Draconity
Draconity indicates a state of being a dragon, draconic, or dragon-like. More specifically it is a term used by a subculture of people who believe themselves to be a dragon in a psychological, spiritual, or (rarely) a biological sense. The term "draconity," along with the subculture that originated it, seems to have arisen in the mid-90's through internet communication media such as Usenet newsgroups (particularily alt.fan.dragons) and IRC. Although many draconic individuals interact online, and some only declared themselves to be dragons after finding this subculture, equally many dragons identified themselves as such far prior to knowing the subculture even existed.
Most commonly, draconic individuals base their personal definition of "dragon" upon traits they have found in spiritual self-exploration, which may differ greatly from the traits displayed by traditional definitions of dragons. Others will identify themselves with mythological standards such as European/Western and Chinese/Eastern dragons. Yet others adhere to the classifications found in works of fiction such as the Pernese dragons of Anne Mccaffrey's novels and the classes of dragons as defined by Dungeons & Dragons and other related role-playing games.
The influx of dragons styled after role-playing game standards has become an issue of concern for longstanding members of the online dragon communities. The ease of use of many modern online forums for communications within the community such as IRC and the more descriptive MU* interfaces (such as Alfandra) has attracted a number of dragon fans who use the sites as a medium for roleplay purposes. There is some fear that this tends to dilute the population of "genuine" dragons and discredits the subculture as a whole. Being a fringe group, the draconic community is primarily visible online, but draconity-themed gatherings, often called "dragon gathers", do occur offline in various places around the world.
Draconity may be viewed as a subset of otherkin and is thus subject to the same questions regarding its exact nature and the ramifications of such a belief on the individual; these specific issues are discussed in greater detail in that article. Dragons tend to be the largest subgroup of Otherkin, along with elves or faeries, and thus many of what might be considered the core beliefs of the otherkin community are dictated by these subsets.