About AoD Dragons
The First Blog Post and one of many to come!
Some say dragons don’t exist, but there’s a Dragon in each and every person, in my opinion, and while we’re around, there are plenty of dragons (small d implied). It just takes the right circumstances to bring that aspect of ourselves out. AoD (Anatomy of Dragons) world does that to my characters – that is part of the intent. I’ve got no superheroes, just people with brains and brawn, capable of good and evil, or a mix of both. Super warriors you will not find, but courage and battles and danger, yes.
Many kinds of dragons (small d) exist in mythology but those aren’t the kind of Dragon I’ve created. From a scientific perspective, they’re impossible beings, especially if you add flying, flame-throwing, and armor into the mix. If they are to be ‘technically real’ then essentially they can’t be made from a biology that any biologist would recognize. It doesn’t mean they’re not from Earth. Earth probably had a number of false starts where life is concerned. Our kind of biology had the luck to get through moments and periods that likely destroyed other forms of biology. Earth has been irradiated by supernovas, cosmic rays, and other sources of which we may never know. Snowball Earth nearly destroyed all life some six-hundred million years ago – just when life was getting its grip on the planet. What came through that icy time went on to become the Cambrian explosion of life-forms, possibly brought on as a result of extra radiation as our solar system poked its head above the galactic plane and got an extra dose of intergalactic radiation. Hence, radiation both kills and propagates new life-forms, and we’re one of the products of that story. As AoD progresses, there’s a lot to discuss. I’ve cheated a little in my speculations by assuming our world’s biological paradigm isn’t the only one around. Recent advances in materials science – many based on discoveries stemming from the natural world – raises the question about whether the materials and systems underpinning biological life might not have more than what is known to us. That’s nothing new in science fiction, of course: As for science fantasy, no one is under any illusion as to its need for scientific efficacy. Right now, I feel AoD sits somewhere in between the two: fiction and fantasy, but perhaps these two classes of fiction are simply artificial inventions, and there is really a spectrum of degree.
Real creatures bearing the name ‘dragon’ exist, and use the capitalized appellation in their proper names. These include The Komodo Dragon, the Ruby Sea Dragon, the Basilisk Dragon, Common Flying Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon, Chinese Water Dragon, Bearded Dragon, and a few more I am probably unaware of. They range from a few inches to the Komodo Dragon which can reach ten feet or more (a few centimeters to three or more meters for the metric minded). All are sea creatures, snakes or lizards. The Komodo Dragon in Indonesia is about the only one with bulk that I suppose could be compared to a large nestling or pubescent Dragon.
If any of this interests you – and I am sure there are others out there who know a lot more than I do – let me know, and share. Meanwhile, the Dragons of AoD will continue to tell their story.