I'll start off by answering on my conclusions to three niggling questions that I have reached.
1) The dark sign and undead curse is a cycle that comes as a result of the dying of the flame and it's cause is the dark soul itself (since undeath only appears in humans who are the only ones to have fragments of the dark soul). The dark soul is trying to balance the opposing forces of light and dark, heat and cold and life and death. This may seem contradictory and some may think 'why would the dark soul try to preserve light and heat when it is the opposite of them? ', however if you go back to the origins of the dark soul it originated from the first flame just like all the other souls and is inextricably linked to it, it is it's fuel. Therefore it causes the dark sign when the flame weakens which causes humans to become undead who now can't die and have to burn humanity to remain human. This strengthens the flame and keeps it from dying out until the chosen undead burns himself as fuel for the fire (which is fated to happen eventually). In this way the Age of Fire is dependent on the dark soul (and the humans who bear it) in order to not end.
2) Gwyn and his family as well as the Witch of Izalith and her family come from the same origin as humans and were once exactly the same as the furtive pygmy, we can see in the opening cinematic that all the beings that found the Souls in the Fire where hollows who were all of the same size and appearance. What made them larger and different to humans is the soul they found, Gwyn found the light soul and the Witch found the life soul, these souls grant immense power to their immediate finder (hence they turned their finders into larger and more powerful 'god' beings) but don't have the special and more subtle power that the dark soul has. As was mentioned the 'gods' are only claimed as so because of their power and they are only gods in the minds of the people who they rule over which hints that they are no different originally than humans.
3) The primordial crystal made the dragons invulnerable (can't be killed by damage) while it was their scales that made them immortal (won't be killed by old age and time) the fact that Seath possessed the crystal and couldn't be killed by damage except after it was broken but nonetheless was researching immortality but kept failing (which turned him insane) proves this.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to criticise, correct or add.
1) The dark sign and undead curse is a cycle that comes as a result of the dying of the flame and it's cause is the dark soul itself (since undeath only appears in humans who are the only ones to have fragments of the dark soul). The dark soul is trying to balance the opposing forces of light and dark, heat and cold and life and death. This may seem contradictory and some may think 'why would the dark soul try to preserve light and heat when it is the opposite of them? ', however if you go back to the origins of the dark soul it originated from the first flame just like all the other souls and is inextricably linked to it, it is it's fuel. Therefore it causes the dark sign when the flame weakens which causes humans to become undead who now can't die and have to burn humanity to remain human. This strengthens the flame and keeps it from dying out until the chosen undead burns himself as fuel for the fire (which is fated to happen eventually). In this way the Age of Fire is dependent on the dark soul (and the humans who bear it) in order to not end.
2) Gwyn and his family as well as the Witch of Izalith and her family come from the same origin as humans and were once exactly the same as the furtive pygmy, we can see in the opening cinematic that all the beings that found the Souls in the Fire where hollows who were all of the same size and appearance. What made them larger and different to humans is the soul they found, Gwyn found the light soul and the Witch found the life soul, these souls grant immense power to their immediate finder (hence they turned their finders into larger and more powerful 'god' beings) but don't have the special and more subtle power that the dark soul has. As was mentioned the 'gods' are only claimed as so because of their power and they are only gods in the minds of the people who they rule over which hints that they are no different originally than humans.
3) The primordial crystal made the dragons invulnerable (can't be killed by damage) while it was their scales that made them immortal (won't be killed by old age and time) the fact that Seath possessed the crystal and couldn't be killed by damage except after it was broken but nonetheless was researching immortality but kept failing (which turned him insane) proves this.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to criticise, correct or add.