D&D General why brass and bronze dragons?

[RavinRay]

Print media uses CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (can't remember why black is K).

B is already use for Blue.

As for the bronze and brass dragons? My take: they are known for centuries, so it's easy to fit them in a fantasy setting that has a similar metallurgy history. Also, while a somewhat weaker case than for chromatic dragons, the five metallic dragons are also color-coded, but with a metallic luster to their scales: gold (metallic yellow), silver (metallic white), bronze (metallic brown), copper (metallic red) and brass (metallic pale yellow).

 

[Charlaquin]

A side note...

Of interest, did you know blue may not have always existed...

In that light, I wonder how RGB works...

There's evidence Humans didn't actually see blue until modern times

Eh, this is a pretty dubious notion. Just because people may not have had a word for a given color, doesn’t mean they couldn’t perceive that color. We all have the same ocular anatomy and can recognize the same spectrum of colors (except those of us who have some form of color blindness, or the rare few with a fourth type of cone cell). It isn’t that people couldn’t differentiate blue from green (or whatever other color) because they didn’t have a word for it. It’s that they didn’t have a word for it because it wasn’t something they had much need to identify specifically, and they could not easily pick it out next to other colors for the same reason.

 

[Charlaquin]

B is already use for Blue.

…in cyan, magenta, yellow, black?

The K in CMYK stands for “Key,” which goes back to the printing press where the “Key Plate” was the plate with the most detail, based on which other plates were aligned or “keyed”. In modern printing, there are no plates and the key color doesn’t actually have to be black, it just has to be the darkest color used. But, K is used to denote black ink, mostly out of tradition and because it is typically the key color, and is always the key color when it’s used.

 

[dave2008]

A side note...

Of interest, did you know blue may not have always existed...

In that light, I wonder how RGB works...

There's evidence Humans didn't actually see blue until modern times

Interesting article, but that is the wrong conclusion (assuming the article is accurate). The correct conclusion is that blue existed, but we may not have always been able to see it or differentiate from other colors. However, the article does note that Egyptians had words for blue and produced blue dyes. So the concept and appreciation of the blue has been around for thousands of years at least. It is possible that groups couldn't see it as distinct from green, or simply didn't have a word for it. The limited research in the article is hardly conclusive.

 

[dave2008]

…in cyan, magenta, yellow, black?

The K in CMYK stands for “Key,” which goes back to the printing press where the “Key Plate” was the plate with the most detail, based on which other plates were aligned or “keyed”. In modern printing, there are no plates and the key color doesn’t actually have to be black, it just has to be the darkest color used. But, K is used to denote black ink, mostly out of tradition and because it is typically the key color, and is always the key color when it’s used.

Thank you! I couldn't remember what the K stood for.

 

[dave2008]

B is already use for Blue.

As for the bronze and brass dragons? My take: they are known for centuries, so it's easy to fit them in a fantasy setting that has a similar metallurgy history. Also, while a somewhat weaker case than for chromatic dragons, the five metallic dragons are also color-coded, but with a metallic luster to their scales: gold (metallic yellow), silver (metallic white), bronze (metallic brown), copper (metallic red) and brass (metallic pale yellow).

as already noted, there is no blue in CMYK!

 

[Aldarc]

One possibility worth considering is the idea that the Chromatic and Metallic dragons have not always had their current line-up throughout history. What happened to tin and lead dragons? They were corrupted by Tiamat into White and Black dragons? What happened to Yellow and Orange dragons? They were redeemed by Bahamut into Bronze and Brass dragons, so they reflect alloys. There you go.

 

[RavinRay]

as already noted, there is no blue in CMYK!

I know, but RGB and CMYK are often mentioned in the same sentence. It's not the official reason for K rather than B, but it's used anyway.

 

[dave2008]

I know, but RGB and CMYK are often mentioned in the same sentence. It's not the official reason for K rather than B, but it's used anyway.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. The is a very specific reason for K (as noted post #83).

 

[RavinRay]

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. The is a very specific reason for K (as noted post #83).

Yes I read that. I was referring to a popular belief that since B can't be used for Black since it is used for Blue in RGB, K is used for Black in CMYK because it is the last letter of blacK.