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A lore based question that is driving me so crazy it's making my itch.

I realize this question is best answered by a dragon expert like Magister Zilant, or a lore expert like Librarian Fitzhume, but last I knew the Magister Zilant was a bit busy in Dragonspyre, and Librarian Fitzhume probably hasn't the time or desire to indulge my curiosity. I'm not expecting to find a decent answer but its worth a shot, so here goes:

What is the exact difference between a drake and dragon?

The ghosts of Dragonspyre are probably laughing in the graves at my asking, but no one is the Spiral has ever set the record straight for us Earthlings.

I was looking at the new lore for test realm and thinking back upon old Dragonspyre lore, I took a trip down memory lane, back to the good old days when we were all sitting around waiting for Morganthe to make an appearance. I remembered hatching our drakes and riding them up the to the Dragon's Roost, defeating Malistaire (the first time at least). Gosh how I loved that little ride animation sequence, between the Academy and the Dragon's Roost, it never got old, I still can't bring myself to skip it when I need to go up to the Roost, the pure nostalgia is just too much. That got me wondering and has led me down a rabbit hole or questions that keep bringing me back to the main question.

What is the difference between a drake and dragon?

Was there any difference to begin with? Are drakes smaller than dragons? Do they still breathe fire like dragons? Do they have a different breathe weapon? Are there any variations of drake (like a storm drake, ice drake, or a forest drake)? Did they have a purpose outside of protection and conquest? What is it that makes them different than a wyrm in Avalon or the Dragon Titan? And why side with humanity to fight against the dragons if they were their kin in the first place?

I know Ashley in Dragonspyre said a long time ago that there were a few drakes left and they were difficult to control? Why? What happened to them after the city fell? Did the titan do something to them when it appeared? How have they been affected by all of this? And why haven't we seen any of them anywhere else in the Spiral? Are they being hunted/captured or are they simply just extremely rare now? Is there a way to help their species recover or are they all gone now (well, save for one I guess)? Are they even able to leave Dragonspyre, apparently at one point they were (I won't say anything, I don't want to spoil test realm for anyone).

I also know someone in Wintertusk called Nithogg an ice drake, but does Nithogg really have an relation to the drakes of Dragonspyre? What does that make the wyrms of Avalon then? Are they also technically drakes or are they dragons? Or they just what they are just wyrms?

So yeah... that's my rabbit hole of questions regarding drakes and dragons, someone please help me make some room inside my brain because these questions are starting to clutter things up.

Idony09 on Nov 5, 2019 wrote:

Drake is the greek name for dragon.. so there is no difference.

I think you mean 'Drakon', that is the correct spelling of the Greek word. The word Drake didn't appear until roughly around the 1800's meanwhile Drakon goes back to the days of ancient Greece. Drakon is the predecessor of the Latin word Draco, which is the predecessor of the Old English word Draca which preceded the words Dragon and Drake. Sometimes in very old Norse texts you can find dragons or dragon-like creatures being referred to as Draki which is interesting to say the least...

But I am more curious as to why the game developers would use a different word if the two creatures are of the same species. If there's is in fact no difference between say a fire dragon and a drake, then why use a different word or imply that there's a difference at all begin with?

We know according to Dragonspyre's lore that there was at one time a 'Queen of the Drakes' that being Gavarena. This would imply, to me at least, that there is/was something different between drakes and dragons, enough so that they would organize themselves differently.

Oddly there has never been another mention of annother 'Queen of the Drakes' in Dragonspyre's lore. Did Gavarena just live an incredibly long time? Or did joining the Empire of Dragonspyre meaning losing that title she held? Or perhaps there were other queens and the records of them have simply been lost or destroyed? That brings me to wonder if the drakes had or have a hive-like mentally. Hmmm...