Dragons are incredibly ancient reptiles and existed in the forests and mountains even before the Elves came to the Old World. Some Teratologists believe that Dragons evolved many millennia ago from small reptiles; some High Elf scholars believe that they were brought to the planet by the Old Ones or that they even pre-date the coming to the world of those mighty beings. Some say that all the Dragon race was spawned by Kalgalanos the Black, Father of all Dragons, and it is said that Graug the Terrible spawned many of the beasts who inhabit the Old World. Whatever the case not even the wisest High Elves know the true origins of the Dragon because they have always lived, in great numbers in elder days, in the Annuli Mountains of Ulthuan and especially in the realm known as Caledor.

In the elder days, which can be measured from the reign of Aenarion the first Phoenix King of Ulthuan to Tethlis the sixth Phoenix King (a span of four-thousand years and one-thousand years before the foundation of the Empire), the vast majority of Dragons lived in Ulthuan, with others inhabiting the World's Edge Mountains and the Mountains of Mourn, and most were highly intelligent and kindly creatures. The Dwarfs in their strongholds in the World's Edge Mountains learned to respect them even though they often devoured whole veins of precious minerals. But since the end of the very first Incursion of Chaos, which precipitated the catastrophic destruction of the polar gateways, the Dragons started to be more docile and were roused less from their slumbers. This came to a head roughly a thousand years before Sigmar when these mighty beasts truly began their long sleep and their numbers declined dramatically. Even the High Elves of Caledor, who frequently used Dragons as beasts of war, found it increasingly difficult to rouse them and some were becoming more disobedient.

Today, the race of Dragons continues to decline and the majority, save perhaps for those inhabiting the Dragon Spine Mountains of Caledor, are only roused through anger, when they are famished, or when they are caring for young - few hatchlings have appeared over the last thousand years. As Dragons sleep for centuries or even thousands of years the chances are that at some point they will be disturbed and should this happen they arise in wrath and are slow to calm. Just as Dragons may sleep for many centuries a roused creature may be active for almost as long because the passing of years means little to this long-lived race whom many believe to be immortal. When this happens brave or foolish souls seek to test their worth to stand against the Dragon. But history has told that very few heroes have bested a Dragon in combat because it often takes more than an army to destroy one. Indeed, only Greater Daemons can match the greatest of Dragons in cunning and might of arms.

Few people alive today have ever seen a Dragon and in many cultures they are objects of worship, representing such virtues as strength, might and power, and in some cultures they are even revered as gods. In the Far East Dragons are often represented as good, intelligent creatures and in Cathay, where Dragons are known as Lung, they are linked to the weather and the natural world in some way. For example, the Celestial Dragon is supposed to guard the places of the gods; the Underworld Dragon guards precious metals and gems; the Spiritual Dragon is said to control the wind and the rain; and the Earth Dragon controls the rivers and water of the world. It is even rumoured that there is a law in Cathay which bans anyone from wearing clothes bearing the emblem of the five-toed Celestial Dragon, as only the Emperor is allowed to bear these devices. Failure to comply with the law invites death, so it is said. In the Old World some people believe that by eating a Dragon's heart they will have the ability to understand the language of birds and beasts, and similarly eating a Dragon's brain is supposed to grant mystical powers and rubbing Dragon blood on a human's skin is supposed to grant a measure of protection against mortal weapons.