[jundle]

Under http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Dunkelzahn it states that Dunkelzahn was born around 13,000 BC.  So during the time when magic went away, where was he and what was he doing, and did he go over that info during the "12 hour" interview he gave?

[RelentlessImp]

Most popular theories are that highly magical beings, such as dragons, 'hibernate' during the ebbs of mana so as to conserve what their own bodies contain.

[jundle]

do they hibernate in their "dragon" form? Can they wake up? When they hibernate, are they on our plane of existance?  I.E., would it have been possible for a human (during the time when magic was "gone") to find a dragon, in its dragon form, hibernating?

[CanRay]

When a Mommy Dragon and a Daddy Dragon love each other very much...   

[CitizenJoe]

How does he know he was born in 13000 BC if he was hibernating (and thus unable to track passing years).

[TonyK]

When a Mommy Dragon and a Daddy Dragon love each other very much...   

... or at least aren't in active hostilities.

[Bruce]

I vaguely remember a reference where some IEs and dragons were talking (well, a matrix meeting) and mention was made of some IEs hunting down hibernating dragons (and killing them).

Although dragons seem to have sexes, perhaps that's a convenience and nod to meta-human sensibilities.  Maybe dragons fertilize and lay their own eggs; some species do.

Star patterns/planetary movement.  15000 years is enough to measure changes in the apparent positions of stars.  Eclipses are pretty easy to track as well.  I'd wager that the 13,000 BCE is an approximation, though.  (Since dragons are magicians (mostly), they'd be aware of important celestial events, since those can be a major factor in enchanting.)

[Mirikon]

The reference you're thinking of is in the Aztlan sourcebook.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

'Downtime hunting', and whatnot, yeah.

All dates being approximate ...

2000 AD - 7000 AD : 6th World, Magic.
3000 BC - 2000 AD : 5th World, No Magic.
8000 BC - 3000 BC : 4th World (Earthdawn), Magic
13000 BC - 8000 BC : 3rd World, No Magic
18000 BC - 13000 BC : 2nd World, Magic
23000 BC - 18000 BC : 1st World, No Magic
Big Bang - 23000 BC : Who Knows?

So if Dunkelzahn was born roughly around 13,000 BC in the 2nd World, he probably lived just long enough to look around, maybe long enough to get to full adulthood, before he went into hibernation.  Then, during the first part of the 4th World is likely when he achieved Great Dragon status, as he certainly had it in the latter part.

As for the hibernation, all the dragons (great or not) of whom their awakening from hibernation is written, with the sole exception of Ghostwalker, have emerged from lairs in their full-dragon physical form.  (One might presume that too much magic would be required to keep them in humanoid form, and/or that their full draconic form can store more.)  It is, perhaps, possible that these lairs are but areas whence they can emerge from astral space, but that's likely a matter for the GM to decide; maybe Ghostwalker's original lair-exit had been destroyed in the interim, and he had to find another way out.  This does not, however, explain the 'downtime hunting' ...

[CitizenJoe]

2nd World was known as the Age of Dragons.
4th world is known as the Age of Heroes (I think)
1st World was everything up until the first Scourge.

Note that the 2nd World was also packed with Horrors. 

[CanRay]

Note that the named ages are only ones that people still remember.

For a limited name of "people".

[CitizenJoe]

Homo Sapiens go back like 200,000 years in Africa.  At about 23000 BCE, humans first appeared in the Americas, which kicks off the start of the Mayan calendar.

[beowulf_of_wa]

so, does that mean that in exploring and populating the americas, people CAUSED the first magic cycle and the following scourge??

wow, how much does that fuck with the "history"?

[Angelone]

Eggs, Dragons come from eggs. 

[beowulf_of_wa]

really huge eggs that go nicely with Dave's Killer Bread toast