Chapter 26

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SoronelHaetir
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Chapter 26

Post by SoronelHaetir »

A thought I had upon reading ch 26: I am not sure that prior experience with spiking dragons actually tells them whether it is possible for an earth dragon to form a bond with a dragon of one of the other races. Sure, dragons have survived being spiked, but how many of those were cases where the spike in question had not been thrown? Also, how many of those prior cases of being spiked with a non-thrown spike involved a clear primary focus?

Given how rare clear spikes were until the very recent period I would be amazed if those three conditions (a non-earth dragon surviving being hit by a non-thrown clear spike) had occurred during the historic period.
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kyli
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by kyli »

SoronelHaetir wrote:A thought I had upon reading ch 26: I am not sure that prior experience with spiking dragons actually tells them whether it is possible for an earth dragon to form a bond with a dragon of one of the other races. Sure, dragons have survived being spiked, but how many of those were cases where the spike in question had not been thrown? Also, how many of those prior cases of being spiked with a non-thrown spike involved a clear primary focus?

Given how rare clear spikes were until the very recent period I would be amazed if those three conditions (a non-earth dragon surviving being hit by a non-thrown clear spike) had occurred during the historic period.
I assume they actually tested it. Kammi and Kell just talked about how "if" dragons could make the bond, it would have likely happened previously. But as i understood it, the sages tested it and confirmed that dragons couldn't be used to form the bond.
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SYED
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

The thing is Kvothe said himself, that the earth dragons did not really interact with the other dragon races so much. And what kind of situation would occur for a dragon to cut himself on a spike, bleed on it, while it was still in the tail. Unless the sages tested those exact conditions, then it could be possible for dragon to tether to the spikes. A possible explanation is that the dragons own elemental affinity and float magic, does not allow for a bond to occur to grant them to the earth dragons. Humans don't have such natural magics, so they are a clean slate to work with.

A coven was said to tether to each other, I am wondering would this affect the spike tetherings as well as if a dragon binds humans from different covens? It might boost or alter/augement the magics each side recieves. If a dragon get more from this link, could humans get more than simply restored youth and an expanded life expectancy?

Magic could also make climbing the peaks of the world so much easier, if it allowed the cold and thin air to be more able to be endured. Water dragons can shape water, imagine shaping snow and ice into outpost on top of the snow capped mountains of the world.
I wonder if magic can make hydroponics or aqua farming into more viable endeavors.

I hope they could create a way for magic to be taken into space. Say bind a primary focus to an earth dragon so it projects the dragons magic aura. If magic could make the space viable once more, everyone will be searching and hiring magicians to win the glory. Magic to deal with the vacuum and limited air supply would be invaluable by themselves, as well as artificial gravity which we know is possible. Who know what other useful magics could help the endeavor. Say they could use a scion to travel to the moon, it as a launching platform would be much easier to deal with.
The sky dragons have magic to deal with the lack of pressure, so just how might can they fly. The question is that the spell fail due to being too far from the magic field of earth, or an actual vacuum placed against it. If combined with an air version of the breathing bubble for swimming, could sky dragons be capapable of orbital travel? That would be epic, they could harvest the junk up there to help supply the island.

The huge data release could help lead to the location of the books. I bet the security involved prevents it directly, but any government project of such high security and value would leave a paper trail. The people involved still need to get paid and given supplies, so there would have to be records.

I bet using the weather magics on a smaller scale, they could redirect and disperse natural storms. They could ensure that wind, tidal and wave energy plants, recieve enough energy to make them viable options for large scale power generation. Tornado alley could be turned into a giant wind farming region with the right spells, redirecting the storms to feed the wind mills.

It is possible that China could still launch missiles at the island, so what if they hack the gps systems out there, to ensure anything attempting to reach the island is diverted safely. That would force any such attack to at least come closer, so be vulnerable to attack. With out such assistance, they would be forced to go back to the old style of targeting, and the ranges are far more limited.

I really hope that Kvothe does gain the ability to manipulate earth, rock and stone, it would be very cool. I actually posted it could be possible. Earth dragons can't be magicians due to their aura, but there are other ways to express and use magic. Another of my theories is that if the earth immunity potion can be adapted for other dragons affinities, then it would be near or completely permanent for earth dragons. This might be the same for other similar potions or oils. I also wonder if the immunity potion could be adapted to grant elemental ability instead. Imagine if earth dragons had the immunities and elemental abilities of all the dragon races. They might not be magicians, but they would be amazing beings of magics. While in dragon socity, all dragons should be equal, magicians have some higher status. If earth dragons could get such an epic upgrade, then those dragons with only their own racial abilities could see themselves as less.

For the earth dragons to be made safe, then need as many human magic users as possible. There has to be a way to search them out. I was thinking about a crystal that glows in the hand of a magician, like the crystal that glowed in the presence of wards. The nations of the world would do a lot of the searching for themselves, and so long as talisman making stays with the dragons, humans can be kept in check. Those crystals could have a limited lifetime, so no one can in the future find magicians and train them up with out dragon guidance.
They need to find and deal with the books in China, so they can search the region for magicians. They do have a huge population, so good chance a number of magic users could be located.

I wonder how tricky it would be to create something like the translation circle on the aerie, in the UN. Allowing the different peoples of the world an easier way to communicate would be a huge good will gesture.
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Belgarion213
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by Belgarion213 »

Holy shit, they just effectively knocked out China. Something like that...there's going to be people sitting up all around the world at that little display. For all that it was face saving, the Chinese President was absolutely right, there are going to be people around the world, ESPECIALLY in the US, who are not going to take a display like that sitting down.

As was brought up, that was effectively showing of a nuke...but more than the magic display was the tech display. There are a LOT of shit that various governments get up to that their citizens don't get to hear about, China is hardly alone in this. For all that it was done for the 'right' reasons this time...people are not going to take that on the chin. The amount of money thrown into cryptography and internet security is going to be staggering because who could be next? The US? the UK? There are a LOT of shit that goes on that the person who sits on their ass and watches sitcom doesn't know about but would make them go nuclear if they found out about (Just have a look at US foreign policy during the cold war).

The tech the Earth Dragons have is in many wars more frightening than the naked force that the Sky Dragons just showed off their, especially in a world like ours where we depend so heavily on the internet. No matter HOW much the US president likes them, I would be stunned if there wasn't a quiet plan being worked on to do the exact same thing the Chinese were going to do and getting rid of that island because holy shit. The amount of power the Earth Dragons are sitting on could effectively end the US.
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

The world needs to relearn an important rule, Don't poke or tickle a sleeping dragon! There is a reason it is such a well known saying.

When they released China secrets, they also released the secrets of those involved or working with them around the world. That is sure to cause changes around the world.

If China was so vulnerable, then Russia must know they have similar weakness. So when the dragon offer the carrot about magic and magicians to get their support, they could subtle refer to the big stick their hackers represent.
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Fel
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by Fel »

Belgarion213 wrote:The tech the Earth Dragons have is in many wars more frightening than the naked force that the Sky Dragons just showed off their, especially in a world like ours where we depend so heavily on the internet. No matter HOW much the US president likes them, I would be stunned if there wasn't a quiet plan being worked on to do the exact same thing the Chinese were going to do and getting rid of that island because holy shit. The amount of power the Earth Dragons are sitting on could effectively end the US.
You're right. The unintended ramifications of amount of force the dragons used in the Chinese operation become clear in later chapters. ;)
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

That attack showed the world that just because they are not a nuclear superpower, they are clearly a superpower when it comes to computers and magic. I wonder which of the global treaties will try to get the dragons to sign on first.
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Belgarion213
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by Belgarion213 »

Yeah...that's not really how that works. Mutually Assured Destruction is contingent on rational actors who will hesitate to press the button unless needed. While the Dragons felt pushed into a corner, a lot of the people who kind of sit on those kind of committees might disagree. The hurricane thing was one thing but the airing of all the Chinese State Secrets is quiet another. The dragons kind of shot themselves in the foot there, as people might be hesitant to join a treatie with somebody who 'jumped the gun' and DID use their super weapon.

You are right though, we know that it said that dagons were about 30 years ahead of the rest of the world when it came to computers, which DOES make them a technical superpower however. (Moore's law isn't really applicable but the sheer processing power the Dragons would be sitting on would be kid of impressive)
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

I am wondering how many systems out in the world have not only program back doors, but hardware fixed on site to give the dragons access. There was this story I came accross where an AI hacked the factories that made the computer chips accross the world, ensuring its soft and hard ware was built into the chips. So I wonder if the dragons had done something similar, we know that they had gone after advanced tech items from different sources, so they have targeted manufactures before.

I am wondering is there a way to use their hacker skills to get favor with the different countries. Track crooks, or gather evidence, locate and deal with funds.
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drowsy19
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by drowsy19 »

I dont know if its been asked before as I have just started reading earth bond, but have the earth dragons ever mined? I'm not that far in and I dont think its been said
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

I totally see them doing the occasional mining, even if it is simply to let them build their own farming tools. This made me think ,I wonder if the dragons built some kind of underground sanctuary, not on the scale of their city, but an outpost safe and secure. Something like a possible sky dragon library, but deep under the ground beyond the reach of mortal man.

I wonder if dragon assistance could make mines that had lost viability be used again.
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SoronelHaetir
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SoronelHaetir »

If they do their own mining it has been on such a small scale as to hardly be worth mentioning. If they did their own mining then it would not be so critical for the metal of the sunken ships to be salvaged and they wouldn't be talking about all the things they can do now that they have that source of raw material.

Maybe they did in the past when they weren't limited to just the island but certainly since their self-imposed exile I doubt they have done very much mining.
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by GBLW »

SoronelHaetir wrote:Maybe they did in the past when they weren't limited to just the island but certainly since their self-imposed exile I doubt they have done very much mining.
Yeah - hunting for metals and metallic minerals on a 'relatively new' volcanic island might be a touch frustrating. The process of forming mineral deposits in volcanic strata takes millennia and from Fel's description of the Island of 'Draconia' it isn't that old since erosion has been minimal. Not only that, but most mineral deposits are created when the steam of hydro vents condenses in suitable strata and once more going by the author's description the two volcanoes on the island aren't 'smokers,' so they aren't venting vast amounts of mineral rich steam.
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Re: Chapter 26

Post by SYED »

How deep can they dig and tunnel? Sure here might be heat and pressure issues, but we know there are magical solutions so they could go super deep. Such deep earth skills would be invaluable.
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