Post by Gaea on Jul 28, 2013 1:12:36 GMT -8
What's a Dragon?
While the term "dragon" is used colloquially to refer to all large scaly lizard things, draconic society effectively recognizes three "grades" of dragon, based entirely on power - weaker Manaketes, average-to-strong Dragons, and legendary Divine Dragons. Age is irrelevant; an ancient but lazy dragon can still be a Manakete, much as a (relatively) young but exceptionally driven dragon could become a Divine Dragon. Each dragon also embodies an element, chosen at character creation and not alterable due to it being the core of a dragon's identity as well as its subspecies. The most common elements are fire, ice, lightning, water, and air; earth and magic dragons exist as well, equal in power but somewhat more rare. Note that magic/earth dragons are not afforded advantages they are in the games. Here, they are just other elements. Dragons can change between human(oid) and full dragon forms, though the transformation is not trivial (read: dramatic action). As for whether they are people that transform into dragons, or dragons that can assume human form? Both are representations of their nature, and individual dragons tend to spend the majority of their time in one form or another.
What Do They Look Like?
In short: whatever you want to RP. Most FE dragons at least loosely take after Western mythological dragons, the bulky, brutal monsters we're all familiar with in Tolkien and D&D, but you are welcome to make use of Eastern legends and play a more aerially agile elongated dragon, or even play with aesthetics beyond scales a bit - no one said that your dragon couldn't also have a magnificent mane like some sort of Chimaeric lion, or that a fire dragon can't have blue-tinted scales, or that your fire dragon can't breathe green or blue or pink fire. Just try to keep it generally dragon-ey. The character Fa, from Fire Emblem 6 (Binding Blade), is an example of one possible route - fur and feathers instead of scales, with a garish white and yellow aesthetic. Myrrh from FE8 or Ninian from FE7 are both examples of more "typical" dragons, but so long as you keep to a consistent theme and don't get too crazy (no planet sized dragons, please...), you can play with size, shape, color, and other aesthetics to your heart's content. Human form works the same way; you may have some reptilian features, choose to have wings or not, and decide exactly how dragon-ey they look while calling upon their power in human form.
On Playing Dragons
There are few constants among their kind. Dragons are (usually) less social in large groups than humans, usually preferring smaller groups or individual relationships. They are often caught up in hobbies, social experimentation, or centuries-long naps. Compounding matters is the simple fact that, while almost universally intelligent and - to varying degrees - wise, dragons are proud creatures. Most do not take orders well even from those stronger than them, limiting long-term cooperation and ensuring that old grudges can fester for astounding periods of time. Beyond that, dragons are each thoroughly unique, with diversity in outlooks and opinions on matters at least as wide as humanity; hundreds or thousands of years of unique experiences serve to ensure that no two dragons are alike. There are exceptions to every rule, and dragons that have spent more time around humans often adopt some of their traits or even lifestyles - there are many wandering adventurers and mercenaries who happen to have the ability to turn into a giant scaly monster. Consider carefully what sort of experiences have shaped your character, and how those past events influence their current behavior.
Age
Dragons age much more slowly than humans, reaching adolescence somewhere around 100-300 years of age, and entering adulthood in the vicinity of 300-500. The wide variance is not entirely understood, but theorized to be blood, rapid growth in power, or some combination of the two - dragons of all elements vary wildly in when they reach adulthood, eliminating the most obvious explanation. Once they reach adulthood, dragons usually seem to stop aging physically, though some continue until some arbitrary point at which they too stop. The mechanics of this inconsistency are hotly debated by scholars and even dragons alike, but the results are easy to summarize: most dragons continue to visually age until somewhere in adulthood, with the majority appearing to be young- to medium-age adults, and a few appearing older. No dragon has died of old age in recorded history - so about 3000 years - but the world has been a very dangerous place for much of its existence, and very few truly old dragons exist. In fact, the only ones to survive from the birth of their race are a part of the Celestial Council, and answer very few questions indeed about the past.
While the term "dragon" is used colloquially to refer to all large scaly lizard things, draconic society effectively recognizes three "grades" of dragon, based entirely on power - weaker Manaketes, average-to-strong Dragons, and legendary Divine Dragons. Age is irrelevant; an ancient but lazy dragon can still be a Manakete, much as a (relatively) young but exceptionally driven dragon could become a Divine Dragon. Each dragon also embodies an element, chosen at character creation and not alterable due to it being the core of a dragon's identity as well as its subspecies. The most common elements are fire, ice, lightning, water, and air; earth and magic dragons exist as well, equal in power but somewhat more rare. Note that magic/earth dragons are not afforded advantages they are in the games. Here, they are just other elements. Dragons can change between human(oid) and full dragon forms, though the transformation is not trivial (read: dramatic action). As for whether they are people that transform into dragons, or dragons that can assume human form? Both are representations of their nature, and individual dragons tend to spend the majority of their time in one form or another.
What Do They Look Like?
In short: whatever you want to RP. Most FE dragons at least loosely take after Western mythological dragons, the bulky, brutal monsters we're all familiar with in Tolkien and D&D, but you are welcome to make use of Eastern legends and play a more aerially agile elongated dragon, or even play with aesthetics beyond scales a bit - no one said that your dragon couldn't also have a magnificent mane like some sort of Chimaeric lion, or that a fire dragon can't have blue-tinted scales, or that your fire dragon can't breathe green or blue or pink fire. Just try to keep it generally dragon-ey. The character Fa, from Fire Emblem 6 (Binding Blade), is an example of one possible route - fur and feathers instead of scales, with a garish white and yellow aesthetic. Myrrh from FE8 or Ninian from FE7 are both examples of more "typical" dragons, but so long as you keep to a consistent theme and don't get too crazy (no planet sized dragons, please...), you can play with size, shape, color, and other aesthetics to your heart's content. Human form works the same way; you may have some reptilian features, choose to have wings or not, and decide exactly how dragon-ey they look while calling upon their power in human form.
On Playing Dragons
There are few constants among their kind. Dragons are (usually) less social in large groups than humans, usually preferring smaller groups or individual relationships. They are often caught up in hobbies, social experimentation, or centuries-long naps. Compounding matters is the simple fact that, while almost universally intelligent and - to varying degrees - wise, dragons are proud creatures. Most do not take orders well even from those stronger than them, limiting long-term cooperation and ensuring that old grudges can fester for astounding periods of time. Beyond that, dragons are each thoroughly unique, with diversity in outlooks and opinions on matters at least as wide as humanity; hundreds or thousands of years of unique experiences serve to ensure that no two dragons are alike. There are exceptions to every rule, and dragons that have spent more time around humans often adopt some of their traits or even lifestyles - there are many wandering adventurers and mercenaries who happen to have the ability to turn into a giant scaly monster. Consider carefully what sort of experiences have shaped your character, and how those past events influence their current behavior.
Age
Dragons age much more slowly than humans, reaching adolescence somewhere around 100-300 years of age, and entering adulthood in the vicinity of 300-500. The wide variance is not entirely understood, but theorized to be blood, rapid growth in power, or some combination of the two - dragons of all elements vary wildly in when they reach adulthood, eliminating the most obvious explanation. Once they reach adulthood, dragons usually seem to stop aging physically, though some continue until some arbitrary point at which they too stop. The mechanics of this inconsistency are hotly debated by scholars and even dragons alike, but the results are easy to summarize: most dragons continue to visually age until somewhere in adulthood, with the majority appearing to be young- to medium-age adults, and a few appearing older. No dragon has died of old age in recorded history - so about 3000 years - but the world has been a very dangerous place for much of its existence, and very few truly old dragons exist. In fact, the only ones to survive from the birth of their race are a part of the Celestial Council, and answer very few questions indeed about the past.
