A bit more than a year ago, I posted in these forums a long detailed post about how I'd like to see a "Dragon Mode" of the game added, where you play a dragon with goals of getting stronger, requiring gold, which would enable you to sleep on said gold for centuries, growing larger, etc. My plans for this relied on the fact that while a dragon is strong, a kingdom can raise enough champions to take one down, so there is plenty of risk here still... so the dragon would not so much just go looting the land, but would rather set up political and diplomatic contacts, much in the manner of a mafia big boss. In this case, a very big boss indeed.
I was thinking that while the "Dragon Mode" part itself might be a ways down the road, Toady is implementing the politics part much much sooner. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest that Dragons be added to the world civilization political table... each dragon counting as a separate "nation". Let kings declare wars on dragons, and dragons declare war on kings.
Let dragons have a religion... preferably worshipping THEMSELVES, and allow the dragon to be a "missionary" for this religion. Of course, when religious wars come in to play, the dragon's religion would be opposed to more or less every other religion out there.
And then when politics become deeper, the Dragons are already positioned to be involved in intriuge, and if there's one thing D&D has taught me, it's that political intrigue with dragons involved can get FUN!
Here's some specific examples of what I'd like to see, in the form of Toady's "POWERGOALS"
POWERGOAL: A small but wealthy kingdom lays next to a poor but militarily strong kingdom, with but a single mountain pass between them. One day, a dragon sets up a "toll road" in that pass, demanding a reasonable tribute on trade. The small kingdom realizes that the dragon is acting as it's best military defense, and dedicates the few forces it has to keeping the dragon safe from the adventurers that the large (and poor) kingdom hires.
POWERGOAL: A dragon saves the life of the Royal Heir, and establishes a secret frendship with the Prince. When the Prince is crowned king, the friendship becomes open, and the dragon is heralded as the protector of the kingdom, and the royal family in particular, even acting as nanny and tutor to the next generation of the royal line. After several generations of being accepted as part of the establishment, the dragon usurps the throne and becomes the de facto king of the land without an uprising against him.
POWERGOAL: The kobolds have started to become more organized and threatening as of late, with well made weapons and armor, and come to raid your fortress in dog-riding bands that don't stay to fight, but rather grab what they can and run away. Seeking their mountain home to reclaim kidnapped children (and gold) you find that they are being led by a dragon, and your army is incinerated.
