Metallic Dragons

The eight chromatic dragons were split from the Ur-Dragon by a giant prism (or something) in the dim prehistory of Creation. 

The eight Metallic Dragons were created in a different manner entirely. Metal is magic – everyone knows this. It’s why gold has such a hold on people. It’s solidified, condensed, trapped magic. The eight metallic dragons were born from eight metals empowered by others, consciously or accidentally or in dreams. They were raised, created, and set loose; shining mirrors of the chromatic dragons, but in every way their equals. 

Silver Dragon

Silver dragons are contract writers and organizers. Their lairs are living memory palaces; each thing has a precise and properly marked place. They despise frauds and forgeries. Instead of a loose pile of treasure, they build compartmentalized, numbered, and monitored vaults. Their breath causes sleep; sometimes for a few moments, sometimes for years. Like Gold dragons they can change their shape at will. A bored silver dragon might change itself into a human, visit a city, and show off its form and skills. They take lovers, become patrons of the arts, live for decades without aging and then, one day, take offense and erupt into their furious war-form and savage an entire noble house.

Mercury Dragon

Alchemists might expect mercury dragons to be fickle. Instead, they are utterly fixed and completely imperturbable. A mercury dragon is never wrong and can never be corrected, contradicted, or surprised. They live in a haze of perfect equanimity, with all possible opinions and actions balanced and given equal weighting. Therefore, they are blessedly inactive. They are master tacticians, scholars, and counselors, but their advice will always incorporate multiple points of view. Their flesh is liquid; their touch induces madness and slow tumorous death. Their silver-fog breath creates illusions in the minds of all who are affected by it.

Lead Dragon

The seer dragons. Lead dragons are thankfully rare. They have molten hearts, radioactive eyes, and they leak poison. Few living creatures can spend long lengths of time near one. Leaving aside their thick scales and blunt, crushing teeth, lead dragons do not have weapons; their very nature is sufficient protection. Lead dragons are all but assured of immortality and almost never do anything except pursue their own goals at a glacial pace; they will carry messages forward in time, take long bets, sculpt using stone and water, and wait patiently for problems to solve themselves. They know a great deal about the past. Convince them they are in danger and they’ll rise like nuclear fury, shedding white lead and spraying toxins in all directions.

Gold Dragon

Gold dragons are the most majestic and desirable of all dragons. They are natural shape changers and shift forms as easily as a human putting on clothes or armor, but they are always beautiful. They love to be adored. They generate cults spontaneously. All other living creatures are treated with charitable indifference; kindness but without effort, if possible. Mere proximity to a gold dragon can heal wounds. A gold dragon will listen to your story with a kind, smiling face and make a token effort to help you. They prefer to build palaces in isolation; the better to ensure nothing distracts their subjects. In addition to fire, the oldest gold dragons can breathe paranoia or calmness, sometimes soothing a war or rebellion, sometimes infesting targets with waking nightmares and crippling doubt.

Iron Dragon

Iron Dragons know there is a war coming. They are conserving their energy. They rest in wild paces or cities reclaimed by nature, coated in layers of rust and slime. Small ones are the size of a castle; some are the size of cities. They leak blood and molten metal. Once in a century, perhaps, they could be persuaded to breath instant death onto the enemies of their flatterers, but only if they’re convinced it’s the best way to prevent a larger conflict. Sword wounds appear instantly. Invisible arrowheads plunge into flesh. The iron dragon yawns and retreats, its skills untested. In fact, they aren’t very good at fighting, but when you’re the size of a castle and you can fly it hardly matters.

Platinum Dragon

Platinum dragons are Creation’s greatest bankers. As immortal beings, they are risk-adverse to the point of mania. If you miss a payment, they’ll fly over your city as a gentle reminder. They have vast reserves and minds like machines. No one is sure who first taught platinum dragons the principles of loans and interest rates. It’s possible, as they claim, that they invented the idea. They live in great marble and granite halls, hollowing entire mountains to make mazes and vaults. Some breathe sand or cannonballs of worked stone. They assemble legions of accountants and lawyers, and keep property-less monks as curiosities. Creatures who willingly resist temptation amuse them. The greatest Dragon Banks conduct themselves like nation-states.

Antimony Dragon

Antimony dragons are bizarre creatures. They can shift between a dark, liquid “female” form and a dense, metallic “male” form with ease. In their “female” form, they move with incredible stealth and can use shadows as portals. In their “male” form, their scales absorbs metal weapons, growing stronger and thicker with every blow. They learn and use magic only to make their lives easier. Inside the choking clouds they breathe, creatures find their judgement altered and their perceptions distorted to the dragon’s aims. They have been known to set armies of slaves on half-baked or impossible tasks. Above all else, they prefer to be left alone and they will pay to have annoyances, from flies to mountain ranges, removed.