Difference between revisions of "Dracoimpery"

Revision as of 16:28, 14 May 2015

Dracoimpery (Drakine Vendeía Akor, English Comfort of Mind's Strength; also referred to as dracomancy on Euthora) is the psychic affinity with and ability to telepathically communicate with dragons. A user of this power is known as a dracoimperist (Drakine draki-tiir, English Dragon King; dracomancer on Euthora). This ability is chiefly Euthoran, born of a spiritual connection between dragons and humans that began with the bond between Skyking Shyr and Isden Aliira.

Function

Dracoimpery is usually associated with the ability to control dragons, though the actual mechanics are more similar to telepathy. It is only by imposing one's will upon the target that a dracoimperist can "control" a dragon. Otherwise, it it primarily utilized for communication, which is where its most famous function arises; the dracoimperist, or master, tells the dragon to perform a task, and the dragon's brain forces it to comply. The dragon may resist, and may succeed depending on its willpower compared to its master's, but more often the master is the stronger.

Familiars

Main Article: Familiar

A dracoimperist with enough experience, skill, and self-control may forge a particularly powerful bond with a dragon known as a Familiar link. A dragon bound this way is referred to as a Familiar, while the human remains the master.

While more similar to original dracoimpery than most links, there are still major, notable differences as noted below. However, one thing that remains the same is a powerful bond of friendship and loyalty forming between the two parties, and a tendency for long-bonded pairs to begin to lose the ability to differentiate between their thoughts and their partner's. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it allows for quicker communication on the battlefield and other stressful situations.

Modern vs Original Dracoimpery

While original dracoimpery was a far more subtle link than modern dracoimpery, a bonded pair could still acutely sense each others' thoughts and emotions, shared pain, and oftentimes felt as if they were one single consciousness. As Isden once told Shyr, she could feel his wings beat as if she were the one flying. Likewise, Shyr would often comment how pleasant it felt when Isden would run in pursuit of a prey animal, an action that he quickly grew too large to enact efficiently.

While original dracoimpery was almost purely communication-based, the modern version of the ability concentrates on the human overpowering the dragon's willpower with their own. In most cases, the dragon is absolutely forced to obey the human's commands, leading to situations such as Koth Grimseeker nearly taking over Euthora with all of its dragons.

Familiar links stay almost completely true to the original function of the power, though the two parties were not linked in mortality and the bond was not so easily broken. Familiar links keep the spiritual component, but still emphasizes mental, and it was quite literally unheard of for a human to bond with multiple dragons via the original dracoimpery mechanics.

Euthoran humans and dragons remain the only creatures that are natively able to make use of the power, however Shapeshifters may obtain it provided a human in their lineage has it, or a dragon obtained it via a master bound through a Familiar link. An example of this would be Jason Shaver, who is both half Darkwing Firedrake and the son of Mordicai, the Familiar of Cresius Tasque. It is also possible for an offworlder of Euthoran descent to inherit dracoimpery, as was the case with Lord X-Giga-X.

History

Dracoimpery was born on Euthora with the bonding of Skyking Shyr and Isden Aliira. This capability was passed down to their descendants- because Shyr is the ancestor of all Euthoran dragons, likewise all Euthoran dragons were granted the ability to forge the bond. Fewer humans were given the ability from Isden, but within a few generations it had spread to much of the human population, with some help from Shapeshifters despite the wilder race being unable to natively obtain the ability.

While dragons largely kept their half of the ability intact, the inevitable mutation of the trait within humans (in part due to breeding with Shapeshifters; this mutation from Shapeshifter DNA is also part of what caused dragons to diversify and later become weaker) caused a corruption of the power; the ability became extremely rare in humans, rather than a trait inherent in all of them, and became a variation of mind control via telepathy. In most cases, the spiritual component of the link was lost entirely, instead becoming purely mental and dependent on willpower.

Familiar bonds still remain the truest to original dracoimpery, as it keeps the spiritual component, although original dracoimpery did not force one party to follow the other in death, and could not be broken so easily. Shyr himself keeps a rather low opinion of humans starting from the late Radiant Era, considering them to be primarily at fault for the corruption of a "sacred bond".

Euthoran Name Origin

On Euthora, dracoimpery is more commonly referred to as "dracomancy". While the "-mancy" suffix is generally incorrect for a power that allows control or "dominion" over a concept or object, it is born of the ability's original function: spiritual and mental communication. While "-impery" implies the ability to control something, "-mancy" tends to imply divination. The original function of dracoimpery involved one party being able to perfectly see from the other party's perspective (a trait shared by modern dracoimperists and their Familiars to a much lesser extent) and thus allowing one party to see things they normally would be unable to from their usual perspective.

For example, the human would be able to view the vast distances and aerial viewpoint that a dragon's eyes could see. As it was primarily the human who would benefit by seeing through the eyes of the dragon, the ability was termed "dracomancy", roughly meaning "divination of dragons". Many- though not all- Euthorans still refer to dracoimpery by this name out of cultural habit and respect of the original bond.

Impact on Sulsian Culture