Dragons can be summoned using magic to wage war against armies on the battlefield. They are tough adversaries and even the most battle-hardy army has been known to fall to a dragon.
Few indigenous dragons remain, and those are typically in the most inhospitable places. Having survived for so long, most of them rival the Elder dragons, or those ones that are the first of their kind and which were capable of learning to communicate. The remaining indigenous dragons are likewise capable of such reasoning. The Elder dragons were the wisest, most mischievous, and deadliest of dragon race. They could even speak the language of the elder races and of the Shara. The wyrm are the wingless type, though many have patagia, a skin-like membrane that allows them to glide through the air like a serpent along water (for short periods).
The dragons came to Esfah in response to the goddess Ghaeial's sorrow when she was attacked by her youngest child, Death.