163 réponses à ce sujet

[Obadiah]

We know what the Darkspawn lifecycle is, and it's parasitically tied to the Dwarves, Humans, Elves, and Qunari. If the darkspawn were around before the first blight someone would have known about them - it could not be otherwise.

[Kijin]

QuintusVolcae wrote...

Ah, but how do we know that isn't just the Chantry telling you how it is, with it not being true? The darkspawn could have simply never been seen, and then they found an old god and tainted it? The dwarves didn't mine everywhere you know. And the chantry could be BSing us just to get people to believe the Tevinters are evil and to join the andrastian chantry. They're not the most honest you know.

Actually, they nearly did. At their height, the Dwarves had an empire underground that rivaled all of Thedas. The Deep Roads run all across Thedas underground - and they were all built by dwarves. The sheer extent of the Dwarven empire makes that theory highly unlikely. As far as we know, none of the caverns found in the Deep Roads are natural - they are all made by the Dwarves. A race can't suddenly 'appear' in the Deep Roads. If something else was down there, the Dwarves would have found it. 

Obadiah wrote...

We know what the Darkspawn lifecycle is, and it's parasitically tied to the Dwarves, Humans, Elves, and Qunari. If the darkspawn were around before the first blight someone would have known about them - it could not be otherwise.

Pretty much this.

[Cavalier753]

What I'm about to say is most likely not true, but I feel I need to say it. What if the darkspawn had one all-purpose broodmother? Something that gave birth to darkspawn that weren't hurlocks, genlocks, etc.? And they slowly took dwarves on the fringes and built up their army, and eventually captured a couple humans and elves? But then since broidmothers can die of old age, it and it's kin of older spawn died from skirmishes and old age. But it was enough to start mass producing their species. And then they found an old god.

There are tunnels in DA:O that the dwarves didn't make. Look at the broodmother nest in the dead trenches. Better yet, look at the actual trench. Plently of places for spawn to hide down there.

[Kijin]

Brood Mothers are giant ghouls - meaning they can only be formed if a female elf, human, dwarf or quanari is exposed to large amounts of the Taint. Brood Mothers could only exist in Thedas after the Tevinter Magisters approach the Golden City and unleash the taint. 

Dark Spawn require Brood Mothers, and Brood Mothers require the Taint.

Modifié par Kijin, 04 avril 2011 - 01:40 .

[Cavalier753]

You sort of missed my point.

I know about ghouls, broodmothers, and whatnot, but what I'm saying is what if they had a broodmother that WASN'T a ghoul. If it was the only full darkspawn broodmother?

[Kijin]

No I didn't miss your point. It's not possible for there to be a Brood Mother that is not a ghoul. They are all Ghouls - even the Mother was a ghoul. I entertain the idea of dragon sentience because there is clear evidence in Dragon Age that suggests that they are sentient.

I have yet to see any evidence that suggests that there were Brood Mothers in Thedas before the Tevinter Magisters approached the Golden City.

[Cavalier753]

You're probably right, which is why I said it probably wasn't true, just a theory I thought of.

[Kijin]

I know what you mean - I would love for the Dark Spawn to become their own race, but that would have to happen after the Fifth Blight due to the Architect and not before it.

[Cavalier753]

Yeah, they could've been their own race, but then died off and are replaced by lackluster versions. Perhaps the architect was one such darkspawn? Possibilities.

[Obadiah]

QuintusVolcae wrote...

Yeah, they could've been their own race, but then died off and are replaced by lackluster versions. Perhaps the architect was one such darkspawn? Possibilities.

I'll give you this. Since Archedemons look like tainted dragons, and broodmothers are tainted/ghouled females, the darkspawn themselves could be tainted some-other-race.

Bear with me here. It could be that the darkspawn were some other race subsisting on the fringes of civilization, too few in number to be noticed or a threat. Maybe they were the "Orcs" of the Tevinter empire. Then they got tainted somehow, and since then have engage in a reproductive frenzy to free the Archdemons and have a blight.

Modifié par Obadiah, 04 avril 2011 - 03:32 .

[Cavalier753]

I get what your saying.

On another note, when you said the dwarves would have found the darkspawn before the 1st blight, how come no one but darkspawn have found the archdemons?

[Obadiah]

QuintusVolcae wrote...
...
On another note, when you said the dwarves would have found the darkspawn before the 1st blight, how come no one but darkspawn have found the archdemons?

They're the only ones looking? They carry the taint and are able to follow some dream-call of the slumbering archdemon and find them?

[Cavalier753]

I know. But still, I would expect the dwarves would have found something by now after nearly a millennia.

[Obadiah]

QuintusVolcae wrote...

I know. But still, I would expect the dwarves would have found something by now after nearly a millennia.

Well, also no one but the darkspawn (and the Grey Wardens apparently) are nuts enough to go looking for an Archdemon.

[Obadiah]

Kijin wrote...
...
Read through this thread. Then read through this thread. We have already discussed that to death. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that dragons are as sentient as humans. If you can't come up with an argument, don't bother posting.

I've played NWN so I know what a sentient Dragon is like. They laugh at you when you ask for help, make fun of you, hit you up for favors with their "awe", that kind of thing.

To me the dragons and cultists in Dragon Age seem to have much more of an instinctive symbiotic relationship - like shark and pilot fish. Maybe dragons and humanoids evolved that way in Thedas. Maybe the High Dragons just give off some kind of "loyalty" pheromone that some humanoids react to, and they begin instinctively engaging in the symbiotic relationship.

Now imagine a few of those High Dragons become abominations and, presto, you have your ancient Tevinter empire.

[Zalocx]

Obadiah wrote...

Kijin wrote...
...
Read through this thread. Then read through this thread. We have already discussed that to death. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that dragons are as sentient as humans. If you can't come up with an argument, don't bother posting.

I've played NWN so I know what a sentient Dragon is like. They laugh at you when you ask for help, make fun of you, hit you up for favors with their "awe", that kind of thing.

To me the dragons and cultists in Dragon Age seem to have much more of an instinctive symbiotic relationship - like shark and pilot fish. Maybe dragons and humanoids evolved that way in Thedas. Maybe the High Dragons just give off some kind of "loyalty" pheromone that some humanoids react to, and they begin instinctively engaging in the symbiotic relationship.

Now imagine a few of those High Dragons become abominations and, presto, you have your ancient Tevinter empire.

There isn't one sort of "sentience" or one way to express it. NWN dragons  acting a given way and being intelligent and self aware does not imply that DA dragons need to act the same way to also be aware and intelligent. Beside there are massive differences between D&D dragons and DA dragons like life cycle, gender mechanics and the fact that 3e dragons (like the ones from NWN) are literally MADE out of good or evil depending on their colours, something we can't yet atribute to DA dragons

[lorvincent]

Obadiah wrote...

Kijin wrote...
...
Read through this thread. Then read through this thread. We have already discussed that to death. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that dragons are as sentient as humans. If you can't come up with an argument, don't bother posting.

I've played NWN so I know what a sentient Dragon is like. They laugh at you when you ask for help, make fun of you, hit you up for favors with their "awe", that kind of thing.

To me the dragons and cultists in Dragon Age seem to have much more of an instinctive symbiotic relationship - like shark and pilot fish. Maybe dragons and humanoids evolved that way in Thedas. Maybe the High Dragons just give off some kind of "loyalty" pheromone that some humanoids react to, and they begin instinctively engaging in the symbiotic relationship.

Now imagine a few of those High Dragons become abominations and, presto, you have your ancient Tevinter empire.

Really? You have "played NWN" so you know "what a sentient Dragon is like"?  That is ONE KIND of dragon from a SINGLE SOURCE.  Do you hereby proclaim that all dragons that are not like NWN dragons are not sentient?  Break the mold brother and stop living in a box. Fantastical magical pheromones, huh?  Real scientific there (sarcasm).

Pheromones, as you put it, do not work on SENTIENT BEINGS the same way they work on creatures of simpler instinctual intelligence.  Go buy a can of axe and spray it on the nearest homeless crack fiend and tell me how many girls fly at him.  A) the human ability to detect pheromones has been TURNED OFF   Humans, as shown in behavioural studies of classical conditioning WHICH HAS BEEN DISCUSSED AS KIJIN SAID ALREADY show a human's ability to circumvent instinctual habits.

Lastly, why do you feel these dragons don't "laugh at you when you ask for help, make fun of you, hit you up for favors with their 'awe', that kind of thing"? I think they do exactly that to the cultists, just as the Old Gods did to the Tevinter Imperium.  There are a few points in codexes where they call the Tevinter's early days as the most successful dragon cult to ever appear in Thedas.

Do dragons have human vocal cords? Can they speak english any better than a lion or chicken?  I think not.  We are not discussing the kind of dragon that communicates with language, but rather through magic.  There have been documented cases of these "whispers" into the minds of men.  This means the ONLY surefire way to tell if a dragon is sentient is by studying their behaviour.

We do not know how skilled dragons are in magic.  They may be like most other races of Thedas, and only a select few can use magic (which would explain the Old Gods, and possibly Flemeth), or maybe they all have the ability, since it it clear their blood holds magical significance.

THAT is what this has all been about, and given that dragons are only just returning from near-extinction, most of the material we use to decide this is based on the fidings of previous individuals who studied dragons in history and other codexes in-game.  The dragons that we DO see; however, do fit into our explanation of sentience.

I must point out again that sentience is openly defined and many people do not seem to understand its meaning, both in the real world and on this forum.  By some definitions DOLPHINS fit the explanation of sentience as they have a form of communication, as do elephants.  My belief is that dragons are highly intelligent creatures, and both I and others have presented MORE than enough evidence to make it a viable theory.

You don't have to believe it, but you don't really have a choice but to accept that it is just as viable as any other theory out there, especially when there is far more circumstantial evidence for it than any of the other "theories".  Stop introducing these "ideas", like pheromones, without any evidence at all.  You are randomly guessing how dragons function and ignoring the material presented.

The denial of the evidence for sentient dragons in DA represents a perfect example of functional fixedness in the average consumer.  This version of a sentient dragon doesn't fit the schema you have in your mind for a sentient dragon, so you ignore the indicators.

Lastly, WHY IS THIS STILL AN ARGUMENT?

"Dragons are cunning to the point of having deductive reasoning, arguably even sentient, without having the ability to communicate or possess a civilization. They are like dolphins -- that will eat you."
- David Gaider

Clearly the theory is justified.

Modifié par lorvincent, 04 avril 2011 - 01:24 .

[Kijin]

Obadiah wrote...

Kijin wrote...
...
Read through this thread. Then read through this thread. We have already discussed that to death. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that dragons are as sentient as humans. If you can't come up with an argument, don't bother posting.

I've played NWN so I know what a sentient Dragon is like. They laugh at you when you ask for help, make fun of you, hit you up for favors with their "awe", that kind of thing.

To me the dragons and cultists in Dragon Age seem to have much more of an instinctive symbiotic relationship - like shark and pilot fish. Maybe dragons and humanoids evolved that way in Thedas. Maybe the High Dragons just give off some kind of "loyalty" pheromone that some humanoids react to, and they begin instinctively engaging in the symbiotic relationship.

Now imagine a few of those High Dragons become abominations and, presto, you have your ancient Tevinter empire.

Lorvincent already tore you a new one, if you haven't seen his post I'd check it out - but I thought I'd make some final points. In Dragon Age 2, it has been documented that some mages are able to detect Abominations. Merrilll can reliably detect abominations - probably due to the fact that she has made a pact with a demon herself. 

The Tevinter Imperium was ruled by the Magisters - almost all of whom had made deals with demons. Had the Old Gods been High Dragon Abominations, they would have known - and they would not have been happy. The Tevinter Magisters thought they were worshipping Dragons - to have been tricked by abominations that were posing as dragons would have been too much for their pride to handle. 

Phermones? You are using phermones to explain the Dragon Cults? Here is some information for you: out of the hundreds of peer-review studies performed, no phermonal substance has been shown to affect human behavior. Click on this link, and go to page 264: "But there is not yet any hard evidence for human phermones that might mediate sexual attraction (for members of either sex) via innate mechanisms."

Translation? Phermones do not work on humans. In other words, the Dragon Cults are not being formed due to the phermones released by a dragon. One of the most common aspects of Dragon Cults is the tendency for the Cultists to drink the blood of a new-born dragon. Not only does the High Dragon do nothing to hurt the Cultists, the Drakes whose job it is to protect the eggs do not attack them. If the dragons were merely animals, they would aggressively attack the cultists to defend their young. They must be sentient. 

Also, Lorvincent already quoted David Gaider, but I thought I'd do it again - and I'll even include a link: "Dragons are cunning to the point of having deductive reasoning, arguably even sentience, without having the ability to communicate or possess a civilization. They are like dolphins -- that will eat you."

Every Codex in the game suggests that Dragons could be sentient. David Gaider himself suggests that dragons could be sentient. People keep on saying that dragons cannot be sentient because David Gaider said they were as intelligent as dolphins - well that is the quote people are referring to. And as you can plainly see, Gaider makes it obvious that dragons could be sentient. You have no argument.

 

[Obadiah]

lorvincent wrote...
...
The denial of the evidence for sentient dragons in DA represents a perfect example of functional fixedness in the average consumer.  This version of a sentient dragon doesn't fit the schema you have in your mind for a sentient dragon, so you ignore the indicators.

Lastly, WHY IS THIS STILL AN ARGUMENT?

"Dragons are cunning to the point of having deductive reasoning, arguably even sentient, without having the ability to communicate or possess a civilization. They are like dolphins -- that will eat you."
- David Gaider

Clearly the theory is justified.

If the humans of Thedas instinctively are in awe of dragons and did evolve in a symbiotic relationship with them originally, pheromones could easily have that effect of pushing them into back into that relationship - especially if the dragon participates in it, the way the High Dragon did with Kolgrim. Once a human bows down (or maybe just doesn't run and doesn't attack), and a dragon lands in front of him, and rather than eat him stares at him for a while, that may well be enough to convince the humans that dragons are gods.

Wolves, cheetas, and hyenas are cunning - that doesn't meant they're sentient. If clever animals do fit your definition of a sentient being then we're discussing different things. At any rate, I believe the Dragons may not be "highly intelligent" and just clever animals.

Now the humans drink High Dragon blood they start hearing whispers. They have visions of the dragon and they appear gain extra power from the blood. Is the High Dragon speaking to them, or are the cultists now in contact with some other entity subtely directing them as well as the dragon?

Modifié par Obadiah, 04 avril 2011 - 02:10 .

[lorvincent]

Obadiah wrote...

lorvincent wrote...
...
The denial of the evidence for sentient dragons in DA represents a perfect example of functional fixedness in the average consumer.  This version of a sentient dragon doesn't fit the schema you have in your mind for a sentient dragon, so you ignore the indicators.

Lastly, WHY IS THIS STILL AN ARGUMENT?

"Dragons are cunning to the point of having deductive reasoning, arguably even sentient, without having the ability to communicate or possess a civilization. They are like dolphins -- that will eat you."
- David Gaider

Clearly the theory is justified.

If the humans of Thedas instinctively are in awe of dragons and did evolve in a symbiotic relationship with them originally, pheromones could easily have that effect of pushing them into back into that relationship - especially if the dragon participates in it, the way the High Dragon did with Kolgrim. Once a human bows down (or maybe just doesn't run and doesn't attack), and a dragon lands in front of him, and rather than eat him stares at him for a while, that may well be enough to convince the humans that dragons are gods.

Wolves, cheetas, and hyenas are cunning - that doesn't meant they're sentient. If clever animals do fit your definition of a sentient being then we're discussing different things.

Now the humans drink High Dragon blood they start hearing whispers. They have visions of the dragon and they appear gain extra power from the blood. Is the High Dragon speaking to them, or are the cultists now in contact with some other entity subtely directing them as well as the dragon?

Yes, I am sure there will be a codex on pheromones too... *sigh*

My god, you are still making up ideas with no in-game evidence.

D. Gaider already stated they are intelligent.  He went so far as to say "arguably sentient".  Take it as you will, but stop fighting a battle already won.  I quoted the Lead Writer.  We are done.

[Obadiah]

lorvincent wrote...
...
My god, you are still making up ideas with no in-game evidence.

D. Gaider already stated they are intelligent.  He went so far as to say "arguably sentient".  Take it as you will, but stop fighting a battle already won.  I quoted the Lead Writer.  We are done.

DG said "arguably" sentient - do you want to argue about it? I said, you said, so let's drop it.

The only reason I'm looking at other explanations for the Old Gods and dragon cults is that highly intelligent dragons just seems too convenient an explanation given the dragons we encounter in the game.

[Kijin]

Obadiah wrote...

lorvincent wrote...
...
The denial of the evidence for sentient dragons in DA represents a perfect example of functional fixedness in the average consumer.  This version of a sentient dragon doesn't fit the schema you have in your mind for a sentient dragon, so you ignore the indicators.

Lastly, WHY IS THIS STILL AN ARGUMENT?

"Dragons are cunning to the point of having deductive reasoning, arguably even sentient, without having the ability to communicate or possess a civilization. They are like dolphins -- that will eat you."
- David Gaider

Clearly the theory is justified.

If the humans of Thedas instinctively are in awe of dragons and did evolve in a symbiotic relationship with them originally, pheromones could easily have that effect of pushing them into back into that relationship - especially if the dragon participates in it, the way the High Dragon did with Kolgrim. Once a human bows down (or maybe just doesn't run and doesn't attack), and a dragon lands in front of him, and rather than eat him stares at him for a while, that may well be enough to convince the humans that dragons are gods.

Wolves, cheetas, and hyenas are cunning - that doesn't meant they're sentient. If clever animals do fit your definition of a sentient being then we're discussing different things.

Now the humans drink High Dragon blood they start hearing whispers. They have visions of the dragon and they appear gain extra power from the blood. Is the High Dragon speaking to them, or are the cultists now in contact with some other entity subtely directing them as well as the dragon?

Phermones? You are using phermones to explain the Dragon Cults? Here is some information for you: out of the hundreds of peer-review studies performed, no phermonal substance has been shown to affect human behavior. Click on this link, and go to page 264: "But there is not yet any hard evidence for human phermones that might mediate sexual attraction (for members of either sex) via innate mechanisms." Translation? Phermones do not work on humans. 

This Codex clearly shows that Dragon Cults used to be widespread. Hell, the Tevinter Imperium was one large Dragon Cult - and as I mentioned earlier, mages who have made a pact with a demon can sense abominations. If these Dragons were truly abominations, then someone in the Tevinter Imperium would have noticed. If it were possible that the Old Gods and these Dragons were merely possessed by abominations, then that woudl have been mentioned in one of the Codexes. More importantly, there are not that many dragons living - your theory would require that the vast majority of them be possessed by demons. This theory is utterly ridiculous.

[Obadiah]

Kijin wrote...
Phermones? You are using phermones to explain the Dragon Cults? Here is some information for you: out of the hundreds of peer-review studies performed, no phermonal substance has been shown to affect human behavior. Click on this link, and go to page 264: "But there is not yet any hard evidence for human phermones that might mediate sexual attraction (for members of either sex) via innate mechanisms." Translation? Phermones do not work on humans. 

This Codex clearly shows that Dragon Cults used to be widespread. Hell, the Tevinter Imperium was one large Dragon Cult - and as I mentioned earlier, mages who have made a pact with a demon can sense abominations. If these Dragons were truly abominations, then someone in the Tevinter Imperium would have noticed. If it were possible that the Old Gods and these Dragons were merely possessed by abominations, then that woudl have been mentioned in one of the Codexes. More importantly, there are not that many dragons living - your theory would require that the vast majority of them be possessed by demons. This theory is utterly ridiculous.

Yeah, I'm using pheromones. Go read the rest of that page and it clearly shows that pheromones do affect humans. It doesn't have to do a 180 on someone's personality - maybe it just makes some people light-headed, and they think they're experiencing something divine. Maybe it only happens to a few people, so that would be why Kolgrim's ancestor succummed and other Andraste worshippers (and the Wardens... mostly) did not.

At any rate, if someone believed that the reason a High Dragon did not eat them was because it is a deity, the only things that person could do in worship are: prayers, sacrifices, and tending the dragon's young. And probably in that order. Where does the blood come in? Maybe the dragon somes back from hunting injured, bleeds, and the cultistis believe it's an offering.

Kijin wrote...
If these Dragons were truly abominations, then someone in the Tevinter Imperium would have noticed. If it were possible that the Old Gods and these Dragons were merely possessed by abominations, then that woudl have been mentioned in one of the Codexes. More importantly, there are not that many dragons living - your theory would require that the vast majority of them be possessed by demons. This theory is utterly
ridiculous.

From the description of the ancient Tevinter empire, I don't think if anyone did notice that they would really care. All they seemed to care about was more power. I don't know if it would have been mentioned in the codexes, the codexes merely give known information, and that information may simply be lost. There were only 7 Old Gods, so there only needs to be 7 High Dragon abominations, not the "vast majority".

Modifié par Obadiah, 04 avril 2011 - 02:51 .

[Kijin]

Obadiah wrote...

Kijin wrote...
Phermones? You are using phermones to explain the Dragon Cults? Here is some information for you: out of the hundreds of peer-review studies performed, no phermonal substance has been shown to affect human behavior. Click on this link, and go to page 264: "But there is not yet any hard evidence for human phermones that might mediate sexual attraction (for members of either sex) via innate mechanisms." Translation? Phermones do not work on humans. 

This Codex clearly shows that Dragon Cults used to be widespread. Hell, the Tevinter Imperium was one large Dragon Cult - and as I mentioned earlier, mages who have made a pact with a demon can sense abominations. If these Dragons were truly abominations, then someone in the Tevinter Imperium would have noticed. If it were possible that the Old Gods and these Dragons were merely possessed by abominations, then that woudl have been mentioned in one of the Codexes. More importantly, there are not that many dragons living - your theory would require that the vast majority of them be possessed by demons. This theory is utterly ridiculous.

Yeah, I'm using pheromones. Go read the rest of that page and it clearly shows that pheromones do affect humans. It doesn't have to do a 180 on someone's personality. If someone believes that a dragon did not eat them because it is a deity, the only things those people can do in worship are: prayers, sacrifices, and tending the dragon's young. And probably in that order. Where does the blood come in? Maybe the dragon somes back from hunting injured, bleeds, and the cultistis believe it's an offering.

Kijin wrote...
If these Dragons were truly abominations, then someone in the
Tevinter Imperium would have noticed. If it were possible that the Old
Gods and these Dragons were merely possessed by abominations, then that
woudl have been mentioned in one of the Codexes. More importantly, there
are not that many dragons living - your theory would require that the
vast majority of them be possessed by demons. This theory is utterly
ridiculous.

From the description of the ancient Tevinter empires, I don't think if anyone did notice that they would really care. All they seemed to care about was more power. I don't know if it would have been mentioned in the codexes, the codexes merely give known information, and that information may simply be lost. There were only 7 Old Gods, so there only needs to be 7 High Dragon abominations, not the "vast majority".

The human gland that used to receive phermones has been turned off in the human body for millions of years - it's evolutionary, so no phermones do not affect humans and have not done so for a long ass time. This is a scientific fact. If a lion does not eat me, is it my natural inclination to assume that the lion is a diety? If someone is not eaten by a dragon, that person will probably thank the Maker as that is the dominant religion - especially if their cult is there to protect the Ashes of Andraste. 

Also, the Cultists do not drink the blood from an injured dragon - This Codex makes it clear: "Members of a dragon cult live in the same lair as a high dragon, nurturing and protecting its defenseless young. In exchange, the high dragon seem to permit those cultists to kill a small number of those young in order to feast on draconic blood." 

In terms of the Dragon Abominations, it has been documented that members of the Dragon Cult claim to hear the dragon whispering to them. According to your theory, any time someone hears a dragon whispering to them, it is the work of an Abomination - but this would mean that most dragons are indeed Abominations, due to the widespread nature of Dragon Cults. As I said - this is ridiculous. Somebody would have noticed. Also note that demons aren't known for being subtle. 

[Obadiah]

Kijin wrote...
The human gland that used to receive phermones has been turned off in the human body for millions of years - it's evolutionary, so no phermones do not affect humans and have not done so for a long ass time. This is a scientific fact. If a lion does not eat me, is it my natural inclination to assume that the lion is a diety? If someone is not eaten by a dragon, that person will probably thank the Maker as that is the dominant religion - especially if their cult is there to protect the Ashes of Andraste. 

The page you quoted shows pheromones affect women. Anyway I editted my post to clarify my statement. The effect may not be a 180 on someone's personality - it may just make them high and give them the impression of a divine experience.

Kijin wrote...
Also, the Cultists do not drink the blood from an injured dragon - This Codex makes it clear: "Members of a dragon cult live in the same lair as a high dragon, nurturing and protecting its defenseless young. In exchange, the high dragon seem to permit those cultists to kill a small number of those young in order to feast on draconic blood." 

When the cultists are encountered, at that point they aren't drinking injured blood. I'm just giving an example of how the practise would start. Once the practise of drinking blood becomes institutionalized, the next step, when the cultists are out of blood, is to sacrifice one of the young. If the dragon doesn't fry them to a crisp, then maybe that practise becomes institutionalized as well.

Kijin wrote...
In terms of the Dragon Abominations, it has been documented that members of the Dragon Cult claim to hear the dragon whispering to them. According to your theory, any time someone hears a dragon whispering to them, it is the work of an Abomination - but this would mean that most dragons are indeed Abominations, due to the widespread nature of Dragon Cults. As I said - this is ridiculous. Somebody would have noticed. Also note that demons aren't known for being subtle. 

Ok, so what are the possible explanations for hearing whispering in one's head:
1) Telepathic communication. If so from whom:
- High Dragon
- Some other entity (spirit, demon, etc...)
2)  Mental instability
3)  Hallucinations - probably brought on by taking some chemical, like something in the High Dragon blood.

I like the idea that the High Dragon blood is actually a conduit to some other spiritual/demonic entity because I find that the most interesting.

Modifié par Obadiah, 04 avril 2011 - 03:06 .