DC Lore AMA

[Ruby Eyes]

What tells you they haven't taken over your cave yet?

[TJ09]

What size are leetle trees? And how do we get them back to our caves without disturbing the roots?

I'm going to quote a previous post here:

 

How exactly DO cheeses, Dinos and the like fit in? I have pondered this and pondered it and I never HAVE been able to QUITE make them fit.

Beginning to think I need to do with my cheeses like I did with my Dinos and go with the theory that they are figments of my dragons' imaginations... or perhaps release the lot of them all together.

The jokes? Well, they're jokes. So they don't fit in in any serious, meaningful way, and any attempt at explaining them will also be jokes. Mass hallucinations, maybe?

 

I think Leetle Trees fall under that same category of "jokes."

 

Though perhaps they're trees that have been infused with life mana, which gives them certain properties (such higher intelligence than that of normal plants, though they lack the ability to express it except for by being extremely cute).

[TJ09]

How do we keep our Desipises under control so they don't take over our cave? (Especially those of us who don't have any cassares handy?)

Your question implies that "[keeping] Desipises under control" is a different class of problem from the more general "keeping large, dangerous creature that can easily kill you under control."

 

I'm not so sure it is.

[zaverxi]

On the subject of frills, there could've been a disease that affected them, or some sort of curse placed by an unknown antagonist. Maybe a group of people were worried about overpopulation, so cursed them. The curse was originally meant to lessen how many were available, but instead it resulted in them never having any more, ever. And then years later, there was nothing but regret and many mages instead clamored for the curse to be broken.

 

Forum events placed in an RP scenario?

[Ruby Eyes]

Luckily, curses can be lifted - we just don't know how, yet!

[Pixxelation]

How do we keep our Desipises under control so they don't take over our cave? (Especially those of us who don't have any cassares handy?)

I imagine that only more experienced dragonkeepers would raise Desipises, as they are probably on the more dangerous side of things, as far as dragons go. As shown in the 2014 Halloween event, it's possible for a human to create their own nullifying field of magic, so I assume that it would be possible to weaken or stop their telepathic abilities if needed. Remember that dragons tend to trust those who raise them anyway, though, so it's likely that they'll respect their human friends' wishes and not cause too much damage. Larger breeds like the Desipis would probably be in small numbers in the 'actual' Valkemare as opposed to 'game' Valkemare, though; otherwise, the ecosystem wouldn't be able to support them. Because of that, they probably wouldn't occur in captivity very often.

[Ruby Eyes]

That's also a great explanation for the fact that dragons outside an egg (adults and frozen hatchlings) cannot be acquired from the wilderness.

[zaverxi]

Is it possible for 'human-made' dragons to exist, and is that where cheeses and papers come from? Or were they more... an accidental reaction from magic being collected in an area, or a side-effect of experiments in magic?

 

Or are they simply jokes that have no relevance in DC lore? I know the chickens and dinos are complete jokes with no bearing on the 'reality' of Valkemare, but papers I can see being like... golems, meant to protect scrolls and other paper materials even though they're tiny. Cheeses I can only imagine were brought about during a particularly wild party by inebriated mages who thought it'd be a FANTASTIC idea.

[Ansela Jonla]

Is it possible for 'human-made' dragons to exist, and is that where cheeses and papers come from? Or were they more... an accidental reaction from magic being collected in an area, or a side-effect of experiments in magic?

 

Or are they simply jokes that have no relevance in DC lore? I know the chickens and dinos are complete jokes with no bearing on the 'reality' of Valkemare, but papers I can see being like... golems, meant to protect scrolls and other paper materials even though they're tiny. Cheeses I can only imagine were brought about during a particularly wild party by inebriated mages who thought it'd be a FANTASTIC idea.

TJ has answered this already.

 

How exactly DO cheeses, Dinos and the like fit in? I have pondered this and pondered it and I never HAVE been able to QUITE make them fit.

Beginning to think I need to do with my cheeses like I did with my Dinos and go with the theory that they are figments of my dragons' imaginations... or perhaps release the lot of them all together.

The jokes? Well, they're jokes. So they don't fit in in any serious, meaningful way, and any attempt at explaining them will also be jokes. Mass hallucinations, maybe?

[Naruhina_94]

In Greek mythology, Zeus (one of the gods) frequently chooses to disguise himself as some sort of mortal animal and trick women into sleeping with him. This results in a lot of the not-gods-but-not-completely-mortal characters that appear in mythology.

 

I don't understand the rest of your questions well enough to answer.

I'm sorry, maybe it's because I'm not totally sure to know what exactly is the official description of a shapeshifter. The question is simple: could my Dracanthropes exists in DC's world? If the answer is no what could I modify to let them exists?

 

I've also posted more questions:

 

 

 

Is there a place where people who decided to use mana and magic related stuff decided to reunite, like a Mage tower?

 

How wild dragons see the human presence?

 

What do they generally think of them?

 

Has lived any past hero among dragons or human who is remembered until know?

 

Are there small outposts in the wild lands where people try to live in armony with peaceful breeds?

 

Thanks for your patience.

[TJ09]

What size are leetle trees? And how do we get them back to our caves without disturbing the roots?

How about this: Leetle Trees aren't things found in nature, but human culture has an odd fascination with growing entire trees in small pots (with the aid of mana) the way we might grow flowers.

 

So you can have like an entire tiny palm tree sitting in your windowsill. Who wouldn't want that?

[TJ09]

I've also posted more questions:

 

 

 

Is there a place where people who decided to use mana and magic related stuff decided to reunite, like a Mage tower?

 

How wild dragons see the human presence?

 

What do they generally think of them?

 

Has lived any past hero among dragons or human who is remembered until know?

 

Are there small outposts in the wild lands where people try to live in armony with peaceful breeds?

 

Thanks for your patience.

I don't understand the rest of your questions well enough to answer.

[Sundew]

Is human worship of dragons as gods a prominent religion/belief system?

[TJ09]

Is human worship of dragons as gods a prominent religion/belief system?

Are there any draconic religions, either among the breeds or widespread across them all?

My current leading idea is that there's three churches, that each follow the Avatars. Or maybe three factions of a unified Church of the GoN.

 

That's about the most of it. Worship of most "everyday" breeds is unlikely, given that interactions between dragons and humans aren't scarce.

[whitebaron]

 

Is there a place where people who decided to use mana and magic related stuff decided to reunite, like a Mage tower?

 

How wild dragons see the human presence?

 

What do they generally think of them?

 

Has lived any past hero among dragons or human who is remembered until know?

 

Are there small outposts in the wild lands where people try to live in armony with peaceful breeds?

 

Thanks for your patience.

I took the liberty to transform those:

• Is there a conclace or anything like that for mana/magic users in the world?
• Do wild dragons care about humans at all, and if so: what do they think about them?
• Are there any heroic/legendary figures in the world, known to all of mankind/dragonkind?
• Do communities exist, that live with the dragons in the wild?

[Dewdropmon]

How about this: Leetle Trees aren't things found in nature, but human culture has an odd fascination with growing entire trees in small pots (with the aid of mana) the way we might grow flowers.

 

So you can have like an entire tiny palm tree sitting in your windowsill. Who wouldn't want that?

So they're kind of like bonsai trees that change magically with the seasons? I can live with that. :3

[Naruhina_94]

I took the liberty to transform those:

• Is there a conclace or anything like that for mana/magic users in the world?
• Do wild dragons care about humans at all, and if so: what do they think about them?
• Are there any heroic/legendary figures in the world, known to all of mankind/dragonkind?
• Do communities exist, that live with the dragons in the wild?

thanks.

[TJ09]

I took the liberty to transform those:

• Is there a conclace or anything like that for mana/magic users in the world?

• Do wild dragons care about humans at all, and if so: what do they think about them?

• Are there any heroic/legendary figures in the world, known to all of mankind/dragonkind?

• Do communities exist, that live with the dragons in the wild?

These basically match my interpretation as well, but I wanted to give the opportunity for clarification rather than assuming I understood.

 

Anyways:

 

* There is not one global meeting place, but there are several places with higher-than-usual concentrations of mages. One of the largest cities in Galsreim, whose actual name eludes me (or maybe I never finalized a name for it), had the working name "magi city." I'm pretty sure that place has at least one large magical tower (IIRC it was a tall tower, with a library-of-babel-type thing in the basement).

 

The floating islands on the eastern side of Galsreim are floating because of crystallized air mana; that type of thing seems like it'd attract an academic/mage community as well.

 

* There are vastly varying degrees of caring on both sides of the relationship. I think the most common feeling is ambivalence, but there is definitely a significantly-sized faction of dragons that don't like how humans tend to take over everything they touch.

 

* Well there's the GoN and its Avatars. I'm sure there are other legends/folklore, but I don't have any in mind right now.

 

* Smaller communities, yes. I want to say this is more common with mana-transformed humans, because I have a headcanon belief that they are more "in tune" with nature.

[Nerei]

Well there's the GoN and its Avatars.

By this do you mean that in all of Valkemare, there is only one GoN and three Avatars?

[TJ09]

By this do you mean that in all of Valkemare, there is only one GoN and three Avatars?

There's a small enough number that the average number of GoNs seen by any given human in their lifetime is below one.

[Sundew]

Is blocking telepathy possible? That is, if a dragon is magically adept, could they prevent themselves from "hearing" others?

 

Does magical ability affect telepathy in any way? Range, maybe, or "volume"?

[TJ09]

Is blocking telepathy possible? That is, if a dragon is magically adept, could they prevent themselves from "hearing" others?

 

Does magical ability affect telepathy in any way? Range, maybe, or "volume"?

There was some discussion earlier on whether or not telepathy counts as magic. If it does, it's blocked by anything that also blocks magic (such as cassares). But it might be some special category that isn't magic. Especially since having it bound to mana would kind of suck.

 

I'd say in terms of reducing the effect others' telepathy has on you, it's similar to sound. You can tune sounds out that you don't want to hear.

[CrypticAsterisk]

I have a few.

 

-Would the spells used on dragons (freezing and reviving) work on humans too? Or would it result in some unimaginable horror?

 

-Likewise, could some BSAs be used on humans? I know not all of them would be practical in that sense, but I could kind of imagine the influence and fertility BSAs being used within the monarchy to help ensure that their bloodline would continue.

 

-I can think of most alts as rare color mutations for dragons in canon, but I'm scratching my head over the black and vine alts. Why do they look so different from their normal counterparts?

 

-This one's kinda silly, but can purple dragons move the noodly appendages on their heads? Because all I can think of right now are two purple males wiggling the mustache-like ones in an attempt to impress their mates.

 

-Also, do pillow dragons puff up like cats when threatened?

[TJ09]

I have a few.

 

-Would the spells used on dragons (freezing and reviving) work on humans too? Or would it result in some unimaginable horror?

Implying that zombie dragons aren't already some unimaginable horror. Freezing probably would work; I view it as a generic "stop aging" spell that uses time mana.

 

-Likewise, could some BSAs be used on humans? I know not all of them would be practical in that sense, but I could kind of imagine the influence and fertility BSAs being used within the monarchy to help ensure that their bloodline would continue.

BSAs, on the other hand, probably don't use magic, and are more biological in nature (e.g. people have brought up in the past that for many reptiles, gender is determined by temperature).

 

-I can think of most alts as rare color mutations for dragons in canon, but I'm scratching my head over the black and vine alts. Why do they look so different from their normal counterparts?

Do alt vines really look so different? I mean, different coloration, yes, but stylistic differences in the sprites aside, they have very similar anatomy.

For blacks, it's possible that they aren't actually the same breed; they just happen to have similar eggs.

 

-This one's kinda silly, but can purple dragons move the noodly appendages on their heads? Because all I can think of right now are two purple males wiggling the mustache-like ones in an attempt to impress their mates.

The person that wrote the initial draft of the guide notes (I forget who, maybe Fiona BlueFire?) had them listed as being prehensile, but I changed it because I thought that was kinda weird.

 

-Also, do pillow dragons puff up like cats when threatened?

They're always puffed up, though. How can they get more poofier?

[Ylvanne]

Do alt vines really look so different? I mean, different coloration, yes, but stylistic differences in the sprites aside, they have very similar anatomy.

For blacks, it's possible that they aren't actually the same breed; they just happen to have similar eggs.

But since they can't be CB, I assume they're actual some ramification of the Black breed, after all. Maybe some alteration in genetics, maybe something recessive?