Terngatta or dragon's earth

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fruityloops
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Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by fruityloops »

foreword: whelp, i made a new setting which i might not do art for as they didn't come out right in my head, especially the Azuru as they resembled the water tribe's people too much.

Dragons of Terngata

High concept: dragon riders in a post post-apocalyptic setting.


Setting: takes place several eras later in earth’s history. Earth’s land masses scattered and floated into the air during an unnamed cosmic event. What remained of humanity and other lifeforms have since changed and evolved to accommodate this changed landscape. The most notable lifeform that came out of this event: dragons. Dragons were powerful six limbed (sometimes 4 to 2) creatures, once ruling the skies until humans tamed them. 6 tribes of humans were formed soon after: the aggressive and warrior like Rogga, the resourceful and free spirited Azuru, the mischievous semi-nomadic yelno, the mysterious and magical Pergus, and the sturdy and peaceful Vekuda. The sixth tribe, the Shiryan use to rule over most of the 5 tribes before they were killed off under unknown circumstances. What remains of them are their advanced technology. There’s still rumors that a few of their kind still live, so are their dragons.


The tribes (so far)
  • Rogga - tribe of ferocity. Found in the canyons and grasslands of the northwest regions. Tribal paint is red with markings resembling fire or claws. Dragons of this tribe breathe fire.
  • Azuru - tribe of adaptability. Are found in nearly every coast of Terngata with the northern tribes living in tundra. Tribal paint is blue to sky blue and the markings resemble patterns of sea life or waves. Dragons of this tribe are amphibious and shoot out electricity.
  • Vekuda - tribe of prosperity. Found in the tropical jungles and forest of the south east regions. Tribal paint is green or brown, resembling woodland animal markings or plants. Dragons of this tribe are sturdy and strong and have a limited control on plant life.
  • Yelno - tribe of endurance. Found in the arid desert highlands in the far southwest. Tribal markings are yellow to orange with geometric lines and shapes. The dragons of the yelno are the fastest flying of the dragon breeds and their wings are believed to create gust of wind.
  • Pergus - tribe of knowledge. Found in the snowy mountaintops of the north east. Tribal markings are purple to gray and riddled with arcane markings that glow when tribesmen use their magic. Dragons of this tribe can control energy and teleport in and out of existence.
  • Shiryan - tribe of purity. Were once widespread throughout most of terngata before most of their kind were wiped out. Their tribal markings are white and look like diamonds or tears. Only 20 of their dragons remained and were believed to have telepathic and telekinetic capabilities.
unoffical tribes

the shadewalkers - a small group of people who have no known territory but mainly leave in the Obsidian Wastelands, islands that live under majoriy of known floating continents. They're mounts are called shadewings or dragon killers, resembling giant feathered bats and aptly named for being the main predators of dragons. The people who ride them gained a reputation for hunting down dragon riders who wander too far down the Wastelands.

seers of the silvereye - once the advisors of Shiryan royalty, seers now serve as adivsors to most of the tribes of Terngata. they don't have dragons of their own and tend to ride on pergus breed dragons.

sky pirates - thiefs and looters of the skies, sky pirates wander the open skies to seize any trading dragons they spot. as a collective, their very loose knit but answer to the self proclaimed "pirate king".

rouge dragons - descendants of dragons that were consdered untameble by humans. they comprise most of the territories in terngatta and tend to be found in the wild. because they're feral, they've proven themselves to be formiable threats for any dragon rider.



i had to omit the creation myth due to how nonsensical it was but long story short:
  • dragons use to prey upon humans for hundreds of years after the Great shatter ( a event that cause the worlds contients to split apart float in the sky).
  • we don't know where dragons came from but it's belived a god made them as punishment for humanity's sins
  • a human manged to tame one of their kind which lead to most of them being breed for their loyalty.
  • dragon tounged were named after the woman that tamed these dragons (silvertounge)
  • follwers of silver tounge formed into the shiryan tribe, which ruled over the lesser tribes ( or caste in this case before the shiryan died off).
  • some incident killed off thosands of shiryan tribesfolk with only 300 of their kind managed to survive it. msot of them went into hiding after that. no one could work out what caused the shiryan downfall.


if you got any suggestions please tell me. it's kinda new in a sense and i'm still refining it.
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elemtilas
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by elemtilas »

Looks good so far! I hope you'll keep at it and try to make some pictures for us!
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DesEsseintes
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by DesEsseintes »

How large is an adult dragon? Is a dragon typically ridden by a single person or many?

Does everyone in your setting have a dragon? If not, how common are they? And who chooses who gets to ride one?
Salmoneus
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by Salmoneus »

I'm guessing this is for some sort of anime or children's book setting?

If not, humans and 'tribes' don't actually work like that - people don't all have the same personality because they're in the same 'tribe'.


[unrelatedly: damnit, now I want to make a germanic language in which the reflex of *gardaz is 'gatta'...]
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eldin raigmore
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by eldin raigmore »

Although I agree with Sal’s point, I also think that a children’s anime is a fine and respectable ambition. So I wish you luck. I think this is a good start to whatever your goal is.

—————
DesEsseintes wrote: 08 Sep 2018 15:40 How large is an adult dragon? Is a dragon typically ridden by a single person or many?

Does everyone in your setting have a dragon? If not, how common are they? And who chooses who gets to ride one?
If this is like Pern, the dragons get to decide who rides which dragon.
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elemtilas
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by elemtilas »

eldin raigmore wrote: 08 Sep 2018 18:24 Although I agree with Sal’s point, I also think that a children’s anime is a fine and respectable ambition. So I wish you luck. I think this is a good start to whatever your goal is.
Tribes "work" however the author makes them work! And more especially in a work of this sort. While I concur as far as (semi-)realistic settings go, I'm not a big fan of the Utter Realism School either, where an entirely different world with different forces at play should behave just like our world. I can very easily see the Rogga, tribe of ferocity, being modelled after ancient Sparta. All the while understanding that individuals may vary somewhat as to their native ferocity. There must be one or two Rogga that prefer tiptoeing through the tulips over gouging out their playmates' throats in a happy game of war! And also understanding that such individuals will probably not survive tulip tiptoeind youth to propagate their native wussiness!

Fruityloops: So, I'd actually be interested in learning how the tribes came about and how they attained the functions they have! I know you said you're omitting the creation story for various reasons, but have you worked out any creation myths for the individual tribes? Those should be an interesting read and may go far in explaining how the various peoples ended up as they did.
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fruityloops
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by fruityloops »

It's more children oriented for sure. Although I hate the whole planet of hats thing, it's hard to make sure each individual feels distinct. And really, it's more common beliefs and customs than every person acts like this. Wished I clarified in the original post.
How large is an adult dragon? Is a dragon typically ridden by a single person or many?

Does everyone in your setting have a dragon? If not, how common are they? And who chooses who gets to ride one?

Dragons are kinda common but only 30% are tamed by humans. If someone wishes to get a dragon of their own, they must undergo training to earn permission to own one. This might take months or years at best. So not many people are riders.


For how large dragons are, it's from 10 feet in height to 90 ft. Larger dragons are used for transportation and trade while smaller ones are see for sport and personal transportation.


So, I'd actually be interested in learning how the tribes came about and how they attained the functions they have! I know you said you're omitting the creation story for various reasons, but have you worked out any creation myths for the individual tribes? Those should be an interesting read and may go far in explaining how the various peoples ended up as they did.

Eventually I will. I just struggle with them as I feel their very nonsensical most of the time.
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fruityloops
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by fruityloops »

To be honest, alot of things I work on are kid friendly for the most part despite topics such a war and death popping up. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm honestly not into overly realistic settings myself.
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by Axiem »

fruityloops wrote: 07 Sep 2018 20:32 High concept: dragon riders in a post post-apocalyptic setting.
Sounds interesting!
Rogga
Randomly, this word is used as a slur in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy. Depending on how much your audience overlaps with people who read Hugo-winning novels, this might cause weird associations for some people :D
rouge dragons
For most readers, "rouge" is a synonym for "blush", as in the red stuff (cf. French "rouge" meaning "red") people put on their cheeks. "Rogue" is a synonym with "scoundrel"

if you got any suggestions please tell me. it's kinda new in a sense and i'm still refining it.
It feels like you have a lot of players, and a sense of setting, but I don't have a good idea of what the conflict of the setting is. (e.g. the Dragonriders of Pern series, which is also dragon riders in a kinda-post-apocalyptic (it's complicated) setting, there's the omnipresent thread of Thread from the skies, which causes a great many interpersonal conflicts in terms of how to deal with it and so on)
Conworld: Mto
:con: : Kuvian
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fruityloops
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Re: Terngatta or dragon's earth

Post by fruityloops »

Axiem wrote: 14 Sep 2018 04:57
if you got any suggestions please tell me. it's kinda new in a sense and i'm still refining it.
It feels like you have a lot of players, and a sense of setting, but I don't have a good idea of what the conflict of the setting is. (e.g. the Dragonriders of Pern series, which is also dragon riders in a kinda-post-apocalyptic (it's complicated) setting, there's the omnipresent thread of Thread from the skies, which causes a great many interpersonal conflicts in terms of how to deal with it and so on)

i don't really know the conflict but there's a small scale one between the rogga and the arzuru. it's the usual territorial dispute as the arzuru's sacred ground is being used as a hunting ground of sorts by the rogga. naturally this ticks them off.


in other news, i've been refining my take a on dragons a tad bit.

alike the common depictions of them being these horde sitting, cunning, vicious beast, they're more like a horse. flying, long-lived horse to be more exact. the average lifespan of a dragon is about 130 years but it mainly depends on several factors. Pergus and shiryan dragons are the longest-lived, while the dragons with the most shortest life spans are rogga and yelno dragons (which live to be about 40-70 years old). naturally, this has an effect on mating and how dragons court potential mates.

a dragon is considered ready for riding by the ripe age of 10 years with the average mating age being around 15. some dragons are ready to mate as early as 9 years. during their mating years, a dragon searches for a mate but sending off a signal of pheromones to attract a mate. this usually tends to be a female doing it but in some breeds, it's been observed to happen to males. most courtship happens in places called mating grounds, which also serves as a nursery during the rest of the seasons. for a rogga dragon, a male must prove his worth but getting involved in sparring with other males. the male that manages to pin down the opponent the longest is given the chance to mate. the male who loses is barred from the mating grounds until next spring.

the average clutch of eggs is around 2-10 eggs. again, this depends on breed. dragons with longer lifespans lay less eggs compared to dragons who have much shorter lifespans and lay larger clutches. shiryan dragons, for example, lay one egg once in their lives. never has there ever been reports of a shiryan dragon laying another egg in it's life. it helps that these dragons tend to mate for life. as a consequence for their mating habits, shiryan populations could barely recover when their numbers were reduced to 20 (and one hatchling) of them left. only one egg hatched recently, and the last remaining ot the shiryan people make sure none of their dragons escape the sanctuary.

if anyone has any questions about the setting or anything else, please fo ask.
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