Dragons
Although Dragons are among the most famous creatures in Realmgard and feature prominently in art, folklore, and heraldry, in real life, Dragons are rare to the point that some particularly pessimistic naturalists contend that they are now extinct. This is a minority position, however, and although Dragons are often seen alone, Dragons sightings are not especially uncommon.
While the most common notion of a Dragon is as a large, winged reptilian creature that breathes fire, Dragons are, in fact, a diverse class of creature. Not all Dragons are winged, nor are they all associated with fire. In fact, “Dragon” is sometime understand as a purely conventional term applied to any large and vaguely similar creature, rather than a strictly taxonomic term.
In fact, some scholars believe that the various kinds of Dragons are not actually closely related and a magical, rather than biological origin, has been posited.
While Dragons are markedly intelligent animals, they do not seem to be truly sapient or capable of speech, as they are often depicted in folktales. That Dragons are also said to be able to adopt Human form is viewed as a garbled reference to the distant ancestors of Dragon Wilderling, who magically learned the ability to shapeshift into Dragons.
Present-day Dragon Wilderlings retain this ability, but are otherwise Human like all Wilderlings.
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