I don't know why but I love dragons................
Perhaps the most awe inspiring of all creatures, dragons can instil a deep sense of fear simply by their very presence. While not invincible, their intelligence, size and sheer power make them terrifying opponents.
Believed to live for centuries, these huge reptiles come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours but there are traits that are common to all individuals. These include four legs, wings and a long neck and tail. Dragons are also beings of great intelligence, they can speak many languages and are accomplished spell casters.
They have a great love of gold and other treasures and a dragon's horde is what can attract the brave, the foolhardy, and the just plain greedy to seek them out. If encountered in its lair a dragon will often engage the intruders in conversation, gaining amusement from its feeling of superiority and in trying to manipulate the strangers into providing information or maybe performing specific tasks.
The oldest and most powerful of the species may be so self-assured that they won't even acknowledge the presence of "lesser beings". This doesn't mean they will have gone unnoticed however, and caution is still to be advised.
Sometimes a dragon's high degree of self importance can make it possible for the more quick-witted of individuals to get the better of the creature. Not surprisingly, this is a highly dangerous practise and, if it starts to believe that it no longer has the upper hand (or even if the conversation no longer holds the dragon's interest), things can get ugly very quickly.
All dragons are capable of flight and are, in fact, masters of the air. This gives them an incredible advantage when encountered outside as they can swoop and hover with seemingly very little effort.
The most notorious of a dragon's powers has to be its breath weapon. While an impressive talent in its own right, when combined with their skill in the air it becomes a weapon of devastating proportions. Although it is well documented that these creatures breath fire, this is only true of dragons of certain colours. Red dragons in particular are renowned for reducing things to cinders, while black dragons can send forth a jet of highly corrosive acid. Other breath weapons that have been encountered include cones of freezing cold, clouds of poisonous gas and bolts of lightning.
The word amongst dragon-slayers (a dangerous and often short-lived profession) is that the potency of a dragon's breath weapon is linked to its health. The theory being that, the closer one of these things is to death, the less danger there is if it breaths on you. Assuming there is any truth to this line of thought, of what use is such information? and to whom? After all, dragons have plenty of other physical weapons at their disposal. They can bite, claw, kick, attack with their wings and tail or simply make use of their bulk and crush anything too slow to get out of the way.
If caught and subdued at an early age (within about a hundred years of their hatching) it is possible to bend a dragon's will to become a servant to a master. This is something only attempted by the most powerful of warriors and mages, but success has its obvious rewards, not least that of becoming a Dragon Rider.
Unknown "Lady" Purring
- 16 years, 4 months, 26 days ago
