A mythical creature present in both western and eastern legends. Usually scaly, serpentine, have wings, and a crest of some kind.
Western legends show dragons in a fairly negative light. Most of the legends of dragons show them as fearsome, merciless beats who devour maidens, destroy villages, and keep hoards of treasures for which numerous knights attempt to slay the dragon in quests for either righteousness or personal wealth.
Eastern legends, however, show dragons in a much more positive sense. In most eastern areas, especially China and Japan, dragons are sacred beings of a snakes body, wings, a deer's antlers, and numerous other parts from other creatures rather than the modern day scaly, winged beasts. The eastern dragons are revered with honor and are considered symbols of wealth, strength, intelligence, and overall near-perfection.
The modern day dragon usually encapsulates the fearsome, strong, and proud looks of western myths and the intelligence, holiness, and strength of dragons in eastern myths. However, most dragons nowadays are used as signs of strength, majesty, honor, intelligence, etc.
A slang term refering to people of Asian ancestry. The term comes from the fringe belief that Asians are the result of dragon/human interbreeding eons ago. These human/dragon hybrids (aka Asians, or simply dragons) have evolved to be impervious to lung cancer regardless of how heavily they smoke since they have dorment fire breathing genes. Also modern day human/dragon hybrids possess the ability to fly however no non-dragon has ever witnessed that feat first hand. This is the ancient Chinese secret everyone refers to.
I thought I was going to fail math; luckily my study partner is a dragon. Apparently calculus comes to them just as naturally as breathing fire.
A mythical creature resembling a reptile. Usually huge and ridiculously powerful; often flies or spits fire and/or venom out of its mouth. May be benevolent or pure evil; usually depends on what part of the world the legend is coming from.
People often like to roleplay these creatures online.
(Please excuse the length of this definition, but I enjoy being thorough.)
In the traditional sense, dragons were large reptilian creatures first thought of in the medieval time. (medieval in the eastern and western sense.) In western realsm, the dragon was a greedy, tyranical brute who ate damsels, demolished villages, and kept a huge treasure hoarde. Mostly portrayed as a generally lizard-like creature with many crests and horns, terribley sharp claws, large teeth, sometimes quills or fur, and almost always wings. (Different variants occured, such as the winglesstwo-legged Linwurm, and the scorpion-tailed wyvern.)They might've also had a lion's or dog's head.
In the eastern realms, dragons were beneficial and wise. They did of course keep their treasure hoardes, a dragon is nothing without his shinies. (They're very good eating.)They were snakelike, colourful, posessed deer-antlers, usually had a mane of fur or a crest of the stuff running down their back. They were awfully powerful beings, usually close to the gods, and lived in mountains, and sometimes in the ocean. I don't kinow much more...I'm pretty sure they could breathe scalding water instead of fire.
Nowadays, dragons are an icon. Anime' abuses them, fantasy novels use them, and D&D keeps them sacred. In DD, there are two main types of dragons, called true dragons(western variety).
Here's a list...
Metallic (Good) Dragons
Gold: Looks much like a cross between a western and eastern dragon, breathes
fire, very wise. (Wings look like large fins.)
Silver: Traditional western dragon, with tall fin. Breathes frost, serene and graceful. (My favourite.)
Brass: Again a traditional western dragon. has connecting its limbs to its body, aquatic. Breathes lightning, fascinated with war. (Still good, though.)
Brass: Traditional western, has the fin-like wings of the goldy. Breathes fire, LOVES to talk.
Copper: Traditional western, fin-like wings. Spits acid. Incorrigable prankster.
Chromatic (EVIL!) dragons. (note all of them are traditionaly western.)
Red: Lives to destroy, incredibley greedy (even for a dragon.) Breathes fire (obviously).
Blue: Vain, proud, would do anything to save its hide. Breathes lightning.
Green: Manipulator, honey-tongued, curious of other creatures. Very interesting breath weapon, it spits a cloud of corrosivevapour. (My favourite chromey.)
White: Very STUPID. Breathes frost. (More of an animal than a higher being.)
Note that these dragons are intelligent (except thew white), and cast magic, speak, manipulate, conquer, what have you. Most of the above stuff is from DD..