The balance here seriously needs to be addressed. Starting a new game on "normal"
Did you not read the warnings? 'Normal' does not mean what you think it means.
It means "savescum, not your first time playing, or die".
It's literally mathematically impossible for me to win.
Almost true, unless you start as a steel dragon. Then it's possible to beat the dog with some regularity. The more martial of the other colours
can kill the mutt with savescumming, but it
is an exercise in frustration.
You're not the big bad dragon, destroyer of armies. Not yet. You're a
pet dragon.
On the other hand, I've played a tiny dragon on impossible for a while, and while painful, it's sort of doable with
really hardcore savescumming.
So unless there is a secret easy starting area that I've missed that's it.
The secret sauce is called 'minions'. Or starting as one of the bigger sizes. I'm also planning to add a 'screensaver' difficulty for people... well, maybe not quite like you.
Technically, there are also rabbits and foxes in the forest, who either don't fight back or are actually weaker than you. But they're not really meant as a 'starter' area.