I can't fix you, but maybe I can still help

[powerispain]

He's trying to kill us--could ruin him--worry about that later--grab your sister and go.

Comments

[powerispain]

...Chemistry? Biology?

[alicornucopia]

Yes, although chemistry seems obscure and biology seems to be principally observational - taxonomy, animal behavior, etc.

[powerispain]

...Well, if doing magic doesn't hurt then they probably don't need to leverage it as much. Still. They--do they even know about underblood?

[alicornucopia]

They don't call it that, but yes. Comes up discussing plant and animal breeding, the design of conception spells, identical twins, etcetera.

[powerispain]

What do they call it? And how much do they know about how it works?

[alicornucopia]

The Vansalese for it translates as "descent" and they had to figure out sex chromosomes for conception spells (apparently lesbians can only have girls) and have a solid grasp of simpler inheritance rules where they apply.

[powerispain]

She should ask the wizards if they think anyone would be interested in having science imported. Although probably the physics people would have to kind of start over here.

[alicornucopia]

Probably, what with the whole "gravity's not a thing" thing.

[powerispain]

What the hell even causes down here.

[alicornucopia]

Magic!

[powerispain]

What kind of magic?

[alicornucopia]

Down magic! It is speculated that any sufficiently large flat surface will have a down at it.

[powerispain]

This is ridiculous and obviously requires thorough scientific testing.

[alicornucopia]

If she says so. The books have no comment.

[powerispain]

She decides to skim a few books on Corenta to see if there are any obnoxious social problems that would be more obvious to an outsider than to someone who grew up marinating in the stuff and head back to the wizard place.

[alicornucopia]

Corenta is great, say Corentan books on Corenta found in Corenta. Apparently some people like to rank countries by their popularity with dragons, who will up and move if they think you're pulling shit; Corenta is in the top five by dragons per capita in spite of the presence of a shren house.

[powerispain]

"In spite of." That sounds promising as a potentially problematic social institution. What's a shren house?

[alicornucopia]

It is a house where there are shrens whose parents did not opt to raise them. Some dragons keep their shrens but it's not very popular.

[powerispain]

...And what is a shren that makes them so popular for abandonment?

[alicornucopia]

It's mostly like a dragon, except horrifyingly diseased. The condition makes them unable to fly, which is very painful until they're twenty.

[powerispain]

So it's a disabled dragon with horrifying social stigma attached. Why is this painful until they're twenty.

[alicornucopia]

Dragons have to fly, and can't shapeshift until then.

[powerispain]

Fuck's sake. And it just--argh.

She's going to go back to the wizard place now and possibly ask why nobody's done anything about this yet.

[alicornucopia]

...well, there's no cure for it, they explain, when somebody who knows what a shren even is hears the conversation.

[powerispain]

Okay, but if doing magic here doesn't hurt why don't they do anesthesia?