Demotheus 649 Share Posted October 14, 2014 The Dragon's Curse There are some people, very few people, who have a strange disposition. The most obvious symptom is sudden memory wipes. Not all memory is lost to these people, but anything involving specific situations is. One of these people will seldom remember a person or specific object, unless under very specific circumstances. They can remember skills they have honed, and ideas and such, it seems. They will remember things they are around commonly, and some places they visit frequently, though it's unlikely they will ever take a specific place and call it their home. Every one of these people are different at least slightly. However it's unlikely they'll remember meeting you, or even you at all. It's not your fault. They may have very much liked you, the problem lies in their strength. The second and less noticeable symptom is an incredibly heightened awareness. Every sight, sound, smell, feeling, and taste they experience they can and will acknowledge, most of the time. Their minds are powerful in this way. This often gives them a very instinctual nature. They have a plan to both efficiently slay and save every person they meet, and everything in between and beyond. These people plan and work in moments. They live in moments. They deal not with the past or the future. How could they? All they can care or worry about is now. This current moment. Sometimes able to fixate on a certain thing, such as "i want to go here, or find this, or do this", depending on special circumstances, again. Though overall on an average basis, they live in the moment. This makes them very apt at making quick decisions, as they have all of the information at their disposal. They don't have heightened senses, just heightened awareness. You can, if you wanted to, take the time to devoting your whole attention to counting the hairs on one's head, or measuring the rise and fall of one's chest from breathing, or even meditate. These people don't need to focus on these things. They just happen on a whim. Some people look in on these people, noticing the memory loss. It's not hard to spot. It's so bad, that at times they'll be mid conversation and forget what they were conversing about. They are pitied, but for what? Arguably, they are among the most at peace, content, and happy people in the entire world. They have no worries. Hakuna matata! They embrace this subconsciously! This does leave some concerns, of course. These people are prone to doing the same thing over and over and over again, never growing bored of it. Often, this could be something as simple as being transfixed on something that interests them. How A "Dragonkin" can Remember Things A dragonkin can never remember events and situations. They won't remember what they had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner earlier in the day. They have a poor sense of time. Time is irrelevant to them. They can stare transfixed at an object for hours upon hours upon hours. They're aware that they are incredibly forgetful, but they can't shake the feeling that this moment has always been. There is no other moment but the one they're in currently. Whatever time it is at any given moment, to them it has always been that time. They have sat and stared at that flower as far as they can remember, and can't pinpoint if they just got to a place or were there for ages - unless say they're sitting down and eventually their buns get sore from prolonged sitting in one spot. So how do they remember anything at all, then? They make it apart of their hoard, of course. This is the vast majority of where the dragon part comes in. Dragon's have long since been thought to hoard mass amounts of treasures. What people don't know, however, is that treasure is only treasure in the eye of the beholder. A dragon's treasure can be anything from the most priceless of gems to the most worthless of household objects. There's a reason the dragon took each and every object into their hoard. It is valuable to the dragon. Some Dragon's like shiny objects, other's like flowers and nature, others may prefer the bones of their enemies, and some may just like large piles of dirt. Perhaps these things remind them of home, or something. It's hard to say. Have you ever spoken to an actual dragon? They tend to be touchy about people prying about their hoard, so that is doubtful! Likewise, a Dragonkin's hoard can include anything from people, to objects, to knowledge. Gaining knowledge and skills is the easiest for them to retain. In fact, it's something they excel at, especially skill honing. They don't forget their skills, they simply forget the circumstances in which they've learned them. A dragonkin won't remember practicing blacksmithing. They can practice a skill for hours, never growing bored of it, until one day they master it, and continue doing it anyway. Trying to come up with new things they can do with the skill. When asked how long they've known how to do these things, the most common answers include "As long as I can remember", "I've always known how to do this, now that I think about it...", or "Um...I just started doing it now...I must be a natural~". Honing skills and knowledge of the world is something the Dragonkin excel greatly at. Objects fall similarly under knowledge, though these are physical things. Oftentimes a dragonkin will take an object and hide it away where they hope no one will find it, and come back to that spot to admire it, among their other trinkets. They won't remember how they got said object, they'll just know they treasure it. It either fascinates them, or they enjoy the type of item it is immensely. As for people, remembering people is a rare feat. It's most often children that the dragonkin take to. They don't know the details, they just know, or at least think, "this is mine. I want this." And will remember the person's name and appearance, and general mannerisms and personality. They won't remember ever doing anything with this person, unless it's something they learned with said person. They won't remember those details either, they'll just know "i learned this from that person." Many dragonkin consider children one of the most valuable treasures, next to their fleeting knowledge. They are to be protected, cherished, and admired at all costs. If a dragonkin bonds with a child - this isn't magic, this is just what you'd think it is. Spending a lot of meaningful time with someone - they will likely remember the child, often mistaking the child for it's own - though when you are brought into the dragonkin's hoard - metaphorical or literal - you are as good as theirs in at least some sense. This can cause problems with the actual parents, but such things could be resolved by playing along. As for remembering non-children, it's more difficult and very rare. You have to be a very specific type of person to get a dragonkin to remember you. There are two ways to do this. Merylynn would be a dragonkin, in this situation. She loves nature. Nature is her hoard, to be cherished and protected. This is important. She is more likely to remember a friendly druid that she spends meaningful time with, or an otherwise natural person. Druids, dryads, (ents?), and people who might be made from nature things. For example, Frost Druid Dain. He's made of wood, and she associates this with treedom. She refers to him as 'Dain-tree', and associates him with nature. She can remember him because he's categorized under her knowledge of nature. Savvy? The other way to get a dragonkin to remember you is to harm or negatively affect their hoard in some purposeful way. They aren't going to rip you to shreds for accidentally doing something against their hoard, they will forgive these things - especially if they feel you are sincerely sorry for your actions. However, if you try to steal from their hoard they will go into a state called dragon-rage. It's kind of like an orcish bloodlust, but with more specific pretenses. Their eyes, pupils more specifically, shift into dragon-like eyes with slits for pupils, and they become ... testy, to say the least, when they see this unsavory person. Stealing an item from their hoard, or harming someone that's in their hoard are sure fire ways to experiencing the dragonkin's wrath. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky 0 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I do not believe that this should be implemented. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeypoacher 6993 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Why not just RP the dwarven curse this way? It'd be an interesting spin on things, wouldn't need new lore, and would otherwise be pretty neat. You could make Merylynn part Dwarf if you wanted to keep RPing her like this. "Dragonkin" is obviously going to stir some giggles, and I don't think this has much to do with dragons anyhow. Just my two cents. If it weren't for the weird special status that being related to dragons would carry, this would be neat lore. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
excited 10834 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I'm unsure, but Dragon Kin already exist as Drakes and Draagar I think, so you may need a different name to get less confusion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overland 339 Share Posted October 14, 2014 If I remember correctly, I've heard that NekoDanie had a character related to dragons or something, but anyway. This lore is actually quite interesting, though I don't understand why it has to be related to dragons. You could probably roleplay the exact same thing you have here if you remove the part about dragons,.And as Charoodler said, you could even use the Dwarven curse help make it more authentic. The use of the word Dragonkin is also a bit cliche to be honest, I'm sure you can find another word or something to express the same idea too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demotheus 649 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 If I remember correctly, I've heard that NekoDanie had a character related to dragons or something, but anyway. This lore is actually quite interesting, though I don't understand why it has to be related to dragons. You could probably roleplay the exact same thing you have here if you remove the part about dragons,.And as Charoodler said, you could even use the Dwarven curse help make it more authentic. The use of the word Dragonkin is also a bit cliche to be honest, I'm sure you can find another word or something to express the same idea too. As said in the title, it is a WIP. The reference to dragons is more or less their hoard and ferocity and such. It's inspired from the book series "Symphony of Ages". I do not believe that this should be implemented. Thank you for your very informative response, however most of this doesn't need special LM approval to be implemented. I'm unsure, but Dragon Kin already exist as Drakes and Draagar I think, so you may need a different name to get less confusion. Dragonkin is kin to dragons, but not dragons themselves. Though it's not quite dragons, it's a name from folk lore, implied. Why not just RP the dwarven curse this way? It'd be an interesting spin on things, wouldn't need new lore, and would otherwise be pretty neat. You could make Merylynn part Dwarf if you wanted to keep RPing her like this. "Dragonkin" is obviously going to stir some giggles, and I don't think this has much to do with dragons anyhow. Just my two cents. If it weren't for the weird special status that being related to dragons would carry, this would be neat lore. Because she's not dwarf in the slightest. It's not just the hoarding part, but the mental issues in this specific combination. Also, what does how it relates to dragons matter? If it wasn't for that one superficial thing it would be neat? What about dragons is so bad that it makes it unneat....? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TavernLich 324 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I like it, however the only part I don't like is the part where all their senses are heightened senses, perhaps make them just smarter, other than that I don't think it needs LM approval and is actually quite nice, hope to see something like this! +1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky 0 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I am sorry that my opinion made you feel the need to retort in such a way, I personally do not believe that this is needed on Lord of the Craft. As for not needing a Lore Master's approval, I think it should since this has a small disadvantage for the advantages it gains. For the price of having memory problems, people get heightened awareness. The thing is, for one to get heightened senses in anyway their body must change to adapt the changes, which falls into the line of altering a race or character beyond mechanical standard (and yes, this is beyond mechanical standard, because you see and hear just as well as the next person, so having that heightened makes it beyond a scale that others can do.) which puts it into Lore Master territory. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitten 367 Share Posted October 14, 2014 All I can see is that this makes your character a special snowflake, and for that its not needed. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephistophelian 972 Share Posted October 14, 2014 This is not bad, but I feel this could lead to a person who is a master of every skill, with the excuse of "My character practiced this skill for two months straight, only stopping to sleep and eat". The idea is good, however I can't help but feel that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demotheus 649 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) All I can see is that this makes your character a special snowflake, and for that its not needed. Wow, that's kind of funny...a lot of things on this server make someone's character a "special snowflake" for no real purpose other than a different sort of RP. If that's your only reason the reason is invalid. Druids, Shades, Necromancers, Frost witches, Scourge Born, etc. etc. All of which are approved special snowflakes. Why is a new kind suddenly not needed? When were they needed? ((not bashing on those groups RP btw, just giving examples. I, for one, think the scourge born are neat)) And now, this... heightened senses heightened senses I specifically say it's NOT heightened senses. They don't have the vision of an eagle, the hearing of a rabbit or the ...wtf is the word for smelling? Smell of a dog doesn't seem...right...you get it, though, hopefully. None of their senses are any better than the other people around them...save for if they're standing in the midst of a bunch of deaf, dumb, and blind people, of course, which is unlikely. I just woke up. The awareness is heightened. To recap, what this means is that normal sensory information is processed differently than in normal people's brains. They notice/acknowledge/can pay attention to far more than most people - at the cost of their memories (memories that which take up "time" to be specific, and also the vast majority of people they ever meet). They don't hear better. They hear everything anyone else hears. But they can pick apart the blur of sounds in a tavern far better than most. They can tell different conversations apart from each other, while doing some kind of focus intensive task, while also holding conversations of their own, while also noting the look, taste, smell, and feel of everything around them individually but all at once. The normal human brain filters out most of the information you take in, which is called attention. It focuses on the important things. A "dragonkin's" (and I agree the name is stupid but it was the closest thing I could think of. More on that soon) brain doesn't filter this out. They focus on EVERYTHING all at once. As a result they do not live in the past and can only plan for the near future, the immediate future, making them have the potential to be extremely good short term decision makers, almost to the point of a lot of things being instinct for them. I don't need lore for this in the first place, but I felt like it would be neat idea - it's not even finished by the way. My fault, shouldn't have posted it until it was finished to a more complete degree. All of this save for the spreading of this "Curse" can be done via Mech Standard and normal RP. In fact, I'd argue that the transferring of the "curse" can be done via Mech standard under non canon "magic", which this isn't quite magic but whatever. That's the part I'm unsure about, though. I've already spoken to a LM about her awareness and such. This is not bad, but I feel this could lead to a person who is a master of every skill, with the excuse of "My character practiced this skill for two months straight, only stopping to sleep and eat". The idea is good, however I can't help but feel that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. This is a perfectly valid reason, yes. Though that's not the intent, though I did make it seem like that was possible. Surely if you had an elven character with this it would be "possible" due to how much time they have to pitter around with things like that. But the problem that arises there is that they can't be master of every skill. The large majority of relevant skills to LotC are Mechanical and level based. The rest are things including Magic and other forms of combat. Which I should add are two things that (if being done seriously) would take up most of their attention, like most others. I'm sure concerns with being able to hold one's focus after being beaten over the head several times while casting magic will be brought up, well rest easy knowing that's not the case. And combat is something that requires as much attention as possible, meaning multitasking in that sense is out of the question as well. They do it by instinct. So a character cannot possibly master every skill. The thing is, they're ICly fantastic "grinders" because they never get bored of something. A lot of people already do that MCly anyway to up their levels as fast as they can, so what's the problem there? They just have a tendency to master their chosen skills quickly and more solidly RPly. You can only really go for a lot of things as fast as you can do it in MC, though. Not sure if I missed anything. Edit: Also, the dragon-reference is based on the hoarding of a dragon, it's ferocity when said hoard is threatened, and it's senses. While a dragon no doubt has incredibly advanced senses, "Dragonkin" don't have that but they have heightened awareness which can often be mistaken at first glance as better senses and not simply senses used to maximum efficiency. A dragon doesn't tap you on the forehead. It's more or less a cultural reference. Edited October 14, 2014 by Demotheus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndlessWord 10 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I Really love the idea of dragon-kin but the fact that they have Advanced senses is way to overpowered and would make any one of though's characters unfair in RP other than that the entire idea is plausible and should be allowed I think as everything else is pretty much already accepted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demotheus 649 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 I Really love the idea of dragon-kin but the fact that they have Advanced senses is way to overpowered and would make any one of though's characters unfair in RP other than that the entire idea is plausible and should be allowed I think as everything else is pretty much already accepted. The senses aren't advanced. It's the processing of those senses. Scientifically speaking, the human brain cuts out the vast majority of what you can actually see and hear, disregarding it. You still hear those sounds, you still see those things, but you don't acknowledge them. You don't give it all your attention. You can't actually give everything around you your attention. That's how attention evolved in the first place. What dragonkin can do, and are actually unable to not do in the first place, is give everything their attention at once. They don't hear things better, they notice them better. They take note of everything from the hairs on one's head to the thunder miles away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salamandra 1133 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I'll merely politely deposit a 'no thank you', yet wish you luck. Generic Reason #1: Un-needed / Un-necessary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demotheus 649 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 I'll merely politely deposit a 'no thank you', yet wish you luck. Generic Reason #1: Un-needed / Un-necessary. Please give me a list of reasons why Shades were either needed, or necessary, or both. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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