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<blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 4369228" data-attributes="member: 3448">I have a couple assumptions that allows for a larger population.&nbsp; (A) Defending their hoards keeps them pretty pinned down.&nbsp; They may be able to fly hundreds of miles per day, but usually they'll want to keep their jaunts short so they can get back.(B)&nbsp; Dragons are smart enough that overlapping ranges doesn't necessarily equal death.&nbsp; Some dragons may form relationships like feudal relationships (where a more powerful dragon tolerates and protects a less powerful dragon in its territory in exchange for a share of loot/food/etc. and service.)&nbsp; Others may simply avoid fighting to conserve strength and avoid danger.&nbsp; It's easy to imagine a large red dragon that could and happily would kill smaller red dragons in its range, but doesn't seek them out (what if it's a trap?&nbsp; What if they ganged up, and then a silver made its move against the survivor?).&nbsp; The smaller red dragons would of course hunt in the less desirable places, maybe even taking on more dangerous prey like raiding towns that might send heroes after them (note the plot hook <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />) rather than hunting prey that the larger dragon views as its own.&nbsp; And of course dragons might tolerate their own descendants, either formally or by simply not going out of their way to kill them.(C)&nbsp; Large periods of inactivity/quasi-hibernation don't bother me for dragons.&nbsp; They fit with lots of the mythological and fictional antecedents, and they're convenient for world design.I think the big problem isn't how big an area could they fly to and doesn't that imply small numbers.&nbsp; To me, the question is whether there is enough of a food supply.&nbsp; How quickly does a dragon hunt out its range, or can they hunt sustainably?&nbsp; (I doubt reds are very sustainable.)&nbsp; How much food do they need per year?&nbsp; That could easily lead to conclusions that large populations are not sustainable, at least in the presence of large populations of humans, etc.&nbsp; But that's also a level of analysis that I usually don't get to beyond the most cursory handwaiving when I'm doing world-design.Also, a few dragons go a long way, especially in the larger sizes.&nbsp; I'm not sure there's anything wrong if you conclude that there are almost no great wyrms in a typical continent (maybe a handful).&nbsp; Because the smaller dragons can more easily live within small niches, larger small dragon populations aren't a big problem.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cerebral Paladin, post: 4369228, member: 3448"] I have a couple assumptions that allows for a larger population. (A) Defending their hoards keeps them pretty pinned down. They may be able to fly hundreds of miles per day, but usually they'll want to keep their jaunts short so they can get back. (B) Dragons are smart enough that overlapping ranges doesn't necessarily equal death. Some dragons may form relationships like feudal relationships (where a more powerful dragon tolerates and protects a less powerful dragon in its territory in exchange for a share of loot/food/etc. and service.) Others may simply avoid fighting to conserve strength and avoid danger. It's easy to imagine a large red dragon that could and happily would kill smaller red dragons in its range, but doesn't seek them out (what if it's a trap? What if they ganged up, and then a silver made its move against the survivor?). The smaller red dragons would of course hunt in the less desirable places, maybe even taking on more dangerous prey like raiding towns that might send heroes after them (note the plot hook :)) rather than hunting prey that the larger dragon views as its own. And of course dragons might tolerate their own descendants, either formally or by simply not going out of their way to kill them. (C) Large periods of inactivity/quasi-hibernation don't bother me for dragons. They fit with lots of the mythological and fictional antecedents, and they're convenient for world design. I think the big problem isn't how big an area could they fly to and doesn't that imply small numbers. To me, the question is whether there is enough of a food supply. How quickly does a dragon hunt out its range, or can they hunt sustainably? (I doubt reds are very sustainable.) How much food do they need per year? That could easily lead to conclusions that large populations are not sustainable, at least in the presence of large populations of humans, etc. But that's also a level of analysis that I usually don't get to beyond the most cursory handwaiving when I'm doing world-design. Also, a few dragons go a long way, especially in the larger sizes. I'm not sure there's anything wrong if you conclude that there are almost no great wyrms in a typical continent (maybe a handful). Because the smaller dragons can more easily live within small niches, larger small dragon populations aren't a big problem. [/QUOTE]

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