Dragons

The Legendary Dragons are the peak of all of creation. They are the supreme living beings in all the brass realms, the only things beyond them are the gods themselves.
Elder dragons are the some of the only living creatures who can pick fights with Greater Demons or Angels and expect to win.

Description

Dragons are superficially similar to Lizards. They have 4 legs, 2 wings, long, sinuous necks and tails. Their scales are harder than steel, their claws and fangs sharper than swords. Their roars can shatter houses and their breath weapons can devastate cities. Their minds are keen, far surpassing the average human in intelligence and they can live for countless years.

Dragons are long-distance flying predators, able to cover large stretches of land during their hunts for food.
Dragons tend to sleep for long times in-between more active periods; months or even years are not uncommon. Once they wake from their sleep they enter times of heightened activity which often spells trouble for nearby creatures, especially cattle farmers.

Elemental beings

Every dragon has a magnificent innate magical talent, their nature is so interwoven with magic itself that dragons take on traits of their environment as part of their growth.

Frost dragons are dragons that grow up in cold regions and are the most common dragon variant on Haven. Frost Dragons are immune to the cold and turn their foes to ice with their breath and presence.
Fire dragons stem from volcanoes or hot regions such as deserts. They are cloaked in fire and burn their foes to ashes and can swim through molten rock without issue.
Wind dragons originate from high mountaintops, open plains and other windy environments. They are the fastest of all dragons and strike from the skies with blindign speed. They can also harness lightning as a weapon.
Earth dragons grow up underground, in caves and the like. They are the most durable and physically strong dragon variant, can produce produce deadly shockwaves as a breath weapon and can cause earthquakes.
Other dragon variants also exist, such as the poisonous swamp dragons or the aquatic sea-dragons.

Behavior & Psychology

Dragons are apex predators, not social creatures like humans. As a result their psychology differs drastically from what a human might expect from another intelligent creature.
Dragons are used to a solitary existence and indeed tend to get irritated if they are around other creatures for too long. They can tolerate other creatures and even find amusement or utility in them but they don't have a need for company like humans do.

No dragon, not even the nicest among them, is humble. They are all some form of arrogant and they know they are better than you. They do not suffer disrespect and if they even suspect that somebody has insulted them they will fly into a furious rage.
They also do not particularly care about the opinions of anything that isn't another dragon and thus have no issue seeing intelligent creatures as food.
Though they are incredibly intelligent, dragons are incredibly prideful and they appreciate having their ego stroked. In fact, dragons need to be careful to not let their guard drop, as flatterers may indeed have untoward intentions!

Treasure
Male dragons covet treasure as part of their social hierarchy and mating rituals.
Male dragons compete for status among each-other, using their exploits, territories and treasures. Those dragons with higher status are more likely to attract female dragons and create strong progeny.
Male dragons are interested in anything rare and valuable, not due to any inherent value, but simply because they can then claim that they are superior to other males for having something that they do not.

Females also compete amongst each-other, but they mainly do so only during mating season and it takes the form of active combat rather than posturing and hoarding of wealth.

Life cycle

Youth:
A Dragon is born out of an egg, and is immediately able to innately speak their own language - draconic. They start their life immediately smarter than the average human and quickly learn to cast their first spell by experimentation.
Young dragons are most often raised by their parents, taught how to hunt and behave themselves, as well as magic, history and other skills. As they grow up, they take on the characteristics of their environment, taking on an elemental nature such as fire, ice, water, wind, stone etc. Their scales change from a dull grey to a colour and consistency matching their element after just a year or two.
Two decades after their birth, a dragon reaches maturity and leaves its nest and parents behind forever.

Adolescence:
After leaving their nest, a dragon is likely to seek an area yet unclaimed by another dragon, and try to claim is as their own. They do this by first making a great ruckus. This will attract any challengers to the dragon's claim as well as make all the local creatures aware of their new place in the food-chain.
If its attempt to claim a territory is unsuccessful, due to the territory already being claimed by an older dragon or different kind of monster, the dragon will retreat and seek its luck elsewhere.
A dragon might lay claim to an area inhabited by Humans or other sentient creatures. In such a case, it will often demand or at the very least encourage some form of regular tribute. Often times this is merely the dragon agreeing not to attack the Humans in question in exchange for regular payments of food or gold, but it may also be a promise of protection.
Adolescent dragons are the most likely of all dragons to die. They are inexperienced and have not reached their full size and are rather suddenly deprived of the protection of their parents. They are at risk of dying when trying to lay claim to territory or hunting by themselves, either to other dragons, various monsters or even Dragonslayers.

Maturity:
A dragon, once it has claimed its domain, is unlikely to move from it unless circumstances force it to. A dragon will expand their domain over time, as the dragon grows older. This may lead to conflict with other creatures in the areas of land the domain expands into. Apart from that however, a dragon will patrol within its domain and only leave in order to find a mate or to obtain treasure.
While both sexes of dragons claim territory, only males accumulate treasure hordes. Female dragons might collect shiny baubles or magic items but they do this out of mere curiosity rather than as part of building their status as males do.
Females also hold smaller territories and are significantly more likely to migrate.

When a dragoness feels the urge to reproduce, she will leave her territory and search for a mate who she deems sufficient, generally aiming for the most powerful dragon she knows in her age-bracket. She will compete with other female dragons to be that male's mate through violent combat.
If she is victorious and her competition is made to retreat to find mates elsewhere, she will join her chosen male and live in his territory. The dragoness will stay with her mate at least until the resulting young reach adolescence. Occasionally a female will bond with a male for life and not return to her territory.

Old age & Death
Dragons have to eat more and spend more and more time asleep, staying in slumber for years and decades. Old dragons spend most of their time asleep or in a state of low activity in order to preserve energy.
However dragons do not grow weaker as they age, they grow larger and more powerful right until they die.
Dragons are about 10-20m long when they reach adulthood at two decades, However, Dragons can live for thousands of years and never fully stop growing. They can grow to be up to 100m long from snout to tail, large enough to crush grown men by accidentally stepping on them without even noticing. Allegedly some dragons can become ten-thousand years old before time claims them.

A male dragons death, be it from time or from combat, always induces a frenzy in nearby young dragons vying for territory, as well as both dragons and other creatures making haste to claim their hoard.

Dragons, Gold & Curses

Male dragons collect various forms of treasure as part of their attempts at attracting partners. As these forms of treasure attract other creatures that want to steal that treasure, they have several methods of keeping their treasure safe. From various creatures living in symbiosis with a dragon, guarding it with spells and hazardous terrain, all the way to simply sitting on it. However dragons have some methods that are quite unique to them.
Specifically, if a dragon has spent an extended period of time near its treasure, the treasure in question becomes affected by the dragon's curse.

Dragon-Cursed Treasure: Treasure owned by a dragon will become cursed. If a thief steals it, the thief will then become a victim of that curse. The effects of the curse vary based on the dragon, but common variants include afflicting the thief with obsession, paranoia, insatiable greed or physical agony until such time that the treasure is returned to the dragon's hoard.
Notably, other dragons are immune to the effects of this curse.

Treasure Sense: The Dragon can pin-point where all pieces of its hoard are at any time, so long that the treasure is soaked with its power and curse. If even a single coin is stolen, the dragon knows and flies into a furious rage over the arrogance of whatever trespasser dared steal from it.

Lifting the curse: Treasure marked by the Dragon's curse remain cursed and can be tracked by the dragon until either they spend a significant time apart from the dragon or until the dragon dies. No attempts at dispelling the curse by use of magic are ever successful if neither of these conditions are met.
However the dragon's curse has also been known to linger over years and even decades in items of great obsession to the dragon, long after it's death.

History

Dragons are ancient. Their origins are long lost to time, even to the dragons themselves. However, The Dragons themselves insist that they are a natural species, that they were not created by any god, that they never had any kings, that they bowed to none.

Dragon attacks have signifficantly shaped the culture of nearby societies, largely in the form of encouraging houses to have sturdy basements to hide in.

Hunting strategy

Dragons are incredibly difficult to kill. Fighting dragons alone is considered an impossible feat, with most dragons being slain as adolescents by groups of veteran Dragonslayers. Effectively it takes the strength of an army to kill a dragon.
They also lack any distinct weaknesses, with every part of their body capable of being used as a weapon, able to attack both in melee and at range, resisting and themselves using magic as well as being quite mobile and durable. They also have sufficient intelligence and sharp senses to avoid being tricked, trapped or ambushed.
Mundane weapons are unlikely to have much effect, being unable to get past the dragon's scales. The same applies to many lesser forms of magic, most of which are ineffective. Trying to affect a dragon's body or mind directly with magic is also unlikely to work.
A dragon will be strongest inside their den, as they will know it perfectly and will have turned it into a hunting ground for intruders and reinforced it with magic and environmental hazards. If at all possible they should be engaged outside their den.

Taunting the dragon may be effective in order to get it to engage, as they have a very high opinion of themselves. Accusing a dragon of cowardice or threatening to spread rumors to other dragons is a great way of getting the dragon's attention, though it is also guaranteed to enrage the dragon and make it focus on the taunter. The older the dragon, the less it will be affected by such taunts.
Alternatively an attacker may target a dragon's den or hoard, which is nearly guaranteed to get the dragon to commit to a confrontation.

From that point onwards it becomes a question of whether the attacker(s) can kill the dragon before it can kill them.
An attacker should procure potions of healing as well as means to resist the dragon's element. It is best to reduce the dragon's mobility, by either magic, weapons such as ballistae or nets, or by shredding its wings. Otherwise it will engage with the attackers on its own terms, such as retreating between uses of its magic and breath weapon or repositioning to attack the most fragile members of their attackers at will or refusing to engage outright.
Poisons will be less effective but will still be more beneficial than not using them in most cases.

Dragons are proud creatures but most are not so proud that they will fight to the death if they feel like they might die in battle. They will usually try to retreat and may even abandon their territory and den rather than die to an attacker. Female dragons will retreat more quickly that male dragons and will usually only fight to the death if they are defending their young.
If a dragon feels backed into a corner they become even more dangerous as they throw all caution to the wind and either try to escape or aim for mutual annihilation. It is usually easier to let a dragon escape once it is sufficiently wounded rather than kill it, though there is a small chance that it may later return to seek vengeance for the humiliation.

Appearance:

Dragons are reptilian with four legs and two wings. They have long tails and necks.

A dragon's appearance will vary based on its natural element. Stone dragons will have stone-like scales, wind dragons will have metallic or white scales and Fire dragons have red-glowing blood, to list some examples.
Usually dragons also have horns, spikes or fins to better suit their environment.

At Adulthood (about 20 years) A dragon will be 10 to 15m snout to tail. At this point their growth slows drastically but never fully stops.
Old dragons (a century or more) can be 50m long.
The most ancient and oldest of dragons (1000 years+) can be up to 100m long.