Dragon Lord

Dragon Lord (竜王 / ドラゴンロード) is the title for the most powerful dragons found in the New World. They are considered to be one of the strongest beings in existence alongside Players and their descendants, God-kins.

Background
The position of Dragon Lord holds a special significance among Dragons. It is a title only given to those who have either reached the highest age category amongst their kind (Ancient), possess special powers, or can use exotic magic (wild magic). In the Web Novel, other Dragons treat the Dragon Lords with respect. According to the author Maruyama, Dragon Lords in the New World possessed what is known as Monster Levels.

Age of the Dragon Lords
There was once a time known as the "Age of the Dragon Lords." Back then, the Dragon Lords were the dominant species of the New World, ruling it through their Wild Magic.

Six hundred years ago, however, the first known group of Players from YGGDRASIL arrived in the New World. Known as the Six Great Gods, they brought with them Tier Magic, which corrupted the Dragon's Wild Magic and caused them to lose their ability to cast it properly. The nation they founded, the Slane Theocracy, also began hunting the Dragon Lords at some point in their campaign against non-humans.

Eight Greed Kings
Despite the disruption brought by the Six Great Gods, the Dragon Lords' rule remained intact. However, five hundred years ago, another group of Players known as the Eight Greed Kings arrived. Unlike the Six Great Gods, who only wished to protect Humanity, they sought to conquer the entirety of the New World. This led to a huge war between the Dragon Lords and Greed Kings for dominion of the New World. Unfortunately, the Dragon Lords lost and their kind was reduced to a handful; thus, their reign came to an end.

On the other hand, the rule of the Greed Kings didn't last very long either, as they had a falling out and killed each other. Afterward, the Platinum Dragon Lord, Tsaindorcus Vaision, took residence in their guild base and began guarding their powerful magic items to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

Evil Deities
The majority of the surviving Dragon Lords did not seem to get involved in the battle against the Evil Deities. However, Tsaindorcus did allow the Thirteen Heroes to take some of the Green Kings' magic items to aid them in their battle against the Evil Deities and even joined the group by remote controlling a magic armor.

Present Day
Nearly extinct, the remaining Dragon Lords have gone into isolation. Though a few have remained somewhat active. Tsuindorus experimented with communities throughout the centuries and eventually founded his own nation, the Argland Council State, with himself and four other Dragon Lords serving as its highest authority. Similarly, the Brightness Dragon Lord founded the Dragon Kingdom, but has now gone into hiding as well.

Dragon Lord Alliance
Among the many Dragon Lords, there is the faction of those who have strengthened themselves and gathered comrades in order to deal with Players and those who have not. Three hundred years ago, the Dragon Lords had been gathering strength and allies in preparation for the next wave of players. To accomplish this though, six of the Dragon Lords together formed a loose alliance in hopes of trying to even out the odds in a fight against a level 100 player.

The Undead King Arc
It was mentioned by Nigun Grid Luin while the Sunlight Scripture was attempting to assassinate Gazef Stronoff, that the Black Scripture was dispatched for the upcoming resurrection of Catastrophe Dragon Lord along with the protection of a World Item.

Moreover, there happens to be a brief mention of three magical items that were unimaginably powerful in the New World. One of these items came from the Dragons, who were once the masters of the world before they were decimated by the Eight Greed Kings. The most powerful Dragons, the Dragon Lords, are said to have made these items.

The Dark Warrior Arc
Clementine told Khajiit Dale Badantel that if secret information about Zesshi Zetsumei were to be leaked, it would lead to total war with the surviving True Dragon Lords. At the same time, it could possibly drag the Slane Theocracy into the kind of war where they might likely get destroyed in the crossfire.

The Sealed Evil Tree Arc
Pinison Pol Perlia believed the potential candidates out there who can likely defeat Zy'tl Q'ae were the Dragon Lords.

The Lizard Man Heroes Arc
Zesshi Zetsumei thought that Shalltear Bloodfallen must either be the Vampiric Dragon Lord or Elder Coffin Dragon Lord as she was too strong to be classified as a normal vampire of the New World.

The Men in the Kingdom Arc
During the demonic disturbance, Evileye believed that Jaldabaoth was as strong as the Platinum Dragon Lord.

The Invaders of the Large Tomb Arc
A group of workers discussed about powerful individuals they happen to know of and among them were the Dragon Lords from the Argland Council State. There were some who believed there are only five of them in total, but other people stated that there are actually seven.

Rigrit Bers Caurau traveled to the floating castle of the Eight Greed Kings to visit the Platinum Dragon Lord. While discussing a new threat that had appeared in the world, Rigrit asked the Platinum Dragon Lord if they should ask for support from the other Dragon Lords. However, he doubted that the Dragon Lords - especially Heavenly Dragon Lord and Deep Darkness Dragon Lord - would aid them and if they could even be able to find the Brightness Dragon Lord.

Later, when a Dragon invaded the Imperial Palace of the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv initially mistook it for one of the Argland Council State's Five Dragon Counselors, until it was revealed that it belonged to Aura and Mare, who was sent to enact retribution for the Worker invasion of Nazarick.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
During a conference meeting held in the Slane Theocracy, the Cardinals accepted the fact that Platinum Dragon Lord would not be affected by their World Item, Downfall of Castle and Country. Yet they were hopeful and confident enough that the World Item's power will work on Catastrophe Dragon Lord successfully in case it does appear. Moreover, the Cardinals are reluctant of deploying Zesshi against the Elf Country because if they were to carry it out, the group believed it will incite Platinum Dragon Lord to likely respond in kind. In the end, they decided to call for a diplomatic meeting with the said Dragon Lord concerning the elves.

The Craftsman of Dwarf Arc
The White Dragon Lord, Olasird'arc Haylilyal, encountered Ainz Ooal Gown in Feo Berkana. Attempting to do battle with Ainz, he was quickly killed by the undead. The Dragon Lord's corpse was later taken into Nazarick for harvesting. His family was later subjugated under the rule of the Sorcerer Kingdom and have since been used as a means of transportation.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
The Re-Estize Kingdom had begun secret negotiations with the Argland Council State to form an Anti-Sorcerer Kingdom Alliance. So far one Dragon Lord has agreed to the proposal, though it was currently being debated by the other races' representatives.

Strength
Dragon Lords are dragons who have reached the highest age category known as "Ancient" among their kind. According to the Web Novel, Dragons that are in this stage of their development, have a strength that cannot be defeated by the race of humans. Either that or there are some powerful Dragons that possess special powers unique to themselves.

True Dragon Lords are natural users of Wild Magic, which grants them abilities completely different from Tier Magic. In present-day setting of the main timeline, very few Dragon Lords to this day can use Wild Magic. However, it seems that the essence of Wild Magic was corrupted by the invasion of YGGDRASIL players, so it is becoming more and more difficult to use Wild Magic properly. Also, there are some dragons - like the Blue Sky Dragon Lord and the White Dragon Lord - in the New World who have already begun practicing or using Tier Magic rather than their traditional Wild Magic.

If prepared with enough resources and manpower, it was said that at least six among the surviving True Dragon Lords should be able to evenly rival a level 100 player in combat. In a way, this does speak of the volume of a True Dragon Lord's power at their prime, unlike the current kinds at present. True Dragon Lords like Cure Elim that tries to use potent Wild Magic on any holders of World Items like Suzuki Satoru will be rendered ineffective and immune to it, given that the latter have world protection.

It has been stated that Dragon Lords can not under normal circumstances practice both the usage of Wild Magic and Tier Magic together simultaneously. Past Dragon Lords from the era of the Eight Greed Kings and prior who can use Wild Magic cannot use Tier Magic. Likewise, after that era, future Dragon Lords and current ones who can use Tier Magic cannot use Wild Magic. At present, Dragon Lords innately learn Tier Magic through the Racial Classes they have acquired over the course of time while aging in strength. Meanwhile, few True Dragon Lords who are still alive from the distant past have access to Job Classes that have a special correlation with their acquirement of Wild Magic. If one were to invest in one form of magic than they would be unable to use the other, however, a notable exception would allow bypassing this restriction under certain conditions.

Moreover, each True Dragon Lord out there is considered to be an impossible opponent for every member of the Pleiades to triumph over even if all of them were to work together in fighting one.

Players
According to Suzuki Satoru, it seems the Dragon Lords harbor hostility to YGGDRASIL players. This hatred towards players probably dates back from their encounter with the belligerent group of players known as the Eight Greed Kings and has grown ever since. It came to the point where the surviving True Dragon Lords created a loose alliance in the event that the next players who arrived in the New World posed a threat to them.

True Dragon Lords

 * Brightness Dragon Lord
 * Deep Darkness Dragon Lord
 * Dragon Emperor
 * Elder Coffin Dragon Lord
 * Heavenly Dragon Lord
 * Platinum Dragon Lord
 * Swordmaster Dragon Lord

False Dragon Lords

 * Blue Sky Dragon Lord
 * Diamond Dragon Lord
 * White Dragon Lord

True False Dragon Lords

 * Dark Scale Dragon Lord

Unclassified Dragon Lords

 * Catastrophe Dragon Lord
 * Vampiric Dragon Lord
 * Demon Tree Dragon Lord (Web Novel Only)

Trivia

 * In the Web Novel, the list of known dragons was different except for the Platinum Dragon Lord. Also, it is described that the "True Dragon Lords" were annihilated by the Eight Greed Kings, and recent dragons can barely match with the ancient dragons.
 * According to Platinum Dragon Lord, if the True Dragon Lords had banded together earlier to fight, they would have won against the Eight Greed Kings.
 * A lot of the Dragon Lords were known to have been slain by players, ranging from the Eight Greed Kings to Ainz Ooal Gown until now. Yet the opposite could likely happen with the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord being the only one known so far who was able to kill a Player in contrast to the opposite happening to him.
 * The Theocracy considered the dragons with the power to use Wild Magic as the "True Dragon Lords."
 * The Argland Council State and the Dragon Kingdom are currently under the rule of at least one Dragon Lord.
 * The Platinum Dragon Lord doubts that the remaining "True Dragon Lords" will lend him military aid against players or even participate in a war against them at present.
 * Three of the Dragon Lords (Brightness Dragon Lord, Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, and White Dragon Lord) were/are apparently known to reside in mountainous regions.
 * For the Web Novel version, it takes around a number of ten True Dragon Lords to potentially have a guaranteed victory against one of the Eight Greed Kings.
 * According to Tsaindorcus Vaision's Character Sheet, the strongest Dragon Lord lives to the east of then current world setting.
 * In the Web Novel, Beaumarchais stated that the Captain of the Black Scripture was able to fight on equal ground with the Dragon Lords.

Gallery
Smoczy Władca