#I should probably make a tag if I'm going to do loredumps like this

[teethstoobigmouthwontclose]

hhh I'm going to use this as an excuse to ramble about my dragon OC lore, which I will put below a readmore:

In my OC world, magic is a kind of energy produced through various means: From within the churning core of the planet, from the moon, from the sun, from the stars, and as a waste product of dragons. Magical energy can be used as a resource by various creatures. Anything produced using magical energy, such as a wizard conjuring a fireball, is the perfect form of that thing; the impossible perfection, the true and ultimate form. Such perfection is otherwise impossible by mundane means, and so magical things tend not to follow the same rules as the mundane. Pure "un-elemental" magic is incredibly unstable, and only comes from unstable sources (like the sun). It tends to settle into a more stable elemental form.

Dragons are magical creatures; only a small portion of their bodies are true flesh-and-blood, the rest is of magical construction. Each dragon is a aligned to a "major" element (fire, water, etc) and a "minor" one (such as "the hunt", "oathkeeping", "vengence", etc). Through embodying their elements they are sustained, though they still eat "mundane" foods - which are digested, converted to magical energy, and excreted as a waste product. My dragons do not fly using mundane means like air. Their wings "hold" magic which they use to power their flight. They hardly flap their wings when flying, other to dispell or re-cast the flight magic. In the world, dragons are godlike beings of great power. They are vain, violent, and uncooperative. There is no collective dragon "society". Their aggressiveness to each other keeps their numbers in check. I made them this way as I felt there's a significant lack of "proper" dragons in the fantasy I read, with dragons either being mere beasts or basically humans. Dragons should be majestic, impossible, and powerful! In contrast, humans are a kind of "sink" for magical energy, absorbing it and turning it to the mundane. Humans cannot produce or store magical energy in their bodies; they must use what is in the environment around them. Though dragons are much more physically and magically powerful, humans have consistent societies, co-operation, and knowledge-sharing which allows them to hold their own against dragons; collecting information and technologies to defeat them. At the current time there is a "pact" between humans and dragons; both sides incur unacceptable losses. Entire human civilizations have been lost forever, razed by dragons. Dragons breed too slowly and kill each other too often to maintain their population if they're also being killed by humans. (The pact will be broken in the future. And reformed again in the future still. Such is the cycle of all things)

also, while we are at it

"my dragon flies because it's magic xdxddxdxd"

fine, acceptable, it's magic. Okay. Even as a biologist I'm willing to give it a pass. God knows that in my space opera project I've went "mumble mumble convergent evolution mumble" for some of my earth-like aliens. The shape is kinda believeable and original, you chose some cool features, it's fine, no need for the whole phylogenetic tree.

Now, why is it magic? what does it mean it is magic?

Were dragons created by a god? are they manifestations of nature? why are dragons, especifically, magic and not say, crocodiles?

Is it a species with physical presence and a life cycle, or are they magical beings? how many dragons are there, how important they are to your world? are they worshipped, feared, venerated, just some kind of weird megafauna but otherwise unremarkable? what do they eat, how much?

If it's a sentient dragon from a physical species, as most modern fiction seems to assume (you'd be surprised that in most medieval works they were mostly mindless beasts or demons, dragons as noble creatures are very much a modern invention in the West) how do they think? How do they act differently from smaller, less powerful, shorter lived species? Do they have their own gods, their own rituals, their own beliefs? Are they lonely beings or are they able, or interested, to form part of society, or even have their own societies?

What's the cultural role of a dragon in the world you're making? What do your characters think when they hear the word 'dragon'? What do they know about dragons, when your hero goes and finds one, what are their conceptions of it? Can they fight it? How? Why?

Notice that most of my questions aren't stupid UNREALISTIC! CINEMASINS DING!, but things that actually affect your characters, setting and plot. Don't like to write a ethnographical paper about dragons? do it anyways or I'll shoot you, don't, but if you're introducing an element to your story, even if you're using stock fantasy elements like dragons, you will benefit A LOT from thinking how they fit into your story.

And even in settings were "it's magic" is acceptable as an answer, or more *surreal* or comedic stories where things happen without too much logic, a dragon is still a symbol. What does your dragon mean in your story? "oh, a magical dragon". Fine. Why is there a dragon on your story? Don't have a whole herpetology paper, because this is just a romance? Okay, can you spare me a couple lines to tell me what does a dragon mean in your world? That too, is yuri worldbuilding.