Dragon. (Art by Sandara)
| “ | You laughed at our existence. Regarded us as nothing more than fairy tale. Gaze upon the land you stand on, boy. What was once green and lush became nothing more than ash and cinder. Life extinguished with nothing more than a breath. We are fire made flesh. And fire is power. We are NO laughing matter. | „ |
| ~ Derous in his true dragon form to Sir Gawain |
| “ | Dragons are incarnations of power itself. They worshiped no gods, they bow to no kings. Their purity of thought to live and die by their own will is what makes them supreme. Quite the magnificent card you've been dealt, Mrs. Hawkins. | „ |
| ~ Professor Broom |
Dragons, or Urulóki, are a race of ancient and powerful reptilian beings. As feared by others as they were admired in the supernatural world, they are immortal, strong, intelligent, and can breathe fire onto their enemies to where they can destroy entire landscapes with their breath alone.
Overview
While dragons are normally regarded as myths by most of humanity, there have been reported sightings of these creatures or beings in a similar shape to them. Widely regarded as terrifying yet awe-inspiring, they can be found all over the world and are frequently referred to in Asian and medieval European folklore. A majority of dragons can be quite aggressive and territorial whilst others only choose to live in harmony not bothering to threaten the humans below, regardless of their staining in the world.
Dragons are especially revered and worshipped in Asian culture and religion as they are said to be wise and powerful creatures, the mentors of kings, and the creators of kingdoms. Asian dragons are believed to be a separate species from European dragons. Most of these Asian dragons reside in the sky but only two races that are earthbound; the Fuzanglon, which are underworld dragons who guard treasures, and the Dilong, which are Earth dragons who live underground and control the flow of water. Many East Asian deities and demigods have dragons as their personal mounts or companions.
Dragons also play major or notable roles biblical scriptures but are used as allegorical terms for malevolent entities, although interestingly, the description of the Leviathan in the Book of Job fits the appearance of a dragon especially when God tells Job that out of his nostrils and mouth "come forth burning lights and sparks" which might indicate that dragons lived alongside humanity in the far distant past. Another was when Satan took the form of a dragon to combat the forces of Heaven in the Book of Revelations.
History
Enuma Elish
The origins of dragons vary from tale to tale but a universally accepted belief is that dragons originated from the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Tiamat who is often titled the Mother of Dragons. After Tiamat was slain by Marduk, her blood nearly flooded the Earth spreading throughout various sections of the planet, particularly in areas that make up the elemental components of the planet. Some scholars suggest that when Tiamat was beheaded by Marduk, one of the serpents that make up her body bit his hand forcing him to drop her head and it fell on the earth. Her head was like a mountain, "greater and more terrible" than any volcano and the stump of her neck had her blood flow, threatening to burn the earth and boil the sea. Serpents, or wyrms, would slither away throughout parts of the world that were beneath the prying eyes of the gods.
Tiamat's head, which is now perceived as a mountain, became the first volcano on Earth. The first dragons emerged when her divine blood gave life to the elemental concoction which a particular draconid class embodies; red dragons emerged from volcanoes, blue dragons from the oceans, green dragons from the forests, and black dragons from the shadows. Gold dragons were said to have emerged from the chemical makeup that creates the alloy of gold itself but with supernatural elements in this case and are an extremely rare breed. White dragons are believed to have emerged from the sky. The wyrms that scattered throughout the planet were theorized to have evolved into dinosaurs or dracos.
Antediluvian Epoch
These dragons resided amongst the dinosaurs, with many far outliving their prehistoric cousins and even surviving various extinction events. After the fall of Adam and Eve and the first humans creating settlements around the globe which was now devoid of such ancient beasts, the dragons still retained their position among the hierarchical pyramid. They did not bother the Protoplasts or their Antediluvian descendants, but their imagery spawned numerous tales in carvings, murals, and biblical/mythical poems. Though they regularly preyed upon the herds of animals the humans founded and tended, making them invasive species.
As the dragons evolved, so did their power and intelligence, which eventually led to them being capable of producing coherent words and sentences. However, these dragons were rare and few as a majority of their race were still feral and hostile. Additionally, dragons were fiercely territorial and would ward off not only humans but also other dragons. Individual dragons came to rule large swaths of territory and battled with their rivals for dominion of those lands.
While the earliest humans held the dragons in awe and reverence, some dragons instead looked down upon humans, viewing them as vicious animals that murder and pillage to satiate their lust and pride. As such, these dragons took to destroying such humans even at the cost of those who did no wrong. Such actions only served to raise tensions between dragons and humans, one that exploded during the days of Noah when the Nephilim's evil encompassed the planet and humanity. The dragons were among the very few beasts powerful enough to pose a threat to the Nephilim, with these monstrous giants eventually forcing the humanity to take up arms against them.
Mythic Age
Over the millennia, these conflicts slowly subsided well into the Mythic Age where magic became one of the primary driving forces that made its way into societal norms. Dragons that had no quarrel with humanity instead chose to live insolation or even coexisted alongside them. Additionally, with the introduction of magic after the Flood Age, dragons also would dabble into these mystical forces which only served to enhance their already formidable power and intellect. Dragons that were still somewhat feral came to occupy the niche of top predator, not ruler.
There were still dragons that deeply hated humans as they carried the memories of the atrocities they committed during the Flood Age. Initially, they were powerless against these mighty beasts, even with powerful magic and technology in their disposal, until one human was led by a dwarf to the mountain of where they first sprung and carved a blade from the black sediment of the mountain. The material of this blade would be used to successfully pierce their impenetrable hides and with their studies of how the Ichneumon kills them by biting their necks gave humans a fighting chance against them.
Dragon populations were greatly reduced in number and took a devastating blow after the Grand Culling of the Wyrms. This had many believe that dragons were now extinct. Even so, they cemented themselves in the fantastical imagery of humanity, either helping the latter destroy the forces of darkness, or become the very beasts they so greatly feared in European folklore.
Powers and Abilities
| “ | Rule one: Never piss off a dragon. Rule two: read rule one. | „ |
| ~ Abigail Hawkins |
Dragons are some of the most dangerous and extraordinarily powerful beasts, with Professor Broom regarding them as the apex predators of the supernatural world. While they are normally seen as breathing streams of powerful fire from their mouths, they possess an extensively wide variety of power and strength, with each dragon being stronger than the last and vice versa but this is all dependent on either their hierarchical ranking or species.
Their most common use of attack is emitting streams of fire, and the older the dragon, the hotter the heat they can emit. They are also said to be highly connected to magic and more intelligent species learn magic often using destructive and defensive spells, as such the species is known to range from numerous elements. Some dragons could even combine their inherent elemental power with the magic they learned and could use effectively. The combined usage of their inherent power and magic provides for even more devastating techniques.
Lóng dragons, or simply Lóng, are strongly associated with water and weather in popular religion. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. The dragon kami is the dispenser of rain as well as the zoomorphic representation of the yang masculine power of generation. Basically, Lóng dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, and floods. Lóng dragons are often regarded as being far stronger than European dragons although the subject is intensely debated as European dragons have showcased power on par or even greater than Lóng dragons.
Types of Dragons
Dragon Class
- Red Dragons (dragons born of volcanic fire known for their ferocity and power) (class)
- Blue Dragons (dragons born of untamed oceans known for their calmness but with power like a raging river) (class)
- Green Dragons (dragons born of encompassing forests known for being agents for the forces of nature) (class)
- Black Dragons (dragons born of shadows known for their malevolence and destruction) (class)
- White Dragons (dragons born of unkempt skies known for their benevolence and speed) (class)
- Gold Dragons (the rarest species of dragons purported to be the greatest of their kind) (class)
- Lóng Dragons (dragons of divine origin and implied to be the most powerful of all dragons)
Draconid
- Imugi (a proto-dragon which must survive for thousands of years in order to become a fully fledged dragon)
- Culebre (a dragon that lives in a cave, guards treasures and keeps xanas and anjanas as prisoners)
- Wyvern (a weaker two-winged dragon known to be in groups)
- Qiulong (horned dragons considered to be the mightiest in the globe)
- Kirin (chimeric divine horned dragons on par with Qiulong)
- Basilisk (serpentine draconic monsters that can kill with a glance)
- Cockatrice (avian draconic monsters that can turn any in its line of sight into stone)
- Zmeu (half-breed offspring of a human and a dragon, noted to be stronger than their parents)
