Need brainstorming help. Dragon stuff...

Fenika · Oct 18, 2007

Okay, my dragons in my novel have the whole mind link thing going on. Part of that is a constant background noise (Like being in a busy town square or the middle of a bee hive). This 'collective' plays a very important role in my novel. It has some significance when the King dragon can no longer hear it, and when my MC (human) starts to (and later on of course).

So what can I call these background voices, aside from the collective, which sounds like a bee hive

Further thoughts- they are like a constant stream of info. Very comforting to a dragon, and important for the King as he can measure his pack by it. Of course, a dragon who seeks privacy can block it out, but most choose not to and just talk over it. Dragons can speak outloud, with their own gutteral language, just not when my book takes place, as they are trapped in stone (add eerie music here)

Okay, help me out here folks. I know someone out there can think of something that won't make my readers think bees.

Cheers,
Christina

MidnightMuse · Oct 18, 2007

Kinda like McCafferey's dragons? Using a mental connection to speak with each other? I'd avoid Collective - mostly because I think that's what the Borg used. Then there was that one . . . dang . . . A Gene Roddenberry thing - - kinda silly . . . well, since it was silly and I can't remember what they called their mental hive sharing thingie, we'll avoid that one.

You could simplify it and refer to it as the Group or the Pack. That has a better sound that Hive - which brings to mind the bees you mentioned. :Shrug:

Fenika · Oct 18, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Kinda like McCafferey's dragons? Using a mental connection to speak with each other?

Um, maybe? I never did pick up any of her work and am afraid to now lest it sway me in my world building.

But yes, mental connection, telepathy, whatever you call it... borg-ness (did the borg share a 'mind link' of sorts?!)

The problem is, after looking through all sorts of 'herd' names I settled on Pack (rather than flock- too fluffy) for my dragons as a whole (the King refers to them this way in the opening). So the voices can't be a pack or any type of 'herd', cuz thats what they are physically.

I think I wrote myself into a corner

MidnightMuse · Oct 18, 2007

Hmm . . . don't worry, in writing there are no corners, only angles, tilts, the occasional steep climb and a couple of half-filled potholes. Give it time, and more suggestions will come in

And I'll give it more thought, too!

edgyllama · Oct 18, 2007

There is a nothing wrong with a collective conscious. You do all sorts of neat things with it. You could, for instance, make it only among the dragon's leaders; they share thoughts and feelings and lesser dragons can tap into it for advice, commands, etc.

Of course the higher ups can send messages as well.

You could do a mind link in a indirect way thus:

Dragon A: Your Majesty, could you tell Dragon B he ate the last good deer in the forest?

King: Dragon B, stop poaching from Dragon A's forest. We've discussed this before.

MidnightMuse · Oct 18, 2007

Unless I'm misreading the question - I believe she's only looking for something to call this collective. Something other than Collective or Hive. Just brainstorming ideas for a good, descriptive name or title.

I'm still mulling it over!

Perle_Rare · Oct 18, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Then there was that one . . . dang . . . A Gene Roddenberry thing - - kinda silly . . . well, since it was silly and I can't remember what they called their mental hive sharing thingie, we'll avoid that one.

Would that be the Vulcan "mindmeld"?

If you like the concept of "meld", you might need to match it up with a different word that hasn't been used before. Something specific to dragons, possibly. "Dragonmeld"?

Hope that triggers some alternate ideas in your mind. Best of luck finding the word that's right for you!

Richard White · Oct 18, 2007

The Borg were members of the "Collective".

MidnightMuse · Oct 18, 2007

What about Cluster? Not to be confused with Cloister

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 18, 2007

How about calling it:
The Hiss
The Hum
or something that brings the term "white noise" to mind?

Dragonstatic
ThoughtHiss

Sassee · Oct 18, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
How about calling it:
The Hiss
The Hum
or something that brings the term "white noise" to mind?

Dragonstatic
ThoughtHiss

I like "The Hiss"

badducky · Oct 18, 2007

I suggest opening a spreadsheet, or a word document or something to that effect, then listing out all the words you can think of - with the assistance of a thesaurus, of course - that might be a good answer.

Then, go down the list and cross out things you think are too bug-like, or too common.

Then, pick one or all out of whatever is left.

edgyllama · Oct 18, 2007

I like "The Hiss"

Sunkissed27f · Oct 18, 2007

Aggragation(aggragate: taking all units as a whole)

Not a word really..

Kropf:Old High German word meaning group

Other words relating:
sundries
clan
brigade
covey
rubric

Fenika · Oct 18, 2007

Oooooo, I like some of these.
*Starts jotting notes madly in my names file*

Badducky- I have something like what you describe, but thanks for the idea! That will help me with other name-ings as well

(Gosh I have too many things/people to name!)

Carry on!

Cheers,
Christina

MidnightMuse · Oct 18, 2007

Don't ya just love a good brain storm?

badducky · Oct 18, 2007

The day when god created all the beasts of the air and the sea, this included the mighty velociraptors and tyranossaurus rex and the brontosaurus and the stegosaurus...

none, alas, had the vocabulary to survive in the modern age of information.

The mightiest of the saurians - also the smallest in size, though the widest in vocabulary - was aptly dubbed the "THE-Saurus" for it was clearly the pinnacle of saurian creation.

To this day, it's mighty bellicose belching of profuse verbage can be found on bookshelves and hiding inside the computer screens.

Also it was known to have a psychic link with dragons.

FennelGiraffe · Oct 18, 2007

the buzz
the hum
the drone
the worldmind
the worldspeech
the crowdnoise
the worldvoice
the network
the channels
the chatter
the palaver
the draconium (dragon + pandemonium)
the dracophony (dragon + cacophony)

Shades of Humanity · Oct 18, 2007

I was starting to think in terms of a stream, a current, a flow of ideas that comforted him like the babble of a brook in the background.

Gray Rose · Oct 18, 2007

Unity
Murmur

or maybe

The Grapevine

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 18, 2007

You know, my son was playing Halo and there is this group of aliens that turn everyone into these zombies and they are called "The Flood."

And I thought to myself, "Self (that's me), The Flood actually sounds cool for a name that suggests lots of thoughts coming at you at once."

WittyandorIronic · Oct 18, 2007

I gotta say I am a big fan of
The Murmur - Gray Rose
The Hum and Dragonstatic - The Ferret

Those were pretty good. You could also play off your "Pack" and have it called something like
The Pack Hum
The Pack Stream
Or Dratter (dragon + chatter) which could end up being silly.

Ravenlocks · Oct 18, 2007

My suggestion was going to be "the pack unconscious," but I really like "the drone," which somebody listed above.

Pthom · Oct 18, 2007

The stream. Then an 'eddy in the stream' would mean a small pocket of thought available to those few who create it?

Hummingbird · Oct 18, 2007

Presence.
Dragon Presence.
Since they are linked, maybe it would be like feeling each others constant presence?

I like 'The Hiss' and 'The Stream'

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