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babaGAReeb
2014-06-27, 05:22 PM
why havent these things taken over the world? also how did they come into being? i heard somethin bout a giant-dragon war. how did it go?

Fire Lord Pi
2014-06-27, 06:20 PM
In my world, dragons choose not to take over the world (in its entirety, they control about an eigth of it) for fear of dying too far away from their graveyards, which are the basis of their religion. They could do it with thralls and minions, but an empire can only extend so far from its capital and there are not that many dragons.

The origins of dragons are shrouded in mystery, with a thousand legends of their beginnings...

Jeraa
2014-06-27, 06:52 PM
why havent these things taken over the world? also how did they come into being? i heard somethin bout a giant-dragon war. how did it go?

You have to be more specific, as the answers are dependent on campaign setting.

babaGAReeb
2014-06-27, 08:45 PM
forgotten realms settings

Slipperychicken
2014-06-27, 09:28 PM
why havent these things taken over the world?

Maybe they did once, but a meteor took them out.

Maybe there aren't enough of them. Or they're too scattered and isolated.

Maybe there are bigger, scarier creatures holding them in check.

Maybe they aren't willing to cooperate enough to do that.

Maybe the gods are such human-fanboys that they stopped the dragons.

Maybe they already control world events through a secret society of reptilian humanoids disguised as world leaders. When the public gets angry, they tear down a figurehead, and the dragons set up a new one. Like puppet-masters. Also answers the question of why armies don't take down the dragons: they're working for the dragons. Where do you think the dragons get all that gold? There aren't enough adventurers in the world to supply all that cash. The taxpayers are subsidizing those hoards.

EccentricCircle
2014-06-29, 11:16 AM
why havent these things taken over the world?

They have.

Your average Great Wyrm is a one "man" Army who also happens to be an archmage and quite possibly a shapeshifter who has lived for a thousand years and has been playing politics for almost all of that time. they took over the world centuries ago and have rewritten history so that no one but their trusted aides know the truth.

Your average medieval villager on the other hand is a farmer who just about keeps enough food on the table while paying his taxes. He goes to market and has met the Reeve and the Tax collectors. He knows that there is a baron in the local city, and that his farm is part of a Kingdom. But that's really about it. There's no reason he'd really suspect that the Baron is really the lowest tier of a Draconic kingdom that spans the world.

(I'm actually using this campaign model for a game I'm working on at the moment, it will be interesting to see what happens when the players learn the truth.)

Dornith
2014-06-29, 12:35 PM
In my world, dragons are few and far between, but the ones that exist often worshiped as gods. In general hey really don't care much about ruling the world.

Also, if they did that, it would cause the collapse of an ancient contract between the gods of various planes and end a ceasefire that existed since the beginning of almost all the races and would likely result in the apocalypse.

TeChameleon
2014-06-29, 02:27 PM
Because dragons aren't a monoculture, any more than humans, elves, or dwarves are. For every Dr. Evil 'one milli... billion dollars!' chromatic dragon, there's a metallic dragon who's just as powerful waiting to kick his scaley arse if he goes too far over the line.

Broken Crown
2014-06-29, 10:21 PM
Dragons don't need to take over the world. They don't need to do anything, really; as long as they don't get killed in the meantime, they will eventually grow up to be among the most powerful creatures in existence. It's very much in their best interests to avoid stirring up trouble, and do what dragons do: hang around in caves in inaccessible wildernesses, sleeping the centuries away. Once they've grown up, they have enough personal power to do do whatever they like or get whatever they want, so again, they don't need to go to all the hassle of running a kingdom.

rg9000
2014-07-03, 01:11 AM
I would think it would be because they are fighting each other.
Examples: Bahumat and Tiamat, Xorvintaal

BWR
2014-07-03, 01:35 AM
In the Dragonstar setting the dragons did take over the world, then proceded to take over a decent portion of the galaxy.

For most other settings, in universe I can only assume it's because dragons can't work well together and want to be careful about how much they want to antagonize other beings. Considering the lesser beings can churn out large numbers of casters that are the equal of any dragon in a fraction of the time it takes for a dragon to gain that power, they're smart enough to know the odds are against them if they turn it into an extinction war.

elliott20
2014-07-03, 10:18 AM
You know, one thing's always bugged me. Don't dragons get bored of just being by themselves? It just seems that most dragons I read about in most settings have a tendency to live in caves, and eat things raw and like, well, a beast. And most text make them out to be completely hermit-like, which again, strikes me as odd.

I just can't imagine something so powerful and aware of the world be willing to just sit by the sidelines and watch the world grow without their influence.

rg9000
2014-07-03, 12:02 PM
My guess would be that, as in Xorvintaal, they act from the shadows, scrying and manipulating to gain treasure and renown.

BWR
2014-07-03, 12:09 PM
You know, one thing's always bugged me. Don't dragons get bored of just being by themselves? It just seems that most dragons I read about in most settings have a tendency to live in caves, and eat things raw and like, well, a beast. And most text make them out to be completely hermit-like, which again, strikes me as odd.

I just can't imagine something so powerful and aware of the world be willing to just sit by the sidelines and watch the world grow without their influence.

The Dragonlord trilogy set in Mystara (a controversial series) does away with this. Dragons have an immense kingdom, all over the world - they just don't bother to let the lesser beings know it's there. Better they think they own the lands. All dragon colors work together, with some political infighting. Dragons have their own bulidings and complexes and rarely live in caves on a pile of gold. They still like riches but few feel the need to just put it in one undifferentiated pile. Most of the dragons lesser beings meet are either outliers (uncivilized dragons) or accidental encounters.

Still, I don't see that the traditional view of dragons (thanks, Beowulf) is necessarily bad. Some animals are loners by nature, so I don't see that's it's a problem if dragons are. They might be social in the way that they occasionally meet others and talk and do other things, but don't live in the same cave. Imagine the western standard of everyone moving out on their own once they become adult with the difference that they do not form lasting romantic bonds with others - you'd have a bunch of people that lived alone but would meet others of their kind and maybe go down to the pub farm and snack on some cattle once in a while. Regarding raw meat, maybe they like it better like that. Or maybe they prepare their food with their breath weapon first.

Not getting involved? I gather you haven't read Ed Greenwood's "Wyrms of the North" (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/wn) series.
Maybe they just can't be bothered getting involved in the scurryings of lesser beings - they have better things to think of. Maybe they play long and subtle games that humanoids can't perceive. Like chess with the history of many races.
Maybe they are like the dragons of Earthsea - "Humans do. Dragons are."

Kalmageddon
2014-07-03, 03:00 PM
"why havent these things taken over the world?"
Because D&D and reality are not on speaking terms.
D&D doesn't even bother with making an economy that makes even a small amount of sense, what makes you think that they would actually embrace the implications of having a world where super powered beings roam free?
Of course you can justify this in your campaign and if I know Forgotten Realms the justification there is probably something like "because the gods or something". But the truth is that D&D simply doesn't bother with things such as consistency.

SoC175
2014-07-03, 03:41 PM
forgotten realms settingsIN that setting they once did. Then their kingdoms and the kingdoms of the giants and titans eroded each others power in devasting wars and suddenly the smaller races had outbred them enough to make their grap for power. However powerful dragons still play a secret game in which the lesser races are their chess pieces.

Bronk
2014-07-07, 03:56 PM
forgotten realms settings

In the forgotten realms, the dragons took over around -30000DR, both the metallic and chromatic dragons ruling over large kingdoms under various justifications. The elves eventually rebelled, creating a planet spanning mythal triggered by the appearance of the king killer star (a comet that appeared ever two hundred years or so) which put the entirety of Toril under the 'Dracorage' effect, robbing them of their intellects and enraging them so that they fought each other and/or left themselves vulnerable to attack.

A number of them figured out where the mythal's capstone was, and attempted to destroy it, but were held off by the avariels (which is why their numbers are still so few).

At some later point, the dragons constructed a giant magical cannon and tried to blow the comet out of the sky, but they missed, and hit the moon Selune instead, creating Selune's Tears which follow behind its orbit.

At a much later point (after the various elven Crown Wars and the Age of Netheril) the events of the most recent Dracorage brought all this to light (in the Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy and anthology).

Sartharina
2014-07-07, 09:11 PM
You know, one thing's always bugged me. Don't dragons get bored of just being by themselves? It just seems that most dragons I read about in most settings have a tendency to live in caves, and eat things raw and like, well, a beast. And most text make them out to be completely hermit-like, which again, strikes me as odd.

I just can't imagine something so powerful and aware of the world be willing to just sit by the sidelines and watch the world grow without their influence.Which is why they like to go out and stir up trouble as well, then retreat when they've had their fun. They spend their time in their caves doing all sorts of fun stuff.

Jay R
2014-07-08, 09:19 AM
Dragons want to sleep on a bed of treasure. They want their slaves/food conveniently stored in cities, busily making more treasure for them, and staying out of the dragons' way until the dragons come to get them.

They have taken over the world. You think that they haven't because they don't really care what their food sources do, as long as they keep making treasure, and collecting themselves into villages and cities for easy harvesting.

FidgetySquirrel
2014-07-09, 11:58 PM
You know, one thing's always bugged me. Don't dragons get bored of just being by themselves? It just seems that most dragons I read about in most settings have a tendency to live in caves, and eat things raw and like, well, a beast. And most text make them out to be completely hermit-like, which again, strikes me as odd.

I just can't imagine something so powerful and aware of the world be willing to just sit by the sidelines and watch the world grow without their influence.IIRC, some metallic dragons, particularly silvers, like to interact with humanoids and the like, just for something to do.

AslanCross
2014-07-10, 09:10 AM
In Forgotten Realms, you have this guy: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Tchazzar

From what I can tell, in Forgotten Realms, the dragons really are just too busy pursuing their own agendas to bother to band together in large numbers to overthrow governments. Also, the differences in alignment would result in other dragons fighting against them. It's frankly not very convincing, as dragons probably do have the will and ability to wage epic, long-standing wars ala-Dragonlance.

Dragonlance is probably the setting where the dragons (as servants of their gods) are in a state of practically perpetual war. The major gods in Dragonlance are dragon gods themselves, albeit appealing to non-draconic races as patrons as well.

In Eberron (which is my default setting), they do rule over an entire continent and have a coherent civilization with a government (wherein all ten types of true dragons are welcome regardless of alignment, and draconic alignment in Eberron is not color-coded), a standing army, and even secret agents among humanoid civilizations. Dragons of Eberron lists the population of Argonnessen at 50,000 dragons.

The reason why they do not bother to take over the rest of the world is that they are largely concerned with the Draconic Prophecy and it's implications on the fate of the world. They have at one point interacted with other races (the Giants) and taught them magic. However, the failure of the Giant civilization was also the result of said magic, and since the corruption of their magic threatened the stability of the world, the dragons obliterated the giant empire. This gives you a good idea of the scale of their firepower. They destroyed a continent-spanning empire of 20-foot tall magic-wielding dudes practically overnight. So yes, they could take over the world if they wanted to.

Furthermore, the dragons of Argonnessen are quite occupied with keeping the Demon Overlords that once ruled over Eberron imprisoned. Said Demon Overlords aren't just high-level fiends with lots of hit dice (those are their minions), nor the archfiends in the Fiendish Codices. The Demon Overlords are Elder Evils in their own right. Tiamat herself in Eberron is a Demon Overlord who has the ability to dominate all dragonkind. Her prison is the most heavily-fortified location on Argonnessen, and if such a location is guarded by several epic dragons, one can assume that it is the single most powerful fortification in the world.

tl;dr: In Eberron, the reason why the dragons don't bother wiping out all the lesser races and ruling over them is that they have much, much bigger fish to fry.

Jay R
2014-07-10, 09:57 AM
I've always liked the characterization of dragons in C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.


There is nothing a dragon likes quite so well as fresh dragon. That is why you so seldom find more than one dragon in the same country.

Kaeso
2014-07-11, 04:50 AM
why havent these things taken over the world?

Who says they haven't? If you want to roll a campaign where dragons rule the world, go for it. You could even have human/orc/dwarf/elf/whatever settlements which even have their "assigned" dragon that rules them and watches over them, and petty power disputes among dragons and "their" villages.