Two types of dragons exist: Chromatic and Metallic.
Chromatic dragons are mindless beast, no more sapience than any common animal. Metallic dragons are a lot rarer, all of them carrying a rich history of their own.

When the worlds were created, Dragons settled on Attiamel. Ruled by a council called the Gleaming Ones they were great noble beasts with skin of precious metals.

Though not all were happy with being ruled. During the 2nd Age a group of dragons called the New Claws under the leadership of a charismatic Silver dragon called Ramiel mounted a resistance. But Ramiel had them deceived, secretly she started worshiping an ancient entity from the Astral Sea and led the resistance only to cover a ritual. She built herself a cocoon - the Twisting Egg - to undergo a transformation. But the Gleaming Ones with their loyalists proved more powerful. They defeated the New Claws and destroyed the Twisting Egg. The traitors were imprisoned for their crimes, a field erected around Attiamel so no one may enter or leave, and normalcy returned to the planet.

Then, during The Fall of Magic the New Claws saw their chance. With the barrier weakened they fled Attiamel to Elud. The Gleaming Ones sent their remaining loyalists after them to stop them. The Loyalists siding with the mortals, the New Claws saw it as their best option to swear loyalty to Oi'Tovon. The dragons, aiding either side, changed the landscape of the war dramatically, though both sides lost a majority of their numbers. Towards the end of the war a Dark Sorcerer bolstered by Oi'Tovon's power cast a powerful spell, cursing the Gleaming One's loyalists to become mindless beasts and losing their metallic shine. This treachery also caused the New Claws to turn on Oi'Tovon, which only accelerated their losing the war.

Nowadays the only dragons remaining on Attiamel are the Gleaming Ones. Trapped by their own magic and by the reinforced barrier set up after the Fall, they watch mortals and guide them as gods.