If mynah birds can imitate human speech, why not dragons?
Tim Send a noteboard - 18/08/2011 01:35:58 PM
I like when dragons have four legs and wings and can breath fire. Classic. I also like when they have normal life spans. Maybe they can live longer than humans and other animals but not more than, I don't know, 200 years. It starts getting ridiculous.
I think having them live for centuries is fine: after all, among mammals the larger species have longer lifespans (elephants: 60-70; bowhead whales: 200-odd), and reptiles do better for their size than mammals (little tuataras often pass 100, and the record for a giant tortoise is 255). So it's hardly far-fetched to think that a reptile the size of a whale might reach 500 if it stays out of trouble.
Some canons, of course, have dragons not suffer ageing at all, and only die if they're killed. This is fine for mythology (cf. Tolkien's elves) but not if you're trying to give dragons a believable place in a world like ours.
But I hate it when dragons can talk. I feel they should be more animal like. I mean why would they speak human? Look at their muzzles can that for human words? I think not.
If we grant them the same mimicking ability as parrots or mynahs, all they need for human language is intelligence. Of course with those abilities they ought to have their own language, but that doesn't make them incapable of learning others.
The question, of course, is why they would evolve such a mimicking ability. It's not like they'd need it for survival...
SO: Smart and cunning, but not talking or inventing stuff and doing math. Unaligned leaning towards evil...And yes. My dragons, at least, would have to drink water. There isn't a fire in their stomachs that will be put out when they drink. It's gasses that are ignited or something...Or magic!
Yeah, needing water is pretty much universal among multicellular organisms on earth, so if we're going to create believable dragons, I'm with you on that one.
Any ideas on how a reptile could breathe fire?
Vigilantibus non dormientibus jura subveniunt.
—Nous disons en allemand : le guerre, le mort, le lune, alors que 'soleil' et 'amour' sont du sexe féminin : la soleil, la amour. La vie est neutre.
—La vie ? Neutre ? C'est très joli, et surtout très logique.
—Nous disons en allemand : le guerre, le mort, le lune, alors que 'soleil' et 'amour' sont du sexe féminin : la soleil, la amour. La vie est neutre.
—La vie ? Neutre ? C'est très joli, et surtout très logique.
This message last edited by Tim on 18/08/2011 at 01:39:42 PM
How do you like your dragons?
- 15/08/2011 01:07:01 AM
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To quote one of the linked posts...
- 15/08/2011 02:48:38 AM
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I like them with very human qualities.
- 15/08/2011 03:53:08 PM
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. *NM*
Hmm...
- 15/08/2011 06:21:44 PM
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If mynah birds can imitate human speech, why not dragons?
- 18/08/2011 01:35:58 PM
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One thing I hate about dragons
- 15/08/2011 11:21:39 PM
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Some species tolerate inbreeding better than humans. E.g. snakes. More chromosomes.
- 18/08/2011 11:29:45 AM
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I don't.
- 17/08/2011 01:34:26 PM
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Did you try Hambly's Dragonsbane?
- 17/08/2011 03:53:38 PM
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That's a shame.
- 17/08/2011 06:35:24 PM
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Intelligent and with language.
- 18/08/2011 12:50:03 PM
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that last bit is one of the things I like so much about DnD dragons
- 18/08/2011 07:27:19 PM
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