draconic sky lairs
The richest dragons wanted to literally be above their poorer kin. The richest dragons had their lairs on the tops of mighty mountains and the poorest dragons had their lairs underground or beneath the sea. Most draconic architecture took the form of massive towers with the highest ranking sleeping in the upper levels, the lower ranking dragons living in the middle, and their thurekal servants living in or around the base. But the richest and highest status dragons didn't live on the top of towers. They lived on lairs floating in the sky. The First Unmaking brough the ancient dragons low, literally. It toppled the towers and their sky lairs alike. There are ruins of ancient draconic towers everywhere. I've touched some with my hands. But no credited scholar has every unearthed tangible ruins of one of the sky lairs. But I believe there are too many references to sky lairs in written documents and art for sky lairs to be a work of fiction. And we have no idea how sky lairs were originally constructed."-Akeem of Magicland, Historian Emeritus.by Eron12 with Hero Forge"Historical records on the First Age are more than a little limited, but one need only look at modern dragons. Modern dragons have a justifiable reputation for vanity and arrogance. Imagine putting a thousand, or ten thousand dragons together. They would invariably create a complex pecking order for rank and status. Dragons did all sorts of things to lord status over their fellow dragons and elevation was a huge element of status.
Social Impact
The poorer dragons who lived underground or in the sea were actually better positioned to survive the chaos, so most if not all dragons today are descended from those dragons, not the draconic nobility. Humans, elves, and dragons have all wanted to grasp the grandeur of the ancient First Age Dragons, so lots of treasure has been spent and blood has been spilled trying to recreate sky lairs so human and elf monarchs could enjoy floating castles. Sky lairs might have made sense in an era when millions of mortals could fly, but making a sky lair now would serve no purpose other than self-aggrandizement. The common wisdom is that the First Unmaking was caused by the magical fallout of an attempt to seize control of Mera's Lake, but for all we know, the magic involved in the creation of sky lairs could have accelerated or even precipitated the elemental chaos. I'm all for archaeology to unlock secrets of the First Age, but I think trying to recreate sky lairs is a fool's errand."-Fremiss the Vibrant one of the founding dragons of SwynfarediaFremiss Heraldry V by Me with MidjourneyEven at the height of the grandeur of the First Age, only a tiny percentage of the dragon population lived in sky lairs, and even a smaller number of dragons knew how to build and maintain sky lairs Dragons are famous for hoarding treasure, and as my esteemed colleague Gorisonad would agree, knowledge is the greatest treasure of all. Pride cometh before the fall, figuratively and literally in this case. When the First Unmaking hit, the towers and sky lairs were the first to fall. Any dragon that knew the secrets of making sky lairs died very quickly.
An alternate theory
-Gorisonad the Wise, one of the founding dragons of SwynfarediaKovenoth AI Headshot by me with Midjourney
"I concur with Fremiss in that seeking to recreate sky lairs is a fools errand, but for a different reason.
With all due respect to my esteemed colleague, Fremiss, I do not share his romanticized view of sky lairs. I do not believe sky lairs ever existed at all.
If a human city is rich, people will exclaim 'the streets are paved with gold!' Of course, there has never ever been a single street in a single city with literal gold paving. It's just a colorful hyperbole saying 'these peple are well off'
For all our wisdom and power, dragons have the same mortal failings of humans and elves and we are definitely not immune to hyperbole. Dragons living in high towers were metaphorically living in floating lairs above the clouds.
I personally believe that the fanciful tales of ancient sky lair are just that, tales of fancy."
Complexity
There have been numerous attempts to recreate sky lairs in the Second Age and the Third Age and no meaningful progress was made, so the creation of sky lairs must be complex indeed. Most assume it used some combination of science and magic in tandem.
Related Species
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