Demo update
What's new?
The public demo has just been updated with the first half of chapter 5. Elaine and her family have arrived in Lothia in preparation for her upcoming wedding to Gareth. The engagement has taken the castle by storm. Lot is dead set on the engagement while Morgana vehemently opposes it. Explore the aftermath of chapter 4's shocking revelations while navigating the rising tensions, and find some time for your day to day life. Meet Elaine - make a friend or fall in love however inadvisable - deal with Lot, prepare for the wedding and make time for your history lessons.
Besides all that we have some changes made to earlier chapters:
- Reworked Nimue's conversation in chapter 1. Added a new dialogue option
- Morgana's first POV in chapter 3, confronting Arthur has been polished and expanded a bit
Changes have been made to chapter 4 to reflect that Mordred also keeps in touch with Guinevere if they're close to Arthur (she is not present at the birthday party but she is mentioned in correspondence) - Some changes have been made to dragon lore: all dragons are now referred to with they/them pronouns and gender neutral terms
So, what are the lore changes? Dragons don't have the same concept of gender as humans do. They have no sexual dimorphism, which is now a newly introduced fact, but it's one I don't think I ever mentioned before. The way dragons reproduce is pretty similar to birds. There are some dragons who lay eggs, and some dragons who fertilize them, but it's didn't lead to them classifying themselves on that binary. So, all dragons are referred to by they/them pronouns and gender-neutral terms in the story now (and if you see otherwise, it's because I missed that part and I ask you kindly to let me know about it!) I've tried to go through all instances and replace the uses of other pronouns, but there's still some editing and polishing that needs to be done.
A second change that I've been meaning to add: the names of the dragons that we see in the text are their "human names": a lot of dragons and humans have taken to choosing a second name that would be easier for the other party to use. There's a mention of it when you meet your dragon companion. Their actual name in their language isn't written out, but it's described similar to how I describe a dragon's speech in other instances. Note that Mordred doesn't introduce themselves by a "dragon name" there; it'll be included later.
Enjoy the update!
Files
The Bastard of Camelot
A high fantasy drama based on Arthurian legends
| Status | In development |
| Author | Llamagirl |
| Genre | Interactive Fiction |
| Tags | arthurian, Dragons, drama, Fantasy, Magic, Queer, Romance |
More posts
- Demo and developtment updateAug 10, 2024
- Demo patch (bug fixes)Aug 01, 2023
- Merlin brings you an exciting vision of the future!Jun 02, 2023
- Another bug fix! (and some tweaks)May 15, 2023
- Bug fixMay 07, 2023
- Demo updateMar 27, 2023
- Chapter 3 completeNov 22, 2022
- Another bug fixFeb 15, 2022
- Bug fixFeb 11, 2022
Comments
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please update i will literally go insane if i cant see gawaine ;-;
I like the story a great twist on the character and i want more of this plz
daily reminder that gender is a social construct that us humans created to explain our biological sexes, dragons dont have to follow that :333
also everyday i yearn for another update,,, llamagirl... save me llamagirl..
I accidentally deleted my comment and now I don't even know what it was about😅 lol
Love your writing as always
Was the change to dragon lore really necessary? I was quite happy having a male dragon with a brother like relationship with my Mordred. I was quite happy referring to him with male pronoun. Are the dragon hermaphrodites now? Do they change sex like some real world reptiles. I just don't get any reason for that change.
"There are some dragons who lay eggs, and some dragons who fertilize them."
So, there are still males and females, the author just isn't calling them that anymore.
I don't get it.
biology =/= binary
but thats how it works the fertilizing one is male the egg layer is female
I’m aware and I agree—that’s (usually) how biology works. However, it seems like the author’s reasoning for changing the dragon lore has more to do with animals and their perception of gender/gender binary—or lack thereof. (The author isn’t denying the existence of biological sexes—although, tbh if they wanted to they could, because it’s their *fictional* story.)
Animals don’t have a concept of gender or literally anything other than how the author describes it: “there are some dragons who lay eggs, and some dragons who fertilize them.” Animals don’t differentiate between the two sexes beyond how it’s said in the quote.
I’m sure there’s more that could be discussed regarding the perceived level of the dragons’ intelligence, but those are unnecessarily complicated anthropological concepts, and it’s also ultimately up to whoever is creating the lore.
Reproduction is a foundational element of life. It is inconceivable that any sexed species, nevermind an intelligent sexed species, could evolve without developing an awareness and concept of a biological phenomenon that is integral to sexual reproduction: that individuals come in two types with differing roles, one of each being necessary. This need not imply anything else: things like grammatical gender and gendered behavioral norms need not necessarily follow from sexual differentiation. But they would surely be aware of such differentiation and have a vocabulary to describe it.
It feels like the author decided they wanted a non-binary species for political reasons without considering what that actually means. They could have created a species where biological sex simply does not matter beyond the rudiments of sexual reproduction. Members of such a species would not self-identify as non-binary: they would self-identify as male or female and barely give the matter further thought. Self-identifying as non-binary is a conscious denial that the binary applies to you, which would be insane if referencing biology; it only makes sense as a rejection of something else, namely, norms associated with a person's sex. An entire species would self-identify as non-binary only if they first developed gendered norms, then chose as an entire species to deny those norms, and were still living in the shadow of that denial. I should like an explanation of how such an event came to pass, although I doubt anyone could create one that I'd find plausible.
Of course, I doubt that was really the author's intent; they probably just wanted a species without gender norms. It is ironic that they chose to do so by making it "non-binary," as that very concept implies said norms and therefore perpetuates the species' subjugation to what the author was trying to eliminate.
Sadly there is no reason which why a lot of amazing stories get ruined nowadays because of the whole "inclusion" thing going on. Don't get me wrong I think having different cultures, ethnicities or genders is great BUT it has to be done right and not just have it for the sake of "inclusion".
Out of all possible changes to the lore, this one was the most unnecessary. Clearly done for one reason only.
Guys, gender is a social construct that humans made up. It includes expected behaviors of someone due to what category their genitals happens to fall under, but it's solely a human thing. Dragons aren't humans, so it makes sense that they wouldn't have a concept of gender. It's not a "woke" idealist thing, the author is just trying to make it more accurate instead of projecting human ideals onto what is basically just a sentient lizard. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. If you want to headcanon a gender for your dragon, that's totally fine. No one is stopping you. Yes, they still are males and females, because those are sexes, not genders. In the grand scheme of things, this is the author's own take on Arthurian myth, and if they want to make this lore change, they can, because it's their story. And it's not "overly inclusive" to acknowledge the fact that winged lizards don't have any concept of gender. It might not be necessary, but then again, neither is imagining yourself interacting with centuries old fictional characters, and I don't see anyone complaining about that.
EDIT: Also keep up the great work Author!! This story is amazing and I can't wait to see where you go with it <3
HELL YEAH! I've loved this thing for a while and have been waiting to see an update, your writing and story is awesome and very sharp! Keep up the awesome work!
This update is worth to wait! It is so goooood! Never fails to lift my mood even though I cried because of this lol. I finally met Elaine and I was so shocked when I got to know that she is Gareth's fiancee lmao she was the one I'm keeping my eyes on since the first time I read this, but of course, I still chose her and complicate things lmao. I kinda miss Galahad tho... I felt fuzzy when I read the Chapter 5 lmao. I'm gonna complicate their wedding lmao I'm so sorry for Gareth's though but since it's Mordred's life, of course, I'm going to complicate his life once again by choosing a complicated love (I love Elaine, so no matter what happens, I'll choose her lmao sorry Mordred and Gareth >.<)
I really love you, author! I will patiently wait for another update again, so please, have a good and happy life and don't forget to rest too! Merry Christmas too even though it's still not Christmas lol.
Caught some stuff! When we meet Gareth for the first time and he mentions Rum, he uses he/him pronouns for them and when meeting our dragon for the first time, we use 'his' for Scaly at one point.
caught something: since dragons are now they/them, when we meet our dragon for the first time, some of the verbiage is off (like “They thinks -“ instead of “They think -“). I accidentally closed the browser so I can’t remember the exact instance.
YAYY
Yes! I've been waiting for this. 😁