Tell me about the role dragons play in your settings cosmos, Veeky Forums

The void dragon hatched on the moon, and out of boredom created all life on earth, including eventually the regular dragons, because he had no one to talk with. He eventually decided the dragons were a HUGE mistake because they were all egocentric as hell (he'd have liked Dunkelzhan, but he spent a few centuries asleep and missed him), and eventually decided this whole metahumanity thing seemed to be working out and maybe they'd collectively reach his level at some point.

But in the meantime he's pulling the strings of the vast majority of corporations on Luna while setting up the anticorporate factions to hijack Mars colonization efforts so he has an "opponent" to play the mother of all 4x games against because he doesn't really have anything else to do.

He also has deep insecurities stemming from being clearly the most powerful being in the known universe yet having no idea how he was created, whether there's a power higher than him, and if there is any real meaning to life.

The short answer is the ones that typically go feral don't. Usually, at least.
Instead they have their crack team of extremely loyal soldiers (almost entirely the humanoid dragon men) who are specifically trained in how to kill a major dragon. They send out Kobold (who have the highest resistance, numbers, and expendability) to find where the feral dragons have taken up residence, have them report back, then send the dragon killers (Dragoons, because why not, I can't into names) to go and slay them. The soldiers are loyal, because otherwise the whole plan just backfires on them and you get an armed uprising of the people.
Which, technically, already happened. Mostly just because the person leading it had stronger loyalty to one dragon who was wronged by his peers than the rest of them.
Now he's on their big ol councill of major dragons despite being a regular ol dragon man for the triplet of reasons that are A. It looks good to the populace that WAS thinking of uprising, B. They're pretty sure they'll outlive him naturally, and C. He has proven very, very hard to kill.

The primordial intelligent mortal species whose civilization was shattered by the gods, fearing the wyrms would overthrow them. Those gods spend a great deal of time and effort keeping the scattered remnants of dragon kind isolated and territorial lest they unify once again to challenge the divine who no longer possess as much power as they had in ancient times.

>Tell me about the role dragons play in your settings cosmos, Veeky Forums

If a kobold can live for 100-200 years it becomes a Dragon (this may or may not be just a legend, but in the same breadth a Kobold that DOES live to 20 years will develop functional wings, so the hope remains among their kind and the fear remains to outsiders).

Dragons themselves are massive, fiercely intelligent, greedy, semi-egotistical, incredibly magical creatures that can at times be as powerful as demigods or even weak titans.
Dragons are the stuff of legends, myths, and are understandable worshiped by numerous cultures and sapient species beyond just Kobold & Dragonmen.

Dragons however are limited by their grand size, as although they can effortlessly shapeshift into a humanoid form; the magic required to dissipate their size and weight is beyond any mortal means. To make matters worse; Dragons are cursed with an equally overwhelming greed to for new knowledge: science, magic, political intrigue, and economics- they desire it all just as they do precious treasures.

It is very difficult being a 35ft tall scientist/magician; Dragons circumvent their physical limitations by commission or enslaving small armies of humanoids (typically goblins or kobolds) to operate the smiths, laboratories, libraries, and arcanums they've meticulously crafted as a toy maker might construct a doll house. The published journals of Dragons have kept Draconic a relevant language for thousands of years.

they dont exist

Aside from legends and art, they don't exist at all.

The primordial goddess that shaped the world decided she wanted kids, and so jumbled up the best animals, resulting in a bunch of dragon gods.

Everything went pretty downhill from there.

The dragons were sort of neutral angels for the first generation of gods who gave them their powers to enforce their will. Then the first generation died and with them, the dragon's power, subjecting them to real world conditions that a dragon would physically face like the square-cube law. They didn't lose intelligence tho, and a select few were able to survive thanks to the clergy needing them. Whatever civilization they had has crumbled and the second generation of gods has only restored some of their power

I run in Eberron, so... Progenitor Gods, according to the legends, IF the legends are true in this particular iteration of Eberron. Also huge Xenophobic Assholes.

The ancient dragon Bicmeleghuragg serves as much of the structural framework of the void ship Unity's Triumph, as well as the source of all of its magical power. He relies on an entire school of mages to convert his intrinsic magical aura into motive force, and they in turn rely on orcish laborers working in elven greenhouses to meet their needs, and so on and such forth. In return, big B shelters a precious clutch of his eggs and, though mostly hibernating, scours the stars for signs of a suitable world to replace the dying one they left behind many generations ago.

The main plot concerns a group of antagonists who have located just such a world, except that big B, and by extension most of the council, does not agree. They seek to hold the dragon eggs hostage in order to force a colonization attempt.

most dragons are content to be just dragons, hoarding gold, amassing followers, and being killed for said gold

every so often a dragon decides he likes ruling, and takes over the local kingdom if they are evil, or becomes an esteemed member of the court if they are good. their values don't always align with other races, so even a well-meaning dragon can make a lot of political friction, but only a foiol would ignore their intellect, wisdom, and hundreds of years of experience. they often consider the kingdom they help rule part of their hoard, and seek to maximise the welfare of the people to maximize the value. although even a good dragon would sooner swallow his tounge than admit that he cares about his followers more than as a measure of wealth

tyrannical dragons rule with an iron fist, and seek only to gain more for their horde, whether it be gold and silver, zealos followers, or even pilfered art. they can quickly amass large armies to back up their holdings

active dragons are not well regarded by more animalistic dragons, who see their need for recognition by mortals to be immaterial, and a dragon horde consisting of anything but precious metal to be phony. the sentiment is often mutual, as they see those dragons as lazy good for nothings, who will never amount to anything, and while they admit that no hoarde is complete without treasure, it needs to be complemented by more intellectual treasures like followers, monuments, or even learned scholars who can keep up with their intellect

i actually like it when dragons exist as a part of the ecosystem, it just makes it feel more natural

They're basically biological weapons the Gods created in order to stop any individual one of them from seizing the prize that is the individual planet they're on.

They're the physical incarnations of dead gods, all of whom hated mortals and routinely punished them in cruel and unusual ways. Dragons don't quite possess the will or cognition of the gods, so much as they manifest whatever shred of consciousness or passion might have remained after the gods were destroyed. As a result, dragons are largely unintelligent and hellbent on destruction.

Dragons become exponentially more intelligent and self-aware as they grow older. Elder dragons return to the plane of the gods, where they become the revitalized form of said gods. Actually managing to slay a dragon before this time would totally and irrecoverably destroy the essence of whatever god it embodies, but this also unleashes some immediate devastation or calamity, such as a blight or some other environmental or ecological disaster that has long-term consequences on the world.

tl;dr - crapsack world stuck in a hopeless cycle

Dragons are pretty much just a varied group reptiles descended from an ancestral dragon. However, there are a fuck ton of species and most of which are magical in some way.

dragons are nigh unstoppable giant engines of destruction and chaos among a otherwise low magic world.
a powerful group of wizards joined together in a effort to find a way to fight fire with fire and turn themselves into dragons.
however the group spilt apart with some members wanting to become dragons to rule over mankind and the rest wanting to save mankind.

They were the sole source of light and warmth in the world in its early years, when the sun was not yet lit. There used to be so many that their hordes during mating season blanketed entire mountains.

Old ass magical lizards, akin to dinosaurs. They and their kind were here first before us.

Dragons are alien invaders who accidentally stumbled upon the planet during a war of ascension between the Allfather of their kind and his son as they fought through the empty vastness of space. As the two waged war in the skies above their reckless use of magic disturbed the ancient evil slumbering within the planet. Its servants crawled out of the seas and fought against the dragons, who were surprised to find life powerful enough to challenge them and fought a war so destructive and terrible they tore open a hole to the plane of the gods. Weakened from their fighting the dragons and eldritch evils were sealed away by this new foe. The two dragons turned into the moons and the abominations were sent back into the depths of the ocean. The gods eventually went around to creating humanity and the setting as the players know it.

They are also to blame for an incident that nearly tore the world in half and almost inadvertently released the eldritch evil within when the survivors banded together and conducted a ritual to throw the moons out of orbit and (hopefully) release the dragon lords from their long slumber. One of the gods sacrificed himself to stop it and the remaining dragons were forced to go back into hiding. In the process an artifact the gods made to seal the breach and protect the world from further intrusions from other dimensions was lost to them (and everyone else).

a lot of these dragons seem a bit unorthodox

Mine: Other than that, by the time the main civilizations have cemented themselves the dragons are so few that it's rare to come across one unless you're an unlucky village who has one living nearby, in which case you need either a well-prepared company of soldiers or a hero to take them out. So like your average fantasy dragons.

The cosmos? Not much. In the grand scheme of things they're not that much different than any other animal.

On the planet they reside? They've had quite an impact, but this is more due to various political and economic powers using a dragon's presence as a leverage point rather than the dragon's active intervention. In ages past dragons had vast hunting grounds. They needed to, to feed themselves. They were big, they were tough, but that meant not many could congregate in one area. They have memories better than elephants and would travel leagues to mate. The colors kept to themselves, being untrusting of other hues. Call it a draconic uncanny valley.

When the common races got organized they did something about their fear of dragons. They hunted them. They got damn good at it, too. That's when the tales of dragon hoards spread. Dragons weren't as cunning as many made them out to be, but they were perceptive, and knew that shiny rocks and little round metal bits could keep them alive. They bought off the hunters with what they had, then flew off to steal more. The more they stole, the more hunters that came.

The magic? Oh, they would pick up a few spells here and there, over the centuries. Actual study of the arcane is a recent development a few have turned to, desperate for some avenue to save their race.

Nowadays dragons are all but extinct. Most have been driven into hiding, either in mortal forms among the commoners, or so far into inhospitable land you have to be a dragon - or something equally mighty - to reach them. The purity of color has been abandoned. Golds mate with Blacks, Silvers with Reds. They have to, out of necessity. Millennia of keeping to themselves (and not having many generations besides) means that many of these split colors are sterile, or rife with health issues. The elders teach what they can - laws, history, a spell for hiding - before the whelp causes too much ruckus and calls the hunters back

Dragons were the "mortal" beings that the Creator's servants thought were good enough to let into the world. They later changed their minds, because actual mortals proved easier to manage on the cosmic side of things.

The dragons in my setting are simply lolis with too much money and power.

Thus, the party literally cannot keep away from them.

In my setting they're incredibly rare. There used to be a lot more of them but a kingdom to the south took up dragon-hunting as a sport after they thinned the dragons out enough to not need to kill them just to live. Dragons grow as they age and never stop - no one knows if they have a real life span but some legends speak of dragons older than the first human civilizations that were still alive during the dragon purge.

As far as anyone knows there's only one left; an ancient beast of a dragon, large enough to perch over an ancient tower of a forgotten civilization on the lonely chain of islands it lives on. The southern kingdom technically owns the land but won't risk attacking the dragon to claim it. It's just too damn big to kill. In truth, the dragon hasn't moved in centuries. It's been stricken paralyzed with grief over the death of its own kind and now languishes in sorrow atop the tower, waiting for a death that may never come.

There's one more dragon left in existence. It's the mountain range that borders the southern kingdom. It's been hibernating for so long and is so old that it sunk into the ground and the spines of its back literally look like a mountain range. When it stirs slightly, the entire continent feels it. It will awaken one day.

the word "incredibly rare" is pretty common to describe dragons

what would it be like if dragons were, not exactly common, but have a lot more presence?

Intelligent creatures who are very large and thus very powerful respectively and are otherwise strongly individualistic in terms of goals and objectives.
I used D&D dragons because I didn't WANT dragons to have some cliched importance in the cosmos beyond that of a potent and power species relative to PC races.

They'd probably be a much bigger threat to mortal existence then. Dragons typically lean towards being more intelligent than other animals and are smart enough to realize mortals are either a serious threat to their existence or a good source of things they want. Hell if they were smart enough some people might worship them or seek their council on matters where wisdom is needed.

i do recall that dragon cults are a thing
and high level adventurers provide some nice checks and balances against dragons
>dragon population swells
>adventurers cull them for loot
>dragon population diminishes, adventurers go back to their old jobs, or develop crop rotation, where they hunt different monsters every year, and leave every 4th year fallow
>without being hunted dragons populations swell
>cycle begins anew

The longest lived species that is technically still mortal. They are incredibly powerful, natural shapeshifters, and are capable of FTL without needing any technology.
As a result, even the least ambitious of dragons typically has more wealth than entire races by the time they're a young adult.
Most dragons spend their time as Dilettante, drifting between different hobbies, schemes, hordes, and other distractions in order to fight back the ever encroaching feeling of utter boredom that eventually envelopes the average dragon. Though many dragons all have different ways of fighting this feeling back, they all eventually succumb to insanity and become self-destructive until they either get themselves killed or kill them self.
There is no record of a dragon ever living till the end of its natural lifespan, but there is one that has made it the goal of his life to see just how long his kind can live before they die naturally.

A long long time ago, magic was simpler. Even then, as it is today, one needs to train to reach a special state of mind to use it.

However, a long long time ago, there was a great civilization of beings that were born in this special state of mind. They were great magicians and had a very long and very rich history. They knew magic very well, so well indeed that they found they could become one with the very fabric of magic itself. And so they did exactly that. They all gathered around the biggest source of magical energy they could come up with and made the largest combo cast that will probably ever be.

And that fucked everything up for everyone. Their combined wills became one with a force of nature, forever tainting it with a mild force of personality. Every so often, a dragon can pull their consciousness out from the chaotic pool of thought that is now all of dragon-kind. The most popular thing to do when this happens is make a body for oneself. Dragons who do this then spend time being literally walking magic batteries, until something kills them, they cast themselves to death, or they just dissipate back into being one with the universe because they've been physical too long.

This also explains why all of these shitty aliens have dragon myths of their own.

Of course nobody in the universe actually knows this, because nobody really has bothered to ask a dragon the secrets of the universe, and if they did the big lizard probably lied.

TL;DR my dragons are space assholes who are LITERALLY magic

But that's not a dragon user, that's a wyvern.

Maybe the hibernating dragon is guarding its eggs leading to them coming back? That's a good quest, sneak in and destroy the eggs preventing the resurgence of the dragon race.

In the beginning was the Cerulean Void, the deep churning chaos. From it came the Primordial Serpents, Apsu and Tiamat. They stilled the chaos so as to have a place to rest. They needed material to build with, so they made the Elemental Chaos. The Void began taking their materials and so they needed walls to keep it wall, but all their attempts kept getting destroyed, so they made helpers, the first gods. The gods helped them make the wall to keep the void out and so was born the many heavens and hells.

Now tired from all this building they made a world to rest on, and let their helpers go play. Each of those gods made their own peoples, including the ones who took after their creators. Their son Dahak, the first of these gods to be made, hated his father and so made lesser versions of him to hunt and kill, crafting the first metallic dragons. Apsu saw this injustice and so sought to punish his evil son, but Tiamat loved him too much, and a bargain was struck. She would heal the hurt metallics, and in doing so create the chromatics, and Dahak would be allowed to escape. Eventually Dahak would have to answer for his many crimes.

The first metallics were unknowingly given a tiny bit of the power of creation as the first born of the first born, and they eventually exercised this in the creation of their own helpers, the dragonborn and kobolds. They settled into a system of needing agriculture and writing and other things of civilization around the service of these dragons, eventually creating city states, which eventually united into a great empire of dragons.

Many of the other races despise these great beings as destroyers and hoarders of wealth, and so those outside the Golden Sultanate must survive on wits and power alone, often forming strange cults around them, or being near animals in intelligence. Many though live for centuries among these "lesser" races without being noticed.

It's a multicultural dragon :^)

Just regular giant lizards. Very smart but nothing religious/magical to them.

There exists three variations, drakes, wyverns, and wyrms.

The drakes grow as large as a lion and live in small packs up on the mountains and in valleys.

The wyverns grow as large as an elephant and inhabit the steep cliffs by the ocean, they eat large sea animals like dolphins and sharks.

The wyrms are as long as a football stadium and mostly hibernate in massive caves unless its time to fuck or eat once every few years.

They're the most exotic pet a rich idiot can get, seeing as how they can regurgitate human speech to an extent and understand some of it. Though wyrms are actually real threats to societies if they wake up too regularly.

Dragons are created by or from gods or powerful wizards. Often times they take the rolls of the gods chief servants or enforcers. They are a kind of "outsider" to creation, as they do not appear naturally in the world and have their own values, usually a reflection of the purpose they were created for.

They do not age, but they cannot create new souls (ie giving birth). And though they are incredibly magically empowered, their strength and magic is static, unlike human souls which are magically weak but have theoretically infinite potential for growth.

Used to be tribal dickbags who warred over territory in Ancient China and Mongolia with there human subjects acting as hassles/advisers/slaves/all of the above. Then one of them did some slight genociding, unified the tribes in a horrific war called The First Unification, and started a reign of terror, which in turn resulted in a massive rebellion and some dragon socialism, the Second Unification.

Different colors usually take up different rolls in parliament. Reds declared themselves experts in all military matters because they were the last to get conquered, Blue controlled trade routs out of the South China Sea for centuries and have a bunch of trade contacts and nobles that owe them big favors, Browns got murdered by everyone and are now plotting to form dragon ISIS.

Power ranks and population size basically go Dragonken > Elementals > Celestials > Divines. Ken are hybrids and usually don't have any advantages over the normal population aside from looking fancy and a small kickstart to what ever magic their dragon parent was good with, Eles have elemental affinities and are usually condescending but approachable, Celes embody concepts like Darkness, Light, or Magic and will eat you if you come near them, and the Divines are an Id, Ego, Superego trio that don't do anything but hide in space.

They're basically a mix between the dinosaurs and Lucifer.

The first creatures to exist and dominate the world. They were also the first to rebel against the Demiurge-like figure of the setting, buttdevastated at the sole notion of having to share the world with the inferior mortals. They were defeated and they're mostly extinct now, only the smallest and weakest remain, mostly in far away places.

Well senpai, what is an orthodox dragon?

In my setting, Dragons are one of the three major powers.

Dragons are an embodiment of the primordial concept of Greed. There aren't very many (one per color) and they are all extremely powerful.

Each dragon is a different take on Greed as a concept, which has led them to interact with the world in different ways. I also tried to sync it up to the colors.

For example the Red Dragon is a simplistic conqueror, easy to understand and impossible to deal with. He just wants MORE. He doesn't even use what he takes and it only keeps his interest for a short period of time before he sets off to get MORE. The region it lives in is a blasted hellscape populated by savages.

Meanwhile the Gold Dragon operates a sprawling metropolis thousands of years old and by now, more than half populated by her own descendants. It seems nice on the surface, because it's an unusual take on Greed, one I don't think the players realize. In truth the Gold Dragon is sort of modeled after the domineering old family matriarch that expects to be in control of everything and tries to make everyone's choices for them. Its a lust for power and authority, but one that is easy to miss, particularly if compared to the other Dragons. It's hilarious because one of the PCs is playing Gold Dragonkin and the Gold Dragon does not appreciate the loss of her authority over the PC and keeps doing subtle dickish matriarchal things to get control over her.

Very pious and a big fan of Saint Olga

Brb, introducing russian dragon monks with long beards into my setting.

When the benevolent gods decided to order the cosmos the very first beings they created were the Dragons. The Dragons were as much natural disasters as they were personalities. The promethean "fire" of their breath made the mountains, churned the winds and storms, filled the oceans, scoured out deserts and made the jungles and forests grow. At the end of the violence, the world was formed by the dragonfire and the Dragons themselves rested or passed on the flame to their descendants.

...

Dragons so far as we know don't exist. Children in some regions are warned not to go into the bogs for fear of dragons, but that's just to keep them from getting snapped up by alligators

Dragons were the ancient enemy of the old God of Beasts, since they refused to accept his dominion. All but one of the dragons are dead now, but before the last could be extinguished, the New Gods came and slew the God of Beasts and the entire old pantheon.

Not necessarily good news for the dragon, because the new gods first point of order was to wipe out all record of the old ones' existence. So if the dragon ever comes out of hiding, he'd soon be killed by divine smiting or an army of paladins.

So the dragon entertains himself by playing god and ruling over a hidden town of Dragonborn.

humans with such magical power and forbidden knowledge that they had to change into a monstrous vessel.
dragons are just one, but also the most menacing and unpredictable manifestation.

Prototype pre-humans. The God of Fire wanted a race that would bring vast destruction to the world, and dragons were his first attempt. They had great power, but they had a tendency to do nothing with that power and simply laze around on massive piles of treasure for much of their millennia-long lives.

His next race basically took the dragon blood and put it into a smaller and short-lived form, the pre-humans, or Dragonbloods. They looked like larger humans with red, cracked skin that was lit from within by red-hot blood.

The God of Fire, being a gigantic dick, specifically designed their bodies to be vulnerable to their own boiling blood. They were born in agony, lived a life of pointless wrath, lashing out at everything, and, when they could no longer sustain the will to continue, their flesh gave out and they basically exploded as they died. The Dragonbloods, angry at their own existence, fucked the entire world over for decades, and when they ran out of other races to fight (They had no patience for actual genocide, so when actual resistance ran out they just moved on), they made war against their own creator. They were nigh-obliterated by their own high king who an hero'd out of spite and took an entire continent with him.

The survivors were scattered to the wind and had nothing left to fight. With no battle, and the world engulfed in what was basically a nuclear winter, the dragon-blood in their veins slowly cooled, their bodies shrinking and their torment lessening, until they finally became humans in full.

So Dragons are genetic cousins to Humanity, and share a special bond because of that. There was, and remains, a lot of cross-breeding between noble human families and dragons, and this can occasionally lead to the Old Blood flaring up when certain lines cross. This creates a more stable form of Dragonblood, looking like a human with draconic features. These hybrids generally have legendary strength and charisma.

That seems like a lot of mental gymnastics to go through just to justify the implementing of your dragongirl fetish.

user. There is NOTHING too absurd if it means justifying a chance to touch dragon butts.

TL;DR: apex sexual predators.

Surviving bio-constructs. Living weapons still roaming the world, long after The Old Realm fell apart, defending borders long gone or waging a war that no one, not even themselves remember.

Short Answer:
We're fucking dragons. We do whatever the hell we want, and humans come along for the ride.

Long Answer:
A large number of humans offer their servitude to dragons, for several reasons. First, they're really, really scary, and they do wonders for dealing with the beasties that are also really, really scary. Second, they're actually quite laid-back in terms of what they want from their subjects. Over time, clans of dragons have come to see their subjects as part of their hoard (albeit very mobile, uppity parts of it) that actually add to it. In short, so long as a village offers something to add to the hoard, then dragons will simply lve and let live. Older, more learned dragons sometimes befriend their subjects, eventually becoming accustomed to (and even coming to appreciate) the bizarre habits of the squishy, squishy humans that they rule over.

Their main competitors being gods (because let's face it- if you're nature's wrath incarnate, there's not much else that holds up), Dragon Lords often take human vassals to wait upon them and undertake tasks they have no patience (or talent) for. This ends up being quite a lot, and as such these vassals are required to be as reliable as they are loyal. These vassals often add a humans touch even the most experienced dragons lack, and given immortality so they can keep on doing so for as long as possible. The superhuman abilities are also quite nice.

The biggest, toughest, and oldest dragon is Ar'los; the Lord of Storms, Emperor of the Skies. If it look like a dragon, odds are it's related to him in one way or another. His wife, Hel'ri, is actually someone he fought a long, long time ago until she realized they were literally destroying the world. She is the Lady of the Sun, Empress of the Sky. After a long, hard process of getting him to listen, they eventually found they balance each other out quite nicely. Skip a few millennia, and a LOT of magical creatures have resulted.

Originally they had a civilization that covered most of the planet as the dominant species. Elves and dwarves were kind of their weird pocket race, like particularly interesting pets. Humans were more along the lines of that irritating animal infestation you really should get rid of but can't be bothered to. Then one day four horrifying eldritch monstrosities tore through the fabric of reality and started fucking with the world. The dragons, elves, dwarves and various other dudes set out to wage war against these Outsiders and protect their world.
It ended poorly.
The dragons and crew were already on the losing end of the war when they figured out a way to kill the Outsider of Void, who was the lynchpin of the eldritch monstrosity attack force by teleporting everything around everywhere on Schrodinger's Cat rules (I visualize I am in a place therefore I am). They figured out how to pin it to exist in more than one place when it teleported and causality'd it out of existence. Unfortunately the metaphysical backlash straight up killed almost every dragon on the planet and most of the elves. The remainder got warped into kobolds and drakes by the Outsider of Change or straight murdered by the Outsider of Rage. As of the current timeline, there's one known dragon left, an absurdly ancient Fang Dragon who lives in the south pole, fucking around with drow and figuring out how to kill the rest of the Outsiders without blowing up the planet.

I like to think Dragon Cults are the remnants or a resurgence on ancient dragon remnants/powers. Like worshipping fossils of dinosaurs.

Draconic sorcerers, Half-Dragons, and Dragonborn are different results of what have been done with the discovered dragon stuff, or may be themselves remnants of that pre-historic age.

They exist so to provide good boss fights

Semi-intelligent forces of nature the size of a battleship that can fly in space and distort time and space to teleport. They really exist to be a top-tier monstrosity that can wreck an entire continent worth of cities if it is so inclined, something that players can be afraid of no matter how powerful they become.

Most of the large ones stay in their hives with swarms of adolescents, thralls, and eggs. The small ones live in the hives until they are large enough to leave. Medium sized ones travel the galaxy in search of a good planet to live on.

There are several species (color coded for your convenience) that each have unique abilities. All are capable of firing streams of heated gas from anywhere on their body (although their mouth is capable of flinging it at great distances). This allows them to maneuver in any direction with a surprising degree of nimbleness. They have four wings to aid atmospheric flight, although their internal gasses do most of the lifting work. Their skin is a network of sunlight absorbing crystalline structures that are very expensive. The dragon's horde is merely flaked off chunks of its own armor.

How many saints is too many saints?

There's never enough saints.

Big magic butterflies/cicadas.
Starting as a "grub", they don't do much more aside from being big fish in pool. If they live long enough they will form a cocoon and remain there until magic-I-don't-hafta-explain-shit emerging as a heraldic dragon.
Newly formed dragons will spend the remainder of their adult lives setting fires to attract mates, destroying threats near nests, and fucking.

The burning will create a cycle of dragons flying away to find more foliage to burn while the previous area regrows, and then returning back when they are on the edge of the vast forests and find the centre has grown back enough trees.
Dwarves take advantage of this by raising cattle in the areas where small bushes and grasses have grown back for grazing fields, retreating into the mountain kingdoms during dragon mating season.

>I like to think Dragon Cults are the remnants or a resurgence on ancient dragon remnants/powers. Like worshipping fossils of dinosaurs.

Dragons are extinct. For now. Their cultists work to resurrect them and may someday pull it off.

After His Burial And Before His Death by Arnold K on goblinpunch.

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