The most powerful creatures pre-Sorrows humanity ever created, the Dragons were products of the Second Secret. Built to protect humanity, and the worlds they sought to colonise with the power of the First Secret unlocked, they were vastly powerful and intelligent creatures. Formed in the image of the more traditional eastern Lungs, the Dragons could maneuver freely within the void and possessed considerable defensive and offensive capabilities. They were fully sentient and sapient beings, and at their creation were welcomed into the family of humanity as equals.
Although their creation process did include several neuro-chemical modifications to make them more effective and content as soldiers and guardians, they were free to pursue other avenues of life if they so desired. Few did so, although if this speaks well of the modifications or something else, none can really say. It is known that they were in every way brothers and sisters in arms to the humans who trained to fight beside them, and died with them during the Week of Sorrows. The Dragons died to a one during the First Battle of Sol, otherwise known as the Week of Sorrows. They took two of the Shiplord Tribute Ships with them to their deaths, and so definitively did not die alone, but they died. In their death, however, they gave humanity something.
The Dragons had some ability to manipulate the world around them, something that had not been engineered but simply been an unknown result of their creation. These abilities had led humanity towards the avenues to Reality Physics, which informed much of the early research of Potentals. When the Dragons died they passed some part of that gift - greater or lesser, it is hard to say, on to humanity. This manifests in the imprint they seared into the souls of every human when they died, and from which came the Potentials.