#broodparasite

[skunkes]

You have infected me with your fancy pen and ink spores. My fav ballpoint gel pen died the other day and now I'm looking at fountain pens. This shit expensive 😭

Get a pilot kakuno theyre cheamp and if you get a syringe you can put a different ink in the cartridge that it comes with 🐇 but youre right this shit ij fact expensive ☝️

[queenofpaper]

Dragon Cults

So, since the very first time I played Dragon Age: Origins, a hundred years ago, I’ve been really fascinated with the concept of a dragon cult.  Not just because it’s a bunch of people worshipping a dragon, but because, as per the codex entries, this is not an isolated incident, but a thing that happens over and over again.  Oh, certainly, there’s the Tevinter dragon gods, but they apparently crop up in other places, with people who have never heard of Tevinter gods.  There is something about dragons that compels people to worship them.

Members of a dragon cult live in the same lair as a high dragon, nurturing and protecting its defenseless young. In exchange, the high dragon seem to permit those cultists to kill a small number of those young in order to feast on draconic blood. That blood is said to have a number of strange long-term effects, including bestowing greater strength and endurance, as well as an increased desire to kill. 

I’m interested in this for one specific reason.  Male dragons also fill this role.  It seems to me that dragon cultists are being affected by whatever process a dragon uses to bind her drakes to her as well.  First, a talk about symbiosis:

Sometimes symbiosis is obligate, meaning the species involved absolutely need each other.  Sometimes it’s facultative, and they’ll do it if the opportunity presents itself, but they can make do on their own, as well.   There are three types of symbiosis, though the boundaries are often rather fuzzy and unclear.  Mutualism is when two species exist in such a way that they are both benefited by the relationship.  The classic example is the clownfish and the anenome it lives in.  The clownfish gains a place to live and protection from predators, the anemone gains protection from things that might eat it and also nutrients from clownfish poop. Nature is gross and nothing is wasted.

Commensalism is a relationship where one species benefits, and the other is not affected at all.  Examples include remora hitching a ride on sharks, or house sparrows specializing in living in human cities.  Parasitism is where one species benefits, and the other is actively harmed.  Parasites can include internal parasite like tapeworms, micropredators like mosquitoes, and a particular phenomenon called brood parasitism, which is what in particular I want to talk about today.  Brood parasites are those species which use other species to care for their young.  The most well known is the cuckoo, or at least some species of cuckoo:

Cuckoos are best known for their habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other types of birds.  Some ducks lay eggs in their own nest and also those of their neighbours.  The benefit to this is obvious.  Raising children takes a lot of time, energy, and resources.  Sometimes it’s easier just to, well, offload that responsibility onto someone else.

Closer to the phenomenon of dragon cults are slave-making ants.  Slave-making ants are exactly what they sound like.  They’re a form of brood parasite that supplements the workers of their own nest by raiding the nests of other (usually closely related) species of ants, stealing eggs or larvae, and bringing them back to their own.  These stolen slave ants, when grown, serve the nest they’ve been raised in, raising the actual offspring of the slaver ants.

So, dragons.

Dragon cults are mostly a form of parasitism, though there are some small benefits to the cultists, as noted above, but it involves drinking the blood of dragon hatchlings.  From the high dragon’s perspective, sacrificing a few of her many, many babies is worth it to bind some humans to her.  As do her drakes, they help care for her offspring and protect her from lesser threats.  She doesn’t need this, but it’s of use if she has the opportunity.

But what if this is how she binds her drakes as well?

This is veering away from established biology, I know.  And it’s hard to really predict how actual magic would affect evolution.  Still, it’s true that within the world of Thedas, blood magic includes the ability to control minds.  And for a high dragon, this is an advantageous ability to have.

My proposal:

A high dragon attracts drakes to her, likely through pheromones.  When her first children are born, she sacrifices a few dragonlings and encourages the drakes to drink the blood, binding them to her in a form of blood magic.  This prevents the drakes from leaving for a rival dragon, as well as reducing competitive aggression between the drakes.  She is also capable of turning this inherent blood magic to use on humans, with some luck and skill, who will slavishly devote themselves to her just as the drakes do.  Humans, being humans, interpret this in a religious sense.  The dragon is a Tevinter god, or Andraste reincarnated, or something equally amazing and great.

Meanwhile, as far as the dragon is concerned, everything is as it should be.

[jeffphillippiphoto]

Brown-headed Cowbird. This is a male but the females lay as many as three dozen eggs a summer. No need for a nest though as she disperses them in the nests of other bird species. #thenatureofkansas #naturephotography #birding #wildlifephotography #nikon #parasite #broodparasite #Kansas #naturalhistory #bluesky #behavior (at Baker Wetlands)

[bangkokbong]

The Common Hawk Cuckoo or the brainfever bird is known to be a #broodparasite ; it lays eggs in the nests of other birds and relies on the hosts to take care of its chicks. The common hawk-cuckoo hosts include laughing thrushes and babblers. Babblers are preferred because the breeding season of the two species takes place around the same time. . . #didyouknowfacts #didyouknowthat #didyouknowgram #instafacts #instaknowledge #birdfacts #instabird #instanature #naturephotography #naturelovers #naturelover #biodiversity #birdsofinstagram #birdsofindia #birdsofindiansubcontinent #birdsofig #birdsofinsta #birdsextreme #kings_birds #best_birds_of_world #best_birds_of_ig #gurugram #gurgaonigers #canon #natgeo #natgeotravel #natgeoyourshot #natgeoyourlens #natgeoindia . . @natgeo @natgeowild @natgeotravellerindia @natgeoyourshot @natgeoindia (at Sultanpur National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWGcAbmhede/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nishikoi]

I can grow a full beard if I try. THATS INTERESTING OK

FUCK YEAH THAT’S INTERESTING!

Interesting fact about me: most people that see my facebook before me irl are confused that i do not actually have a beard, because almost all of my photos on fb are of me in cosplay/drag/presenting male. YOU WERE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.