Servant Species

SO, the context here is really important, but I haven't compiled a lore doc here yet (where do I do that btw?). I'll summarize, and say that there are exactly 22 Ancient Dragons alive in my world, they're the most powerful living things in my world (and the closest things to gods my world has), and they only have a couple Lesser Dragon children (a lot of which have been killed by the "lesser" species around them.)

So you're one of the 22 Ancient Dragons, children of Pertho, and you're given task after roughly a century of brutal training to be a competent ruler is to "preserve civilization" from chaos. You will live ×10 longer than any creature around you, you're impervious to magical and mundane weapons, but you'll also depend on the civilization you build to feed and sustain you (for you should have gone extinct a long time ago, but your ancestors discovered a way to persist by leeching off of terrified slave nations).

Humanoids do not exist in this world (no humans, nothing human-like. Except maybe monkeys/apes) but you have discovered ways to impart intelligence to species with potential through artificial selection. What species do you uplift to the envious position of your personal vassals? How will they build a civilization worthy of you and your goals, and how will they be able to sustain you for the centuries you will be around? Btw, there can be "giant" versions of some creatures that would ordinarily be too small to be relevant (I.e. giant spiders and such)

Wolves seem like a pretty obvious choice. They're pack animals, which might be an advantage. Plus, they're strong and cool, which a dragon might care about.

Maybe some kind of lizards, because it would remind the dragon of itself. Could even be a dinosaur species, if you're happy with having those in your setting.

Since hands are pretty useful for humans, maybe some kind of animal that has hands. Could be a monkey (though I personally would find that not too interesting) or something like an opossum or a chameleon.

Raccoons, weasels and otters seem pretty adept with their paws, uplifting them to tool users doesn't seem as much a stretch as many other typical animals. Also, that would be extra interesting given the stereotype that raccoons and weasels are sneaky and mischievous.

Octopus/Giant Octopus! Uplifted masters of the sea. Creative, Intelligent, and 8 dexterous tentacles perfectly adapted to build an aquatic empire.

I could see it. Maybe enlarge them so they're a more relevant size, and watch them forge tools. Mustelids are also excellent carnivores. Otters are vicious, and adept at traversing water, so they could build bridges and dams, and scout out rivers and other bodies of water. Weasels are good at tunneling, and could dig dens, tunnels, or dig up a place for foundations. I'm less sure what role raccoons would play.
Giant octopus indeed! They could capture whales to feed their scaly master, and it helps that they're already very intelligent creatures. However, they're also aquatic, which would make it difficult for something like a dragon to navigate whatever sort of civilization they create. Could be they're another species uplifted alongside otters and weasels, and the otters bridge communication between octopodes and terrestrial creatures.

I was thinking not all dragons were land dragons some preferred water. The octopus may even have come up with some ways to access land. Since fire underwater is tough forging and metalcraft would not be very advanced but they may be masters of biology and "wet" sciences . To navigate land maybe they can latch on to a host organism.

If the task is just to preserve civilization, I might focus more on hardiness rather than intelligence. Maybe ants farming aphids or some kind of microorganism colony, with some efforts to increase genetic diversity. To prod at the premise a bit, is there a goal beyond just preserving civilization?

Bees. They're eusocial, operate on a high structure to serve the queen (me), are fuzzy and cute by insect standards, and already have fairly complex methods of communication. Also, they're one of only three species that deliberately store food for the future, so if we're talking about feeding my magnificent and glorious self, they'd be perfect. Double also, bees pollinate, so they're set up for agriculture.

Also wolves, because as bowl mentioned, wolves are strong and cool.

Oh, and if dire tigers are a thing, also those. Talk about shock troops!

I should think Chimps would be the most likely choice.

Though, this leads to Sun Wukong

If you are going for "civilization" then I would think that the dragons would want a social creature with a built in predilection for structured interactions. Ants, bees, and other colony creatures seem an easy go. You take one of them and enhance the hive mind structure - OR - enhance individual intelligence but keep it structured in a cast system which is genetically reinforced. Base workers IQ = 60 - 80, overseer IQ = 100 - 120, royal IQ 140 - 160.

Since this is a fantasy setting anyhow we can create variant. Depending on preference you can do an ant / spider hybrid so you have a colony of weaver/builders. Or you can do a beaver / mink mix of amphibious tunnelers with high family structure but looser higher social bonds.

If you go down this path, there's a precedent, so be ready to find yourself here 🤣
I guess this is some strong handwavium material you got yourself there. It can be used to cancel out any con: octopus not a land creature? evolution. T-rex has short hands? evolution. Lizards not social enough? you guessed it :D

I'd probably try to envision the end-point of "civilization" and then retro-fit the species based on stereotypes and ecosystem like Qralloq's examples.

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Some great examples to inspire you already here (underground, aquatic, etc). I'm going to thrown in birds to the mix to consider the possibility of an aerial civilization. Easy to spread since flying straight is faster than going around huge impassible mountains. People have seem flying cities and bird people before so it would be familiar but relatively exotic still. Bonus points if the entire civilization annually migrates to their nesting grounds half-way across the planet.

I'm not talking about magic, I'm talking more what we did to wolves. Through breeding desirable traits, eventually you'll end up with the results you're looking for. And when you can live ten times longer than other creatures, you have the time to experiment.
I do like this idea. Giant birds. We've already seen corvids manipulating tools, and most birds already build something anyways, so it's not a stretch to imagine they could build a civilization if they became sapient.