Please, this is what I yearn for. Speculative anthropology and human cultures is something rarely touched on nowadays. Id love to learn how each and every specific ethnic group and community in this world works. Please keep up the good work my guy.
Much fantasy does what Tolkein did without knowing why. Tolkein was a prolific worldnuilder yes, but his world also lent itself to the story. Smaug was lone and endlessly powerful because he was the manifestation of the greed of the dwarves. He was disconnected from the world because he was living symbology of a culture that took and took and took. Lots of would-be fantasy writers just add dragons because Tolkein did, and in the same way he did, not considering WHY he did it
Ngl I expected a faction of theocratic nomads. Humans need lots of space, good soil, and good water. Ash is a good fertilizer, and boiling water purifies it. My first thought was a group of dragon-worshippers following in a wake of destruction and setting up small permanent camps.
Perhaps their preferred species of dragon to follow is particularly massive and does not see humans as worthwhile prey. Eventually, these BIG dragons become more intelligent (perhaps though increasingly complex interactions with their followers.) and begin to recognize the nomads as a tool to be used. The ultimate result being a holy war of sort to sweep across the planet and conquer or destroy all other humans Civilization in the name of their dragon lord. This world's version of the Mongols under Genghis Khan.
With young giants being close in size to adult humans I think it would be funny if giants sometimes mistake random humans for young and try to take care of them as such
I love the concept of humanity descending from giants via neotheny, I've never seen it before. Kind of reminds how in many mythologies humans are created by gods or titans, maybe they consider their giant ancestors deities or something similar. I also find fascinating how different looking all these kinds of people are, my favourite is a hinterman, hairy humanoids living in cold enviroments are usually depicted as something like a beast or a savage, whereas here they posses an artistic soul.
Thanks! The giant-to human evolution not only made sense to me but gives people an interesting kinship with their huge brethren. Large hairy humanoids are all too often the savages and brutes of a setting- they indeed deserve their philosophical reflections!
I love this concept, it's like All Tomorrows meets How to Train your Dragon. I hope we can see much of this, It's not just the idea but the illustrations are awesome as hell. Keep up the great work!
May seem odd, but among all of the amazing dragon designs and concepts you've come up with this world, the rugged men and wildly unique groups of people interest me the most. Plus your armor designs are just superb!
I was going to leave a general comment but this seems like an appropriate place. While the dragon designs are awesome, and deservedly the stars of the show, the integration of each species into the human culture around it is so good! As you point out, so often dangerous mobsters are just plopped into the wilderness and left there, with no impact on the way people act at all. I think it's so impressive, and in some ways perhaps harder than just coming up with a cool dragon
I love this idea that humans started out as almost eusocial organisms, and from there have developed strategies to defend themselves against dragons. I'm a fan of the pepperman
yea tho the hintermen, the ones with sound sound reall manceing. I really wanna know how these skills are allso used to fight other humans, like i imageine that the hintermen will make thier pressens know far before you can see them. A growing thunder in the distace ... the earth violently shaking from the sound... They the masters of sound, are truly the strongest of them all .... When you can hear them its allready too late ...
Perhaps the giants evolving into humans is like the axolotl. The axolotl evolved from a salamander that stopped undergoing metamorphosis from its tadpole-like form and kept its aquatic form into adulthood. Scientists have even provided conditions that activate the axolotl’s dormant metamorphosis into an air breathing salamander. Although it is not metamorphosis, it is interesting that the Hintermen have started to become larger again and take on features like their giant ancestors.
May be worth noting even modern humans are neotenic. Meaning that humans in terms of things like skull morphology, hairlessness, and mentality are more like young chimps than adults
My take is that humans would just live in heavily forested areas. Of course, here comes the obvious "But can't the dragons just burn the area?!?!" But why would they? Really, imagine a big forest, kilometers of thick woods that cover all, the dragon doesn't create energy out of nowhere, if it were to just burn the whole area it would be losing 10 times more energy that it would gain by eating the humans. Humans can perfectly live in a low profile under woods.
Also, dragons are generally imagined as very big creatures, which makes the consumption of humans not very smart or practical for such beings. It would be a lot more "normal"(?) for them to hunt down big herbivores, perhaps a world with real dragons would develop also veeeery big herbivorous creatures with thick fire-resistant skin and long tusks/horns to fight off their flying, fire-breathing predators. And Humans could just evolve living in areas less frequented by this humongous creatures. Where do Dragons nest? Where do they hunt? those are off-limit areas that would initially see no human go nearby, then after for centuries the humans kept evolving and developing their technology and society, they might start to think about venturing to those areas to hunt down the herbivores and the dragons. Some might pick dragon eggs to domesticate them, some instead would chose to do so with the youngs of the herbivores.
@@MrReset94 true, although that might bring up the problem of livestock. In real life, large wild predators rarely(although far from never!) hunted humans. Usually, they picked up the fat, and tame livestock, sheep, cows, things like that. Now, in real life fences and sheperds were pretty good defenses against it, but even if dragons aren't too much bigger than a regular wolf their flying and fire-breathing would make defending livdstock hard against the beasts. Intelligence is also a big factor, maybe even bigger than size, as well as wheter dragons an team-up. Also, even if dragons breath fire it would probably be a last-resort emergency weapon since fire is NOT cheap.
How humanity evolved alongside giant flying predators is a really interesting question to worldbuild around, and I guess it's something people don't often, consider, I sure didn't, at least on a conscious level; I never asked myself this question for a project of mine but still found an answer for it...
"Humans" as descendants of Giants is certainly an interesting concept, especially since in D&D Forgotten Realms lore Dragons and Giants are mortal enemies. I hope your audio editing improves over time. The mic is a bit over sensitive and picking up more detail than it needs to.
That is a good point. If a lot of flying predatory fire breathing lizards live in your country, then you are gonna want to adapt to that. The idea of sonic attacks I thought was particularly clever I could just imagine it.
On the point about Humans evolving on open savannahs and large areal predators being incompatible with that, there were indeed large raptors who preyed upon humans during our early development. Not saying that adding fire breathing wouldn't be a complication, but we already did contend with being predated upon from the skies in addition to all other vectors.
The only raptor big enough to possibly snatch a human child that we know of was the Haast's eagle, and its repartition range didn't overlap with ours until very recently in human history
@@mattb.7079 There was an Eons video on it, and no I don't remember all the details. There were prehistoric raptors in East Africa that were large enough to snap-up what were humans at the time. They found fossil evidence of it.
Dude! This is some crazy stuff. The art style is clearly inspired by medieval art and I dig it. The "humans" of the setting have an uncanny valley type feel to them given how close they look to us yet are very clearly alien. Reminds me of some of the speculative evolution books (which- I guess this is now that I think about it) like all tomorrows. Its really neat and well done.
I have an idea for a Dragon if anyone wants to hear (or read in this case) What about one based on a corvid. Like Ravens, Crows, and Magpies. Dragons that are smart, able to solve puzzles and use simple tools like sticks and rocks. I imagine they would be a nuisance to keep out of cities, as they always find new ways to break in, or draw people out. Just food for thought.
I believe that what truly sets the writing of your world apart from other works depicting dragons is how central said creatures are to the setting you've created. In this video you make it pretty clear that, unlike most fantasy works, this is not a world with dragons but a world of dragons, and that has turned out to be an amazingly interesting premise for the setting.
Love how the entire setting is focused on dealing with dragons as the ultimate power/threat in the world. Always liked deep diving into dragon lore like in DnD, but like you said, most setting keep them detached. This reminds me of a more engrossed and detailed version of the Monster Hunter series and I love to see what you are building.
One really good example of a culture built around dragons, I feel, is The Dragonriders of Pern series. This is of course is not a societal structure made in response to dragons as apex predators in the environment, but instead of the society being organised to support the dragons as part of defences against a much different threat that also comes from a skyward vector. Most of the tension in the early part of the main block of the story (this is a setting who's history spans millennia) comes from major portions of society not wanting to continue supporting the great economic infrastructure requirements of the dragons. In that sense, it is an inverse of the considerations proposed in this video. What does a society look like that is structured so as to enable maintaining thousands of domesticated multi-ton carnivores, along with the full-time occupations of their riders and dedicated support staff who also have to be maintained.
In a anime, I remember there being a cool scene where the fallen scales of a legendary dragon are actually used as shrines to scare off weaker monsters from villages. I think it was in the anime Danmachi, which gets really good in the later seasons.
I'd say this experiment is a success! Always love to see how thought-out, and yet still wildly imaginative the Dragonslayer's world is - these comprehensive videos have worked very well as the connective tissue between the otherwise isolated Codex pages. Asking out of silly interest (since I can imagine it's not in your plans at all for this world haha) - if the current timescale of the Dragonslayer's world is, say, in medieval times to us - what would a "modern" age Dragonslayer world look like?
Well said! And thank you much! Some of these kingdoms are discovering engines and implementing them already! A modern world with this premise would launch an age of exploration MUCH later in societal evolution than it was on earth, and the once isolated kingdoms would have to grapple with how to get along as one entire unit. I still see them living underground as a cultural thing, but technology may allow above ground homes to become commonplace, as will the invention of stronger weapons, which bodes ominous futures for the fauna
Honestly the idea what, for humans to ever exist in a world populated with giant fire spitting reptiles, their ancestral species of primates have to also be something suited for that world is actually really clever. And making those proto-humans - Giants, is just genius idea. Like, it’s only natural what primates would be easy prey for dragons, hence to survive they had to adapt to not be an easy target.. By becoming elephant sized though-skinned creatures.. As a whole that is really interesting interpretation of that fantasy trope of humans actually being descendants of something greater in a way, like giants. Ad that’s pretty much explains WHY exactly humans despise dragons. Because they ALWAYS were the possible prey for them, even before humans, it’s just in their genetic memory.
To be honest, I clicked the video expecting how a generic human dnd society would actually deal with a near constant presence of dragons, not its entire evolutionary journey under them, but its quite impressive regardless!
Lol this gives me ideas for my own draconic world. I've been compiling every dragonish thing I can find and putting them on a tree of life. It's set in the bronze age too, so it's a bit earlier than the other medieval dragon worlds.
Very interesting video! I love it when fantasy creators make a brand-new culture instead of just using an existing one (not to say there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just more unique to put some original spin on it). What I’m trying to figure out for my fantasy is how it would function in a world where dragons are the dominant species and humans do not exist (think Legend of Spyro, Wings of Fire, and so on).
Well, the first step towards trying to build a non-human society would be to figure out the material culture that would be the most fundemental to their survival. In humans those are bladed objects, protective coverings(which include clothes), a place and means to prepare food, and dwellings for sleep. We lack the the claws or fangs to effectively harvest and tear meat or thick fiber, our nakedness bodies need protection from temperature, sun, and even predation or aggression, we lack the natural mechanisms to effectively digest raw meat or certain starches so we cook them to process the proteins and starches into more readily usable forms for our bodies.
@ReanimationLabs2000-et9ve But that is if the senses and capabilities of the species are human equivalent are a slight deviation. Depending on how different they are in sensory experience or physical or otherwise enabled abilities to manipulate their environment, you'll have to build a framework of their sensory experience or their physical operations. An intelligent slimemould, even with human senses, would act differently than a more physically endowed being of similar amorphous qualities. Depending on how they perceive their experiences, the way they act, and the motivations behind those actions would change. Not including different varieties of primary biological objectives.
@@EdwardWood-yu8mi Well, I definitely want anthropomorphic traits in my dragons (ie. speaking, living in buildings, walking on two legs, etc.), but I still want them to feel like dragons and not just scaly humans.
Fantastic! I thought the same thing about people will living underground or in mountains but only after they have been attacked by a dragon. Yours is more detailed in a evolutionary and sociological level. Hope to hear and watch videos from you 😊
This is something I don’t see very often in media but you have portrayed it very well. My favorite dragons are the hushmurmur and the sideblinder I think it was called, the dragon with reflective wings and frills
Something ive been feeling inspired by for dragon based societies is the new dragon lore in the elden ring dlc. We already knew of ancient dragon and their lesser drake descendents, and about dragon communion, where people would eat the hearts of drakes to gain power. But as it also turns out, the progenitor of the drakes and the lord of the ancient dragons have a long held rivarly, and that humans were set up to hunt the drakes by the ancient dragons, since they knew the short lived humans would be reckelss enough to do so. I think a whole society based around this could be really cool. Its sort of a synthesis between "dragons as mere wild beasts" and "dragons as primordial intelligent beings"
How would mixed-race children work in your universe? Some of these nations are strikingly different from others, such as the Hinterman and the Wing-Runners, could their offspring be healthy and fertile? Sorry if questions are intrusive, I just can't help but want to learn more with such interesting worldbuilding
Love your world building man, this broadened my already great love of dragons. You’re going to release a proper book one day yeah? This seems to good not to be a physical book
In a world with bears, wolves, and lions our ancestors started built walls... In a fantasy world where dragons exist people build thatched roofs and leave their property open 🤷
Welcome back good sir. I do like the idea of exploring how cultures adapt to overcome the threat of dragons, I also like the idea of the different humans having physical and genetic differences that also give them unique benefits in their environments.
Brilliant. I love that the humans aren't quite the same as real humans would be and why should they? This is an alternate world where people evolved differently and have to deal with different threats. Lately I've also been questioning why is it that fiction starring dragons doesn't have more thought put into the environment. If a giant flying lizard can pass by and just burn down your whole town, why aren't there ways to prevent it or people building better homes? In parts of the world where tornadoes are common people go into the basement. In places with extreme snow storms people live in high buildings and so on.
Very cool mate. My idea would be that one of humans first important tasks would be to "craft" some material that is fire resistant and that you can wear as armor. This could be some slimey honey-like stuff in which you soak your normal cloth clothes and that at least repels fire for like a minute or something and then also burns or, and this is also a second idea that can be expanded, they use the scales of dragons themselves that might be fire resistant. Either after they managed to slay one or they find a carcasus that died of age. So here there is also the idea of taking the biological material of dragons and use the bones of construction or amuletts, the skin for something, the scales for armor etc. (Everything high value of course) also search for 16th century warfare (pike square or "Gewalthaufen"), they got extremely long pikes which would also be helpful against dragons, applicable to your setting. ❤ Oh, how interesting the religion will be... :)
This is insane. I was literally coming up with a world where ironwork and smithing is too dangerous (long story) so dragons are hunted to make armor from their hides. And now I come across this
After watching all your videos Sawyer, I think you’ve more than earned a subscription from me. Dragons are a subject I’ve always enjoyed in general, but I truly love this setting you’ve put together, from the diverse creatures to the unique civilizations that coexist with them. Like many people have already said, I think this is the only setting I can think of where it is actually influenced by the dragons as a whole. I hope the concepts in this video will be explored more thoroughly in the future videos, I’d really like to see some for the giants and my favorite group, the Hintermen.
This video was unexpected, but a really cool surprise that was fantastic to watch. I remember wondering how humanity came to be in a world full of dragons, and this video did a good job of touching on that. It’s also really interesting to see the diversity of physiology humans have in this setting, I feel like it’s something often poorly explored in most alternate worlds. Overall a great introduction to the people who call this setting home. Honestly I enjoyed this video alot. While I love the usual dragon videos I hope we get more like this in the future further exploring the worlds flora, non-dragon fauna and unique cultures 😁
I am your follower on DA for a while and I've been fascinated in this world of Dragon Slayer Codex. I'm so happy to see you have a Video channel. I cannot wait to watch all of them. Subscribed!
Short stories from characters perspectives would be so awesome! Especially in styles similar the AJ picketts dnd monster profiles for example the aurumvorax. Your videos are super awesome and I hope to see more 😊
Your Sorry!? What are you babbling about!? This is Pure brand level of bloody epic fantasy definition!!! Truely For Gold Edition of Speculative Worldbuilding Biology! You literally show how a Realistic Reign of Fire Should actully work! Groovy Fairly Humies!!! Simply Marvelous! Cant wait to see your Giants, Beasts and More!!! 👏💝🐉
on humans evolving to living in hive-like / eusocial communities: check out Stephen Baxter's Coalescent (and, to a lesser extent, the other parts in the Destiny's Children trilogy) for a very interesting and well-developed (scifi) take
Its nice to learn how humans evolved and from their cultures within a world rule by dragons but I do wonder are there any psychical attributes to be a worker or guard, thought training or both ? and since they are Descendants from giants so how big can they get ?
This is so cool! I love the art style and has some cool world building. Would love to see a map of your fantasy world and to see the different cultures, kingdoms, heraldries, warriors and armors. Perhaps there could be a tribe/city of humans that specialise in hunting the dragons like a "Monster Hunter". Great stuff boet! Would love to see more.
I absolutely love this world you've made, keeping in mind both the small and large details to make the world feel more alive and diverse. It makes me want to explore the world in its entirety myself. Through some form of media of course, as if I were to wind up there as I am, I'd surely became a dragon snack.
Hey.....wait a minute.....this isn't the epically detailed spec evo dragon video I signed up for! (this was a fantastic video dude! I'd welcome more like this to the channel! Love your work!!!)
Hi there! I had a neat idea for a Anti dragon weapon inspired by the gunlance from monster hunter: It's a large 2 handed Lance with a hollow tip for ejecting poison, on the grip of the weapon there is a trigger to eject the poison, typically when it is embedded in the flesh of a dragon, that acts as a potent neurotoxin to make the dragon uncoordinated at least, and unable to move muscles in the effected area at worst. Obviously you can't make it too overpowered because it removes all the pressure from a fight but its still lethal enough that a 2-3 man squad could effectively use it.
Another one could be a razor net that could be flung at a dragons wings to rip them and make flight a far more difficult task, whilst not effective for killing a dragon, it makes preventing escape much easier
This is amazing! I thought the humans were going to look normal but this make sense in a world filled with flying, fire breathing animals that can be as common as a bird.
I love this!! Recently went back to my own worldbuilding project and TH-cam gave me this video, I love the concepts and the idea of humans descending from giants. Instant sub because I want to see more
I feel like dwarves are the most likely to survive such a world cause they are too small to notice and dig into the ground where the dragons cant get to them.
Great ideas, really! I am loving your codex. My personal favourite must be the kinghounds: it’s such a simple yet effective concept. Love your works, really
I absolutely love the anou6f thought your putting into your world, this level of effort is what make truly amazing setting, I'm very much enjoying your work so keep it up
This was a great video and I would love to hear more on pretty much every topic brought up. It’s really interesting and like you said, not really something that we think of when we think of dragons in a world, but this kind of approach to biology and evolution with dragons present is really awesome and interesting to think about. Loved all of it!
Your worldbuilding is just peak as always! I really like how you have gone some extra miles, so your world would in many aspects - from the non-draconic animals to your peoples - really be different from many fantasy stories in which there are such beasts like your dragons, but everything still seems pretty much the same. It is just very fascinating to learn with every new piece you present more of this world and i think it would be very interesting to delve deeper into the world, its creatures, its humans, its history and so one even besides all the stuff with the dragons (who are of course still the stars in my opinion, but the rest is also great!). Sorry for all the fanboying, but i just love this work of yours and i was especially this time impressed with the creativity you put into the humans... You probably dont remember it, but i once asked you on DeviantArt about how humans evolved in your world and how they differ from us, and back then you already gave a bit of an interessting answer - but this time you delivered something bigger and it is even more interesting. :) (Sorry for the bad english, but i am not a native speaker and pretty stiff in my writing...)
This video was the best I saw on your channel, seeing the dragons is very interesting, but even more so is seeing how they shape the world and how the world shapes itself to them
We definitely need a short story of someone venturing above ground and getting scared shitless by the dragon equivalent of a raccoon
Haha of course! Some story plans I’ve got cooking are similar- with a totally unprepared person being thrust out into the world!
That would be great.
Steam punk!? No! We live in dragon-punk
HA yes that’s the word!
Hole-in-ground punk
That would be a neat genre to see! :D
War Dragons
Wake the fuck up bards! We’ve got a dragon to seduce! 😎
Would be a joy to see more creatures who’s evolution was shaped by draconic presence. Makes the overall world appear even more well thought out.
Next vid has a bunch!
Visually this is one of the most striking fantasy worlds I've ever seen
Means a lot!
“We descend from giants” I have never heard something so bad ass
Hell yeah glad you like it!
Please, this is what I yearn for. Speculative anthropology and human cultures is something rarely touched on nowadays. Id love to learn how each and every specific ethnic group and community in this world works. Please keep up the good work my guy.
Seconded.
If you could give each culture a video, I'd be mighty happy.
Much fantasy does what Tolkein did without knowing why. Tolkein was a prolific worldnuilder yes, but his world also lent itself to the story.
Smaug was lone and endlessly powerful because he was the manifestation of the greed of the dwarves. He was disconnected from the world because he was living symbology of a culture that took and took and took. Lots of would-be fantasy writers just add dragons because Tolkein did, and in the same way he did, not considering WHY he did it
Exactly
Counterpoint, dragons are awesome.
@@Cylly_JinxI agree, but it is even better when authors make the dragons belong in their worlds.
@@legofanofnz2466 fair.
This is just Fafnir from Norse mythology. lol
Your art is strange in such an amazing way man, it reminds me of looking at morrowinds concept art for the first time. Please keep it going
That’s one of the coolest things anyones said abt my art! Thank you!
Ngl I expected a faction of theocratic nomads. Humans need lots of space, good soil, and good water. Ash is a good fertilizer, and boiling water purifies it. My first thought was a group of dragon-worshippers following in a wake of destruction and setting up small permanent camps.
Perhaps their preferred species of dragon to follow is particularly massive and does not see humans as worthwhile prey.
Eventually, these BIG dragons become more intelligent (perhaps though increasingly complex interactions with their followers.) and begin to recognize the nomads as a tool to be used.
The ultimate result being a holy war of sort to sweep across the planet and conquer or destroy all other humans Civilization in the name of their dragon lord.
This world's version of the Mongols under Genghis Khan.
@@kjj26k So essentially, the humans domesticated themselves by accident and gave the dragons sapience?
With young giants being close in size to adult humans I think it would be funny if giants sometimes mistake random humans for young and try to take care of them as such
This aged well
It’s the same effect as how we naturally tend to like/be more protective over animals we deem as cute
Watch the ice giant video
I love the concept of humanity descending from giants via neotheny, I've never seen it before. Kind of reminds how in many mythologies humans are created by gods or titans, maybe they consider their giant ancestors deities or something similar. I also find fascinating how different looking all these kinds of people are, my favourite is a hinterman, hairy humanoids living in cold enviroments are usually depicted as something like a beast or a savage, whereas here they posses an artistic soul.
Thanks! The giant-to human evolution not only made sense to me but gives people an interesting kinship with their huge brethren. Large hairy humanoids are all too often the savages and brutes of a setting- they indeed deserve their philosophical reflections!
I love this concept, it's like All Tomorrows meets How to Train your Dragon. I hope we can see much of this, It's not just the idea but the illustrations are awesome as hell. Keep up the great work!
Means a lot to me! And will do
May seem odd, but among all of the amazing dragon designs and concepts you've come up with this world, the rugged men and wildly unique groups of people interest me the most. Plus your armor designs are just superb!
Aye thanks dude! I’m glad I can make them as intriguing as the titular dragons!
I was going to leave a general comment but this seems like an appropriate place. While the dragon designs are awesome, and deservedly the stars of the show, the integration of each species into the human culture around it is so good! As you point out, so often dangerous mobsters are just plopped into the wilderness and left there, with no impact on the way people act at all. I think it's so impressive, and in some ways perhaps harder than just coming up with a cool dragon
Hey thanks! Developing the setting is just as fun as the dragons themselves, and I’m very glad you like it
I love this idea that humans started out as almost eusocial organisms, and from there have developed strategies to defend themselves against dragons. I'm a fan of the pepperman
yea tho the hintermen, the ones with sound sound reall manceing. I really wanna know how these skills are allso used to fight other humans,
like i imageine that the hintermen will make thier pressens know far before you can see them. A growing thunder in the distace ... the earth violently shaking from the sound... They the masters of sound, are truly the strongest of them all .... When you can hear them its allready too late ...
Perhaps the giants evolving into humans is like the axolotl. The axolotl evolved from a salamander that stopped undergoing metamorphosis from its tadpole-like form and kept its aquatic form into adulthood. Scientists have even provided conditions that activate the axolotl’s dormant metamorphosis into an air breathing salamander. Although it is not metamorphosis, it is interesting that the Hintermen have started to become larger again and take on features like their giant ancestors.
May be worth noting even modern humans are neotenic. Meaning that humans in terms of things like skull morphology, hairlessness, and mentality are more like young chimps than adults
YEEESS THIS HAS FURTHER INSPIRED ME FOR MY DRAGON RULED WORLD!
Thanks!
Of course!
My take is that humans would just live in heavily forested areas.
Of course, here comes the obvious "But can't the dragons just burn the area?!?!"
But why would they? Really, imagine a big forest, kilometers of thick woods that cover all, the dragon doesn't create energy out of nowhere, if it were to just burn the whole area it would be losing 10 times more energy that it would gain by eating the humans. Humans can perfectly live in a low profile under woods.
And maybe not all dragons breathed fire?
@@Christopherson2006Point is, dragons have limited shots. It would be wasteful to burn a whole forest to get into a dug in village.
Also, dragons are generally imagined as very big creatures, which makes the consumption of humans not very smart or practical for such beings. It would be a lot more "normal"(?) for them to hunt down big herbivores, perhaps a world with real dragons would develop also veeeery big herbivorous creatures with thick fire-resistant skin and long tusks/horns to fight off their flying, fire-breathing predators. And Humans could just evolve living in areas less frequented by this humongous creatures. Where do Dragons nest? Where do they hunt? those are off-limit areas that would initially see no human go nearby, then after for centuries the humans kept evolving and developing their technology and society, they might start to think about venturing to those areas to hunt down the herbivores and the dragons. Some might pick dragon eggs to domesticate them, some instead would chose to do so with the youngs of the herbivores.
@@MrReset94 true, although that might bring up the problem of livestock. In real life, large wild predators rarely(although far from never!) hunted humans. Usually, they picked up the fat, and tame livestock, sheep, cows, things like that. Now, in real life fences and sheperds were pretty good defenses against it, but even if dragons aren't too much bigger than a regular wolf their flying and fire-breathing would make defending livdstock hard against the beasts. Intelligence is also a big factor, maybe even bigger than size, as well as wheter dragons an team-up. Also, even if dragons breath fire it would probably be a last-resort emergency weapon since fire is NOT cheap.
How humanity evolved alongside giant flying predators is a really interesting question to worldbuild around, and I guess it's something people don't often, consider, I sure didn't, at least on a conscious level; I never asked myself this question for a project of mine but still found an answer for it...
"Humans" as descendants of Giants is certainly an interesting concept, especially since in D&D Forgotten Realms lore Dragons and Giants are mortal enemies.
I hope your audio editing improves over time. The mic is a bit over sensitive and picking up more detail than it needs to.
The mic had been my current bane. I’ll be improving it over time, not to worry
@@sawyerleeartso if Humans descended from from giants then that mean their a completely different species from ours
That is a good point. If a lot of flying predatory fire breathing lizards live in your country, then you are gonna want to adapt to that. The idea of sonic attacks I thought was particularly clever I could just imagine it.
God damn. When asked "How much historical materialism would you like in your world" you answered "Yes." 😂
I love what you did ❤
I've rarely seen the question of how humans evolved in a fantasy setting touched on, this is really cool!
It’s bothered me for so long! Had to make a video abt it before continuing with my dragon profiles
On the point about Humans evolving on open savannahs and large areal predators being incompatible with that, there were indeed large raptors who preyed upon humans during our early development. Not saying that adding fire breathing wouldn't be a complication, but we already did contend with being predated upon from the skies in addition to all other vectors.
The only raptor big enough to possibly snatch a human child that we know of was the Haast's eagle, and its repartition range didn't overlap with ours until very recently in human history
@@mattb.7079 There was an Eons video on it, and no I don't remember all the details. There were prehistoric raptors in East Africa that were large enough to snap-up what were humans at the time. They found fossil evidence of it.
@@ckl9390 looked it up and found nothing about it. Do you at least know the species name?
Dude! This is some crazy stuff. The art style is clearly inspired by medieval art and I dig it. The "humans" of the setting have an uncanny valley type feel to them given how close they look to us yet are very clearly alien. Reminds me of some of the speculative evolution books (which- I guess this is now that I think about it) like all tomorrows. Its really neat and well done.
Ive always wanted a unique Dragon setting and this hit the spot. This setting looks ripe enough for a movie or even videogame adaptation
I have an idea for a Dragon if anyone wants to hear (or read in this case)
What about one based on a corvid. Like Ravens, Crows, and Magpies.
Dragons that are smart, able to solve puzzles and use simple tools like sticks and rocks.
I imagine they would be a nuisance to keep out of cities, as they always find new ways to break in, or draw people out.
Just food for thought.
I believe that what truly sets the writing of your world apart from other works depicting dragons is how central said creatures are to the setting you've created. In this video you make it pretty clear that, unlike most fantasy works, this is not a world with dragons but a world of dragons, and that has turned out to be an amazingly interesting premise for the setting.
Love how the entire setting is focused on dealing with dragons as the ultimate power/threat in the world. Always liked deep diving into dragon lore like in DnD, but like you said, most setting keep them detached. This reminds me of a more engrossed and detailed version of the Monster Hunter series and I love to see what you are building.
I am so happy that you have a youtube channel, the dragonslayer codex is one of my favorite spec evo projects EVER
The Hintermen are my personal favorite human culture in this setting. I would happily attend one of their operas.
One really good example of a culture built around dragons, I feel, is The Dragonriders of Pern series. This is of course is not a societal structure made in response to dragons as apex predators in the environment, but instead of the society being organised to support the dragons as part of defences against a much different threat that also comes from a skyward vector. Most of the tension in the early part of the main block of the story (this is a setting who's history spans millennia) comes from major portions of society not wanting to continue supporting the great economic infrastructure requirements of the dragons. In that sense, it is an inverse of the considerations proposed in this video. What does a society look like that is structured so as to enable maintaining thousands of domesticated multi-ton carnivores, along with the full-time occupations of their riders and dedicated support staff who also have to be maintained.
Pern is a classic!
In a anime, I remember there being a cool scene where the fallen scales of a legendary dragon are actually used as shrines to scare off weaker monsters from villages. I think it was in the anime Danmachi, which gets really good in the later seasons.
I was waiting for this one. The goat cooks once again
I'd say this experiment is a success! Always love to see how thought-out, and yet still wildly imaginative the Dragonslayer's world is - these comprehensive videos have worked very well as the connective tissue between the otherwise isolated Codex pages.
Asking out of silly interest (since I can imagine it's not in your plans at all for this world haha) - if the current timescale of the Dragonslayer's world is, say, in medieval times to us - what would a "modern" age Dragonslayer world look like?
Well said! And thank you much! Some of these kingdoms are discovering engines and implementing them already! A modern world with this premise would launch an age of exploration MUCH later in societal evolution than it was on earth, and the once isolated kingdoms would have to grapple with how to get along as one entire unit. I still see them living underground as a cultural thing, but technology may allow above ground homes to become commonplace, as will the invention of stronger weapons, which bodes ominous futures for the fauna
Honestly the idea what, for humans to ever exist in a world populated with giant fire spitting reptiles, their ancestral species of primates have to also be something suited for that world is actually really clever. And making those proto-humans - Giants, is just genius idea. Like, it’s only natural what primates would be easy prey for dragons, hence to survive they had to adapt to not be an easy target.. By becoming elephant sized though-skinned creatures..
As a whole that is really interesting interpretation of that fantasy trope of humans actually being descendants of something greater in a way, like giants. Ad that’s pretty much explains WHY exactly humans despise dragons. Because they ALWAYS were the possible prey for them, even before humans, it’s just in their genetic memory.
To be honest, I clicked the video expecting how a generic human dnd society would actually deal with a near constant presence of dragons, not its entire evolutionary journey under them, but its quite impressive regardless!
This is the best dragon universe I've ever seen. Keep up the work my guy I wanna see more of it
Wow thank you! Means a lot
Lol this gives me ideas for my own draconic world. I've been compiling every dragonish thing I can find and putting them on a tree of life. It's set in the bronze age too, so it's a bit earlier than the other medieval dragon worlds.
I love all the thought you put into the humans of this world. Probably my favorite version of humanity in a fantasy setting
Dwarves? in a Mountain? Inconceivable!
LOL
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
@@ReanimationLabs2000-et9vedo you seriously not understand sarcasm??
@@keeganwilson9062 ...I was just making a reference to Princess Bride is all. No need to be mean.
@@ReanimationLabs2000-et9veyou beat me by eight days.
Very interesting video! I love it when fantasy creators make a brand-new culture instead of just using an existing one (not to say there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just more unique to put some original spin on it). What I’m trying to figure out for my fantasy is how it would function in a world where dragons are the dominant species and humans do not exist (think Legend of Spyro, Wings of Fire, and so on).
Well, the first step towards trying to build a non-human society would be to figure out the material culture that would be the most fundemental to their survival. In humans those are bladed objects, protective coverings(which include clothes), a place and means to prepare food, and dwellings for sleep. We lack the the claws or fangs to effectively harvest and tear meat or thick fiber, our nakedness bodies need protection from temperature, sun, and even predation or aggression, we lack the natural mechanisms to effectively digest raw meat or certain starches so we cook them to process the proteins and starches into more readily usable forms for our bodies.
@@EdwardWood-yu8mi Thanks for that! Very helpful!
@ReanimationLabs2000-et9ve But that is if the senses and capabilities of the species are human equivalent are a slight deviation. Depending on how different they are in sensory experience or physical or otherwise enabled abilities to manipulate their environment, you'll have to build a framework of their sensory experience or their physical operations. An intelligent slimemould, even with human senses, would act differently than a more physically endowed being of similar amorphous qualities. Depending on how they perceive their experiences, the way they act, and the motivations behind those actions would change. Not including different varieties of primary biological objectives.
@@EdwardWood-yu8mi Well, I definitely want anthropomorphic traits in my dragons (ie. speaking, living in buildings, walking on two legs, etc.), but I still want them to feel like dragons and not just scaly humans.
Fantastic! I thought the same thing about people will living underground or in mountains but only after they have been attacked by a dragon. Yours is more detailed in a evolutionary and sociological level. Hope to hear and watch videos from you 😊
Great stuff here as always!
Thanks Keenan! Love your recent stuff
the legend himself!
Goes hard, your a huge inspiration dude. Huge fan of the civilization route you took, super interested in the slayer stories and the the codex release
Also the domesticated animals
This is something I don’t see very often in media but you have portrayed it very well. My favorite dragons are the hushmurmur and the sideblinder I think it was called, the dragon with reflective wings and frills
Something ive been feeling inspired by for dragon based societies is the new dragon lore in the elden ring dlc. We already knew of ancient dragon and their lesser drake descendents, and about dragon communion, where people would eat the hearts of drakes to gain power. But as it also turns out, the progenitor of the drakes and the lord of the ancient dragons have a long held rivarly, and that humans were set up to hunt the drakes by the ancient dragons, since they knew the short lived humans would be reckelss enough to do so. I think a whole society based around this could be really cool. Its sort of a synthesis between "dragons as mere wild beasts" and "dragons as primordial intelligent beings"
This was the coolest thing ever
Thank you sm!
I love the evolution from giants to smaller species and how the different "sub-races" look, really well done!! And beautiful art :O
How would mixed-race children work in your universe? Some of these nations are strikingly different from others, such as the Hinterman and the Wing-Runners, could their offspring be healthy and fertile?
Sorry if questions are intrusive, I just can't help but want to learn more with such interesting worldbuilding
Love your world building man, this broadened my already great love of dragons.
You’re going to release a proper book one day yeah? This seems to good not to be a physical book
Exactly! Currently in the editing phase now
In a world with bears, wolves, and lions our ancestors started built walls...
In a fantasy world where dragons exist people build thatched roofs and leave their property open 🤷
Never made sense to me!
Welcome back good sir.
I do like the idea of exploring how cultures adapt to overcome the threat of dragons, I also like the idea of the different humans having physical and genetic differences that also give them unique benefits in their environments.
Brilliant. I love that the humans aren't quite the same as real humans would be and why should they? This is an alternate world where people evolved differently and have to deal with different threats. Lately I've also been questioning why is it that fiction starring dragons doesn't have more thought put into the environment. If a giant flying lizard can pass by and just burn down your whole town, why aren't there ways to prevent it or people building better homes? In parts of the world where tornadoes are common people go into the basement. In places with extreme snow storms people live in high buildings and so on.
Very cool mate. My idea would be that one of humans first important tasks would be to "craft" some material that is fire resistant and that you can wear as armor. This could be some slimey honey-like stuff in which you soak your normal cloth clothes and that at least repels fire for like a minute or something and then also burns or, and this is also a second idea that can be expanded, they use the scales of dragons themselves that might be fire resistant. Either after they managed to slay one or they find a carcasus that died of age. So here there is also the idea of taking the biological material of dragons and use the bones of construction or amuletts, the skin for something, the scales for armor etc. (Everything high value of course) also search for 16th century warfare (pike square or "Gewalthaufen"), they got extremely long pikes which would also be helpful against dragons, applicable to your setting. ❤ Oh, how interesting the religion will be... :)
If dragons molt, that could be another way to get their scales.
Absolutely obsessed. Love this concept. Such natural complexity and progression from such a simple idea.
This is insane. I was literally coming up with a world where ironwork and smithing is too dangerous (long story) so dragons are hunted to make armor from their hides. And now I come across this
Dude almost same!
After watching all your videos Sawyer, I think you’ve more than earned a subscription from me.
Dragons are a subject I’ve always enjoyed in general, but I truly love this setting you’ve put together, from the diverse creatures to the unique civilizations that coexist with them. Like many people have already said, I think this is the only setting I can think of where it is actually influenced by the dragons as a whole.
I hope the concepts in this video will be explored more thoroughly in the future videos, I’d really like to see some for the giants and my favorite group, the Hintermen.
Hey thank you! I’m glad you like the world, and yes those things will be elaborated on and reinforced in future vids!
This video was unexpected, but a really cool surprise that was fantastic to watch.
I remember wondering how humanity came to be in a world full of dragons, and this video did a good job of touching on that. It’s also really interesting to see the diversity of physiology humans have in this setting, I feel like it’s something often poorly explored in most alternate worlds. Overall a great introduction to the people who call this setting home.
Honestly I enjoyed this video alot. While I love the usual dragon videos I hope we get more like this in the future further exploring the worlds flora, non-dragon fauna and unique cultures 😁
I am your follower on DA for a while and I've been fascinated in this world of Dragon Slayer Codex. I'm so happy to see you have a Video channel. I cannot wait to watch all of them. Subscribed!
Hurray! Welcome!
Allways glad to have more of unique and high quality world-building
I love the giant origin for human evolution
Short stories from characters perspectives would be so awesome! Especially in styles similar the AJ picketts dnd monster profiles for example the aurumvorax. Your videos are super awesome and I hope to see more 😊
Great idea! Love pickett’s stuff
Your Sorry!? What are you babbling about!? This is Pure brand level of bloody epic fantasy definition!!! Truely For Gold Edition of Speculative Worldbuilding Biology! You literally show how a Realistic Reign of Fire Should actully work! Groovy Fairly Humies!!! Simply Marvelous!
Cant wait to see your Giants, Beasts and More!!! 👏💝🐉
You rock! Thank you sm!
@@sawyerleeart You too! 🥰❤️🔥🐉
woahhhh!!!! just discovered your channel via this video! im so enraptured by this world! your whimsical and grounded design and art is just amazing
I really appreciate that!
man this is so cool, i love how the region shapes the culture of the population. you really nailed it❤
I appreciate you!
on humans evolving to living in hive-like / eusocial communities: check out Stephen Baxter's Coalescent (and, to a lesser extent, the other parts in the Destiny's Children trilogy) for a very interesting and well-developed (scifi) take
Now I'm curious will we'll see other Megafauna like "Gryphons" or Dangerous Flora like Barbed Seedpods or Carnivorous Flytraps
Totally plan to add more megafauna
@@sawyerleeart Literally can't wait
I love how you draw
Hey thanks!
Its nice to learn how humans evolved and from their cultures within a world rule by dragons but I do wonder are there any psychical attributes to be a worker or guard, thought training or both ? and since they are Descendants from giants so how big can they get ?
Seven generations, but every single building is new
If only they built down!
This is so cool! I love the art style and has some cool world building. Would love to see a map of your fantasy world and to see the different cultures, kingdoms, heraldries, warriors and armors. Perhaps there could be a tribe/city of humans that specialise in hunting the dragons like a "Monster Hunter". Great stuff boet! Would love to see more.
I absolutely love this world you've made, keeping in mind both the small and large details to make the world feel more alive and diverse. It makes me want to explore the world in its entirety myself. Through some form of media of course, as if I were to wind up there as I am, I'd surely became a dragon snack.
Hey.....wait a minute.....this isn't the epically detailed spec evo dragon video I signed up for!
(this was a fantastic video dude! I'd welcome more like this to the channel! Love your work!!!)
Haha we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon! And thanks!
We already live in a society built around dragons
Don't forget that
God i love the way you build your world, the level of detail you put to making the dragons and everything around them make sense is amazing
Hi there! I had a neat idea for a Anti dragon weapon inspired by the gunlance from monster hunter:
It's a large 2 handed Lance with a hollow tip for ejecting poison, on the grip of the weapon there is a trigger to eject the poison, typically when it is embedded in the flesh of a dragon, that acts as a potent neurotoxin to make the dragon uncoordinated at least, and unable to move muscles in the effected area at worst. Obviously you can't make it too overpowered because it removes all the pressure from a fight but its still lethal enough that a 2-3 man squad could effectively use it.
Another one could be a razor net that could be flung at a dragons wings to rip them and make flight a far more difficult task, whilst not effective for killing a dragon, it makes preventing escape much easier
This is amazing! I thought the humans were going to look normal but this make sense in a world filled with flying, fire breathing animals that can be as common as a bird.
i love worldbuilding stuff keep up the videos man
I love this!! Recently went back to my own worldbuilding project and TH-cam gave me this video, I love the concepts and the idea of humans descending from giants. Instant sub because I want to see more
I feel like dwarves are the most likely to survive such a world cause they are too small to notice and dig into the ground where the dragons cant get to them.
Impeccable. Such a creative and original setting, love the cultures and their way of adapting to the dragons of their world
Means a lot!
Great ideas, really! I am loving your codex. My personal favourite must be the kinghounds: it’s such a simple yet effective concept. Love your works, really
I really appreciate that!
I absolutely love the anou6f thought your putting into your world, this level of effort is what make truly amazing setting, I'm very much enjoying your work so keep it up
Wow, I'm looking forward to learning more about the factions in your world
Whoa, the quality of this earned my sub
I appreciate that!
I would love to see a video on how the dragons in general have evolved to adapt to the tactics of their human pray
Humans be like "reject modernity, become ant"
the algorithm is starting to algorithm
I liked this. Its something that I thought of but never wondered how it could come into being.
Please go into more depth about the giants!
I will!
This was a great video and I would love to hear more on pretty much every topic brought up. It’s really interesting and like you said, not really something that we think of when we think of dragons in a world, but this kind of approach to biology and evolution with dragons present is really awesome and interesting to think about. Loved all of it!
Your worldbuilding is just peak as always! I really like how you have gone some extra miles, so your world would in many aspects - from the non-draconic animals to your peoples - really be different from many fantasy stories in which there are such beasts like your dragons, but everything still seems pretty much the same. It is just very fascinating to learn with every new piece you present more of this world and i think it would be very interesting to delve deeper into the world, its creatures, its humans, its history and so one even besides all the stuff with the dragons (who are of course still the stars in my opinion, but the rest is also great!). Sorry for all the fanboying, but i just love this work of yours and i was especially this time impressed with the creativity you put into the humans... You probably dont remember it, but i once asked you on DeviantArt about how humans evolved in your world and how they differ from us, and back then you already gave a bit of an interessting answer - but this time you delivered something bigger and it is even more interesting. :)
(Sorry for the bad english, but i am not a native speaker and pretty stiff in my writing...)
Loved this comment! Thanks for sticking around since all the way back then!
This video was the best I saw on your channel, seeing the dragons is very interesting, but even more so is seeing how they shape the world and how the world shapes itself to them
Good to know! Thank you!
Fantastic video can’t wait to hear about all the other dragons and animal species in your world
I saw this from Curious Archive first!! You rock man. Thank you!
This is cool and inspiring as heck. Now I want to get back to developing my own setting
*dragon approaches the wall of the Hintermen
Loudspeakers on the wall:
LAAARGO AL FACTOTUM DELLA CITA
LARGO! La la la la la la la LA!
This was great, Sawyer! I also got some great ideas from your video for harmonious coexistence with dragons.
So the only way humams combat drahons is evolve into dwarves
Damn right umgi. Take the dwarf pill before it’s too late