A small story to share. · 4:46pm Jul 2nd, 2017
I'm going to tell you a story, and I feel it is important that, if you start it, you read it to the very end. Thank you in advance.
Ahem, once upon a time, a fellow slept in his home in a fantasy world. While very wealthy, he lived well away from civilization. He left the world alone, and the he expected the world to leave him alone. He was content, and wanted for nothing, and would have gladly remained in this state for the rest of his life.
Then, one day, someone crept into this domicile, sword in hand and a lust for this wealthy hermit's treasure in his heart. The intruder struck his victim viciously. However, in spite of his age, the hermit was still robust, and spry. While the blow struck was a terrible one, the hermit did an admirable job of trying to defend himself. However, the intruder had poisoned his blade, and within a few minutes, the old hermit succumbed to his wounds and died.
The intruder stole every last coin in the hermit's home, and, his greed not yet satisfied, decapitated the hermit's corpse, skinned it, and then removed many of the hermit's bones. The rest, the intruder left to rot, not even bothering to bury the remains.
The intruder then went to see a fellow he knew with a number of skills. This specialist took the skin and bones that the intruder presented, and made a costume for the intruder to wear.
The intruder then went to the nearest city, wearing that costume made from the hermit's skin and bones, and displayed the head of the hermit to any and all he could find, boasting of how he had killed the hermit, and telling a heavily embellished tale of how the intruder had defeated the hermit in armed combat.
The people of the city lauded the intruder as a hero, showering him with praise for his so-called heroism.
Now, before I can continue the story,
I need to fill up a little space.
The reason being, I don't want to spoil
the surprise.
I want you to remember, though,
what you felt in your heart just now.
The horror you felt at someone
creeping into the house of a
rich old guy, and attacking him
in his sleep. The disgust you feel
at how the intruder then mutilated
the hermit's corpse, before having
a costume made of it. And also
remember the shock you felt when
the intruder was met with
cheers and adulation.
Alright, now I am going to
tell you the story again,
and this time, I will
share with you a few
details I left out the
first time.
Ahem, once upon a time, a dragon slumbered in his cave. The dragon slept on a massive horde of wealth, far from civilization. He remained in the wilderness, and fed only upon those wild beasts that roamed the lands far from human settlements. The dragon harmed no one, save perhaps the occasional cow or sheep that foolishly wandered far from human settlements, and the dragon considered his for the taking. Otherwise, the dragon left humans alone, and expected them to leave him alone. This would not be the case.
One day, a human hero ventured into the cave, sword in hand and intent upon gaining both gold and glory by slaying the massive beast. The hero took the initiative and struck the dragon while it slept. The blow was not immediately fatal, and the dragon fought back for several minutes. However, the cunning hero had coated his blade in deadly dragonbane, and the poison quickly stilled the dragon's heart.
The hero then claimed the dragon's horde, and then set to work collecting those parts of the dragon that were useful, including its hide and bones.
The hero then went to see a dwarf, a skilled smith who knew many secrets of the forge. The dwarf crafted a magnificent suit of armor from the dragon's bones and hide for the hero to wear.
The hero then went to the nearest city, and displayed the head of the dragon to any and all he could find, telling any willing to hear of how he had slain the beast, although admittedly, he embellished the tale a bit, and left out how he had used poison.
The people of the city lauded the hero, showering him with praise for his heroism.
Ever wonder why dragons hate humans? How would you feel if a dragon barged into a friend's home, killed him, then made a hat from his corpse? And then that dragon flew off to show that hat to his friends, and they all ooh'd and ahhh'd about how great it was? To a dragon, we're all like Hannibal Lector or Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. The only sapient life that humans care about is the life that is human, or at least human enough that they'd feel guilty about killing it.
In a fantasy world, humans often portray themselves as the good guys. But the thing is, just about everyone else either hates humans, or views us with disdain, if not outright contempt. Dwarves and elves may ally with us a lot of the time, but they sure don't like us too much. Wonder why? It's because the average human hero goes out and kills orcs, goblins, and sundry other sapient lifeforms for the terrible crime of not looking human enough. If elves didn't look like incredibly attractive humans with pointy ears, and dwarves didn't look like short versions of our grandparents, we'd probably murder them too. But we're useful to them because we'll murder their enemies for enough gold, or if those enemies happen to look different enough. All it takes for humans to be okay with murdering 'dark' elves is skin color, after all. Tell me that's not racist, that the 'evil' elves are the guys with black skin. Leave aside that Forgotten Realms stuff, how many times did D&D players kill Drow without knowing anything about their culture? Their entire civilization was constructed years after they were first put into the game.
Terry Pratchett once wrote that 'Evil begins when you start treating people like things'. Evil can sometimes be as simple as assuming that a thing called a 'human' is a 'hero', and therefore 'good', a thing called a 'dragon' is a 'monster', and therefore 'evil', and that means it is automatically good for a human to kill a dragon.
So the next time you play Skyrim, and you are wearing your dragonscale or dragonbone armor, and a dragon swoops down to attack you, remember that the reason why that dragon is attacking you isn't because you're good and he's evil, its because you killed his brother, ate his soul, and are currently wearing his head as a hat.
Interesting you definitely make a good point
(I know i should probably write something more but nothing really comes to mind that i can put into words easily)
I am shocked, shocked to find this kind of propaganda here, even if I'm not surprised!
You see kids, what alleged "friend" Sofa left out of this story is the Wheel of Reinvestment, the grand divine mechanism by which money, in whatever form it takes, moves from the possession of one entity to another. The Wheel of Reinvestment drives everything we see, and by hoarding the vast amount of wealth that he was, the dragon from the story was unjustly overvaluing the currencies he held, stagnating the local economies and driving the peasants into the foul depths of depression. Would you really trust anything that wanted you to be sad?
By infiltrating the dragon's lair, slaying the beast and then taking the wealth contained therein to be spent, the hero restored balance to the Wheel of Reinvestment, lifting the peasantry out of poverty and allowing great nations like the United Fiefdoms of Astoria, or "UFA" in case any of you are foreigners, to rise high and become even greater, allowing the Wheel to spin ever onward!
Plus it keeps adventurers out of destitution and off the streets, and that's good for society because with the exception of outstanding and incorruptible Knights-Capital like myself, most of them are degenerate perverts!
Why is there no like button for these things? 🐲Have a dragon head hat instead I suppose...
4590047
Yes, that's fine, the wheel spins on... until the dragons get sick of being murdered by tiny apes with an over-inflated sense of self-worth, and burn the nation to the ground. Capitalism can't do much to save you from several thousand multi-ton lizards who breathe blasts of horrible death in all thirty-two flavors of pain. Let the dragons sleep, my friends: Your money is no good if you're too dead to spend it.
4590100
Let's assume for a moment that, yes, all of that would happen. What are the dragons going to do now that there are no more adventurers to weed out the degenerate pervert dragons?
But where did the dragon gain his wealth from? You seem to have forgotten that part of the story. Majority of the time, a dragons wealth is gained through questionable means and even if the events had happened so long ago, someone always remembers something.
4590120
I just figured they'd just ogle princesses like always.
Also, I love non-human campaigns in Pathfinder. I had the rule that any creature of CR 5 or lower could be used. And the people who tried to sneak in a hydra? He had to determine personality, alignment, and motives for each head.
Not exactly the best example, considering that most dragons in that series are actually deathless-elitist-racists, who's real reason for attacking and killing humans and other races is because they think our lives are less valuable than dirt, and they want to put us in our place for thinking we're the dominant species.
There are only two dragons in Skyrim that won't kill you -or anything else really- on sight, and one of them you had to trap and convince first.
The other actually is a hermit.
In what world... ever... has a dragon left people alone?
And humans are hardly the only beings that slay others in the way you describe. Dwarves in all media i can possibly think of hate goblins. Elves hate orcs. Dwarves and elves hate each other.
4590687
Alagaesia.
4590442
He inherited his father's horde, then made a killing as a venture capitalist. When you've got a lifespan measured in thousands of years, 'long-term investment' takes on whole new dimensions.
4590672
And you're actually told to kill him during one quest line. And I have outright refused to kill poor Party-Snax because he's a threat to absolutely no one.
4590790
I know right? Granted, the ones who give you that quest have good reason to do so, given that Paarthurnax himself admits to struggling with his nature. But for Talos' sake, the guy isolates himself on the peak of the world's tallest mountain to avoid reverting to his instinctual prejudices. Give the guy a break.
4590700
If the dragon left everyone alone, where did it get all the treasure?
4591617
The dragons in Ala- Wait... You've never read the Inheritance Cycle!?
Drop everything right now, go to your nearest book store, and buy a copy of "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini. THAT'S AN ORDER!
4591801
Not gonna lie.... I have no idea what that is.
4591852
I could go on and on about how it's one of the best book series' ever and how your life will never be complete until you read it... But then I'd just sound like Rainbow Dash fangirling over the Daring Do franchise, and that wouldn't convince anyone.
A neat read. Even if I don't agree with it 100%.
One of my favorite interpretations of Dragons are from the DragonLance Chronicles series.
The only way I could ever feel truly sorry for the slain dragon was if he got the gold through inheritance, or scavenging. Diplomacy might work, but that could turn into con art. Draconic, con art.
By the way, did you know my father is working on a new game called Dragons of Jode Cabrin? It's a table top roleplaying game like D&D, but you can play as different kinds of dragons, or play as a human. (Note: humans are just as powerful as a dragon is in this game.)