DRAGONS AND

FIRE DRAKES

OF THE HIDDEN REALMS

The study of Dragons is a specialty of mine ~ there are such a wide variety of species and sub-species in the Hidden Realms that this particular field of study can never be exhausted for me.

Dragons are strange, reptilian creatures ~ a bit like serpents with wings, some with legs, and some without. I have heard dragons called greater and lesser worms, other academics in the Hidden Realms describe them as flying lizards or winged serpents. They love treasure and to eat red meat, especially tender young maidens. Although these virtuous ladies do seem to get rescued in all the best stories. Most dragons are, in fact, not very nice, so extreme caution is recommend whenever you approach one!

I have seen a dragon or two myself, (from a suitably safe distance) and heard tales and descriptions of many more. Some say dragons are intelligent; so clever, in fact, that they can speak some languages of men and dwarves. It is hard to be sure of the truth of this, since most folk who have encountered one of these monsters and attempted to engage in polite conversation have ended up as a light lunch.

Dragons are, of course, reptilian and therefore, it is assumed, cold blooded. Although dragons live and sleep in caves, possibly even hibernating there on a bed of treasure in the winter, they also spend a good deal of their time lying in the sun. This is the time to catch them if you mean to tame or conquer one. When a dragon emerges from his den he can be dozy and low in energy. Once he has settled down for a sun-bathe ~ then that is the time to strike. The fact that they often soak up the suns' rays on the top of a high mountain (to be as close to the sun as possible perhaps) just makes it more all the more interesting!

Overall, dragons seem to have just too many teeth. Some have great long tusks at the front of their jaws to grab their prey, and then rows of many sharp fangs lined up behind. This, I believe, is where the legendary dragons' grin comes from. In truth they are not really grinning, unless it is in anticipation of some toothsome meal. Their mouths are just full of pointed teeth and so wide (to bite larger prey, one imagines) that it can sometime look as though they are grinning inanely. This grin may even help dragons to catch their victims; causing some poor wild goat to be mesmerized before being consumed !

Dragons live a solitary existence. After hatching from a huge and rock like egg, and a short period of nursing, their mothers push them out of the nest, as soon as they are able to catch their own food, in fact. This is quite normal for dragons. They also seem to have no friends but, being intelligent, they are said to talk to humans sometimes. Maybe they get lonely.

One of the things male dragons do to attract females is to collect a great hoard of treasure which they use as a bed and (hopefully) a nest for eggs, should a suitable female be attracted by the size and glittering magnificence of their dragons' hoard.

Salamanders (or fire drakes) may not be cold-blooded, for they delight in the heat of fire. The enjoy breathing it out in a fiery blast (thus toasting their enemies or prey) and even sleeping in fire whenever they get the chance. Some scholars claim that Fire Drakes come from the fiery heart of the Underworld, where great rivers of molten fire flow in hot caverns. On this subject I am uncertain but will make a point of discussing it with Bjorn Gladstonesson, a famous Dwarvish explorer I know slightly. He claims to have explored the very deepest caverns of the Underworld beneath the Blue Mountains.

Good dragon hunting!

                                                     Cornelius Clifford

                                                                 By the sign of the Singed Beard

The Dragon Lords of Rath; far to the North, at the western end of the Great Rift Valley, there is a Kingdom called Rathdale. Here, it is rumoured, men have managed to tame, or perhaps even allied themselves with, powerful dragons. They ride these fierce beasts into battle and are called the Dragon Lords of Rath.