DC Lore AMA

[Sundew]

Humans are capable of communicating through a series of grunts, but there's no reason to when we have higher order forms of communication.

Yes, but we resort to using screams/grunts/etc. in situations where more intelligent speech is overly difficult or impossible.

 

Can telepathy be muted or muffled? This is not one dragon blocking out the voices of others, but one being unable to efficiently communicate with anyone via telepathy--essentially, a mental gag.

[blockEdragon]

Does each person own all of their dragons in the single cave on the site? How big would this thing have to be to fit hundreds of thousands of dragons (some of which are huge)? Where is it located in Valkemare?

 

Or is it that each person has their own personal huge cave somewhere on the continent where all of their dragons live?

I have a idea, what if they use magic to make their caves like the T.a.r.d.i.s from DR who LOLno

 

i'm not really being serious but it would make sense since we keep so many that its "bigger on the inside" using magic then every dragon could have its own little cave to call its own

 

why not take it a little further and then have each room with a ideal cave like its hallways (big enough for dragons) and each hallway leads to a room where its like for saaayyy volcano and the volcano section has a ton of doors that lead to dragons rooms for them to have some privacy and then the caves could be as big as necessary because MAGIC

the people with several thousand dragons could have miles or more of magic T.A.R.D.I.S caves

heck it could be a entire ecosystem in there if you kept working at it

 

that is my random head cannon or maybe I should call it a not-right-in-the-head cannon....

I don't actually believe it to be true i just use that to explain why you can have 1000 dragons in one cave with very few problems and why dragons like water dragons are totally ok living in a cave

 

 

and then the new Magi Xenowyrms start wearing bowties and tinkering around to make their "cave" time travel

 

i'm 97% sure this is not the case though.

Edited July 5, 2015 by blockEdragon

[Sundew]

I always assumed that DC players didn't necessarily live in caves, but in much larger areas of land. Dragons on one scroll don't have to live together, either. They could be spread out even over countries.

 

The fact that we have a scroll to keep track of our dragons speaks either to our compulsive desire to make lists or the dispersed locations of our dragons.

[zaverxi]

I haven't decided if dragons are physically capable of verbal speech.

 

My current headcanon is that telepathy works by transmitting direct thoughts, which are naturally understood by the target(s). That seems consistent with other things.

So there could be a dragon who has the ability to mimic words like a parrot in addition to natural telepathy? A dragon with an especially flexible tongue, a sort of Mimicry dragon who could provide translations or such? I bet such a thing would be useful when a Cassare is around if we ever decide if telepathy is magic or psychic.

 

Just in case there's some humans out there who are naturally resistant to mental communication!

 

 

 

Huh, creating an extradimensional portal through a cave entrance? Interesting. It'd still have to be a pretty big cave entrance if a stone dragon needs to fit through.

[Nerei]

I always assumed that DC players didn't necessarily live in caves, but in much larger areas of land. Dragons on one scroll don't have to live together, either. They could be spread out even over countries.

 

The fact that we have a scroll to keep track of our dragons speaks either to our compulsive desire to make lists or the dispersed locations of our dragons.

TJ has mentioned that due to the average dragon's size and longevity, it is likely that we really are the companions of only a few dragons throughout our lifetime.

[JavaTigress]

So there could be a dragon who has the ability to mimic words like a parrot in addition to natural telepathy? A dragon with an especially flexible tongue, a sort of Mimicry dragon who could provide translations or such? I bet such a thing would be useful when a Cassare is around if we ever decide if telepathy is magic or psychic.

 

Just in case there's some humans out there who are naturally resistant to mental communication!

 

 

 

Huh, creating an extradimensional portal through a cave entrance? Interesting. It'd still have to be a pretty big cave entrance if a stone dragon needs to fit through.

My thought is that telepathy almost HAS to be something separate from magic.

 

Pretty much for EXACTLY the reason you gave.... if it were, the Cassarre would be essentially unable to communicate with ANYBODY, human or dragon, in anything beyond roars and body language as an animal might.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Silverswift

[Sundew]

TJ has mentioned that due to the average dragon's size and longevity, it is likely that we really are the companions of only a few dragons throughout our lifetime.

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

That is, I'm going to ignore this in favor of my own headcanons.

 

Acknowledged, though. Thanks for the canon. ^^

[JavaTigress]

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

That is, I'm going to ignore this in favor of my own headcanons.

 

Acknowledged, though. Thanks for the canon. ^^

As for me I always had the idea that I am more associated with the dragons than that they belong to me... that is; I am sort of associated with these dragons and their society, if you want to think of it like that. (They are supposed to be intelligent beings, after all) Like an ambassador or something.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Silverswift

[Gryphonic]

As for me I always had the idea that I am more associated with the dragons than that they belong to me... that is; I am sort of associated with these dragons and their society, if you want to think of it like that. (They are supposed to be intelligent beings, after all) Like an ambassador or something.

I find that easier - and more amusing - to believe. Perhaps we're really their pets, or the equivalent of the cute little kid you tolerate following you around. Our scroll notes are just us observing what they're doing on their own, using nicknames we made for them.

[JavaTigress]

I find that easier - and more amusing - to believe. Perhaps we're really their pets, or the equivalent of the cute little kid you tolerate following you around. Our scroll notes are just us observing what they're doing on their own, using nicknames we made for them.

Oh, I have the idea that they are able to communicate their names to us... or at least, a form of such that we humans are able to understand.

[zaverxi]

Perhaps the cave is where WE live, and the dragons come by to visit and make sure we're well fed and watered?

 

I mean the scrolls just have information on the dragons, unless there's some way we can bind them by magic like Naruto's giant frog dude to the paper. ;p

[blockEdragon]

you know the weakest of the litter actually makes sense from a survival stand point

its like with the rhinos and the birds

because

the dragons:

1.the parents don't have to devote energy to the weaklings that they don't want

 

2.the weaker offspring most likely won't breed into the wild so their weaker genes won't affect the wild

 

3.they still add to the species should the worst happen

 

4.they will probably still live to contribute to the species

 

5.a SENTIENT child gets to live instead of being abandoned by its parents to die or being too weak to survive

 

 

the humans:

1.get their dragons

 

2.the dragons can help out with stuff

 

3.they get information on the dragons and thus understand their reptilian neighbors better which could possibly lead to less fighting due to

 

i think that is a GREAT part of the lore

[Sundew]

Answer Compilation Google doc., complete up to page 23. :3

 

--

 

How much magical skill is required to enchant a Cheese or Paper dragon?

 

Is there a proper capitalization system for dragon species names? (Is it Pink Dragon, Pink dragon, or pink dragon?)

[silver_tiger]

I find that easier - and more amusing - to believe. Perhaps we're really their pets, or the equivalent of the cute little kid you tolerate following you around. Our scroll notes are just us observing what they're doing on their own, using nicknames we made for them.

Haha, that's pretty much the idea I have for my scroll. Or that I'm like a nature preserver type person, observing the dragons without interfering and noting down their grouping habits (scroll organization) and breeding habits for my own reasons. Especially since the dragons are noted to be 'intelligent' I find it hard to reconcile that with us owning any of them... but this idea works well.

[blockEdragon]

Haha, that's pretty much the idea I have for my scroll. Or that I'm like a nature preserver type person, observing the dragons without interfering and noting down their grouping habits (scroll organization) and breeding habits for my own reasons. Especially since the dragons are noted to be 'intelligent' I find it hard to reconcile that with us owning any of them... but this idea works well.

I don't view it as owning, I view it as a family or tribe and your the care taker of the eggs and possibly the leader

[TJ09]

My thought is that telepathy almost HAS to be something separate from magic.

 

Pretty much for EXACTLY the reason you gave.... if it were, the Cassarre would be essentially unable to communicate with ANYBODY, human or dragon, in anything beyond roars and body language as an animal might.

There is the concept of innate vs active magic, and I'd say it's unlikely that Cassares block innate magic.

 

Telepathy is most definitely innate.

[TJ09]

How much magical skill is required to enchant a Cheese or Paper dragon?

 

Is there a proper capitalization system for dragon species names? (Is it Pink Dragon, Pink dragon, or pink dragon?)

"how much" is meaningless without units, and any units wouldn't have much basis in reality. I could say "approximately three magics," and then assert that that is a moderately high number of magics. But would you know the difference?

 

Really, though, creating sentience is pretty hard.

 

All of the breed names in descriptions should be consistent, which should tell you proper in-sentence use.

[Sundew]

All of the breed names in descriptions should be consistent, which should tell you proper in-sentence use.

They aren’t, though. The encyclopedia uses Pink Dragon, but it’s unclear if that’s using proper nouns or article capitalization. Just from dragons referred to in two words and with their full names mentioned more than once in their descriptions:

 

Inconsistent within own description: Ridgewing, Rosebud, Black Tea, Harvest, Pillow

 

Pink Dragon: Heartstealer, Arsani, Nebula, Gemshard, Copper, Ember, Vampire, Howler Drake, Golden Wyvern, Pumpkin, Dino, Undine, Imperial Fleshcrowne, Misfit Pygmy, Red-finned Tidal, Striped River, Seawyrm Pygmy, Soulpeace, Yellow-Crowned, Electric, Glaucus Drake, Tsunami Wyvern, Avatar of Creation, Tri-Horn Wyvern, Brute, Duotone, Falconiform Wyvern, Turpentine, Desipis, Grave

 

Pink dragon: Pyralspite, Fever wyvern, Black Marrow, Nocturne

 

pink dragon: pink, striped, whiptail, pygmy, dark green/vine, waterhorse, two headed, ice, thunder, purple, silver

 

So the majority of dragons are spelled with their full name capitalized, including “dragon”/“drake”/“wyvern”/“pygmy”, but those words on their own appear to be common nouns. Is it safe to assume that the species not following this rule are typos?

 

[TJ09]

How do people feel about dragons not being the "top of the food chain?"

 

I'm thinking there are larger creatures out there (really large, e.g. giant sea beast) that would be higher up in the ecosystem than dragons. Obviously they'd be very infrequent.

[Sundew]

I think that makes sense. It's reasonable that dragons would have natural predators.

 

Do humans have the ability to kill dragons? Not with their own two hands, of course, but with advanced magic or technology. Some dragons are apparently hunted for shiny scales (might there be a dragon cashmere black-market out there?), but are humans in general equipped to attack or defend themselves from dragons in a pinch?

Root of the question: Where are humans on the food chain with regard to dragons? Humans on Earth are often considered the top predator because of intelligence and advanced tools, but DC dragons are sentient and intelligent creatures--albeit without the explicitly mentioned use of tools, and occasionally at higher risk to loot/hunt for scales/whatever? Is the predator-prey relationship between humans and dragons pretty balanced, or are dragons much higher up?

[TJ09]

Humans certainly can. By "top of the food chain," I was really referring to "dragons aren't the biggest, baddest guys out there." Humans certainly don't fall under that category; I'd say "balanced" aptly describes it.

[dragongrrl]

How do people feel about dragons not being the "top of the food chain?"

 

I'm thinking there are larger creatures out there (really large, e.g. giant sea beast) that would be higher up in the ecosystem than dragons. Obviously they'd be very infrequent.

I would suspect that smaller dragons would be at risk, but would be surprised if Terrae, Crimsons, Brutes, Stone or Colossae would be in danger at all. Maybe anything from a GoN or larger would have no problems, but smaller ones could fall prey to others large creatures.

 

Large sea creatures may not be that interested in larger food items, if they skim for particles like the baleen whales, but something like a Kraken would be a serious danger for any of the smaller to mid-size dragons within reach.

[Sundew]

Well, I personally think the idea of giant, mightier-than-dragons creatures lurking around Valkemare is super cool.

 

What effect, if any, does a Cassare's anti-magical field have on mana?

 

Are dragons also mutated by mana? If so, mutated dragons might make good candidates for top predators. Can mana mutation drastically affect size?

[TJ09]

Well, I personally think the idea of giant, mightier-than-dragons creatures lurking around Valkemare is super cool.

 

What effect, if any, does a Cassare's anti-magical field have on mana?

 

Are dragons also mutated by mana? If so, mutated dragons might make good candidates for top predators. Can mana mutation drastically affect size?

My current view of cassares is that the block the active use of mana (I've mentioned active vs innate magic a few times in this thread). This would block most "spellcasting," but leave things like telepathy functioning.

 

I don't think dragons are mutated by mana, no. They've developed to naturally store and process mana, which would mean they're capable of handling it "safely." Most creatures (humans included) do not have such capability.

[dragongrrl]

Humans certainly can. By "top of the food chain," I was really referring to "dragons aren't the biggest, baddest guys out there." Humans certainly don't fall under that category; I'd say "balanced" aptly describes it.

As far as the relationships between humans and dragons in my corner of the planet, the degree of respect that humans show for dragons, and that dragons show for humans, determines the stability of the community. Wisdom grows in maintaining this beneficial balance. If someone, dragon or human, comes along and tries to change that balance, the community works in whatever way necessary to restore the balance.

 

Fihfco Foefco Oukadw Thuwed did eat that wizard, and it did upset many of the humans in Verdant, but the wizard was widely known as "a brutal old menace to both human and dragon."