Dryad Network Brainstorming thread

Well, some discussion got brought up about this in another thread...and after looking at it, it really seems like the Dryad network hasn't gotten much development outside of the basics.

So let's toss around some ideas. How might it work? What kinds of different things might they do with it? That kinda stuff.

Let the brainstorming commence!

Well for starters, we need to know WHY do Dryads share a spiritual connection? My theory is that it is similar to Druidic magic as they are one with nature, and as a result, one with each other, which is why they can talk to each other with their minds and share their senses, as they are simply becoming, temporarily and partially, one entity.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Well for starters, we need to know WHY do Dryads share a spiritual connection? My theory is that it is similar to Druidic magic as they are one with nature, and as a result, one with each other, which is why they can talk to each other with their minds and share their senses, as they are simply becoming, temporarily and partially, one entity.

While I agree that yes, they do share their senses I don't think they share their mind. Sharing thoughts is not the same sharing mind, as the other dryad only "hears" the thoughts that the first dryad wants her to hear. Their inner mind is still separate, still private.

As for why, I think it's because they can all control plants and to control you must be able to communicate. Therefore those channels of communication are opened between the dryads though the plants of the forest and the plant bacteria in the soil.

Well hence why I said PARTIALLY.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Well hence why I said PARTIALLY.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "partially" then.

They simply can percieve the senses of the other one as if they are one being, but their minds remain separate, so they can still have different opinions on what they are seeing/hearing/tasting and stuff.

I don't care about the origins but how Dryads manage the distance to communicate. I can imagine Dryad in the same or locations speaks between them but I have some doubt they can reach the more distant sister. Like a dryads in the dridders Forest reaching her sister who is living inside deeper of Felarya. In Rin's adventure the Miratans can communicate with their supêriors in another world through a dimensional gate. My question is does their spiritual link is "dimensional" or it's more "physical" an can vary according their physical locations

Well it does say that Cypress IS too far from the other Dryads for the network to reach her, so she developed her own with those in the Jungle Bowl.

So a dryad can link only with the dryads close of her locations.

It also says that Shadow Dryads also have their own network for whatever reason.

I assume that one crucial purpose of the network would be for adults to educate young dryads.

If we assume that children grow up without physical proximity to their mother, they would need a contact with adult minds, otherwise their own minds would never develop.

Having said that, the notion of dryad children growing up separate from their mother is merely an assumption, which in turn raises a host of questions on dryad reproduction and parenthood...

Sean Okotami wrote:

Well it does say that Cypress IS too far from the other Dryads for the network to reach her, so she developed her own with those in the Jungle Bowl.

No the wiki says the location prevents her from reaching other dryads, than can be interpreted as distance, however I interpreted it as some feature of the area prevented her from connecting. I assumed that it was because the jungle bowl is a granite bowl, so it has granite on all sides. Because of this there is a break in the plant life all the way around the bowl, effectively isolating any dryad within.

French snack wrote:

I assume that one crucial purpose of the network would be for adults to educate young dryads.

If we assume that children grow up without physical proximity to their mother, they would need a contact with adult minds, otherwise their own minds would never develop.

Having said that, the notion of dryad children growing up separate from their mother is merely an assumption, which in turn raises a host of questions on dryad reproduction and parenthood...

I'm no expert but I think any sentient being can develop it's mind outside it's own species as long as it is with members of another sentient species and communication is possible. But yes, it would be an obvious way to educate young dryads.

gwadahunter2222 wrote:

I don't care about the origins but how Dryads manage the distance to communicate. I can imagine Dryad in the same or locations speaks between them but I have some doubt they can reach the more distant sister. Like a dryads in the dridders Forest reaching her sister who is living inside deeper of Felarya. In Rin's adventure the Miratans can communicate with their supêriors in another world through a dimensional gate. My question is does their spiritual link is "dimensional" or it's more "physical" an can vary according their physical locations

Well, as long as there are enough dryads inbetween. any dryad can contact another. (If using my method of connection)

To expand on what I'm saying. A dryad obviously invigorates the surrounding plant life. So, if the dryad network is through plants, then a dryad trying to contact a distant 'sister' would be able to as the "signal" would be revived each time it was near an area with a dryad.

Alright, but why do Shadow Dryads keep a network only among themselves?

Sean Okotami wrote:

Alright,

You like it?

Sean Okotami wrote:

but why do Shadow Dryads keep a network only among themselves?

Dunno, maybe you can go ask 'em. Maybe it's because they like being mysterious or they can't stand the company of the other dryads.
/conjecture.

Mhh actually Cypress can't access the dryad network but this isn't a question of distance, more a question of the soil.
Being in contact with the Felaryan soil for a Dryad is essential for being able to acces the network. Hence why potted domesticated dryads can't access it.
In the case of Cypress, we can assume the soil of the Bowl ( which come from another world ) is made of something that don't quite work.

Karbo wrote:

Mhh actually Cypress can't access the dryad network but this isn't a question of distance, more a question of the soil.
Being in contact with the Felaryan soil for a Dryad is essential for being able to acces the network. Hence why potted domesticated dryads can't access it.
In the case of Cypress, we can assume the soil of the Bowl ( which come from another world ) is made of something that don't quite work.

In that case, how come she can grow so tall and has almost the exact the same abilities as a typical Felaryan Dryad if her soil is different? How come she can establish her link with the people of the Bowl if the soil from Felarya is necessary for a dryad to access the network?

Sean Okotami wrote:

Karbo wrote:

Mhh actually Cypress can't access the dryad network but this isn't a question of distance, more a question of the soil.
Being in contact with the Felaryan soil for a Dryad is essential for being able to acces the network. Hence why potted domesticated dryads can't access it.
In the case of Cypress, we can assume the soil of the Bowl ( which come from another world ) is made of something that don't quite work.

In that case, how come she can grow so tall and has almost the exact the same abilities as a typical Felaryan Dryad if her soil is different? How come she can establish her link with the people of the Bowl if the soil from Felarya is necessary for a dryad to access the network?

The healing factor is still a radaition-like force. It would still radiate up through the ground and through her like normal.

It make have to do with the magical nature of Felaryan soil. Most vanishing lands never stay. The jungle bowl is a rare exception, maybe it has something to do with it being a vanishing land that makes it basically a dead-zone in the network's coverage. She has her own mini-network inside of it, but the outside network just can't connect to it.

Or something like that.

Cypress IS a felaryan dryad. Her seed just sprouted on a chunk of vanishing land that never went home. Also, remember that Cypress' prescense is what activated the healing effect in the Jungle Bowl's soil in the first place...which hints that the Dryads may have some important impact on the soil around where they sprout.

I guess that makes sense then.

Guess they don't get enough fertilizer in the Jungle Bowl for the soil to help that link out.

poor Cypress. :/

Guess that's just something that can happen. Cypress doesn't seem to be too bummed about not accessing the network, right?

Maybe Cypress isn't even aware that there is a network outside of her own and is content of sharing her thoughts with the people of the Bowl.

So Dryad with their root manipulate the energy on the soil to create their network more or less, it makes many senses. The fact the shadow dryad possess their own network can it have a relation with the ispecificity of the location ? The traditional dryad network doesn't reach Evernight Forest, it's maybe because the absence of sunlight or the influence of the surrounding darkness of the place are can explain why they are cut from their other sisters?

I would think she's most definitely aware of the network. I also think that she, barring an emergency, would use it as little times as possible.

Bear in mind that to her, many of the "shows" or feedback she'd likely get would be akin to us watching someone showing Youtube videos of them eating cats. You just know that a lot of videos are going to be circulating around for how to get the most enjoyment from your hunting trip and how to net the most people at once, and for Cypress that'd be terrible. Let alone the spam of dozens of Dryads saying stuff like "Want to grow healthier trunks? At just ten Jungle Bowl residents a day..." "How to successfully hunt those little things with legs..." and so on.

For the typical Network, I never really imagined it as anything more complex than something like think-o-grams (unlike what other people have proposed with it virtually an entire internet). At its best, I saw it as something akin to an IRC chat that you can do unconsciously. It wouldn't allow an entire net to learn spells or anything like that (It'd be like trying to educate someone in a few semesters of quantum physics over Mibbit), but you could use it for general tips (Try focusing more / less on the verbal components of a spell), overall communication (Today was great, I saw...), and so on.

A key thing to keep in mind is that Dryads appear to be separate from a Hive Mind. There is (to my understanding) no central "command" node to the Network: You can lop Dryads out or put Dryads into the network willy-nilly and they don't disturb the system. This would seemingly make hacking difficult (You couldn't "Jack in" to some central node or try to convince it alone that you're a Dryad), but it also has some drawbacks (Specifically: Not completely blocking hacking attempts).

Speaking of which, could someone hack into the network? Not willy-nilly / 1-2-3 you're in hack, but - if informed enough on the network and given some good trial / error - at least have a shot at gleaming information directly from it?

I thought evernight was called so because the vegetation is so thick that it blocks the sun, hence it feels it's always at night.

Sean Okotami wrote:

I thought evernight was called so because the vegetation is so thick that it blocks the sun, hence it feels it's always at night.

Indeed, what's what I assumed too.
Quote from wiki:
"The trees here have foliage so thick that it plunges the entire area into perpetual darkness"

I was referring to the darkness coming from Tenebra Maze (a subzone of the Evernight Forest).