Today, it is widely accepted that scale traits are evolutionary adaptations, shaped by survival needs rather than intrinsic markers of a dragon’s power or nature.
Dragon Taxonomy
In its time, the College of Aradest asserted that Chthonic Dragons were real and that they were the progenitors of all modern dragons. As such, the following taxonomy is widely accepted:
Taxonomic Structure for Dragons
| Rank | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia | Multicellular, motile organisms. |
| Phylum | Chordata | Creatures with a spinal structure. |
| Subphylum | Vertebrata | Possessing a vertebral column. |
| Class | Synapsida | Warm-blooded, egg-laying creatures distinct from reptiles. |
| Order | Chthoniforme | "Nightmare forms" – the break from normal taxonomy, encompassing dragons and other magical offshoots. |
| Family | Dracoforme | "Dragon-shaped" creatures, distinguishing true dragons from their more chaotic Chthonic ancestors. |
| Genus | Chimeridraco | Six-limbed, highly magical dragons with hybridized features. |
| Serpentidraco | Long-bodied, wingless dragons sustained by Aetheric flight. | |
| Terradraco | Four-limbed, more naturally evolved dragons. |
Chthonic Myths
Beneath the surface of the world—below the deepest caverns, beyond the blackened trenches of the sea—something lingers. Something ancient. Something vast.
Scholars debate their existence, dismissing them as myths, as exaggerations born of fear and superstition. But stories persist. Stories of behemoths with too many heads, each whispering in its own voice, each wielding a different power, their bodies adorned with scales that shift and shimmer like the primal forces of the world itself.
There are tales of a great platinum beast, a radiant guardian of balance, its wings said to blot out the sky when unfurled. Others speak in hushed voices of a writhing horror, a coiled leviathan so massive it encircles entire continents, its breath stirring the tides and birthing storms in its wake. Some claim that in the darkest abyss, where light has never touched, tentacled schemers slumber, their dreams spilling nightmares into the waking world.
In the forgotten tongues of sailors, there is a warning: The sea remembers. Some believe that within its shifting depths, great serpentine titans still drift, their translucent bodies glowing from within, carrying the fire of creation in their bellies. The ancient ones who dared to seek them out never returned, and the wreckage of their vessels washes ashore like an offering, carrying nothing but silence and salt.
And yet, none can say for certain what lies below. Are these beings the remnants of a world long past? A warning of what lurks beneath reality? Or something else entirely—something waiting, watching, patient as the tides and endless as the dark?
The truth, if there is one, remains lost.
For now.
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