Here's my concept of how the Great Wyrms operate, it doesn't necessarily mesh 100% with canon, but that's ok.

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Dragons are, barring illness or violence, essentially immortal. They crave wealth and power, and conspire to acquire both. They are devious creatures, greedy and cunning. Conspiracy and intrigue are second nature to them, and nothing they do is straightforward or easily understood. Their conspiracies operate on a scale measured in centuries, not years, and are renowned for their subtlty and obscurity. Humans are little more than pawns to them.

The intrigues of dragons are the battlefield in a complex and incomprehensible game of honor and prestige. Great wyrms are those dragons that have mastered the game, and become acknowledged as the most powerful, wealthiest and most cunning of all dragons.

Dragons above all seek prestige. Not "fame and fortune" (the opinions of humans are meaningless) but status among their peers, other dragons. This status is determined by who has the most wealth, the most influence, and who can conspire the best. Feints within feints, double-blinds, triple agents- all of these gambits are deployed not just to advance their position, but because the sheer artistry and effectiveness of each gambit gains the dragon prestige.

The dragons are not fighting over the Draco Foundation, or even for the Draco Foundation. They are fighting to establish precedence, position, and preeminence. The most powerful will claim the first pick of the hoard, and so on down the line. To them, it is inconcievable that Dunklezahn could have or would have arranged his affairs any differently.

Dragons are alien beings, whose psychology is more primal and primeval than mankind's. They conspire not out of desire or malice, but because such machinations are instinctive. Dragons are like especially intelligent and sentient sharks- no matter how civilized they seem, blood in the water can trigger a frenzy.

Dragons are driven by their innate nature to gather wealth. In ages past, wealth was measured in gold and jewels. In the Sixth World, it is credit, stocks and bonds, artwork, autographed Beatles albums, and anything else of value or rarity. Dragons seek these out not out of need, but because they are driven to by their biology.

Our point of view is essentially meaningless to them and their point of view is alien in the extreme. Dragons do not think in terms humans would consider rational. They are not human, and treating them as such causes only grief.

Dragons are driven to fight each other to establish precedence. For a dragon, a complex interplay of conspiracies involving three corporations and two national governments is but a single move in a fierce battle. A confrontation lasting years is to them, as a 30-second face-off is to humanity.

Dragons are driven to secrecy. In the 4th World, dragonslaying was a past-time for fools who had tired of living and wanted their bleached bones to decorate the lair of a wyrm. No longer. Mankind now posesses the secrets of missiles and plastique and, above all, nuclear warheads. Dragons cannot count on their natural invulnerability to protect them against foolish mortals. Thus, where once they fought openly, now they move in secrecy. (Until the death of Dunklezahn triggered their instincts.)

Dragons are driven to garner influence and power. Both as a counter in their game of wealth and influence, and to protect themselves, and to help gather wealth. Dragons work behind the scenes, with great patience and subtlty. Corporate stock is a treasured asset, conferring both wealth and power.

Humans think Lofwyr is the corporate dragon. In truth, most great dragons have influence with the corporations, directly or indirectly. Many smaller corporations are owned outright by assets controlled by a dragon (their name never appearing anywhere). And chains of shell companies are used to transfer assets about, as the dragons go about their business, busily manipulating markets and companies for their own inscrutable ends.

Nations, as well are pawns of the dracoforms. Influence with a nation is no longer as important as it might have once been, but nevertheless, "owning" a country is a major coup.

Notable figures carry influence as well. A great many corporate billionaires owe their wealth and position to the aid of a dragon, and so are obligated to that wyrm. Dragons can exert control over assets they do not own, because of favors owed them and alliances they've negotiated.

The fight to establish precedence over Dunklezahn's hoard is important not because of the value of the wealth and property, although that is quite nice, but because it is a chance for the Greats to test their strength one with another. They are fighting each other as much or more than the Foundation. This fighting might seem, to humans, as outrageous and prolonged, but to dragons it is a short, intense scuffle.

After all, if corporations can go to war (twice), why not the more fierce, more territorial, more primal dragons? They are driven so by their biology, and that operates at the level of instinct, in the most ancient portion of the dracoform mind. The smoke will clear away soon enough, and they can go back to their quiet manipulations of individuals, nations, and corporations.

I'd like to interject here (and for my own players who are reading this, you can take it as a hint).

As a base-line, I think that's accurate. However every dragon active in the 6th world is, by human standards, very old, very smart, and quite probably very, very bored.

I think it's entirely possible for a dragon to cultivate a form of "humanity," though it would be unlike anything a metahuman would call it. A dragon might amuse herself by deeply exploring a form of art, or even begin to abide by human morality. They would not do so out of a herd mentality, but because doing so pleases or challanges it.

A dragon might even become an exemplar of their chosen hobby, simply because they don't do things half-assed. A dragon who fancies playing with ethics is libal to take it to an unimaginable extreme, because she feels that deep, primal need to be the best, the biggest, the most dominate ethical philosopher the 6th world has ever seen.

However, the alien point of view will still creep in. A dragon is not a human, and does not have human urges or human needs. If a dragon devotes herself to an abstract ideal, she will probably work toward it based on draconic value judgements. The juxtaposition could be humerous...or it could be horrific to watch.

The game is not only biological, but serves to give draconic life meaning. Creatures who live for millenia will find only other such creatures provide a constant challenge. Were it not for the struggle to achieve prestige, draconic lifeforms would be struck with lethal levels of ennui.

Absolutely, I agree. Dunklezahn, for example, is infamous for becoming a more human, even humane dragon. As a ploy in the game, it worked well because it was unforseen and effective.

Excellence in a field is a valid means to achieve draconic prestige. There are others.

Being first off the block is a great way to attain prestige, if you catch the other players off guard. Lofwyr was fighting to maintain his position, after Dunklezahn he was probably the most powerful Great Wyrm (which isn't the same as a Great Dragon, I should note).

Lofwyr's move wasn't one of haste or panic, but a well-calculated ploy to convince the other players that he was still master of the game. By moving against an unexpected opponent, in an unforseen manner, his opening gambit solidified his position as First Among the Great. This left his opponents scrabbling for second place. None of them can vault to first, unless they pull off a move of unsurpassed brilliance.

Dragons engage in "wars" all the time. Much like boxers who spar for practice, the game of eminence is a neverending process. The quote of mine is misleading, as there isn't a start or end to a dragon's gambit to increase his own position. Ghostwalker may very well have set off these events. But Lofwyr was the first to move against the Foundation, with the aim of collecting the hoard-debt.

Not necessarily canon, but: Dragons as a species are not fecund, and so protect their young and themselves at any cost. Killing another dragon is rare and shunned. Dragons have a complex series of etiquette and rituals to avoid direct face-to-face confrontations, physical combat, and drakocide.

The wars are, on the scale of the Great Wyrms, pretty mild stuff. They war against each other all the time, attacking each other's assets, proteges, property, and reputation. These struggles are innate,as much a part of their draconic heritage as breathing.

Dunklezahn's death opened up the spot at the top of the heap as well as leaving behind a hoard of immense wealth and power. Each dragon is drawn in because biology directs it and practicality demands it. D's hoard is an opportunity to gain a great amount of prestige, very quickly. If it means the loss of a couple of hundred humans, who cares? Crunch all you want, they'll breed more.

Thank you for the compliment.

I have got a few notes. I just started putting it together last night, so I haven't got a chance to do anything in depth.

I am working on a new dragon, previously unknown to the public, a Great Wyrm who lairs in The Noose in Chicago, hates orks, and subsidizes Humanis and Alamos 20k. He's an ancient dragon who hunted orks for pleasure during the 4th World, called Orkslayer.

He's gone a bit loopy by dragon standards. Being so old, he's become obsessed with death. He's uncomfortable with technology (and hasn't managed the transition from antiquity to the Cyber Age very well.) He is searching for a way to achieve immortality by sloughing off his body and becoming a purely astral being. His experiments along this line have been disastrous. He is drawn into the wars purely because he believes Dunklezahn has hidden an artifact that can aid his quest for immortality.

And that, my friends, is all that needs to be said.