189 réponses à ce sujet

[eschilde]

Considering that the Fereldan Wardens aren't the only Wardens ever to go into the Deep Roads, I would guess that the Wardens are aware of the existence of Broodmothers. There's probably information about it at least in Weisshaupt.



Seriously though, the mastery of the taint is part of the Joining process. Isn't this the same reason the GWs can't become ghouls? They have the taint, like ghouls and Broodmothers, but they are not driven insane or lose their humanity to it.

[Demx]

SusanStoHelit wrote...

It seems that many have reached the same conclusions that I reached on the first - relatively sleepless - night after I first encountered the broodmother ingame. I'm almost 50 myself -and still fertile, thank you.

As I said, my female pcs just are not going to take that risk. And not only for cowardly reasons (although those are pretty strong - being 'converted' and gang-raped by darkspawn, no thanks). As a grey warden, making sure that I didn't become the means for producing thousands upon thousands more darkspawn myself is far more important than killing a few on my way down.

I didn't mean to offend, I just wanted everyone to stop making their female wardens commit suicide. It started to look like a cult following.

[Leonia]

ninedragons99 wrote...

Time4Tiddy wrote...
[...]
If Wardens could easily become broodmothers I wouldn't imagine the order would allow women to undergo the ritual at all, so the other magics included must prevent that from happening. Perhaps women who would have responded negatively to the taint (become ghouls, etc.) are the ones that just die right away.

Very simple reason, the Order has no rules whatsoever for female Wardens concerning the topic of broodmothers:
they probably do not know that such creatures even exist.

As a rule, Grey Wardens do not creep around in the Deep Roads all the time. When there's no Blight, they usually spend their time being vigilant and fighting stray darkspawn gangs who come to the surface occasionally. The average Grey Warden goes only to the Deep Roads when he hears the Calling, knowing that his time to die has come. Since they usually succeed on the dying part (we hope), there's no one to tell the tale, what they may have found in the Deep Roads apart from deepstalkers, spiders and darkspawn.

The PC is one of few Wardens who venture far into the Deep Roads and come out again alive. So I would expect, the knowledge of where the little darkspawn come from will be told from either the PC or Alistair to the Warden Headquarters in Weisshaupt.

You know, I was thinking of this as well. From my reading of "The Calling", I never got the impression that three female Grey Wardens (Geneiveve, Utha, Fiona) had any fears about Broodmothers when they went on their trek through the Deep Roads with King Maric. Perhaps there is knowledge about Broodmothers but there aren't enough facts or evidence for Grey Wardens to fully understand or fear them. Many times the 3 women fought Darkspawn and the only time they were captured was by the Architect.

I get the feeling that in the middle of a fight, your generic darkspawn doesn't know the difference between a male or a female when they are covered up in armour. It's probably VERY rare for a female to be both identified and captured alive for the use of Broodmothering.

I also got the impression that the PC was the first Grey Warden to really experience what a Broodmother was in a very, very long time.

Anywho, let's also keep in mind here that the Codex entries are known to be false or exaggerated in many cases so we cannot rely on them for all our facts.

[Thor Rand Al]

Siradix wrote...

I didn't mean to offend, I just wanted everyone to stop making their female wardens commit suicide. It started to look like a cult following.

Lol your right about that.  Personally I'm not worried about becoming a broodmother, there's too much in the way of information that that wouldn't even be possible.  It's obvious because of this taint that having a child is almost impossible even if you try n start early n the older you get the worse it's gonna be.  So by the time you get to your "Calling" that's basically obsolete cause anything that's even resembled a reproductive system is gone.  That's why I said earlier it's easier for a fresh victim who hasn't had the taint yet to become a broodmother then a female warden cause it's already messing up the insides.

[SusanStoHelit]

Siradix wrote...

I didn't mean to offend, I just wanted everyone to stop making their female wardens commit suicide. It started to look like a cult following.

Oh, I wasn't offended. :happy:

But I'm not the kind to take chances - an overly analytical mind in conjunction with a vivid imagination isn't always a good thing. Helpful as a scholar perhaps, but wouldn't do my Grey Wardens much good.

[SusanStoHelit]

eschilde wrote...

Seriously though, the mastery of the taint is part of the Joining process. Isn't this the same reason the GWs can't become ghouls? They have the taint, like ghouls and Broodmothers, but they are not driven insane or lose their humanity to it.

They only master it temporarily. They are driven insane eventually, or at least it's implied that they do - and they do eventually become ghouls. That's why most of them (they're mostly male) choose to commit suicide by going into the Deep Roads alone. Because that's what doing that is - suicide by darkspawn.

Don't forget that Commander Asturian was ostensibly going insane already - that's what the calling does to you. Sleep deprivation and a voice in your mind that never ceases. Calling to you tantalisingly. And you get to a point where you can't block it out anymore.

[Edited for clarity.]

Modifié par SusanStoHelit, 08 février 2010 - 02:25 .

[draxynnus]

Zugin wrote...

Assuming that Humans in Thedas are similar to humans here, simple non-PC reason for women being rare as soldiers and consequently GWs is that male is physically stronger, faster etc. In modern military it does not matter as much but when fighting with hand to hand weapons or even bows those factors matter a lot

I suspect this is a significant factor. The general cultural attitude seems to be "we'll let you do it if you're capable and you want to, but we don't expect it of you." This probably means, among other things, that women are excempt from conscription.

[Thor Rand Al]

draxynnus wrote...

Zugin wrote...

Assuming that Humans in Thedas are similar to humans here, simple non-PC reason for women being rare as soldiers and consequently GWs is that male is physically stronger, faster etc. In modern military it does not matter as much but when fighting with hand to hand weapons or even bows those factors matter a lot

I suspect this is a significant factor. The general cultural attitude seems to be "we'll let you do it if you're capable and you want to, but we don't expect it of you." This probably means, among other things, that women are excempt from conscription.

Ha tell Duncan that lmao.  He conscripted my as* 1 of the times I refused lol

[Feraele]

Quill74Pen wrote...

In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Yes, each Broodmother can produce thousands of offspring during her lifetime, but 4,000 troops wouldn't be even enough to conquer a small part of Ferelden, let alone all of Thedas and, possibly, the rest of the planet. No, I think there are dozens, if not several hundred, Broodmothers. Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers. They'd have to, since a lot of those women don't survive the transformation process.
It's postulated earlier in this thread that the Broodmothers are the nominal rulers of the darkspawn. This makes sense, since an archdemon is almost like a figurehead — good for leading and commanding an invasion of the surface world, but little else. There would have to be something else that's more persistant in order to govern the darkspawn when there's not an active Blight under way. To me, that "something else" are the Broodmothers.
There's also the possibility that the Broodmothers govern in conjunction with the original darkspawn progenitors — the fallen magisters of the Tevinter Imperium; the ones who attempted to storm the Forbidden City in the Fade (and failed). Certainly among those fallen magisters were women ... so, with that in mind, maybe there's even another class of Broodmother that we haven't seen yet: those who are, literally, the female magisters who fell with their male counterparts and, in the process, became something monstrous and unrecognizable as human (according to codex entries I read).
When you think about it, it'd be horrible. Imagine being a female magister at the height of her power in the Tevinter Imperium, only to be thrown down by the Maker itself and transformed into a long-lived, slug-like Queen Broodmother. Talk about a literal fall from grace.
Quill74Pen

So the Queen bee ..idea where she is kept fed and fertilized so that she continues to birth more darkspawn of her particular race, be it qunari, dwarf, elf, or human.

I am still trying to imagine where these "Children" come from...because they don't come from the normal races we know about...they look part crab, part spider.    Unless there is some other kind of ritual that takes place to spawn these "Children".

[Demx]

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

[Feraele]

eschilde wrote...

Considering that the Fereldan Wardens aren't the only Wardens ever to go into the Deep Roads, I would guess that the Wardens are aware of the existence of Broodmothers. There's probably information about it at least in Weisshaupt.

Seriously though, the mastery of the taint is part of the Joining process. Isn't this the same reason the GWs can't become ghouls? They have the taint, like ghouls and Broodmothers, but they are not driven insane or lose their humanity to it.

The Wardens have about 30 years of "normal" life...once having done the Joining.   Once their time is up,  they get closer to becoming ghoulish.   If they survive becoming a ghoul and don't die, they transform into darkspawn.

This is why Grey Wardens, when they know their time is near, go to the Deep Roads ..there to die fighting darkspawn..a better way to go than just suffering through it ..I suppose.

[Thor Rand Al]

Siradix wrote...

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

Well like I said earlier more then likely "the Children" are the wonderful offspring of the broodmother's n like you said until they evolve this is how they look.  They pop out on the video of eggs.  I wouldn't be surprised if my theory is right lol... But I wouldn't if it was wrong either.  That's the wonderful thing about this game, just when you think you have it figured out the Devs throw something else intirely different at you which makes it even more exciting.

[Feraele]

Siradix wrote...

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

Hmmm maybe but it is suggested in the video, that as you are fighting The Children ..they evolve about 3 times during the fight..always to a higher form of that spidery/crab thing you see.

And the fight becomes tougher every time they evolve, so its your best bet to kill them before the next transformation takes place.     It doesn't show them transforming into genlocks,  hurlocks, shrieks,  or ogres however.    Unless of course that is the end result...but I didn't see that....maybe that is something that is held back.

[Thor Rand Al]

Feraele wrote...

Siradix wrote...

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

Hmmm maybe but it is suggested in the video, that as you are fighting The Children ..they evolve about 3 times during the fight..always to a higher form of that spidery/crab thing you see.

And the fight becomes tougher every time they evolve, so its your best bet to kill them before the next transformation takes place.     It doesn't show them transforming into genlocks,  hurlocks, shrieks,  or ogres however.    Unless of course that is the end result...but I didn't see that....maybe that is something that is held back.

Maybe this a new breed of darkspawn. N if that is the case how are these being formed/hatched/made???  I just watched the lil snipet of video again n your right they don't look like regular darkspawn.  They almost look like those worm (deepstalker) creatures with a bunch of teeth n 2 sets of eyes n very much larger lol

[Feraele]

Thor Rand Al wrote...

Feraele wrote...

Siradix wrote...

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

Hmmm maybe but it is suggested in the video, that as you are fighting The Children ..they evolve about 3 times during the fight..always to a higher form of that spidery/crab thing you see.

And the fight becomes tougher every time they evolve, so its your best bet to kill them before the next transformation takes place.     It doesn't show them transforming into genlocks,  hurlocks, shrieks,  or ogres however.    Unless of course that is the end result...but I didn't see that....maybe that is something that is held back.

Maybe this a new breed of darkspawn. N if that is the case how are these being formed/hatched/made???  I just watched the lil snipet of video again n your right they don't look like regular darkspawn.  They almost look like those worm (deepstalker) creatures with a bunch of teeth n 2 sets of eyes n very much larger lol

Yup this is something new...question is..what race was the broodmother that spawned them...or was this some sort of genetic manipulation...that formed a new species?   Very interesting stuff.   Kudos to the writers with this sort of imagination.   Keeps the rest of us guessing.  lol

[draxynnus]

Thor Rand Al wrote...

draxynnus wrote...

Zugin wrote...

Assuming that Humans in Thedas are similar to humans here, simple non-PC reason for women being rare as soldiers and consequently GWs is that male is physically stronger, faster etc. In modern military it does not matter as much but when fighting with hand to hand weapons or even bows those factors matter a lot

I suspect this is a significant factor. The general cultural attitude seems to be "we'll let you do it if you're capable and you want to, but we don't expect it of you." This probably means, among other things, that women are excempt from conscription.

Ha tell Duncan that lmao.  He conscripted my as* 1 of the times I refused lol

Regular conscription, not invocation of the Rite of Conscription. Your female character would probably have been safe from the press gangs that some of the gossips mention.

[Thor Rand Al]

You know if you go to the Dragon Age origins main page n go to the gallery you can see some of the screenshots of the new creatures n those are some damn ugly as* creatures lmao

[Quill74Pen]

Thor Rand Al wrote...

Siradix wrote...

The Children could be the infancy stage where all drakspawn look identical, until they evolve.

Well like I said earlier more then likely "the Children" are the wonderful offspring of the broodmother's n like you said until they evolve this is how they look.  They pop out on the video of eggs.  I wouldn't be surprised if my theory is right lol... But I wouldn't if it was wrong either.  That's the wonderful thing about this game, just when you think you have it figured out the Devs throw something else intirely different at you which makes it even more exciting.

Is there a link to this video?

[Sabriana]

I believe there is a link in the New and Announcement forum.



Even if the GWs, or any other race don't go to the Deep Roads regularly, surely the dwarfs would know about broodmothers, and would tell the GWs all about them. They seem to have a close relationship with the GWs at any rate.



As for the women and conscription, my HNF is a warrior, and going by Howe's remarks, being trained as one is rare. I have little doubt that women trained in warfare would not escape the press-gangs. However, they seem to be few and far between.

[draxynnus]

It wouldn't surprise me, but when men are involved, being untrained isn't much of a protection from conscription - I can see the press-gang sergeant sarcastically replying "Then we'll train you!" in my mind's eye now.



And that's if the victim is lucky - sometimes, all the press-gangs are looking for is cannon fodder, and you don't need much training to stop an arrow.

[Sabriana]

Yeah, lol. Like giving them a dagger/sword and saying "Move the pointy end forward."

End of training.

[draxynnus]

"You hold onto this end. The pointy end goes into the enemy. Next!"

[Demx]

draxynnus wrote...

"You hold onto this end. The pointy end goes into the enemy. Next!"

If I recall, Zev said at first he couldn't tell the differenece between the base of the dagger and the pointy end as well.

[Zugin]

You can actually train someone to be decently effective with a pike in formation in matter of weeks if not days

[Sandtigress]

Zugin wrote...

You can actually train someone to be decently effective with a pike in formation in matter of weeks if not days

lol I'm sure Alistair would be more than happy to train the female PC in the arts of pike-twirling...