Dragon Hall

Anydragon · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 10:30 am Post subject: Dragons Overview

The Official Collection of Fantastical Creature Information
Dragon--General

The dragon is a creature typically depicted as a gigantic and powerful serpent with magical or spiritual qualities. Most dragons are either European dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, or unrelated Oriental dragons, derived from the Chinese dragon (lóng). However, the fact that the population of dragons is more commonly found in those two areas do not limit in the least the existance of dragons in other parts of the world. In fact, dragons can be found in almost every country, despite the belief that they have been hunted to almost extinction. Dragons are highly intelligent and thus they have learned to avoid the dangers presented by humankind.

Overview
Like most legendary creatures, dragons are perceived in different ways by different cultures. Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label. Dragons are sometimes said to breathe and spit fire or poison. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and possessing typically feathered or scaly bodies. They are sometimes portrayed as having large yellow or red eyes, a feature that is the origin for the word for dragon in many cultures. They are sometimes portrayed with a row of dorsal spines, keeled scales, or leathery bat-like wings.

Winged dragons are usually portrayed only in European dragons while Oriental versions of the dragon resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a variable number of legs: none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature.

Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many East Asian cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity. In fact, the word "dragon" derives from Greek δράκων (drakōn), "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon" and that from the verb δέρκομαι (derkomai) "to see clearly." They are commonly said to possess some form of magic or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers. In some cultures, they are also said to be capable of human speech.

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