As of yet I have very little perspective for how you reason and act. My song on these matters may lack clarity. This dragon's thoughts are very neat and tidy, actually, with almost none of the associative and emotional leakage every other dragon has. It goes against both our instincts and learned impulses to share knowledge freely. We conceptualize accumulated knowledge and wisdom as a Treasure, something not to be shared without cause. In this case I am willing to explain the history in question from my perspective and offer general information on other topics. Upon further thought or for some kind of payment I may offer more specific information.

Thank you. I'm happy to answer your questions in return if there's anything you'd like to know.

I personally am approximately twenty-six thousand years old, with much of that time spent in hibernations and estivations. I have no reliable record of the origins of dragons. There are two common interpretations to the myth 'true children of Sun and Earth'. That we were created by the vast spirits of Sun and Earth, as lords, guardians, and caretakers for the lesser spirits and animals. That we evolved into the complex beings we are today over many eons, slowly gaining a stability of spirit that allows our existence in shapes that no animal could support of purely flesh.

This state of affairs with the early dragons living as they did continued for a very long time - tens of millions of years. During this time the one now called the Ruiner was the Greatest Dragon. Then the Others - who are not human but something else, colder and less emotional - appeared without warning. After a brief century-long period of scouting, the creation of cities and outposts, and skirmishes between us and their lesser vessels, they used their starships to engineer bombardment with large rocks from space, as well as inducing volcanic activity and similar things, I believe in response to escalating attacks from dragons. It was a time of great woe and immense death. At this point we did not accept humans as worthy of consideration. They were invaders who did not feel emotion in a recognizable way, automata to be destroyed. We did not understand their weapons or their reasons for such destruction. We could do very little to oppose them, and it seemed as though all would end for our kind and silence would reign forever.

The Ruiner was unmade by the pain of such loss. A being of immense power, she called forth all her 'children' - all dragons in the world - compelling us to fight at her side and empowered by a divine fury. Her rage and fury created a strength of magic like none before or since. We destroyed a great many of the Others and the Humans now living on the planet. This is a holy tragedy; She was the greatest symbol of Creation, and made herself into utter Destruction, and all the world suffered for it. We burned the Earth once again, fire and destruction reigning everywhere. However, even the Ruiner could not destroy the Others. They vanished, only to reappear with far larger starships than before. These greater ships stuck out not with beams of radiative light or flocks of guided missiles or metal projectiles, but with incomprehensible weapons that seemed to shred space and matter on a fundamental level that I still do not understand. Even this could not slay the Ruiner, though it drove her into the burning interior of the Earth.

We were utterly defeated, and the world burned around us.

And then they left. 

I was not there to see what happened next, like every other surviving dragon I had retreated deep underground in the hope of safety after the Ruiner's fall. It is impossible to tell for certain how long our estivation was, but it was surely thousands of years. When we emerged, the Others in their starships were nowhere to be seen, and the remaining humans, the farmers, were scratching their way through life using simple stone and bone tools, while the delvers continued desperately maintaining equipment they no longer knew how to repair. Nature had largely recovered, in a different shape than before but recognizable and comforting. Dragons were ascendant once again, with many births and much development and life occurring since then.

They hated we dragons, acting with fear and anger whenever one was seen. We dragons also hated humanity, symbol of our ruination. The humans slowly grow more numerous and sophisticated, with the discoveries of the use of fire, of clay, of slave-animals, and then metal. It seemed clear to us that the arc of history was aimed at an inevitable confrontation; The humans would create ever greater machines, using the natural world to their advantage and destroying nature to suit their own whims, as the consummate tool-makers they are. Eventually we would be driven back and exterminated one by one, piecemeal. Matters would come to a head in the next century or two. Then, however, you arrived. With this perhaps... An understanding and a way forward that does not require yet more destruction.

It is our dear hope that no more destruction will be called for. Why were humans a symbol of the ruination if the Others who attacked were not human?

While the Others were their lords, the three castes of humanity were complicit. They were pilots and soldiers none the less, going about their work with purpose and eagerness. They are the ones who built the cities and wielded those guns and clear-cut the forests and consider dragonflesh a rare delicacy.

My own plan if the situation became critical was to leave. I do not care to take revenge on humanity. It would accomplish nothing and only invite further revenge. I crave new discoveries, and I recognize that sometimes there is nothing that can make things right. Thus I have been studying the stars, and propulsion.

...You expressed curiosity in the way of altering animals.

The mere act of living near or deliberately singing knowledge to an animal tends to make it more aware of the world and all its possibilities by degrees. The minds of animals are ..... Compound. The minds of dragons are not mere flesh, but composed of both flesh and spirit. When mature, the spirit can in some cases interact and operate on its own, growing beyond the flesh. Animals are similar. They are supported by their inner spirits - patterns in the invisible layer of the Onesong that interact with brains. Animals' spirits often have a connection to many animals at once. If a dragon speaks to an animal, spirits tend to pay more attention to it, 'inhabit' it if you will, which strengthens the higher functions of such a mind. Complex animal thought is the thinking of mind-in-spirit tightly bound with mind-in-flesh. Either alone is far lesser. This can manifest in family structures with animals that tell stories to each other, hive-like behavior, the conceptualization of 'rumors' spreading throughout a species with no direct communication, or in a sort of ancestral memory. 

This is my own interpretation after very long observation and not a few experiments; I state it as a likely suspicion rather than a fact.

There is another way, fundamentally different in kind. 'Enkindling' is the art of constructing or grafting a new, artificial spirit for an animal, with accompanying bodily alterations. It is a deep and subtle art, but Enkindled animals are truly their own individuals, unlike the good beasts of the land who are simply tightly entangled with wider spirits.

...is the rat swarm likely to have trouble being in another world away from the ambient spirits here?

I don't know. It would be fascinating to interview them. I would also greatly enjoy hearing more about the other planets you hail from!
 

She can list the most interesting ones! Would you like to explore more of the multiverse, perhaps visiting them?

Extremely so. And yet matters here are very important, and such explorations can be deferred.

'What things are likely to be good ways for us to help dragons flourish without sacrificing anyone else's well-being' is not something that is easy to answer. I would first hear what ways you help other beings flourish, and what constitutes a sacrifice to well-being.

Well, most planets we find have humans or species that are mostly like humans on them. We alleviate material scarcity, encourage them to travel or emigrate if they don't find their home satisfactory, teach them things that they want to know, encourage them to join Vanda Nossëo entirely so that we can construe protecting them from outside threats as part of our mandate, and solve any natural disasters or other issues that are endangering them, so they can all be safe and free and have opportunities to grow. But we won't help them make war on their neighbors, or let them join us while they keep people imprisoned or enslaved who would prefer to be elsewhere that we can offer.

Darktooth sends 'I am considering this carefully' for a while.

There are cases where our kind can trade or interact constructively with your kind, but I do not think they are the norm. I think we are more flexible than the average dragon thinks we are, but I am under no illusions. There will be shock and alarm at the debasement of Shiny Things; But while the best treasure is truly rare, the allure of gold and gems is baked within our natures. That will be minor in comparison to the rest. For a diehard few, any cooperation with your federation will be an affront against our history, an unnatural perversion. Something to kill over, or die over. For a larger minority, the provision of meat and the obvious desire to see hunting reduced will parse as a similar debasement, with various sorts of justifications. A cunning plan to weaken us, make us reliant for an inevitable future betrayal, perhaps.

Preventing natural disasters, teaching lessons of far-off things, the ability to see new lands and perhaps even claim new territories, will be fulfilling to many...

Are the humans of this world likely to join your federation?

I think so. Perhaps not all at once, but it's rare that we can't convince a low-tech human population, with some creativity.

What would then happen if a dragon came to hunt in those lands? If they succeeded and killed humans, and if the dragon failed and died? If a party of dragonslayers came to hunt in ours and succeeded in killing a dragon? If they failed and died?

If a group of humans joined Vanda Nossëo, we'd want to be confident that their borders weren't under active dispute, but then if a dragon attacked humans within those borders we would bring them back to life and put the dragon on trial, and if the dragon were killed in self-defense we would probably also try the killers in case they had other motives but they would most likely avoid punishment. Ideally someone would call for help and the dragon would be harmlessly removed. If people left their Vanda Nossëo homes to invade a dragon's territory and killed the dragon they would be tried and convicted, and the dragon restored to life at their expense; if they failed their loved ones might or might not bring them back, but the dragon, acting in self-defense and not belonging to Vanda Nossëo, would be left alone.

I will have to publicize that if you attack humans and their powerful overlords, you are an idiot and deserve your fate. Darktooth's thoughts seem a bit frustrated and resigned on this. How can you restore a destroyed being to life?

We might not be able to do it with dragons; you seem possibly too magical. Our usual method is to have a demon, that being a kind of person with the magic to make material objects, create a new body, and use magic from a wish-granting device local to the Mîr neighborhood to awaken the body.

I am almost completely sure that will not straightforwardly work. I know for a fact that a dragon body or even egg with no spirit dies immediately. Possibly not for lesser beings and the humans from this universe, either. I am less sure there.

We have ongoing research in how to enable resurrections for more species, and a waiting list for when it's one day possible. I don't know if it's been tried yet with a local human.

Your magic seems fundamentally different from ours; When there is some trust, there may be great secrets to be discovered in the mingling. Trust... Fundamentally, you appear capable of doing whatever you want. None of us will like that, but we will... Accept it in time. After all, it is futile to complain about an irrefutable fact. Whatever we do from here, your presence will be regarded as interference by some. I am not yet sure how to sing a message such that you are a blessing, rather than meddling Others come to infest the planet once again.

If there's anything we can do to be more uncomplicatedly regarded as good news we are eager to hear it.

Get most of the humans off this planet.

They might be happy to go. I can suggest that we emphasize the availability of colony planets as a signing perk. We can't force them off en masse.

...

I do not have a clear sense of what you will consider unconscionable offenses or what you will consider meaningless pleasantries. I am a dragon who has never entered a city or spoken to more than one human at a time. Or for more than a very short time.

Thoughtfulness-transmitting pause.

My thoughts thrown forth for consideration. I am considering a state that does as little as it possibly can.

As for justifications... Some combination of: 

Dragons are (cool/inspiring/majestic) with powerful magic, we would be honored to have them join the federation. 

We would like to trade magic and knowledge and stories for exciting Treasure from beyond the very universe!

The war with the Others was a great tragedy; we will fight together against any such Others who wish to trample nature. 

This is the way the world will be; We can resist it as a rock resists the ocean, or we can join it and adapt to the ever-changing future in the image of Water. Do you wish to become sand against the march of time?

Pragmatic reasoning; Given that you are here and want us to join under whatever conditions or rules this means, what benefits can we extract for such a deal?

If there isn't already a state - who would form your state?

There is not a state. There are the dragons, we who consider ourselves lords of all we survey. There is Tradition, including the tradition of the Grand Moot when matters of great import are discussed, which is not a law at all. Past Moots have only defined the new Tradition. I would not call it a state. However, if we are to form a state, it must be at such a Grand Moot. That is the only acceptable time for a great change in dragonkind.