Draconic Lifecycle

I know we've all considered the possibility that planets are dragon eggs waiting to hatch and wondered what will happen to us when the time comes, but have you considered that these eggs might not have been fertilized yet? What's that going to be like? That's why I support migration beyond the planet as soon as it can be effected.

Dragon Fashion

More dragons should dress up all fancy. I'm sure some do, in some books, but it should be widespread. Entire countries should be compelled to knit nice dragon hats.

On Vanity

If a kingdom minted coins that have a picture of a dragon on them, does that make dragons more or less likely to want them? Or no change? This is the principle question the writer must ask when deciding the nature of dragons in the setting.

Rule of Power

Once, the people were distraught at the state of their laws and begged for a lawgiver to come to them. Hearing their supplication, Power Dragon descended.
"Shouldn't Law Dragon have come?" the people asked.
"I am stronger than Law Dragon. Therefore I conquered him and assumed his role."
From that, the people learned one important law. They desired to have more laws still but were perplexed by manifold considerations and subtleties.
"Then let the strongest among you decide."
"Is strength same as wisdom?" the people wondered.
"By no means!" Reason Dragon declared that during his descent. Soon Mercy Dragon and Harmony Dragon arrived as well. Their discourse on the science of law soon became bickering.
Power Dragon allowed them to engage in that for a moderate interval before he slapped all three away with his terrible claws and sent them tumbling. He departed without another word, confident the people comprehended the incident's significance.
Finis

Fearsome in Its Parts

A terrible creature ravaged the lands all around. All who saw it gave this description:
"The beast has the head of a dragon, the body of a wyrm, and the hindquarters of a drake!"
The greatest slayers of monsters converged on the kingdom and assayed to strike down the creature in response to the king's pleas (to say nothing of the rewards he promised). The search demanded skill and the battle unflagging courage, but they killed their quarry and presented it to the king before all his people, who objected.
"That is a fearsome creature, certainly, but it has the body of a drake."
"Does it?" the hunters wondered.
"It does," all agreed.
Confused but moved by kindliness and integrity, the slayers sallied forth again and brought down a beast that had the head of a drake, and one with the hindquarters of a dragon, and one that was a wyrm all the way through.
"I am beginning to question," one among them opined when away from the capital, "whether we are not being deceived."
"I have had the same thought," another concurred. "Looking at him, the king's body is not immune to weaponry, and while I have said nothing about it before now, I . . . What is that?"
They saw in flight far off a creature that was obvious in having the head of a dragon, the body of a wyrm, and the hindquarters of a drake, so much so that they marveled they had ever made any mistake about it. Soon they freed the kingdom from its worry.
Finis

Addendum

The secret is that I just wanted to roll out "thaumatocracy."

Against Thaumatocracy

Given that being capable of magic is better than being incapable, what are some reasons mages might not be in charge?

- There aren't enough of them
-- It requires innate talent which few have
-- It takes too long to learn
-- They keep dying
-- Numbers are limited by the need for some external resource. For example a mage has to bathe in dragon's blood or make a contract with a manticore
- There are too many of them. Being a mage isn't a big deal, and hiring some is less of one.
- Magic isn't that good
- The kinds of people who learn magic are bad at maintaining political power
-- They're too busy with magical studies
-- Magic is linked to certain characteristics such as lack of ambition or gullibility
-- Magic alters mages, for example removing the need for food and replacing it with an insatiable urge to visit places of power
-- Magical expenditure requires long periods of isolation or hibernation
- The kinds of people who learn magic don't want to maintain political power
-- Magical talent isn't hereditary. Ensuring your family will be passed over for some genius discovered in a village is distasteful.
- The kinds of people who learn magic can't maintain political power
-- The gods who give them power forbid it
-- The terms of their contracts forbid it
-- The dragons who rule the world forbid it, and they do check regularly
-- Magic circulates through the bonds between people, so that the more subordinates one has, the more his magic is divided among them - The rulers are capable of preventing it
-- They aren't mages, but they have magic
--- Divine sanction
--- The approval of the land itself
--- Contracts with manticores
--- A store of artifacts
--- Hereditary talents
--- They're the source of magic
-- They're above magic
--- Gods rule directly
--- Dragons/manticores/basilisks etc. rule directly
--- Aliens rule directly (they came to research magic)

There are a few reasons. As for how mages might become an oppressed minority, they can't, cut that out, your allegory stinks.

Doubts Regarding Space Dragons

If we find space dragons, will scientists be reluctant to call them space dragons, or will they be all for it? Komodo dragons were a long time ago. Long enough to be retro. All right, I've decided, it's all space dragons from here on out. Though the "space" part might be a problem. Star dragons. Void dragons. Vacuum dragons. Stellar dragons.

Addendum

People just flip to the back of the book before they decide to read it anyway. I can't explain this inhuman behavior, but I must accept it.

Impediments to Progress

We have to confront this pressing issue boldly. The only reason fantasy and science fiction novel randomizers don't exist the way they do for your favorite NES games is because we would find out it doesn't much matter what order things happen in so long as there are dragons or spaceships in there somewhere.

Habitational Musings

I bet dragons would love domed cities. Real comfy-like. Is that a thing in Shadowrun?

Q&A Corner

Q. How do I get across that my setting is full of magic and grand deeds?
A. Slivers of dead gods are a standard currency.
Q. How do I get across that my setting has dragons in it?
A. Here's the first line: "That was the day I saw a dragon."
Q. How do I get across that my orcs are noble and cool and stuff?
A. Here's the title: Neo-Fantasy Is All Out of Ideas
Q. What comes after neo-fantasy?
A. Rachet fantasy, then palin-fantasy, then intimate fantasy (intasy), then tidal fantasy.

Somebody Gets Eaten by a [ANIMAL] and There Are People and Such Inside

Traditionally it's a whale, going back to ya boy Lucian, but don't forget about elephants, rocs, dragons, and gods. That last one kind of happens in the Mahabharata, but that doesn't mean we can't rip it off. I like the elephant one the most aesthetically, but rocs have the most story convenience. Because of the travel, you see.

Some Science Fiction to Fantasy Conversions

Ship -> Spaceship
Deadly forest -> Asteroid belt
Dragon -> Evil corporation
Cleric -> Clerk
Magic sword -> Prototype
Intelligent talking familiar -> Robot buddy
Wizard -> Space wizard

Fantasy for the Modern Taste

An affordable house? Now that's a fantasy! Because there's a dragon in it, and what was cool shall remain cool.

Talons of Braves

Near any crossroads must be an establishment to serve travelers, and in any such establishment, should the bold arrive in numbers, boasts will be heard. One day, brave men going in every direction happened to be in one place, so of course one stood and proclaimed the virtues of his arms.
"This sword you see, and this shorter sword, and this shield as well, are in truth a claw's three talons of the formerly fearsome dragon Grand Madness, and this helmet is of his hide. It was the smith Iriklio who made them."
That was a boast impossible to ignore, for five other braves stood and proclaimed their story the same. Moreover, they compared their arms and saw them identical.
"Six sets! How many claws has a dragon, my friends? I think me what is right for us to do is to chastise that Iriklio who mocks his customers!"
That proposal proud on the outside and filled inside with wrath all six accepted. But then, what was that? A clamor outside of yells and screams! They departed and saw this.
A dragon stood, fierce, his wings spread, and named himself. "I am Edge of Terror, vassals, and who bears the dragon's arms, the talons of Grand Madness, today he dies! For I am his son." And he stood on six feet and six claws.
The braves therefore prepared for the fight.
Finis

Obsolete Ideas

We need to get away from this idea that dragons aren't pefectly willing to sell their eggs at market themselves to get that treasure hoard going. Their scales too. "Dragon scale armor is rare and valuable," nah, everybody's running around in that.

What Fantasy MUST Learn From Science Fiction

More clones. Clone armies, clones of the five ultra generals, all that sort of thing. Cloned dragons that have the DNA of other dragons to make them ultradragons but maybe a little girl can talk to them or is a clone too or something.

Streamlining the Conceptual Process

When you're coming up with ideas for you next story, just brainwashing away, if you ever accidentally write "explore" or "interrogate" without immediately following that with some fantasy name, cross it out and write, "What if Al Capone was a dragon?" Then underline "dragon" thrice and run your pink highlighter over the entire question except that word "a."

What Fantasy and Science Fiction Authors Have Forgotten

Bow ties. When was the last time you read someone described as wearing a bow tie? How about the first time? As if a dragon wouldn't put on a bow tie.