[@Meridian]Regular people/mages/ex-soldiers/etc.  Basically, the collapse of the government plus the return of the dragons, plus all of the races dealing with each other more will throw the world into chaos, with racists, rouge soldiers/mages, and maybe even an evil dragon rider.
As for the magic, it depends on how creative you are.  In one of the books they say that a master can say a word, then do something completely unrelated to it, as long as they see a connection.