Ok, I'll call it now (knowing Fel he'll change it just to disprove it.. ) The Earth Dragons are the core of the magic other dragons can use. it explains why the things are failing, why in the past other dragons protected them with just force, etc..
Either the Other Dragons have forgotten it or just do not want to believe it... or are too arrogant of themselves to admit/see it..
Also the Person/Spirit in the cave with Kel, I think that was Gaia (sp?)
But one thing I really have to wonder, if Gaia is Real, how has she/he/it Allowed the Humans to destroy so much of her....
Dragons wield powerful magics, as the ancient Earth Dragons cast magics that they anchored with their own species, turning them in to living amulets. Sort of like how HUmans need magical amulets, to cast the bigger magics. THats the reason why the scions failed, the ED are separated by volcanic rock, and are on short rations. If ED die out, then Dragons would be no more magical that humans.
If the ED do come to the surface, how would the CD stop them using tech, they already have the department, factories and powerplant working. The CD just stop the other dragons getting tech. Once that is known, then negotiations will be different.
Hmm, so we can speculate that Achilles was dipped into ED blood except for his heel And of course this "Athena" is probably the source of the famous stories of the goddess Athena. Interesting!
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I would suggest that the Earth Dragons aren't the "core" as Hearty suggests, but rather, like their tail spikes, they are living "Foci", making them necessary for the other dragons to be able to use magic. Gaia is very likely the source, but the Earth Dragons act as a conduit, allowing the energy of Gaia to be transmitted through the Earth itself (where apparently stone is resistant to magic) and without them, the other dragons would be cut off from Gaia's power. I think SYED has an excellent point, that the other dragon races would have evolved into living "amulets" or biological functionaries of specific types of magic, while the Earth Dragons act as the power socket through the wall.
Yeah, your amazing computer or cell phone is basically worthless without a simple power socket. Thus it makes sense, that if the other dragons realized this in the past, then they would DEFINITELY make sure to take care of the Earth Dragons. You don't destroy your only energy source for all your toys. Otherwise, your toys become useless. Thus, Kell's dream that the Chromatic's should especially know better makes a lot of sense. The presumably voice of Gaia told Kell that he was wrong to believe that the Earth Dragons had no magic. If they are the conduits through which all magic flowed, than by default, all of the powers of the other dragon races are theirs. The Chromatics really have ONLY their magic going for them, and without the Earth Dragons, the Chromatics become the weakest of all dragon races. Therefore, if the Earth Dragons prosper, then the powers of the other dragons does as well. The reverse would also be true.
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Seastallion wrote:I would suggest that the Earth Dragons aren't the "core" as Hearty suggests, but rather, like their tail spikes, they are living "Foci", making them necessary for the other dragons to be able to use magic. Gaia is very likely the source, but the Earth Dragons act as a conduit, allowing the energy of Gaia to be transmitted through the Earth itself (where apparently stone is resistant to magic) and without them, the other dragons would be cut off from Gaia's power. I think SYED has an excellent point, that the other dragon races would have evolved into living "amulets" or biological functionaries of specific types of magic, while the Earth Dragons act as the power socket through the wall.
Yeah, your amazing computer or cell phone is basically worthless without a simple power socket. Thus it makes sense, that if the other dragons realized this in the past, then they would DEFINITELY make sure to take care of the Earth Dragons. You don't destroy your only energy source for all your toys. Otherwise, your toys become useless. Thus, Kell's dream that the Chromatic's should especially know better makes a lot of sense. The presumably voice of Gaia told Kell that he was wrong to believe that the Earth Dragons had no magic. If they are the conduits through which all magic flowed, than by default, all of the powers of the other dragon races are theirs. The Chromatics really have ONLY their magic going for them, and without the Earth Dragons, the Chromatics become the weakest of all dragon races. Therefore, if the Earth Dragons prosper, then the powers of the other dragons does as well. The reverse would also be true.
so similar to sorcerers in the sennadar universe ?
Seastallion wrote:I would suggest that the Earth Dragons aren't the "core" as Hearty suggests, but rather, like their tail spikes, they are living "Foci", making them necessary for the other dragons to be able to use magic. Gaia is very likely the source, but the Earth Dragons act as a conduit, allowing the energy of Gaia to be transmitted through the Earth itself (where apparently stone is resistant to magic) and without them, the other dragons would be cut off from Gaia's power. I think SYED has an excellent point, that the other dragon races would have evolved into living "amulets" or biological functionaries of specific types of magic, while the Earth Dragons act as the power socket through the wall.
Yeah, your amazing computer or cell phone is basically worthless without a simple power socket. Thus it makes sense, that if the other dragons realized this in the past, then they would DEFINITELY make sure to take care of the Earth Dragons. You don't destroy your only energy source for all your toys. Otherwise, your toys become useless. Thus, Kell's dream that the Chromatic's should especially know better makes a lot of sense. The presumably voice of Gaia told Kell that he was wrong to believe that the Earth Dragons had no magic. If they are the conduits through which all magic flowed, than by default, all of the powers of the other dragon races are theirs. The Chromatics really have ONLY their magic going for them, and without the Earth Dragons, the Chromatics become the weakest of all dragon races. Therefore, if the Earth Dragons prosper, then the powers of the other dragons does as well. The reverse would also be true.
My thought is what made them all forget about this fact, and what made them hate the Earth dragon in the past?
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My thought? We know from the musing of First of the Senior Class(Formerly Fourth) that the chromatic dragons live to be about 600 years of age. The dragon's have been on the island for about a thousand years.
The dragon's BEFORE they left were, as the book of Athena pointed out, HIGHLY respected, nurtured and well followed by the other dragon's a long while ago, about two thousand years.
The lifetime of a Chromatic dragon lets leads me to believe that either the elders KNOW (which doesn't seem the case with the Council of Seven being so prejudiced), or that its been deliberately suppressed, say by the only people who live enough time. Since its only been what like TWO generations for the chromatic dragons since they came to the island? Or well Two lifetimes more specifically.
There is also the suspicion that when the Earth Dragon's were brought to the island by the Sky Dragon's all those years ago they only took the young ones who wouldn't know better, while arranging 'accidents' for the elders who might know this 'magic' that Gaia or whoever that spirit mentioned the Earth Dragon's are capable of.
Then there is the fact that apparently Kall got asked about 'returning to the embrace'. Have the Earth Dragon's DELIBERATELY been kept from digging further down by the others to keep them out of contact with Gaia or something? I mean their job was to farm and they sure like it, but they couldn't really stop without starving the entire island.
I bet there was just one species of dragon, the originals changed those the wanted more. Sky D wanted to rule the skies, Water D wanted to rule the oceans, Fire D wanted to be the most dangerous, While Chromatic D wanted to be masters of magics. So the those that stayed behind changed them into what they are now, while binding the magics by turning them in to ED.
I bet ED boost or help combine magics. A tail spike would allow dragons more than their racial abilities.
Humans exposed to blood pass on an affinity to magics. WHen wizards were burned at the stake, their ashes were breathed in, and those people when they had kids passed on magic. Does blood and organ transfusion pass magic allong.
I wonder if ancient ED cast a spell to give humans more wizards.
Rome, atlantis and camelot are cities famed for magic according to dragons. All three were parts of empires that expanded in great distances, so magic is spread.
SO librarires of camelot, rome, atlantis, alexander, babylon, thebes, ?,?,?. any guess for the last three. SHangri la is one, xanadu, and hamunatra.
I bet there will be an epic fight to the death, when historians hear of the dragons library. Iwonder if they have copies of the original religous texts, could be ground breaking..
Will 1st decide to go visit the ED, to find more about them. If she tells other the factories and department is already back, the negotiations could go better.
I wonder if the ED will go public over the web, talk to the press, make contact with governments, discuss with scientitst and those interested in their new neighbours. Publish the book on magic, let it spread.
The CD definitly over stepped. THe power plant powered the refriggerators that preserved their food. Dragons are serious about food, and such an act threatened all their food supplies. THe destruction of the department, and the support system for it is just stupid. The department kept close watch over humanity and the outside world.
If magic is disappearing on the surface, where is it going. I believe prologue time deep under group, empowers earth dragons with magics.
Did the resigned instructor see the shanker kell has?
I bet next chapter hirrag, will rip the SD away from the CD. WHat in desperation would they do, they are already on rations with the SD hunting at all times.
What is interesting though si that the sages who directed first of the class to that book definitely must know more than the chromatics on the council. One wonders why they haven't bothered to make it clear what a mistake they are making. Or is it because they think in such long terms that the sage thought of bringing up an issue in a year's time as literally tomorrow?
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What actually happened was that George Dubya Bush saw an Iraqi maths teacher carrying a geometry set, accused him of being a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement, and charged him with possessing weapons of maths instruction.
Out of interest, when did the chromatics start using 'scientist' to describe themselves? OTL that word came into existance in 1833. The word does have its roots in the latin term scientia, but that means knowledge or knowing. (Blasted context sensative language!) Are the dragons using the 'old' meaning of 'really well educated' or the new meaning of 'torturing ideas in cruel and unusual ways in order to winnow out the weak'? (You know: peer review.) They're certainly not in the 'Eliezer Yudkowsky/extreme pro-rationalist' camp, because they still believe in very silly things; though First is definately heading in that direction. The Chromatics seem kinda stuck between the new and old camps - like a lot of Darwin's contemporaries in the late 19th century.
Or if Fel just transliterating again? And speaking of First...
Hearly wrote:Ok, I'll call it now (knowing Fel he'll change it just to disprove it.. ) The Earth Dragons are the core of the magic other dragons can use.
Oh I called that a while ago, and at least one person called it before me. Still a valient effort, third of class.
Actually I had another idea.
From Jenny's reading of the book, crystals while not generating magic themselves STORE magic, and from First of her class, and the sage, a Dragon's 'Primary focus' aka a clear crystal is the truly PERFECT magical focus.
What if Dragon's CANT do magic the normal way. Aka via reaching out to the 'Gaia/the force', and instead can do magic if they draw from a primary focus that is still on their tail. I could so easily see the, distant past Earth Dragon's, not keeping the focus crystals on their tails because they were worth more for dragon's on a whole, but this might change.
gnume wrote:so similar to sorcerers in the sennadar universe ?
Sort of. In this case, Gaia would replace Niami, and the Earth Dragons would be like the sorcerers, except they apparently can't do magic on their own, or have forgotten how. Like Sennadar, the stronger the weave, the stronger the other orders of magic. Except here, there doesn't seem to be a weave per se. I'd say the Earth Dragons themselves would seem to radiate the energy fueling magic, since it seems the rock the Earth is made of seems to absorb most of it before it reaches the surface. The Earth Dragons apparently have some sort of main line connection that allows the magical energy to bypass the Earth's crust, and then radiate out from then like antennas and radio signals. With the Earth Dragons gone underground that magical energy is simply being absorbed by the Earth around them, and the magical energy still left in the atmosphere is being drained away, until no magic would work. Unless the Earth Dragons resurfaced. That seems to be the case anyways. If Fel has another idea in mind, he may get around to correcting us.
It may be that the reason the Earth Dragons seem unable to use magic, is they're simply saturated with it and it is more difficult to control. Or they lack the means to control the magic even though they act as conduits. From Jenny's studies, the Earth Dragons are obviously doing something outside the normal rules, given they are growing crystals in their tails. Perhaps the idea is that because Earth absorbs magic, (perhaps the reason it is harder for magic to manipulate stone), and the Earth Dragons are simply drawing the absorbed magic from the Earth, and retransmitting it into the atmosphere. That's an interesting idea. The Earth Dragons absorb the ambient magic from the Earth, and retransmit it into a usable form for the other dragons. It would also explain why scrying magic has difficulty penetrating Earth as well. The magic gets reabsorbed by the Earth, so it can only penetrate so far.
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All magic dragons can do magic naturally, humans need to learn and then get a talisman. I wonder if something is similar to earth dragons.
So magical artifacts cant be made by magic, but can the tools to shape them, can they be formed by magic. I wonder if this style of magic is similar to alchemy where it can be shaped into any thing.
Does any else notice that for such a gentle and docile race, supposedly, ED have spike of doom, which don't really seem an advantage deep under ground?
DO the High land dragons stuck on the island know of the volcano occupation in the human world?
WOuld fire dragon allow blood drives so that firefighters can use their blood to fight fire's better?
So WD mean humans cant drown, there are people willing to pay fortunes for such an ability?
Dragons could be convinced to market their magical and draconian skills. Wizards will have a hard time establishing themselves, but if the dragon offer them financial support and protection, they would be better to survive modern times.
If they discover why there are more wizards in the world, would the dragons take steps to encourage the growth of their numbers?
) The Earth Dragons are the core of the magic other dragons can use. it explains why the things are failing, why in the past other dragons protected them with just force, etc..
And of course this "Athena" is probably the source of the famous stories of the goddess Athena. Interesting!
And speaking of First...