Gift Art - Draconic Breeds

Was going through my Sta.sh to try and clear out some old files, and I ended up stumbling across this old file! This was something that came to be while I was speculating with about where the boundary between Western and Eastern Dragons lay. To try and figure it out, I started looking at various draconic myths from around the world, and tried to take a guess where various "breeds" of dragons could have evolved, and how they could all be linked to one another. Central Asia seemed the most likely location for the origin of Dragonkind, simply because that became the obvious border between East and West, however, this proved problematic, as it was a crucial part of the story that Western Dragons first appeared in Wales, and Eastern Dragons in China. In time, though, I found a solution! It's still a work-in-progress (and it's quite simple), though, so expect this to change!

Here's how it would all work. In prehistoric times, the ancestor of modern Western and Eastern Dragons evolves in Central Asia; a long and snake-like reptile with no wings, which soon spreads across Eurasia. In the East, these Proto-Dragons gradually evolve into the modern Eastern Dragon, which has no elemental powers, but which learns to use magically enchanted objects to compensate. In the West, through means not yet fully understood, the modern Western Dragons evolve (possibly through a magical accident/experiment by Celtic Druids in Wales), and are unique in that they are magical by nature, and have the ability to use elemental powers. Eventually, the Western and Eastern Dragons spread and replace the Proto-Dragons, who become extinct by the modern age (a few small numbers survived for a while, and became the focus of myths of dragons that didn't fit the traditional West/East mold), and a rivalry develops between the two branches of dragonkind. 

As time goes on, several distinct "breeds" of dragon form in different areas of the world (so with slightly different appearances and traits, etc)..."European", "Arabian" and "Persian" Dragons in the West, and "Chinese", "Indian", "Siberian", and "Pacific" in the East. In addition to that, at some point in time, Eastern Dragons crossed over to the Americas via the Bering Strait; ultimately settling in Central and South America (the northern settlements didn't last), where they became worshipped as gods by the Pre-Colombian civilizations. The majority of these dragons were exterminated by Conquistadors during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, but a mingled with the European Dragons brought with them, and thus survive as the present "Mestizo" dragons; a mixture of Western and Eastern Dragons! 

So that's the basic history, and you can see how the breeds have spread throughout the world...mainly European Dragons, who travelled with the human colonists of Europe. I should note that it only shows the dominant breed of a region (with stripes if there's a significantly high amount of another breed also living there)...there'll be Eastern Dragons and Western Dragons living in every territory, regardless of their rivalry with one another (although it's not as bad in some places...New Zealand and Australia, for instance). 

I should note that part of this was vaguely inspired by Naomi Novik's Temeraire series...she's done a similar sort of thing where dragons exist all around the world...mainly based off the Western body design, but with the characteristics they're known for in their local mythologies. Anyway, I noticed that the NZ Taniwha and the Mesoamerican Feathered Serpent appeared to have more in common with Eastern Dragons, and remembering a theory I'd read about Chinese explorers potentially discovering America years before Columbus, I figured they could have colonised the Americas first.

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