Dragon (Rifts)

Dragons are a sapient race of powerful reptiles with unspeakable powers.

Biology
Dragons appear in many shapes and sizes: western dragons have legs and two wings, eastern dragons are more serpentine-like and lack of wings and wyrms are wingless versions of the western dragons.

Dragon hatchlings can easily learn very fast.

Culture
Dragons have no apparent society nor feeling of kinship, even among the same species. They act with complete autonomy from one another, with no laws, ethics, or codes of conduct shared by any. Each does she he pleases independent of the other. There is seldom any camaraderie or even pleasantries exchanged between dragons. Except for mated pairs, dragons tend to shun the company of fellow dragons. Even offspring are left to fend for themselves a few days after hatching.

There are many reasons for this antisocial behavior. Dragons have abandoned society eons ago. The why is simple, they didn't need one. Dragons are unimaginably powerful, especially one worlds like Earth where magic energy is in abundance. They are nearly indestructible, they can heal and regenerate within hours, live for thousands of years, breathe fire, possess monstrous strength, can change their physical forms at will, instinctively know how to channel and use mythic energy, and can shift from one dimension to another. Other than a fellow dragon, and perhaps other intelligent life forms, these powerful beings have no natural enemies. Their longevity provides them with the time to become incredibly knowledgeable and powerful as they learn to use their natural strengths and abilities, as well as a limited use of technology.

The ability to traverse different dimensions makes them creatures of the universe, and not any one world. It is probable that dragons don't originate in our galaxy and may be a wandering race of beings from the edge of the universe.

The giant serpents are also similar to humans in their expression of emotions and in their capacity for good or evil. The environment and experiences of a hatchling will shape the way the dragon grows, both emotionally and idealistically. The bestial, ravaging savages are spawned from a life of conflict, with little or no contact with other intelligent beings. They become more animalistic, mean, extremely aggressive, and territorial. For them, might is right and they might be the mightiest. They live for confrontation and combat.

History
It is apparent that dragons have visited Earth many times as its magic energies swelled and ebbed over the passing millennia. It is equally plausible to believe that some of the ancient gods of primitive, pre-Rifts, Earth were not myth but did exist, perhaps as dragons who adopted a human form or toyed with the amusing little humans. Zeus, Thor, Isis, and all the rest, dragons of a bygone era. But out concerns are with the dragons of today.