DC Lore AMA

[TJ09]

Interesting idea.

 

So that would mean that the Avatars are revered, to some extent at least, as well?

 

Would it be that a dragon reveres the avatar that their element represents?

Yes. Their elusivity contributes to that.

 

As for dragon religion, I'm going to leave that undefined, as a subcomponent of dragon culture.

[TJ09]

Do dragons have any kind of laws/rules of conduct that they abide by?

As with other dragon culture questions, I'm leaving exploration of dragon society for the future. Most of my thought has gone into the world and humans, with dragons being prevalent, but not-super-understood. Because mystery?

[Daydreamer09]

How interconnected are the human settlements with dragons? Considering farming, do dragons help tend fields and livestock? What about with mining? And craftmaking? Do we rely on the help of dragons for us to live and for livelihood?

 

Also, considering that each dragon species has a certain element affinity to it, is it possible for a dragon to posses all? I know some have none, or are neutral.

Um, I guess you jumped over this?

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Um, I guess you jumped over this?

Standard I am not a TJ disclaimer, but the encyclopedia entry for copper dragons says they do grow / farm food, so I imagine some breeds can help humans do it (or do it themselves). The extent to which they do so / are relied on, though, is something TJ will have to answer! owo

[JavaTigress]

Standard I am not a TJ disclaimer, but the encyclopedia entry for copper dragons says they do grow / farm food, so I imagine some breeds can help humans do it (or do it themselves). The extent to which they do so / are relied on, though, is something TJ will have to answer! owo

I would also assume that it depends on the individual dragon as well.

 

One that is used to/ on freindly terms with humans would PROBABLY be far more likely to be willing to help that ones that either were 'wild' in the sense of having nothing to do with humans, or perhaps were NOT on freindly terms with humans.

[TJ09]

How interconnected are the human settlements with dragons? Considering farming, do dragons help tend fields and livestock? What about with mining? And craftmaking? Do we rely on the help of dragons for us to live and for livelihood?

 

Also, considering that each dragon species has a certain element affinity to it, is it possible for a dragon to posses all? I know some have none, or are neutral.

A scale of "how" is kind of hard to answer. All of the things you describe probably happen to some extent. I'd say not super prevalent (that is, not everyone does it).

 

I'd think neutral encompasses both non-magical things, but also magical things that are balanced between all the elements. Hence there is neutral mana.

[AGYK]

How can dragons whose personalities clash (i.e. Fellfires - "Hunting is a solitary action for both genders. Fellfires who cannot catch their own food are not fit to survive." - and Fleshcrownes - "They will always, at the very least, seek out the company of one other individual, even if that creature does not desire it.", or Desipis - "Their aggressive and destructive capabilities have led to many tall tales and myths, a large portion of which label them living incarnations of malevolence and destruction." and Speckle-Throated - "Strong sense of justice and will not stand for any dragon being harmful to the pack.", or Desipis and Cassare - "Desipises are left in an especially weakened and disoriented state when exposed to a nullifying field of magic, such as that of a Cassare.") live together in a dragon owner's cave? Wouldn't there be a state of perpetual conflict, especially if the dragon owner is trying to get two dragons from enemy breeds to mate together?

[LibbyLishly]

Ooo, this is a fun topic!

 

Drakes bug the tar out of me because they're supposedly not related to dragons (hence unable to breed) and supposedly possess inferior intelligence. For some reason, the idea of drakes being considered a whole different species, shunned for the purposes of breeding with "normals" and even with pygmies always smacked of interdragon racism to me (a concept which has since leaked into my personal RP). Can you elaborate more upon this matter?

[JavaTigress]

Ooo, this is a fun topic!

 

Drakes bug the tar out of me because they're supposedly not related to dragons (hence unable to breed) and supposedly possess inferior intelligence. For some reason, the idea of drakes being considered a whole different species, shunned for the purposes of breeding with "normals" and even with pygmies always smacked of interdragon racism to me (a concept which has since leaked into my personal RP). Can you elaborate more upon this matter?

Actually libby Lishly, I always sort of felt similar. ( The pygmies make sense because they are so small...)

For some reason I always picture the drakes as more intelligent than most believe them to be.

 

I assume that IF we are going with the theory that dragons are sentient beings, then they would be as capable of prejudice, bigotry and narrowmindedness as are humans.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Silverswift

[Tecca]

Did you have any specific inspiration(s) when creating the world of Valkemare? Science fiction or fantasy Books/movies/TV/games that influenced its design?

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Ooo, this is a fun topic!

 

Drakes bug the tar out of me because they're supposedly not related to dragons (hence unable to breed) and supposedly possess inferior intelligence. For some reason, the idea of drakes being considered a whole different species, shunned for the purposes of breeding with "normals" and even with pygmies always smacked of interdragon racism to me (a concept which has since leaked into my personal RP). Can you elaborate more upon this matter?

I've never thought of it that way. Dragons are (presumably) related to other reptiles, which ARE unsentient and sometimes extremely so. I don't see it as implausible that the same branch of development that created large, intelligent reptiles (dragons) couldn't have seen fit to create large, less intelligent reptiles (drakes) as well. After all, Earth is populated by far more unsentient animals than brainy ones, and that certainly hasn't slowed most of them down, has it?

[JavaTigress]

I've never thought of it that way. Dragons are (presumably) related to other reptiles, which ARE unsentient and sometimes extremely so. I don't see it as implausible that the same branch of development that created large, intelligent reptiles (dragons) couldn't have seen fit to create large, less intelligent reptiles (drakes) as well. After all, Earth is populated by far more unsentient animals than brainy ones, and that certainly hasn't slowed most of them down, has it?

That may be... but that WOULDN'T Explain why we would be keeping them alongside of the dragons.

 

I mean... I am sure that Valkemare is home to MANY animal species, BUT we don't see any of them on our scrolls

Edited February 19, 2015 by Silverswift

[Nerei]

What sort of flora and fauna lives in Valkemare? Is it entirely like our own, or are there some unique creatures? What are the major apex predators (other than dragons) or prosperous species?

[Rhynn Collins]

That may be... but that WOULDN'T Explain why we would be keeping them alongside of the dragons.

 

I mean... I am sure that Valkemare is home to MANY animal species, BUT we don't see any of them on our scrolls

The way I see it, they're all of the 'draconic' type of animal/creature, which is what we 'keep' on our scrolls. The draconic type has dragons, pygmies, drakes, and I'm sure each of those can have sub-species as well (eastern, western, wyvern, etc.). I'm sure there are proper biological terms for this, but alas, I do not know them

 

Just my thoughts of course

[Daydreamer09]

Reading the encyclopedia, it says that dragons are mostly found on the main continent, Galsreim, in part do to the large amount of mana. So is there a survival need for large amounts of mana?

 

I'm also really curious about humans being on Galsmeir. The encyclopedia keeps it vague about how humanly populated it is as it speaks of the world as a whole in terms of settlements and cities. Are there well established settlements and cities there also or is it more rural and wild?

Edited February 19, 2015 by Daydreamer09

[angelicdragonpuppy]

That may be... but that WOULDN'T Explain why we would be keeping them alongside of the dragons.

 

I mean... I am sure that Valkemare is home to MANY animal species, BUT we don't see any of them on our scrolls

Bawkkk bawk bawk. Also my dinos would like to talk with you! :3

 

Reading the encyclopedia, it says that dragons are mostly found on the main continent, Galsreim, in part do to the large amount of mana. So is there a survival need for large amounts of mana?

 

If you had the choice between living somewhere where there was stuff that'd let you do magic, versus living somewhere with less/none of it, which would YOU choose?

Edited February 19, 2015 by angelicdragonpuppy

[JavaTigress]

Bawkkk bawk bawk. Also my dinos would like to talk with you! :3

 

 

Actually had quite forgotten about the Chickens and Dinos.

 

AS a matter of fact I always had a hard time JUSTIFYING the Dino's presence on my scroll... but that is another story.

 

You make a valid point.

 

That being said I always did think of the drakes as more intelligent than what is believed.... can't speak for the Dinos...

Edited February 19, 2015 by Silverswift

[MessengerDragon]

How do cheese dragons deal with mice?

[Daydreamer09]

If you had the choice between living somewhere where there was stuff that'd let you do magic, versus living somewhere with less/none of it, which would YOU choose?

Well, you know there's more to the world than just Galsreim. And mana is found throughout the world from what I gather. Just that there's a larger pocket on the main continent. So it begs the question. I can see dragons needing larger amounts of it than humans do, just for their size.

[TJ09]

How can dragons whose personalities clash (i.e. Fellfires - "Hunting is a solitary action for both genders. Fellfires who cannot catch their own food are not fit to survive." - and Fleshcrownes - "They will always, at the very least, seek out the company of one other individual, even if that creature does not desire it.", or Desipis - "Their aggressive and destructive capabilities have led to many tall tales and myths, a large portion of which label them living incarnations of malevolence and destruction." and Speckle-Throated - "Strong sense of justice and will not stand for any dragon being harmful to the pack.", or Desipis and Cassare - "Desipises are left in an especially weakened and disoriented state when exposed to a nullifying field of magic, such as that of a Cassare.") live together in a dragon owner's cave? Wouldn't there be a state of perpetual conflict, especially if the dragon owner is trying to get two dragons from enemy breeds to mate together?

Well "The" cave is really really big.

 

That aside, some of the other replies here have already discussed how the extreme to which DC as a game takes dragon collecting isn't super feasible in an RP world.

[TJ09]

Ooo, this is a fun topic!

 

Drakes bug the tar out of me because they're supposedly not related to dragons (hence unable to breed) and supposedly possess inferior intelligence. For some reason, the idea of drakes being considered a whole different species, shunned for the purposes of breeding with "normals" and even with pygmies always smacked of interdragon racism to me (a concept which has since leaked into my personal RP). Can you elaborate more upon this matter?

Think of drake vs dragon as gorilla vs human.

 

They literally are a different species, hence there's nothing terrible about treating them as such.

[TJ09]

Did you have any specific inspiration(s) when creating the world of Valkemare? Science fiction or fantasy Books/movies/TV/games that influenced its design?

I am vastly under-exposed to a lot of the more popular works of science/fantasy fiction, such that any resemblance to such things is probably more two people arriving at the same conclusion than inspiration of any form.

 

I mean, I read the first two books of the Eragon series many many years ago; that definitely inspired some things. There's some other fantasy series I read a bunch of but don't really remember anyways.

 

The most inspirational video game RPGs for me are Earthbound and SMRPG, which aren't even close in setting.

[TJ09]

I've never thought of it that way. Dragons are (presumably) related to other reptiles, which ARE unsentient and sometimes extremely so. I don't see it as implausible that the same branch of development that created large, intelligent reptiles (dragons) couldn't have seen fit to create large, less intelligent reptiles (drakes) as well. After all, Earth is populated by far more unsentient animals than brainy ones, and that certainly hasn't slowed most of them down, has it?

This is basically what I was getting at with my response as well.

[TJ09]

What sort of flora and fauna lives in Valkemare? Is it entirely like our own, or are there some unique creatures? What are the major apex predators (other than dragons) or prosperous species?

Definitely unique creatures. For one, there would need to be some sort of large animal species (singular or plural) that serves as food for meat-eating dragons. I'm not exactly good at coming up with ideas from scratch, so I don't know what such things would look like.

 

A lot of it resembles our own, as well, with the additional twist of mana transformation.

[Shelybear]

Although it's said that some eggs are far enough away from those adult dragons and fairly safe to be stolen, why didn't those dragons find out the eggs have been stolen as there are way toooo many human doing that? Will adult dragons randomly lay some eggs and go away?

 

Is there any interesting stories ever happened between dragons and humans, bringing them closer? I don't think dragons will be friendly enough to let humans approach to them at the very beginning.