Monstrous airborne members of the reptile kingdom, classified as serpents (the name derives from Greek draca = serpent) and diveded into four orders and numerous families, species, and sub-species.
The four orders of dragon are the European (Draconis teutonica), found throughout northern Germany, in Scandinavia, and numerous islands of the North Atlantic; the Occidental (D. gallii) of France, Italy, and Spain; the British (D.albionenisis) of which the main species is commonly known as the Firedrake and two principal sub-species are the two-legged Wyvern (D. bipedes) and the winged but legless Worm (D. nematoda); the Mediterranean or Levantine (D. cappadociae) of Greece, Asia, Minor, southern Russa and north Africa; and the Oriental (D. sinoenisis) of Asia and Indonesia.
A few species of draconis have been reported from other parts of the world but they have never been seen in North America, Austalia, the Pacific islands, or tropical and southern Africa.
The Greek word draca is related to words implying keen vision, which is the common characteristic of every species of dragon. They are all sharpsighted, cunning, shrewd, and wise, but apart from these qualities there are many difference between the various orders, families, and species. Some have more than one head (D. ladonii has 100 heads); a sub-species of the Mediterranean dragon never sleeps; the Wyvern and Worm differ from all other dragons which are quadrupeds.
The vast majority are able to fly, although they do not always emloy this ability. All exept the Oriental dragons propel themselves by mebraneous wings, and use a vertical take-off and landing technique. Oriental dragons are distinguished from all other species by their lack of wings, horselike heads, and sharp horns. They fly by a spesific mode of balancing between the earth's magnetic field and the prevailing winds.
Most dragons have inflammatory glads, which permit the nasal emission of fire. Usually, dragons employ firebreathing only as a warning or a defence mechanism. A burst of fire is normally sufficient to warn off marauders, and it may be that the inflammatory glads contain only enough fire for short spurts before they replenish themselves. There are, however, numerous instances of infuriated dragons punishing a community by burning up all its crops and houses.
It is strange that alchemists, sorcerers, and other magicologists have not carried out more research into dragons (perhaps because of the difficulty of optaining undamaged speciments). The bodies of these creatures provide potent supernatural resources. Anyone who eats a dragon's heart will be able to understand the language of birds: a meal of dragon's tongue enables the consumer to win any argument: and dragon's blood is a certain prophylactic against stab wounds. The blood of the dragon Fafnir gave the German hero Siegfried immunity from such wounds, but when he bathed in the dragon's blood he failed to notice that a leaf had stuck to his back. This unprotected spot allowed his enemy Hagen to stab him to death.
Before the advent of Christianity, the dragons of the western world lived in an uneasy co-existence with mankind. Their physical powers, awesome appearance, keen vision, and alert shrewdness of intellect made them the ideal guardians of all kinds of treasure, includingthe Golden Fleece and the Golden Appels of the Hesperides, and they were commonly emloyed for this purpose. No doubt a special class of wizards and sorcerers had the ability to persuade dragons to act as sentinels. Dragons, like other reptiles, always stay close to their own territory (dragonhaunts): they eat rarely and are content with the occasional ox, sheep, or human: and they mate only once or twice a century. Consequently a dragon which had taken guard over a treasure was almost always at its post, eather curled up at athe entrance to the hoard or flying above it to keep watch for marauders.
A dragon did not normally pester humans, apart from the occasional snack, but when thieves made an attempt on the treasure then a dragon's wrath was terrible indeed.
A notable example of drachenstahl (stealing treasure from a dragon) occurred in Geatasland, South Sweden, in about 512 AD. Some centuries earlier, a Geata king had been burried in the usual style, surrounded by all his treasure inside a great hollow mound or barrow, and a dragon had been placed on guard. For several hundred years the dragon lived in peace with the Geatas, emerging only at long intervals to eat a bullock or pig. On one of these occasions, a runaway slave entered the barrow and stole some of the treasure.
The dragon was so furious that it ravaged Geatasland, burning orchards, farmhouses, and even the royal palace, and eating most of the livestock. The hero Beowulf was the king of Geatasland, but he had reigned for fifty years and was a very old man. Nevertheless he girded himself to face the dragon's teeth and claws, and with his henchman Wiglaf he tracked it back to the barrow. When they approached, the dragon rushed out at them with terrible roars and jets of flame. They dodged its first rush and attacked it with their swords, hacking again and again at the tough hide until at last the dragon died from its countless wounds. But Beowulf also was mortally wounded by a slash from one of the great claws, and when he died he was burried with the dragon's treasure.
The prevalence of dragons in the western world is indicated by such place names as Drakelow (which means 'dragon's barrow'), Drakeford, and Dragon's Hill in England: Drachenfels and Drakensberg ('dragon's mountains') in Germany: and Dracha, Dragashani, Draga, and Draconis in south'eastern Europe. There is a strong likelihood that Vlad Drakul (Coundt Dracula) was in some manner related to a dragon.
The day of the dragon ended during first few centuries of Christianity, when wandering prophets and missionaries chose to represent these comparatively harmless and usefull creatures as emissaries of the devil. They had little difficulty in convincing superstitious knights, yeomen, and pesants that the firebreathing monsters, with their scaled bodies and fearsome clawas and teeth, were incarnations of sin adn must therefore be destroyed. Unfortunately, a certain number of sorcerers reinforced this belief, by using dragons to guard virgins stolen from the community or to protect themselves against investigation.
Good Christian knights, eager to prove their faith and chivalry, quicly discovered that dragon'hunting was a profitable venture. A young knight could establish his reputation and set himself up for life by killing a dragon and taking its treasure. At the very least, he might ride away from the compat with a beautiful virgin perched on his saddlebow. Improved aromr for knights and their chargers, mailed gauntlets, lances up to 4 meters long, and even swords with supernatural stenght, took a lot of the danger out of dragon-hunting and the creatures quicly became a rare and endangered species. Many of the noble houses of Europe were founded on the hoards of treasure stolen from dragons. Probably it was at this time that faery communities moved into the grave mounds and hollow hills of Britain, once occupied by dragons and their treasures.
A British or European dragon is now a higly unusual sight, and the merest hint of a dragonflight is enough to attract mobs of dragonwatchers. Fortunately, the same situation does not prevail in Orient, where dragons have never been subjected to the remorseless hunting practised in the western world.
Oriental dragons are totally unlike those of other regions. Instead of acting as mere treasure-guards they envolve themselfs with all manner of human and cosmic affairs. The largest family of Oriental dragons lives in China, and coprises innumerable species ranging in size from a few meters long up to the Great Chien-Tang, who was stretches 300 meters from nose to tail. Most of them are of an extrovert nature and they frequently intervene, for good or ill, in the forunes of mankind.
Chinese dragons are intimately connected with the elements of water and air. Separate Dragon Kings rule the occeans of north, south, east, and west, and each of the great rivers of china. Great Chien-Tang, who is bright red in colour with a mane of fire and eyes that flach like lightning, is commander of all the river dragons. All the dragons of seas and rivers have very uncertain tempers: sometimes placid, sometimes restless, and occasionally raging and destructive. Their midair mating, which occurs far more frequently than that of the western dragons, result in great storms and downpours of rain.
The Lord of all Dragons is Celestial Lung, who lives in the sky during spring and summer and in the ocean during autumn and winter. Lung has a snake's tail, a horse's head, five claws on each foot instead of the four possesed by other dragons, and, unlike the majority of oriental dragons, a pair of membraneous wings.
Lung supervises the fertility of the land and all its creaturs, and extends this basic responsibility into a generally benign influence upon the affairs of the Central Kingdom. He has numerous relations, each of whom controls soe branch of huan activities such as usic, literature, military ardour, bridge building, litigation, the strength of buildings and the temptations of danger.
the power of an Oriental dragon is not necessarily reflected by its size. Fei Lin, the potent dragon who controls the winds, is not even as large as a tiger.
Apart from the principal dragons there are many less powerful creatures. On the whole they are helpful and beneficial, although dragon temperaments are extremely sensitive and they must always be treated with great respect. The dragon history of China describes many evilly disposed dragons, but it would appear that most of these have been eliminated by gods, heroes, or magicians.
The appearance of a dragon in the sky may usually be regarded as an omen of good fortune, unless its actions demostrate otherwise. Dragonwatchers may predict the future of any community by studying the quarter of the sky in which a dragon appears, its attitudes and behavior, and any significant actions such as roaring or firebreathing.
Taken from "Encyclopedia of THINGS THAT NEVER WERE" by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen