DC Lore AMA

[TJ09]

20 minutes ago, Kelkelen said:

Soooo... is that a "no," or a "very rarely"?  :-p
(I know it's super uncommon IRL, just a handful of snakes and the Jackson's chameleon, and maybe skinks? but since there are a few...)

More of a "no," especially if you're looking for an answer to point to for a dragon request (but still the same regardless of game mechanics because it's doable either way).

[Kelkelen]

Just now, TJ09 said:

More of a "no," especially if you're looking for an answer to point to for a dragon request (but still the same regardless of game mechanics because it's doable either way).

No requests in mind, but good to have the answer.  Thanks!  (Besides, stealing live young sounds like there would be a lot more injury incurred than when swiping eggs!)

[Dirtytabs]

Is the map on the home page/encyclopedia north-up?

 

In the most advanced cities of Galsreim, what's the life expectancy of humans? How's the mortality rate for very young humans? It seems unwise for me to assume "same as Earth in a comparable period" when the humans here have magic (and better sanitation?).

Edited February 25, 2018 by Dirtytabs

[TJ09]

15 hours ago, Dirtytabs said:

Is the map on the home page/encyclopedia north-up?

It is, yes.

 

15 hours ago, Dirtytabs said:

In the most advanced cities of Galsreim, what's the life expectancy of humans? How's the mortality rate for very young humans? It seems unwise for me to assume "same as Earth in a comparable period" when the humans here have magic (and better sanitation?).

The thing I've said in the past is that civilization is probably more advanced than the middle ages appearances suggest. Having access to magic has allowed humans to advance in a direction different from our own world e.g. the need for modern medicine is obviated by access to healing magic. So there isn't really any "comparable period."

Which means that yes, sanitation is probably better in larger cities, and mortality rate is lower. I don't think easy access to magic is available for everyone (i.e. the average person wouldn't just have a medicine cabinet full of magical healing potions/scrolls), so things definitely wouldn't be perfect.

[ArgentiAertheri]

On 1/19/2017 at 4:16 AM, TJ09 said:

 

The post sock linked is almost two years old, and I've been thinking. There are definitely people who would worship the GoN and its Avatars, but there's probably also people who worship the primal spirits I've mentioned a bunch recently. There's one for each element, and they're believed to the creators/originators of that element and all things related to it in the world. It'd be an older form of worship (likely less popular/antiquated by the time period that the holiday events take place in), though there'd still be their share of worshippers (especially mana-transformed humans).

 

The ice and water temples from the recent holiday event are two examples of such primal spirit worshipping (to spirits tentatively named Aso and Thalassa, respectively).

 

So you said this a year ago, but I'm curious if you've named any other element's temples?

[TJ09]

19 hours ago, ArgentiAertheri said:

So you said this a year ago, but I'm curious if you've named any other element's temples?

 

There's been no progress since then, but most of the primal spirits were named then, anyways. Or at least, have tentative names:

• Neutral: Stataira
• Light: Candentia, Lux, Lucidium
• Life: Gaia
• Water: Thalassa
• Earth: Obidar
• Magi: Magiea
• Time: Chrono
• Ice: Aso
• Wind: Aquilo
• Dark: Tenebris, Umbra
• Death: Ke'maro
• Fire: Pyro
• Lightning: Astrapi

Light and Dark are the ones that are still up in the air; many of them were just taken from the names of the corresponding Xenos (which is fitting, IMO, since the Xeno names are pretty abstract anyways).

[11th]

Not exactly a lore question, but this is the closest related thread that I could think of.

 

Someone asked why all of the the biomes but one are in number order (5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6). I said that it was probably because they're in alphabetical order, but that doesn't really explain the numbers. That got me wondering: Was Alpine originally named something else before the biomes were live? "Mountain" was my guess, because that would place it between Jungle (4) and Volcano (6).

[TJ09]

On 3/8/2018 at 6:28 AM, 11th said:

Not exactly a lore question, but this is the closest related thread that I could think of.

 

Someone asked why all of the the biomes but one are in number order (5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6). I said that it was probably because they're in alphabetical order, but that doesn't really explain the numbers. That got me wondering: Was Alpine originally named something else before the biomes were live? "Mountain" was my guess, because that would place it between Jungle (4) and Volcano (6).

 

Yeah, that's pretty unrelated to the thread, but the answer is that it's pure coincidence. Alpine was never called "mountains." They happened to be listed out that way when I went to number them, even though in the UI I ended up putting them alphabetically. The fact that exactly one biome ended up out of order is pure happenstance.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Weird questions time! (This actually came up in Discord) Can dragons fart? If so do they smell?

[HeatherMarie]

1 hour ago, Dalek Raptor said:

Weird questions time! (This actually came up in Discord) Can dragons fart? If so do they smell?

 

Well now that's something I never thought to wonder. lol I guess now that I'm thinking about it, I'll add: Can dragons burp? 

[TJ09]

5 hours ago, Dalek Raptor said:

Weird questions time! (This actually came up in Discord) Can dragons fart? If so do they smell?

 

3 hours ago, HeatherMarie said:

 

Well now that's something I never thought to wonder. lol I guess now that I'm thinking about it, I'll add: Can dragons burp? 

 

Anatomically, many reptiles are capable of farting/burping (there's videos of lizards doing it), so it's within the realm of possibility. It would primarily be herbivorous dragons, though; most herbivores have bacteria that aid in the digestion of plants, and these bacteria produce gasses as a aside effect which need to go somewhere. Burping would be less likely, as dragons probably don't regurgitate their food to help digiestion like cows do.

[Dirtytabs]

Neither do we, but we burp (air). I think I read somewhere that said as long as an organism has a mouth end and a bum end, it's capable of farting. Maybe the big, scary breeds are indiscriminate farters since no one else could judge them.

 

Does the sun have any magical properties?

Edited March 23, 2018 by Dirtytabs

[TJ09]

On 3/19/2018 at 9:45 AM, Dirtytabs said:

Neither do we, but we burp (air). I think I read somewhere that said as long as an organism has a mouth end and a bum end, it's capable of farting. Maybe the big, scary breeds are indiscriminate farters since no one else could judge them.

Burping air isn't quite the same thing as expelling digestive gasses.

 

On 3/19/2018 at 9:45 AM, Dirtytabs said:

Does the sun have any magical properties?

To a society that doesn't understand nuclear fusion and the gravitational properties of celestial-scale bodies, stars definitely seem magical. Which is actually more relevant than it is snarky, since if humans can't tell the difference between magic and physics, that's going to impact their perception.

 

But at the moment, I don't plan on having anything mana-related intertwined with Valkemare's sun. Light from the sun does have a fair amount of interplay with light mana (and anything to do with plants, naturally, including most mana-transformed plants).

[Moonlight_Eevee]

How many days and months does the calendar on Valkemare have?

[TJ09]

1 hour ago, Dalek Raptor said:

How many days and months does the calendar on Valkemare have?

There's nothing definitive yet, but this post outlines some options I've mentioned:

 

Though since then, I've also realized that having something that syncs with our calendar would be kinda nice, so I'm not sure if I would want a 7 day week or not to prevent the two weeks from "drifting." I picked the 8 day week because it lines up with the moon cycles nicely, which also seems useful, as a 4 week month would line up with Aurax's full cycle, starting on a full moon or something.

[Fly-by-Night]

On 27.2.2018 at 5:47 AM, TJ09 said:

 

• Death: Ke'maro

What is the apostrophe for, if I may ask? Does it affect pronunciation, does it indicate a missing letter (like in "I'm"), or is it for something totally different?

(just realized that this may appear to be a weird question, but for language people like me, it isn't )

Edited April 1, 2018 by Fly-by-Night

[TJ09]

On 4/1/2018 at 8:42 AM, Fly-by-Night said:

What is the apostrophe for, if I may ask? Does it affect pronunciation, does it indicate a missing letter (like in "I'm"), or is it for something totally different?

(just realized that this may appear to be a weird question, but for language people like me, it isn't )

It does kind-of affect pronunciation—it's pronounced kay-MAR-row, whereas without it the first syllable would more likely be read as kə.

 

But it's actually there because of its original derivation, though I forget exactly how I came to the name right now, so...

[Fly-by-Night]

5 minutes ago, TJ09 said:

 read as kə.

 

I like you.

Thanks for the information. In case you ever remember what the name is based on, I'd love to hear it.

[Dirtytabs]

You really like typing out that schwa. Hə Hə.

 

Do pygmy dragons have a similarly long lifespan as their giant cousins?

[TJ09]

8 hours ago, Dirtytabs said:

You really like typing out that schwa. Hə Hə.

 

Do pygmy dragons have a similarly long lifespan as their giant cousins?

Biologically, life span is negatively correlated with heart rate, and heart rate is correlated with size, so the smaller pygmy dragons would potentially have a shorter lifespan.

 

It'd still be long relative to human scales, though.

 

The more distantly-related drakes would definitely have shorter life spans.

[Naraku]

The general description for all Pygmies is said to be about the same size as domesticated animals. So how small are the Pygmy eggs? I imagine they're still (slightly?) bigger than average chicken eggs.

[Kegluneq]

Something I'd like to know, who is more poweful: a Sinomorph or an Avatar of Destruction? In general terms.

 

I believe they'd be below a GoN but I need to know which of the two is more powerful  

[TJ09]

2 hours ago, Kegluneq said:

Something I'd like to know, who is more poweful: a Sinomorph or an Avatar of Destruction? In general terms.

 

I believe they'd be below a GoN but I need to know which of the two is more powerful  

Well the Sinomorph (in lore there's probably only one) is actually comparable to the Guardian of Nature, which places the Avatar(s) of Destruction (unsure if plural or if I've mentioned anything on that subject already) definitively lower on the Dragon Power Tier List.

[Dirtytabs]

Do drakes share a common set of vocalizations, or do they vary by breed? As in "all drakes generally speaking can make x,y,z sounds, but specific breeds can trumpet or sing or the like"?

[Kegluneq]

18 hours ago, TJ09 said:

Well the Sinomorph (in lore there's probably only one) is actually comparable to the Guardian of Nature, which places the Avatar(s) of Destruction (unsure if plural or if I've mentioned anything on that subject already) definitively lower on the Dragon Power Tier List.

 

It takes me by surprise that the Sinomorph is comparable to GoN. It's great *o*

 

Thanks!