Downplaying the snake

Flare wrote:

You know...if you're going to be a Geo-science Major, I'm pretty sure you can bring up better sources then wikis.

I haven't gotten around to taking "Introduction to Dinosaurs" yet... just "The Evolution and History of Life".
"Evolution" is taught by a Cnidarian Paleontologist, nice lady, but screwed up the first land Vertebrates... which my Lab's Teaching Assistant called her out on.
And really, Geo-science is more focused on things like "Geology", "Mineralogy", and "Petrology".
I could have also gone and read through half a dozen sources (Ironically referenced BY Wikipedia), but for a spur of the moment Wall 'o Text written at a time when I SHOULD be sleeping, it would have been going a BIT overboard.

rcs619 wrote:

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It's their growth rate.
From what I have seen, Felaryan Naga can go from 600 lbs and 6 ft tall... to what I can assume is 300 short tons and 60 ft tall... in UNDER A YEAR!!!

Actually, nagas take a long time to grow. Look at Crisis, she's 60 years old and is only the equivalent of 19 years old. Since most people age to about 26 or so before the healing properties of Felarya prevent any further aging, Crisis may still have a slight bit of growing left to do, actually. And a full-sized naga would be well over 600 tons ^^

Please look up Rin's Adventures by randomdude678, especially part 9, which repeatedly mentions a "growth cycle". From what I can tell, it can take a relatively short time, though Rin herself has grown by magical means (parts 12-13)

Just a little remark about the word "logic", when you program computer and software you understand better his meaning. Logic consist to link different elements in a consistence ways however depending of the universe you are it can change. That's why in mathematics 1+1 = 2 is not always true.

Concerning an ice naga, it would be illogic for me since the moment we are on Earth where the physical and biological laws are clearly known. It would require strong and solid explanation from the author of the story to convince me. So ice reptile which was appeared on Earth, yes it can be illogic.

Now an ice naga in Felarya, is it illogic ? No, assuming there is creature able to size shift, giant hybrids human animal, the world is cross world between many dimension,there is magic too and we are not on Earth. I deduce this thing we can find a part of the physical laws on Earth but not only that, it's obvious many creature on Felarya are build in different way than creature we fin in Earth.

So let's return to an ice naga, the sentence should not be it's illogic but how is it possible?, so if the magic of Felarya affected the cold-blooded nature of an ice naga, how? Do the elemental affinity is behind that, maybe?

So, knowing what I know about snake and magic, there is a possibility the affinity with ice play a role about how a naga can live in a cold environment. Do they use the ambient cold to be active as the opposite as the other naga, so in very hot place like Pyrale mountains they will be less active or does their metabolism work differently as the naga with the affinities of fire instead of emit heat they emit cold. And if I remember it's possible to be burned by ice.

So guys please about magic, Quantum give a characterization and a good explanation on magic you can find in Felarya and this guy knows science as good as everyone. As I asked to people when they use magic in this story I want just a clear and consistent definition of the role the magic in the story.

Conclusion, Felarya follows a logic but it doesn't mean it follows at 100% the logic of science of the modern on Earth.

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Conclusion, Felarya follows a logic but it doesn't mean it follows at 100% the logic of science of the modern on Earth.

Thankyou!

THAT is what I'm trying to get at.
Realism and logic are not the same thing.


Now, regarding ice nagas...

If we do treat the whole elemental magic thing as something that varies between individual nagas rather than different species, then the concept of an ice naga is a lot easier for me to swallow.

I could indeed see an ice naga migrating to a cold climate because it would be more comfortable there. In that sense, there could be a small population of ice nagas that could be logically incorporated into the ecosystem.

The problem is, if we do this, then there's the issue of elemental magic varying by individual. In other words, an ice naga's offspring wouldn't necessarily share their elemental affinity, and would probably be considerably less comfortable in the cold.

So, looking at it from that perspective, I could definitely see ice nagas existing. The problem is that they would have to be treated like individuals and not a species. More akin to humans of a certain hair color than a certain ethnicity.

Hmm...so are we suggesting a different specie(s) of naga than these ones? Sort of a "feral" naga, with much more snake like attributes, but without much innate magical ability? That sort of raises interesting points on other predators...

GREGOLE wrote:

I could indeed see an ice naga migrating to a cold climate because it would be more comfortable there. In that sense, there could be a small population of ice nagas that could be logically incorporated into the ecosystem.

The problem is, if we do this, then there's the issue of elemental magic varying by individual. In other words, an ice naga's offspring wouldn't necessarily share their elemental affinity, and would probably be considerably less comfortable in the cold.

Regarding the issue of the elemental magic it can be seen in a similar way of the existence of the elemental. To be simple the elemental affinities vary due to an adaptation or maybe it will be proper to say how the element is favoured by the environment of the area where the naga is. In area like Pyrale mountains it's fire which is favoured, so it's normal to see most of the naga living or coming from this area have an affinities with fire, and for the ice naga it's the same case.

So in more general area where you can find a great variety of the elements where none are favoured for example in the place where Crisis and Anna live it works differently. In clear, naga can be a nature type , her sister can water type, as her father was an earth type, her mother was a wind type and one of her brother or sister have affinities with none and magic in general and lives in a Feral way.

So as you can see the element affinities can be seen as an influence or reaction to the special environment of Felarya, maybe it explain why Crisis and Anna as two different element as there is a possibility they share the same DNA and in some way sisters of course it's a pure speculation from me

It's something a naga acquire edpending her element it's not necessary innate.

Jætte_Troll wrote:

Hmm...so are we suggesting a different specie(s) of naga than these ones? Sort of a "feral" naga, with much more snake like attributes, but without much innate magical ability? That sort of raises interesting points on other predators...

It was more of a spur of the moment kind of idea since all the talk about more aspects to predators relating to the species they came from were brought up. On a side note I was wondering if that post was even noticed at all heh. The idea of more feral versions of these predators could be very interesting to say the least perhaps in less known and dangerous areas such as deeper Felarya and further north where there is still a lot of mystery. Not to say they'd be the dominant kind of life form but still a new type that could be introduced into this world or something.

I'm wondering...would there be "feral" versions of other predators, with less magic? Is magic some how related to the intelligence and "humanness" of the classic Felaryan predator?

Hmm well I see how that could have been viewed like that but it wasn't my intention...so sorry if I came across that the human part was special like that and stuff. What I meant was just a type more akin to the attributes brought up, in this case the snakes and their sometimes cannabilistic nature- which led me to thinking of how they would best accomplish this, one way would be to try to avoid the predator sense so less magic for less ability to be detected. By all means these kinds of predators could still hold the characteristics of the current nagas, just wanted to point out a way for them to better be able to fill their role.

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Hmm...so are we suggesting a different specie(s) of naga than these ones? Sort of a "feral" naga, with much more snake like attributes, but without much innate magical ability? That sort of raises interesting points on other predators...

Not exactly.

What I'm suggesting is how to up-play the snake elements the same ways harpies, dryads, mermaids, dridders, sphinxes and the like have played up their animal halves.

What I suggest is to break down the "basic" naga species into various species modeled after real snakes.

Moony already invented Cobranagas - which no one ever uses. Tora invented sea krait nagas - also which no one ever uses.
RCS' nagas tend to be based on real snake species and have abilities according.

I suggest some naga species modeled after real snakes and designed for different environments, just like all the other chimera species.

We would have sea snake and sea krait nagas in the oceans. Cobra and constrictor nagas in the jungles. Viper nagas in the deserts - I recommend the vipers be given forked tongues, seeing as how of all snakes, odd sensory details are most assosciated with vipers, and anaconda nagas in the marshes. Grasslands would have garter, king and viper nagas.

You know, basically what we're doing with all the other chimera species.
Where the others have been branching out into all new species, nagas have been prettymuch confined to their elements defining them. This is bad, seeing as how the elemental affinity is an individual thing, not a racial one.

We have Sea Snake Nagas

My Pella

what does "my pella" mean?

It means he has a sea naga called Pella.

oh. right. *smiles and nods*

I think there are one or two nagas that eat other, smaller nagas.

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I think there are one or two nagas that eat other, smaller nagas.

One or two isn't nearly enough.

Hmmm, well, I guess I should throw my own two bits in here.

What about Jacobson's Organ? I always wondered if other nagas have it. My prick-assed Raison does, and a forked tongue, and actively uses it when he actually goes hunting.

Also, the snake body. Realistically, Crisis and Vivian's and most other female nagas would find the boobs cumbersome, because it would tip their balance foreward and make it hard to move into whatever little space there is on Felarya. Humans have two legs to anchor themselves and spread the weight evenly, nagas have a tail that tapers. Not good when you have extra weight sticking out of your chest and gravity.
But that's just me, and I'm NOT a nineteen year old who is in college, a thirty year old, or anything else. This is just what I have gathered.

A short thing on the cold blooded thing, Raison literally is cold blooded, but he's got black(absorbs heat) 'hair' and scales and stays close to the part of the trees where sun filters through, and spends much of his time sun baking. Sure, it's not exactly good logic for something the size of him, but at the time I assumed it would work just slightly.
The unrealism of this paragraph appalls me.

I guess I'll add my opinion on this as well...

My impression of much of the naga art I found on the internet is that of woman-in-a-sleeping-bag. That is only reinforced by the fact that people draw them with their genitals where their human half ends and where the snake half begins. That kinda tells me something, but I'll spare you... Still, it's no wonder most nagas are so short, the entire snake-portion IS the tail. I'm no snake expert, but I believe snakes don't move with their tails and sliding around magically isn't very realistic. The Wikipedia article on snakes shows at least five modes of locomotion. Also is it said that the stomach is in the human half? Yep, woman-in-a-sleeping-bag... Such a relatively tiny stomach... They'd have to eat constantly to sustain themselves.

Like I said, I'm no expert, so feel free to make a counter-argument. I'm not stopping you.

On the subject of mentioning snake-like qualities in our nagas, I'm having mine use the Jacobson's organ and forked tongues. The narrow bi-furcated tongues will obviously affect the way they speak and I don't mean simply extending their 's'-es. Their language would have different phonetics/sounds than our own. Not drastically different though. The Northern nagas would have heat pits to detect those precious sources of heat in the cold north. Note that I'm not talking about Felaryan nagas in this paragraph, but those of my own world. This thread was a great inspiration though.

think the basis of this boils down to the fact the naga biodiversity in felarya is rather limited because very few people create more than a couple of them at any one time and generally try to stay in the racial norms already created. most people have a rather hard time creating variety with any character base once their mind has decided on the racial traits they want to depict. in general the problem boils down to the fact the community is limited to people who share similar views and opinions about much of the world that karbo created and tend to lean towards maintaining these views. course that's just my take on all of this so just ignore me if you want it's cool

When bringing up snakes that could be used, why didn't anyone bring up the rattle snake? ^^; Don't want to get in the debate or anything just out of all the snakes to bring up why not bring that one up?

Very good points brought up here, you can't deny that nagas are very plain compared to the other races even for what they are


One way I think could help solve it....what if Felaryan nagas actually grew more-snake like as they get older? A young naga would be pretty "standard", like Crisis. But as years pass they'd slowly gain an even longer air-tasting tongue, or slit pupils, or would need to eat less often, or get more sensitive to ground vibrations, or gain scaly ridges above their eyes like some vipers, or even grow a bigger appetite for their own kind. I think it would make them more monstrous and actually snake-y than the magic, slithery giants we have now

Slimetoad wrote:

Very good points brought up here, you can't deny that nagas are very plain compared to the other races even for what they are


One way I think could help solve it....what if Felaryan nagas actually grew more-snake like as they get older? A young naga would be pretty "standard", like Crisis. But as years pass they'd slowly gain an even longer air-tasting tongue, or slit pupils, or would need to eat less often, or get more sensitive to ground vibrations, or gain scaly ridges above their eyes like some vipers, or even grow a bigger appetite for their own kind. I think it would make them more monstrous and actually snake-y than the magic, slithery giants we have now

I like this idea because it can be true while never requiring a display.
Because Felarya totally stops the physical aging process after a point, all Felaryan naga (I still want to say lamia...) are giants in sleeping bags because they've never left the world, regardless of chronological age.
Naga from other dimensions or who have left Felarya for a significant stretch of time, however, would be more serpentine. Consider the possiblity that Crisis has taken several small trips out and you even have a reason for her human incisors to have become fangs.

I always liked the first drawing of Anna with more snake-like eyes.

But I think it's ok for nagas to display snake qualities per individual basis, and not put a blanket "these nagas display X snake qualities".

Makes each naga more unique to me. Now I know most nagas created so far are humans with a tail, but characters aren't static and it's ok for characters to grow and develop new features if the writer wishes.

Ok, I've got one that no-one seems to be touching. Fangs! Don't yell at me if I've missed someone saying that. Five pages of "Nagas don't biologically work" might have hidden it.

Fangs are one of the best features a naga can have. I don't just mean the cute little extra sharp canines, but large retractable main fangs, and smaller ones all through the mouth.
It's been said many times in different ways that predators swallow their prey whole in Felarya, and fangs make a perfect reason! You literally cannot chew if all your teeth are pointy things that curve backwards into your jaw. I have to say it was so inherent in my view of Nagas that I forgot to even mention it in my bios, and only made a passing reference in a story. It's a unmistakable snake trait, and I think the Naga race in Felarya could reflect this easily.
Maybe it doesn't look all that nice in an anime-style artwork, but molars in a world where you don't chew are kinda pointless, so shove a few fangs in! Maybe have the incisors as "social" teeth for talking and smiling?

Thought I'd just say that. I expect the flaming will start now cause I made a new suggestion on a topic over a few months old, but I like fangs dammit. More fangs!

*Edit* Ok, Dante8411 said fangs too.