RP fodder

[Vaz]

I'm a heavy-roleplayer wherever I go. So I'd like to learn more about Istaria, particularly dragons since my main character is a dragon. Thus far I've read the Races pages on the main website, a bunch of threads in this forum, and perused the Dragons forum a bit. And I've done the Skalkaar, Spirit Isle, and New Trismus quests. Also learning the dragon language bit by bit.

It's somewhat difficult to define exactly what kind of information I'm looking for...basically:

1) What should every Istarian inherently know?
2) What should every dragon inherently know?
3) What is the explanation for chat channels? Some kind of telepathy, magic, or...?
4) What is the structure of draconic families? Same as humans, or something different?

And whatever else you think might be good to know for RP in Horizons...

[Deth]

Any thing with a thread starter of AmonGwareth in here is official lore. He is one of the old/again in charge devs.

[Tcei]

As far as I know chat-channels are more or less ooc-ish given that you see a large mixture of Ic and ooc in any of the main channels (dragon, marketplace, for example).

I've tried to come up with ways to give the channels and Ic reason for existing and how they work, just for fun :P

WARNING: NOT OFFICAL LORE!
The not so Short IC explanation: "Channels" are magical anomalies created by the Great Rite, as such only The Gifted are capable of reaching these magical pockets, and as a result have become a meeting grounds of sorts for The Gifted. Much debate exist amongst scholars as to weather these "channels" really exist or just some great joke created by The Gifted.

According to The Gifted, they are able to almost instantaneously teleport in and out of these "channels" and in some cases are even able to be in multiple "channels" at once. The appearance of what's within these "channels" seems to vary greatly according to who is in a particular "channel" at that time. The two most commonly accessed channels are known as Dragon and MarketPlace.

The Dragon "channel", much as its name implies is the preferred channel for Dragons, it also has the most in common in appearance with other lesser channels. At anyone time one may find with in this channel a small forest clearing often on the edge of a lake or river. There is often several various bi-ped crafting station scattered around for the convenience of any bi-peds that happen to wander in as well as sunning rocks for the dragons even occasion al entrances to a dragon's lair, lava pools, and random building or walls for angry dragons to destroy, and hiding places for young hatchings and bi-peds to retreat to.

The MarketPlace by contrast seems to be less well defined, sometimes it is described as a vast market square with a multitude of small shops, at other times it appears as a large lounge area where The Gifted relax with a hot drink and casually inquire about goods or services they are in need of.

While much debate rages amongst scholars as to whether The Gifted are able to physically teleport their selves to these pockets or if its more of a mental thing (some Gifted have reported visiting these pockets and then teleporting out in another location across the world when interviews with locals of that area cannot confirm having seen the person at the time they said they were there), or indeed if these channels even exist at all, one thing seems certain. These channels provide The Gifted a much needed way to form close bonds with others when otherwise they might not beable to due to being scattered all over the world.

[Vaz]

Thank you for that thorough explanation, Tcei. Have you established it much or can it perhaps be modified and accentuated?

Another question:
Are there any particular racial naming conventions?

[LaughingOtter]

Are there any particular racial naming conventions?

A proper dragon name must score at least 50 points in Scrabble, not counting the effects of any bonus tiles. A really good dragon name is one which, if pronounced correctly, results in spit being sprayed across your monitor.

Gnomish names should be some combination of strange noises, mechanical parts, and descriptions of motion. Really good gnomish names sound like something that could explode at any moment.

Dwarven names revolve around beards, drinking, shiny objects, different ways of hitting things, and objects which can be used to hit things with. Really good dwarven names make you want to get drunk and hit things too.

Elves, satyrs, and dryads all have similar names, usually involving sunshine, flowers, lollipops, and things that are fun to do while drinking lots of wine. Really good names of this type attract large numbers of cute woodland creatures prone to breaking in to song & dance.

Fiendish names differ by gender. Male fiends tend to have names that sound like they are compensating for some personal shortcomings, while female fiends have names that evoke bodice daggers, poison in the night, black underwear and wealthy divorce lawyers. Really good fiendish names, regardles of gender, encourage the listener to back away slowly while looking for the nearest exit.

Saris names are usually a combination of hissing, purring, and yowling punctuated by the occasional vowel. Really good saris names evoke thoughts and ideas which can't be articulated in public without endangering the "Teen" rating.

Sslik are very proud of their names, so much so that they skip the whole concept of pronouns and refer to themselves and everyone else by name only. Since most sslik names sound like an iguana being stepped on, listening to a sslik speak for any length of time often causes listeners to consider a career in gator wrestling. As with dragons, really good sslik names involve expectoration when pronounced correctly. Thankfully, this means that there's finally a use for construction tarps.

Half-giants & humans, sadly, don't really have anything unique about their names. This is both pathetic and sad, for it causes the other races to point and giggle at them behind their backs. For this reason, both humans and half-giants have resorted to stealing names from other races and hoping nobody notices. This is somewhat like gluing a live ferret to your upper lip and telling people it's a mustache. There are no really good human or half-giant names; anyone who tells you otherwise is probably a Vielo who wants to sell you something.

This message has been brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Istarian Traditions (S.P.I.T).

[Vaz]

<snip>

Thanks for the laugh.

[Tcei]

Thank you for that thorough explanation, Tcei. Have you established it much or can it perhaps be modified and accentuated?

Not really, its just something I've had tumbling 'round my head for a long while.

[Fratricide]

Dwarven names revolve around beards, drinking, shiny objects, different ways of hitting things, and objects which can be used to hit things with. Really good dwarven names make you want to get drunk and hit things too.

I guess its a good thing that my Dwarvies don't reside on Order ehh...

[Deth]

The only one I know is Dragons and for Dragons Family names come first then your given name. So mine like a lot of peoples names are backwards by lore.

[Velea]

Saris names are usually a combination of hissing, purring, and yowling punctuated by the occasional vowel. Really good saris names evoke thoughts and ideas which can't be articulated in public without endangering the "Teen" rating.

OH!! That explains why I picked the name I did. Now it all makes sense.

(Thanks for the laugh, LO. That was great.)

[C`gan]

Sorry, Tagath and I throw out these conventions by being dragon and rider. it is most unfortunate that the ` is no longer allowed as an acceptable character in naming. I know a few others who would use it, particularly those who like the honorific contraction of name to specify being a rider.

[Nayuaka]

The only one I know is Dragons and for Dragons Family names come first then your given name. So mine like a lot of peoples names are backwards by lore.

You make it sound like it's two separate names when I don't think it is really...or at least isn't normally. Only dragon with two names I have seen was Lunus. His was Malganival Lunus. Otherwise dragons only really have one name.

The nameing works like this the first part of the name is the family name and then the second part if your name. Player example would be my name. Nayuaka. Nayu is the family name and Aka is my charactors name. At least that is the official lore for at least one clan of dragons. Who knows..it could be different for others but to be honest I think it holds cannon as pretty much all NPC dragons we see only have one name. Oh and a NPC example is Nyasana and Nyasela. They say that in their clan the first part of their names is passed on.

[LaughingOtter]

OH!! That explains why I picked the name I did. Now it all makes sense.

Yeah, I thought it might...

Glad people enjoyed it! BTW, the comment on sslik not using pronouns is actual game lore. It was made canon a few months before the buyout. Ssoren, the Sslanis town marshal, speaks that way in all of his new quests, as do any other sslik NPCs with speaking roles in them.

Unfortunatly, there was no chance to change the dialog for all the other sslik NPCs...

[Deth]

You make it sound like it's two separate names when I don't think it is really...or at least isn't normally. Only dragon with two names I have seen was Lunus. His was Malganival Lunus. Otherwise dragons only really have one name.

The nameing works like this the first part of the name is the family name and then the second part if your name. Player example would be my name. Nayuaka. Nayu is the family name and Aka is my charactors name. At least that is the official lore for at least one clan of dragons. Who knows..it could be different for others but to be honest I think it holds cannon as pretty much all NPC dragons we see only have one name. Oh and a NPC example is Nyasana and Nyasela. They say that in their clan the first part of their names is passed on.

From the Kutit quest: "The first part of our name is traditionally passed on, and we've always kept homes in high places, out of reach of the lower races. We always knew the need to occasionally profit from or with them, but see no reason to encourage turnabout."

So by lore your correct, just not sure if a dragons name being all one word would "break" lore. I do not see any problem with it. My name is backwards as Deth is my given name and picked before we could have "last" names and would just confuse people if I got a name change to set it right as our last names dow not show up in chat.

[Nayuaka]

I was just saying it was one word purely because of the ingame examples given and the fact that 99.9 percent of dragons NPC that we know of only have one name while a lot of biped charactors clearly have a first name and a last name. For Nyasela and Nyasana for example their clan name is obviously Nya and is one word with the name. A biped is Rysom Stormbringer.....separate first name and last name.

Either way I just read the lore as I see it and to be honest don't care what other dragons names are. I say more or less pick what you like and feel like looking at for the rest of your online life.

[Vaz]

BTW, the comment on sslik not using pronouns is actual game lore. It was made canon a few months before the buyout. Ssoren, the Sslanis town marshal, speaks that way in all of his new quests, as do any other sslik NPCs with speaking roles in them.

Very useful bit of information, and exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. ^_^

Thank you all also for the interesting discussion of dragon names.

If you don't mind, Tcei, I might add another chat channels explanation here or in a new thread later; it would be partly based on yours.

[Dracana]

Dangit LaughingOtter, because of you my tail keeps falling off whenever I read your post. Good stuff.

*wanders off pondering adding a few th's to her name*

[Arzel Rashemi]

4) What is the structure of draconic families? Same as humans, or something different?
...

This is probably debatable by some dragons as I have found many view draconic families in different light. Some see the bonds of 'family' as more serious while others not so and therefore more malleable and changable. There are also some aspects of 'family' that I can not touch as I do not have those or deal with them.

As for a dragon taking the addition of a 'child' this has always been viewed by me as the process of merely taking a hatchling underwing to train it in the ways and lore of dragons, to help aid in its upbringing where such aid is required, and to instruct the hatchling in proper ettiquette of being a part of and involved in the community as a whole. This is not to say that the 'parent' does everything for the 'child', not at all, but rather instructs it and aids only in those things that in the past have proven to be too much for any hatchling to shoulder on their own (certain aspects of the RoP being one of those)

I would view the whole meaning of the word as less of 'child' and more of 'apprentice' maybe in nature, but the term may not go far enough as many dragons get quite an attachment to those they take under their wing. Even after the hatchling reaches adulthood such bonds may stay as they are, but change in form to a closer bond of friendship and equality or to continuing onward as they are towards the ARoP.

Cousins, Uncles and extended draconic family I would place in the same measure each in like kind of either helping one another if near the same level, or giving guidance to the hatchling when its mother or father is not around or available. The burden however, still exists mainly on the parent to exercise this education upon the hatchling taken under wing. The extended family I do view as very mutable as it is between the hatchling and extended family member to accept or deny the existance of said draconic family tie.

I'm sorry if this doesn't provide much else than one vantage point to the question, but I can only go off of my own experiences and what my own eyes have seen of it.

[Tcei]

I just realized something.... According to dragon naming lore, my dragon's name could technically be Tuna Lan or alternatively Tuna of the Lan Clan....

As for draconic families, I've come to view that due to the ongoing war with the WA and that it seems that only hatchlings become gifted in the dragon community. Many hatchlings become orphaned or dont know/remember who their parents are when they wake on the island. As such many adult dragons have begun to adopt hatchlings, providing them with support and a wing to hide under on their path to adulthood.


I'll have to do some searching around someone on a different forum came up with a pretty extensive map of the familial ties for many of Order's dragons. Its quite interesting.

Playerwise, most dragons seem to view each other as one big family.