309 réponses à ce sujet

[C9316]

Lord Gremlin wrote...

KalDurenik wrote...

Far down in the underground maze...1 000 000's of Darkspawn sit and eat cake!

The Cake is a lie, they just fooling themselves.

This.

[Old Yellow Egg]

Richard Dean Anderson's rock hard nipples!

[Spawny]

TheShadowWolf911 wrote...

someone post a picture of the ogre Snarling at the King from Origins (the idiot) face, with text that reads "GET IN MAH BELLEH!"

please.

[TheShadowWolf911]

HagSpawn wrote...

TheShadowWolf911 wrote...

someone post a picture of the ogre Snarling at the King from Origins (the idiot) face, with text that reads "GET IN MAH BELLEH!"

please.

thank you, thank you so very much. 

[captain.subtle]

Do darkspawn die a natural death, peacefully in their beds?

[Bobad]

What do darkspawn eat?, evil, corrupt and savage, I'm thinking Ginsters...

[SimKoning]

David Gaider wrote...
Darkspawn don't require food for sustenance. The corruption within them keeps them alive. They can eat... but if they do so they do it for reasons other than dietary.

I think one way it could be explained (with less handwavium) is by having the fungus like blight material found growing around the darkspawn as being a source of energy. This would fit the "hive" like eusocial theme of these creatures since leaf cutter ants grow fungus for food. The taint could provide something analogous to glucose in animals, while the consumption of flesh during a blight could be to help regenerate their damaged bodies. This scenario would be similar to how animals use carbohydrates and protein. I don't think a more detailed explanation like this would result in any contradiction, since it is essentially the same basic idea.

David Gaider wrote...
That's an excellent question, if perhaps an academic one. Darkspawn don't breed, either... unless you want to call the process by which darkspawn are created by broodmothers breeding. Broodmothers technically aren't darkspawn themelves-- they're ghouls. So do the darkspawn qualify as living creatures in their own right?

I would say so. The taint seems to operate more or less like some kind of strange alien microbe or fungus like entity: it grows on its own in the deep roads and it can infect other life forms and alter their behavior; it's also like a virus to some degree. I would say the brood mothers are technically part of the same "species" as the rest of the darkspawn, since their offspring inherit some morphological features from their mothers, which is suggestive of something at least similar to genetics. I get the impression from the way they are written that they are a composite life form of some strange microbe and whatever species they infect. So I tend to see the ghouls, broodmothers, genlocks etc. as all being part of the same meta-species.

David Gaider wrote...
There are no eggs, no-- or you would probably have seen evidence of that. I'm not sure I want to go into detail regarding what an immature darkspawn looks like, but if you used the Children of Awakening as a guide you wouldn't be far off.

I thought the pods that the "children" hatched from in Awakening were essentially a type of egg.

David Gaider wrote...
Yes, my serious answer to the question is that broodmothers are based off a creature that does have breasts-- so they're going to have vestigial remnants of the creature they once were, now twisted and corrupted, even if they don't need them for their current purpose.

I think a good handwaive would be to say that whatever mutation causes their reproductive organs to grow to gigantic sizes and/or numbers, causes a duplication of their mammary glands. You could also just say it is an atavism, since most mammals have more than one pair of breasts anyway.

David Gaider wrote...
Yes, broodmothers do need to eat. If you want the simplest description, a broodmother is essentially a darkspawn factory (and a lovely analogy that is, too)

This would fit in with what I suggested above. The taint (whatever it is) could be the source of energy for their basic bodily functions, while they need to consume flesh (protein) to repair severely damaged body parts or grow to adulthood (the childers ate to grow)

Anyway, I'm a big fan of the series! I love the work you guys are doing = )


Sim

[spacing fixed]

Modifié par Stanley Woo, 27 janvier 2011 - 03:38 .

[M8DMAN]

I always thought that broodmother's were created through Darkspawn Rape.

Modifié par M8DMAN, 25 janvier 2011 - 02:24 .

[SimKoning]

I got the impression that the "taint" was meant to be some kind of quasi magical microbe analog picked up in the Fade by the magisters of Tevinter. In other words, a fantasy version of the black plague of the 1300s. And just like how ancient medieval people thought the plague was a punishment from God, the Thedasians think it is a punishment from the Maker. Following this line of thought, I would say it comes off to me as a fantasy version of the Flood from Halo, or the "Thing" or some other science fiction/fantasy super disease.

[Eveangaline]

M8DMAN wrote...

I always thought that broodmother's were created through Darkspawn Rape.

Honestly, that wouldn't make much sense. Otherwise the race of the 'father' would probably have some effect on the darkspawn that came out. Since only the race the mother was matters, it seems more likely that just having the taint causes the broodmother to spawn new darkspawn.

[Big I]

Reading David Gaidar's replies here have made me start wondering about the darkspawn and the taint.


Here's what we know about the taint from this thread and the games:


- it compells darkspawn and tainted creatures to violence

- it compells darkspawn to seek out Old Gods and taint them, creating Archdemons

- it provides an ongoing magical effect that makes it unnecessary for darkspawn to eat, and also presumably drink

- it allows Wardens to sense darkspawn and kill Archdemons successfully

- it can provide additional magical effects to Wardens if altered correctly (Avernus's research)

- it's effect on darkspawn can be altered to produce intelligent darkspawn (the Architect's process, and presumably however emissaries are made)


That's a lot of really impressive stuff for it to do for something that is supposed to be either an accidental magical side-effect of entering the Golden City, or for a curse from the Maker upon the arrogance of the magisters. It makes me wonder if it isn't a deliberately crafted magical phenomenon. Maybe there's a Tevinter magister sitting upon the throne in the Black City, trying to use the darkspawn to wipe out mankind.

[Helena Tylena]

If Ghouls are living creatures who contract the taint and somehow survive, and Wardens are living beings who (willingly) contract the taint and survive, does that mean that Wardens are, in theory, Ghouls?

[Big I]

Helena Tylena wrote...

If Ghouls are living creatures who contract the taint and somehow survive, and Wardens are living beings who (willingly) contract the taint and survive, does that mean that Wardens are, in theory, Ghouls?

My understanding is that they become ghouls once they hear their Call, unless they die first.

[megaz635]

Its obvious they eat their vegies.



Dur.

[Lorianno]

@ the OP



"MAN FLESH"

[moilami]

David Gaider wrote...

DanteCousland wrote...
we know they eat the elves, dwarfes, humans, qunari males and some females they capture as seen in the Broodmother chant but surely that can't be enough for the entire underground darkspawn horde to survive. Its always puzzled me and now with the horde scattered and many small bands roaming the surface how will there diet differ from the deeprodss, surely with a bigger amount of "Meat" and plants nearby they can grow stronger rather than living on deep mushrooms and spiders haha. Just wondering is all. Thankyou.

Darkspawn don't require food for sustenance. The corruption within them keeps them alive. They can eat... but if they do so they do it for reasons other than dietary.

I heard they eat mushrooms.

[panamakira]

David Gaider wrote...

Tirigon wrote...
Don´t they turn into Darkspawn if they refuse the Calling?

I don´t want to spoiler your books too much to those who haven´t read them yet but there are events who made me think they do.....

No, they don't turn into darkspawn. A ghoul is any living creature that has been afflicted with the darkspawn corruption and survived the process-- and there are different stages from your typical (the standard "ghoul" you encounter, or creatures such as the blight wolf or the bereskarn) to the very advanced (the broodmother, a being who has had their corruption artificially accelerated). A darkspawn is a creature that is born from a ghoul, but that's the only way they're created.

too late for this discussion but does that mean the female warden since they've taken in the taint will become some sort of brood mother when their calling comes? because then going into the Deep Roads is a much better way to die:?

[crownblade]

DespiertaLosNinos wrote...

penne ala 'arrabiata

Don't they need trays for that?

[SimKoning]

LookingGlass93 wrote...

Reading David Gaidar's replies here have made me start wondering about the darkspawn and the taint.


Here's what we know about the taint from this thread and the games:


- it compells darkspawn and tainted creatures to violence

- it compells darkspawn to seek out Old Gods and taint them, creating Archdemons

- it provides an ongoing magical effect that makes it unnecessary for darkspawn to eat, and also presumably drink

- it allows Wardens to sense darkspawn and kill Archdemons successfully

- it can provide additional magical effects to Wardens if altered correctly (Avernus's research)

- it's effect on darkspawn can be altered to produce intelligent darkspawn (the Architect's process, and presumably however emissaries are made)


That's a lot of really impressive stuff for it to do for something that is supposed to be either an accidental magical side-effect of entering the Golden City, or for a curse from the Maker upon the arrogance of the magisters. It makes me wonder if it isn't a deliberately crafted magical phenomenon. Maybe there's a Tevinter magister sitting upon the throne in the Black City, trying to use the darkspawn to wipe out mankind.

That, or it could be a blood magic experiment gone very, very wrong...

We really do not know if the Maker actually exists so you could be right. There are several problems with the Andrastian religion: why did the Maker abandon his "wife" to burned at the stake? why punish the elves, dwarves, qunari and non-magisters with the Darkspawn when it wasn't their doing? How do we know that the Maker is real and not the Elven gods? What the Elven gods are real fade spirits and the Maker is a human myth? Anyway, there are plenty of reasons for a Thedasian to be a non-Andrastian.

[Dayshadow]

Funny.

I'd have just figured they ate nugs, deep stalkers, giant spider, deep mushroms, bronto and the occasional dwarf.  Maybe rats too.

But, umm, yeah... "the taint sustains them".  That makes alot more sense.

[SimKoning]

And there is the problem I have with a lot of the fantasy out there: too often explanations are reduced to, *IT'S MAGIC* or "a wizard dun it". Now of course, in a setting where there is actual functional magic it makes sense to a degree, but I think it should be used only when there is no other option. I think the less handwavium/wizard did it reasons are used, the less suspension of disbelief is needed, which in turn makes the story feel more real. Well that's my opinion anyway...

[stormhit]

SimKoning wrote...

And there is the problem I have with a lot of the fantasy out there: too often explanations are reduced to, *IT'S MAGIC* or "a wizard dun it". Now of course, in a setting where there is actual functional magic it makes sense to a degree, but I think it should be used only when there is no other option. I think the less handwavium/wizard did it reasons are used, the less suspension of disbelief is needed, which in turn makes the story feel more real. Well that's my opinion anyway...

It's not really "handwavium" when the creator knows the circumstances of the world and you don't. I mean, it's not like the fungus possibilty you suggested is amazingly creative. If the origin of the darkspawn was such that they needed to eat, I'm pretty confident the writers would have provided an explanation that would have met your standards. I sort of find your repeated suggestion that they simply couldn't think of something suitable to be rather insulting to them.

[Xerxes52]

I think it would be interesting if we got to meet our Warden after they succumbed to the corruption (provided we made the right choices) in a later game.





Maybe we would even have to fight him/her much like in Eternal Darkness, where you hade to fight Anthony (your player character in a previous level) in Paul Luther's level.

[SimKoning]

"It's not really "handwavium" when the creator knows the circumstances of the world and you don't. I mean, it's not like the fungus possibilty you suggested is amazingly creative. If the origin of the darkspawn was such that they needed to eat, I'm pretty confident the writers would have provided an explanation that would have met your standards. I sort of find your repeated suggestion that they simply couldn't think of something suitable to be rather insulting to them."



I actually like Dayshadow's suggestion more than my own. Examples of handwavium would be things like, well magic, warp drive, mass effect fields etc. Simply saying that the Darkspawn do not need to eat because of the "taint" is a perfect example of handwavium. So I have no idea why they would be insulted by me stating the obvious. I just prefer that handwavium be kept as low as possible without hurting the story, and coming up with a way in witch the Darkspawn actually eat *something* is more interesting to me. That and Morrigan says they were "feasting" on fallen soldiers in Ostegar. So I was simply suggesting a away of smoothing that over without resorting to a shrug and a who knows.

[Absafraginlootly]

David Gaider wrote...

DanteCousland wrote...
we know they eat the elves, dwarfes, humans, qunari males and some females they capture as seen in the Broodmother chant but surely that can't be enough for the entire underground darkspawn horde to survive. Its always puzzled me and now with the horde scattered and many small bands roaming the surface how will there diet differ from the deeprodss, surely with a bigger amount of "Meat" and plants nearby they can grow stronger rather than living on deep mushrooms and spiders haha. Just wondering is all. Thankyou.

Darkspawn don't require food for sustenance. The corruption within them keeps them alive. They can eat... but if they do so they do it for reasons other than dietary.

But childer's eat, they do so to reach the next stage of their developement. But they also don't look like the race of the broodmother that they were born from either, so are they not really darkspawn?

I've never really understood what makes the difference between darkspawn and childers myself, or why, I mean they both come from broodmothers right?