Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mythusmage" data-source="post: 1309203" data-attributes="member: 571">Dragon Evolution Part IIWe return now to dragon evolution.By the Late Jurassic the flying hexapedal proto-dragon dominated. Quadrupedal proto-dragons were extremely rare, and hexapedal terrestrial proto-dragons were extinct . Between winged birds and the flying proto-dragon pterodactyls were being forced to the periphery, to take up the scavenging niche they would come to dominate until the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.The opening of the Cretaceous saw many changes. Pangea was breaking up. Laurasia saw the extinction of sauropods and carnosaurs; to be replaced by hadrosaurs, ceratopsians , and therapods. Even the vegetation was under going something of an upheavel. The gymnosperms being supplanted by the newly evolved angiosperms. In Gondwana the older dinosaur lines managed to adapt to the changes, but even here new lines appeared.In Gondwana proto-dragons remained relatively small predators and scavengers. In Laurasia they became something very different.It is small as dragons go, no more than 500 pounds according to one estimate. But it flew. It is entirely the wrong shape for a flying animal, but it flew.  Too big and the wrong shape, but it flew.We know this by observing it in flight. We observed its flight through the use of a specially adapted time-scry. One focused on and keyed to the fossil. The images were recorded as they appeared on the crystal, and have been seen by most everybody on Dragon Earth. With most people agreeing that what we are seeing is a dragon.There are dissenters of course, but whether it is a dragon or a proto-dragon it is a huge change from what had gone before. If nothing else, it means an animal capable of using magic, even if only on an instinctual level.The final step towards true dragons apparently came some time in the Late Cretaceous. The evidence in this case consists of a hadrosaur skull. Lambeosaurus to be precise. The animal shows signs of having been horribly burned on the right side. Right down to the bone. Even more remarkable is the fact this animal shows signs of healing. When it died it was recovering from the attack.It is entirely possible some other fire breathing animal did the damage, but the only known fire breathing animal today is a dragon. Following the principle of parsimony most scientists think it was some advanced proto-dragon, if not a full fledged dragon that did the damage. Likely a juvenile since the Lambeosaur in question managed to escape. Since keyed scrying ‘links’ the scyer with the subject, and the subject in question may have been in a great deal of pain, a keyed time scry of the subject is awaiting development of a dweomer or dweomers that will ‘shield’ the scryer from the pain and allow observation of the Lambeosaurus in life. Even then it is possible observing the attack as it occurred may not settle the question of the predator’s status as dragon or proto-dragon.Age of MammalsExactly when the Age of Dinosaurs ended is a matter of much debate. Some say it happen with the beginning of that great series of volcanic events known as The Deccan Traps some 70 million years ago. Other insist it ended around 60 million years ago when the dinosaurs were reduced to sauropods in Africa and hadrosaurs in North America, with mammals becoming the dominant vertebrate. A small minority says there was a sort of transition period of some ten million years where neither dinosaurs or mammals dominated, but they have yet to persuade the rest of the scientific community. One noted paleontologist has observed, “If the great Martian asteroid had hit the Earth 65 million years ago instead, we’d be arguing over whether it had resulted in the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. But it would give us something dramatic to hang our theories on.”But, how it ended, when it ended, it ended. The Age of Dinosaurs gave way to the Age of Mammals.It was also a time of opportunity for the newly evolved dragon. They diversified, growing larger and varied in form. For a time it appeared as if dragons would become the dominant life form. But mammals proved more adaptable and so came to hold sway.With the end of the Deccan Traps and the stabilization of Earth’s climate things went back to what they had been before. Mammals dominated, sharing the Earth with the last remaining dinosaurs, birds filled the air in place of the now vanished pterodactyl, and dragons watched it all.But changes were coming. Starting around 55 million years ago the first chlorophyll two plants appeared. The grasses. They would remain rare until around 35 million years ago, when Earth’s climate became unstable, but they would lead to new mammallian orders. Grazers such as cattle,  modern horses, and pegasi.Dragons were well placed to take advantage of the new situation. They diversified, with new species proliferating most everywhere. It is estimated that by 20 million years ago there were some 200 species of dragons around. With plenty to prey upon.By this time the hadrosaurs had eveloved into horned animals, eventually coming to resemble the ceratopsians of old. The sauropads of Africa reduced to one species, ancestral to the modern day miraphant. Mammals ran the world, if you would. Primitive Andrewsarchians and more advanced carnivora hunted on the ground while raptors and dragons hunted from  the air. Even with all the climatic turmoil going on life was good. New species were evolving to fit into the new niches, new orders were taking their place in the world. The first hominids ventured out on the African plains, only to be supplanted by newly arriving ungulates. Zebras, antelope, and others.But then the Ice Ages came.When next I post I will be covering the impact of the Ice Ages on dragons, and the rise of modern dragons.</blockquote>

Verification