On Sat, 26 Oct 1996, Cynewulf wrote:

	You know, that makes me wonder... _why_ is dragon's blood 
infinitely more powerful that a human's?  It's a tradition, sure, but I 
don't buy it.  I see no reason why human blood, in a fantasy sense, 
should be as powerful, if not more so, than some overgrown flying lizard's.

I believe it is because asian dragons are thought to be creatures of 
incredible wisdom and power.  Wisdom and power that exceeds all human 
levels, including Cologne's.

	Guess I can buy that... I've just had a problem associating that 
with the fantasy-European dragons, and whatever qualities are associated 
with them.  Oriental dragons only bear a superficial resemblance to them 
anyway.  BTW, aren't oriental ones divine creatures or something, or 
spokecreatures for the gods?  I'm not too familiar with the myths... (and 
don't consider my AD&D Legends and Lore a terribly reliable source...)

As I understand it, asian dragons have varying statuses.  The lower level 
ones, if you can even call them that, are primarily elementalists.  The 
higher level ones are up in the diety range.  Heck, there is even a Dragon 
God, or king depending on how you translate the symbols.

I think dragons symbolize harmony.  This would fit with various martial 
arts that utilize the tiger and dragon symbols for 'strength' and 
'strength and wisdom' respectively.  In many chinese restaraunts, you may 
see a picture of a dragon paired with a phoenix.  It symbolizes harmony 
and longevity, ie peace and long life.

I can't think of anymore at the moment...


Phuc Tram                       *  AMS!  *  \    |          \       |  ---
songoku@CrystalTokyo.com        *  BGC   *   \   |       ____       |  ___
songoku@spu.edu                 *  R1/2  *  \  |-+--/       |      --- | |
                                *  MKRE  *   \   | /     -- |  /    /  |-|
******************************************       |        / | \    /|\ ___
* UW Anime Discovery Project *  DBZ LF   *   /  / |      /  |  \    |  |+|
******************************************  /  /   \_/     \/       |  |-|
* RG Veda * X * Dragon Ball * Fushigi Yuugi * Maison Ikkoku * Evangelion *