49 réponses à ce sujet

[Reika]

@Shadow - Yeah, I agree about the codex. The only thing I can think of is that there was some extrapolation done.



Genlocks obviously look like corrupted dwarves, Hurlocks with humans. Having killed way more Shrieks than I like to think about (they're the biggest pain and getting a good look, they also look like corrupted elves. The ogres are a stretch, they don't look anything like the Qunari we're used to seeing, but since there aren't any other humanoids massive enough to make ogres and the ogres didn't start showing up until after the Qunari...

[HolyAvenger]

Oh don't even get me started on the Codex. I played Awakenings vanilla and info would show up in my quest journal (forget the Codex) that I didn't infer from my cutscenes and conversations from in-game...



This stuff about the broodmothers is such a big deal that I would've though any Grey Warden who found out would immediately spread the word. Choke off the broodmother supply, slow down off the amount darkspawn.

[Sabariel]

Reika wrote...

What Glor said. One of the options you have to say to Sigrun after you rescue her is that she was being dragged off to become a broodmother. And have the fun of explaining them.

Sigrun tells you that the darkspawn make females into Broodmothers. It's Velanna that  the Warden "explains"  Broodmothers to.

[HolyAvenger]

Sabariel wrote...



Sigrun tells you that the darkspawn make females into Broodmothers. It's Velanna that  the Warden "explains"  Broodmothers to.

That''s what I thought I remembered, but apparently I was wrong and then I'm right...confusing.

[Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

The darkspawn make surface raids without the benefit of the Blight. You hear this throughout the game. That's more likely where they get surfacer females to utilize as broodmothers, since armies rarely have any contact with them when they come in small raiding parties. Thus, females in the army would have little impact on this.



There are openings to the Deep Roads throughout Thedas, they can pretty much strike anywhere. As far as qunari broodmothers, it is mentioned in Ostagar that they are seeing darkspawn never heard of before: i.e., the ogres. It has been about 400 years since the last Blight, and the qunari weren't in Thedas at the time, so there would be nothing with which to make ogres. Hence, ogres being considered new types of darkspawn. It's like that, in the past 400 years, as the qunari have been invading and settling Thedas, that darkspawn making surface raids have encountered some, and thus, got their qunari broodmothers as a result.



Ogres don't look so much like DAO qunari, but in DA2, we see they have giant horns.

[Corker]

Skadi_the_Evil_Elf wrote...

There are openings to the Deep Roads throughout Thedas, they can pretty much strike anywhere.

And yet, an army of dwarves concentrated around Orzammar is somehow supposed to be absolutely critical in preventing All Darkspawn, All the Time on the surface.  That's something else I don't quite get.

[BigBad]

Mostly, the presence of Orzammar gives the darkspawn a big ol' honking target right next door for them to occupy themselves with between Blights. There's a reason Orzammar has been steadily shrinking for centuries. The only reason that they're even still there is because the dwarves -are- just that badass.

[Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

Yeah, big bad is probably right. Though Kal-Shirok might also play some major role we don't know about yet. Maybe DA2 might even shed more light on it.

[mousestalker]

My own theory is that the nugs are involved somehow in protecting the dwarven cities. Maybe their squeaking has the same effect on darkspawn that Slim Whitman has on Martians?

[Reika]

I'll admit, I've also wondered if the dwarves have built up some sort of resistance to the taint. They obviously aren't immune, but they seem to do fairly well against the darkspawn.

[BigBad]

No, dwarves seem just as susceptible to darkspawn taint as anyone else (note Ruck in the Deep Roads), and Mainar will tell a Dwarf Commoner disguised as Everd during the origin that the possibility of becoming tainted is the real risk to fighting darkspawn.



I think it's just that dwarves tend to fight covered mostly or entirely in heavy or massive armor, which helps keep the blood off you, and probably kill, quarantine, or exile those warriors who do become tainted. You never run into them because, well, they don't serve a purpose to the warden's quests.

[Reika]

It probably is the tendency of full body armor that helps reduce the exposure. But in Ruck's case, he ate dead darkspawn...

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Ruck was deliberately eating darkspawn flesh though; he didn't succumb to ambient taint.

While blood and flesh and bile etc. all seem to transmit taint on a more definite level, just being around darkspawn has the chance to spread the affliction.

edit: spelling

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 08 janvier 2011 - 02:58 .

[Reika]

@Shadow And that's why I was wondering if the dwarves hadn't built up some sort of resistance. I wasn't saying immunity, but considering how strong of a presence the darkspawn have around Orzammar, it's something to think about.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

@Reika: Yes, I know I was responding to BigBad, and probably should have said so.

[Reika]

My bad.

[Todd23]

The resistance theory explains why there's as much, if not more hurlocks than genlocks.

[BigBad]

I always got the impression that genlocks were the most common darkspawn by far, and the one most likely to be recognized by your average joe. The presence of so many hurlocks I put down to it being a Blight, where they're going all out.

[Reika]

I'd say there's equal numbers of genlocks and hurlocks.



Shrieks seem to be almost as rare as ogres.

[BigBad]

Just thought of something. It's possible that genlocks were once the most common, but as the dwarves keep dwindling, hurlocks are starting to become the most populous darkspawn type, at least in Ferelden. At the time of the Blight, their numbers are roughly equal. That'd make sense.

[Reika]

Considering hurlocks are from humans which tend to breed like rabbits, not hard to see that there'd be as many, if not more, hurlocks than any other type.

[EmperorSahlertz]

HolyAvenger wrote...

Oh don't even get me started on the Codex. I played Awakenings vanilla and info would show up in my quest journal (forget the Codex) that I didn't infer from my cutscenes and conversations from in-game...

This stuff about the broodmothers is such a big deal that I would've though any Grey Warden who found out would immediately spread the word. Choke off the broodmother supply, slow down off the amount darkspawn.

It's not easy telling an entire world something they don't care about. Especially without long range communication devices.

[Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

Todd23 wrote...

The resistance theory explains why there's as much, if not more hurlocks than genlocks.

There are actually more genlocks. New darkspawn come from broodmothers, not tainted individuals, who just become ghouls. The higher number of genlocks is probably due to the easy access to dwarven women compared to other races.

I think the lack of any resistance to the taint stems from the taint not being some natural to either the material world or the Fade, unlike lyrium, which is a natural substance. I get the impression that the Black City, the source of the taint, is something completely alien to the Dragon Age universe, and thus, natural processes, such as becoming resistant or immune to it, don't occur, not without deliberate intervention (joining ritual).

[Todd23]

BigBad wrote...

Just thought of something. It's possible that genlocks were once the most common, but as the dwarves keep dwindling, hurlocks are starting to become the most populous darkspawn type, at least in Ferelden. At the time of the Blight, their numbers are roughly equal. That'd make sense.

Actualy, the population drop is proof that they've been getting a lot of dwarvs, and if they were doing sufficient serface raids, than people would have been more helpful when the blight started.

[Fast Jimmy]

I would wonder how long Broodmothers live? The codex says they can spawn 1000's of darkspawn over the course of their lifetime, but how long is that (perhaps this is discussed in Awakenings, but I have not played it)?



The reason I ask is that snatching Quanari women to turn into a broodmother seems rather remote. While it would certainly be possible, there would have to be multiple quanari broodmothers alive currently to produce the 100 or so Ogres that the PC alone kills in the game. With no quanari women allowed in battle, it would mean that any of their women captured in the Quanari lands would either have to be taken into Ferelden to become Broodmothers, or that their Ogre offsprings wandered off away from their nest into a completely different country to be seen in Ferelden. Neither seems entirely likely?



On a different topic, people say "how could everyone not know about the broodmothers?" We forget two things.



1) We were FAR into the Deep Roads before encountering the Broodmother. House Dace sent an expedition to search the Aeducan Thaig, practically in Orzamar's backyard. If an expedition is considered risky going to a Thaig literally two inches from the palace on our map, imagine how unlikely it is to get to the far side of the map, where we see the Arch Demon leading the horde?



2) Secondly... the only reason we were able to get so far into the Deep Roads was the Blight itself. The vast majority of the darkspawn were up on the surface, meaning that it was practically a ghost town, by the Deep Roads standards. And even then, only the most badass mo' fo' in Ferelden (me, of course) was able to make it! Let us not forget... this was a Genlock Broodmother, supposedly the closest supply of females the darkspawn could get their hands on. And STILL they did set up the nest deep in darkspawn territory. Who knows how deep they would bury something more valuable, like an Ogre Broodmother?