No, no, it's all very interesting. Part of the fun of fiction is stirring things up and see what you end up with. And I need to come up with what kind of martial arts might have attracted an Asian dragon five hundred years ago, when he didn't "fledge" and was on the run for his life. He made it to our era, so he did all right -- mostly because he was a magic-user before he didn't transform. That's why they tried to kill him -- wingless ones without magic were no threat. But a magic user? Not good.
Different book, there. Is there a book in English that would be useful for understanding the martial arts philosophy? Because I think it would have been behind a lot of what he used to shape his life. And why he would still try to help dragons by talking to the different groups, acting as a go-between, etc. I think he was more with the Japanese during the Shogunate, but he would have learned a couple of the Chinese dialects, in theory.
I figure he kept the religion of dragons, but he is familiar with human religions. The ones that convert or try to use their philosophy to keep others oppressed (like I believe Confucianism was once used by the nobles of one dynasty? That may be fiction, I got that suggestion from someones' novel and plan to check it out) would have annoyed him. Some of it, like certain tenets of Buddhism and pure Christianity, he would respect. (Even Islam -- he'd see it as something that stopped the tribes from trying to kill each other. The more radial forms would be just another place religion went wrong....) Of course he's part human, and his curiosity about humans has kept him interested.
We could have an excellent talk over sushi and sweet potato sake, if you were in my neighborhood. In the meantime, we got LJ!
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Different book, there. Is there a book in English that would be useful for understanding the martial arts philosophy? Because I think it would have been behind a lot of what he used to shape his life. And why he would still try to help dragons by talking to the different groups, acting as a go-between, etc. I think he was more with the Japanese during the Shogunate, but he would have learned a couple of the Chinese dialects, in theory.
I figure he kept the religion of dragons, but he is familiar with human religions. The ones that convert or try to use their philosophy to keep others oppressed (like I believe Confucianism was once used by the nobles of one dynasty? That may be fiction, I got that suggestion from someones' novel and plan to check it out) would have annoyed him. Some of it, like certain tenets of Buddhism and pure Christianity, he would respect. (Even Islam -- he'd see it as something that stopped the tribes from trying to kill each other. The more radial forms would be just another place religion went wrong....) Of course he's part human, and his curiosity about humans has kept him interested.
We could have an excellent talk over sushi and sweet potato sake, if you were in my neighborhood. In the meantime, we got LJ!