Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-11923066-20130126013641/@comment-17624520-20130907024530

I'd like to approach this from a wider perspective, if I may. (Brace for a long one...)

From what everyone's been able to gather, the entirety of the dragon family is undoubtedly diverse with several distinct species being related to one another in some form or another. This would stand to reason that, like the humans who later developed and diversified, the dragons would also have been set in place with some sort of thought on evolution.

I like to believe that the Age of Ancients was familiar to more than one kind of dragon, much as there were several species of man to begin with. The Everlasting Dragons may simply have been the apex predator or only species with a higher level of sentience, making them the ruling population. If the latter is true, then perhaps their distinction between "Everlasting" and "Ancient" is meant to be the same as the distinction between a "Pedigree" and a "Mutt." (Making Seath a mutt with a pedigreed parent. See below for explanation.)

As for their dual sets of wings, I'd think it a neccessity for dragons of that scale to possess four wings; if not to carry their sheer size, then they might have developed in natural response to how they fought or lived. To glide would take wider, thicker wings while active flight would have required stronger, thinner, and probably less wide wings. Either way, those toward the smaller end of the scale would only require one of either type of wing, even if they were an Everlasting Dragon.

Going back to the diverse population idea: Such a situation could also explain beings like Seath and/or the Stone Dragon. Copulation with other species is possible as long as both are physically compatible (we got with the Neanderthals, after al...). Cross-breeding could produce a dragon that would grow up to be larger than its mother but would lack the scales and longevity of its father, leading it to be ostrisized by the Everlasting Dragons (and, in turn, lead him to betray his father's kind). Likewise, a dragon pup born without the scales but boasting the indefinite life span of an Everlasting Dragon (Ex. The Stone Dragon) would be a possibility as well.

Please forgive me if this is too long. This is my first post ever and, after reading all your ideas, I got overloaded with ideas...