Something Grittier Im Working On.

Something grittier I’m working on. 

For FR questions, 19, 22, 46, 49, and 73? Sorry if this is a lot, I'm really interested in your dragons ': D

:D You kidding? I love these! It may take a while to write these up, but they certainly are fun to do so! 

19. Exalting is, at least how I see it, usually an individual decision to go serve the Lightweaver. Those who decide to serve are celebrated during the yearly Brightshine Jubilee, which doubles as both a celebration of the flight and a tearful farewell party to those to-be exalted. The names of those who have gone to serve are carved into a memorial structure called The Obelisk, which resides in the center of the kingdom square.  Some years there are none, while during others there are up to four or more dragons celebrated for taking up the mantle.

22. Hatchlings are definitely looked after by their parents, however for their first 14 years they are required to attend classes on a variety of fundamental subjects. This includes subjects such as literature, elemental studies, smithing, history, ethics, and etiquette. Usually a hatchling will begin to specialize after their 14 years as an apprentice, and while this is both encouraged and common, it is not mandatory at all.

46. Ah! I do have a permababy! She’s named after a a subspecies I’m creating called ‘False Idols’. The scrolls of eternal youth are, I assume, enchanted with some very-difficult-to-cast magics, and are very expensive. False Idol hasn’t used this scroll in the lore, as she as born from greed and eats gold. She’s basically a lair gremlin.

49.Roles are not necessarily assigned, but because there are subclans within the kingdom (based  off of the families of their knight ancestors, who differed in coloring) they are born into different groups with  unique cultures and history. For example, Obsidian subclan Talosians have a history of being renowned warriors, assassins, and herbalists. Cerulean Subclan Talosians have a deep affinity for hunting, crafting, and music-making. And yet still, while each subclan passes down their knowledge to the next generations, each dragon is free to choose their role in the kingdom.

73. Oh, I know JUST the pair. Here we have Aurazane and Varian, two princes of the Ivory and Cerulean subclans respectively. They HATE eachother.

Little bit of context here...So three generations ago, while out on a great expedition, the Cerulean sub-clan had accidentally angered an extremely powerful plague spirit by walking on their hallowed grounds. The leader of the Ceruleans at the time was about to be cursed for his transgressions, but both he and his party(it was really just the leader) sold out the remaining subclans to avoid being cursed. The leader told his clan not to breathe a word to anyone. When they returned, however, the curse was in full effect. Dragons at random would fall ill with fever, only to burst into flames and suffer a burning death days later. One of the cerulean’s spilled the beans, which prompted a policy where, until the curse was broken three generations later, Cerulean dragons would serve as hunters solely to feed their ill-struck sister-clans. 

So, now we’re on the third generation.

Aurazane’s mother and younger brother were both victims of this curse(which was rather rare as the curse was dying out) and he was unfortunate enough to witness this as a young dragon. He unfairly and absolutely blames the ceruleans for his own suffering, taking it out on Varian in their rivalry. 

Varian, on the other hand, sees Aurazane as a huge douche(because he kind of is). He tries very hard to bring back the recognition he knows his clan deserves, and being the final generation, he has alot of pressure to be a better leader than his ancestors. Aurazane REALLY aggravates things by constantly putting him and his clan down. I do have a fanfic idea, where it’s the classic “they have to work together and slowly understand eachother” shtick. 

(Also I know Varian is F pose...but I just really think it fits his design. He’s canonically a femboy)

yesssss more of this

clan concept: a shadow clan made of any sort of dragon you can imagine, all tending to a mushroom farm. they’re so in tune with their crops that they universally sprout little clusters of mushrooms on themselves, too. it isn’t revealed to visitors that the dragons themselves have lost themselves long ago, walking hosts for the cordyceps that their bodies now tend to. 

In a lot of cases, primal eyes are seen as a rare blessing, but I imagine it would be a curse in a lot of ways, too.

Say you’re a shadow primal.  Your eyes never stop dripping; the ichor gets everywhere, staining your clothes and making your floors slick.  You spend all day cleaning, and it still isn’t enough.  You wake up in a puddle of purple sludge every morning–that is, if you ever sleep.  Sometimes, the magic makes it hard for you to even shut your eyes.

Say you’re a fire primal.  Your eyes burn anything–and anyone–that gets too close to you.  You live in a house of the strongest stone, because every piece of wood or paper or cloth you’ve ever tried to own has burnt at some point or another.  Char marks trail across the ceiling; the air smells like smoke.  Your tears are almost hotter than lava, and they can burn holes in anything–even stone, as you know too well.  The floor is littered in pockmarks.  You have no comfort.

Say you’re a light primal.  You cannot see; how can the sunlight possibly enter your eyes?  You cannot enjoy the radiant beauty of your goddess; the only thing you can see are shadows.  And how quickly do they disappear when you approach?  You hold everything at a distance.

Say you’re a water primal.  It didn’t seem so bad at first; it’s only water, after all!  But water flows even faster than a shadow primal’s sludge, and can fill a space quite assuredly.  You sleep in lakes to avoid flooding your den; you read from stone tablets because any book or scroll you grab is soaked the moment you touch it, the ink bleeding freely.  You scream half-seen bits of prophecies whenever you dream, even now.  The Tidelord has forgotten everyone, it seems, but somehow, he hasn’t forgotten you.  It was his blessing, after all.

Say you’re an arcane primal.  The runes on your face were never natural; no part of you really is.  They burned themselves into your scales, a unique pattern of pain that never really stops–because you’re exuding magic every moment.  All around you, strange things happen.  Nonsensical runes line the walls of your cave, glowing ethereally and taunting you with their vagueness.  Crystals form where you least expect them; any time you turn around, you can be certain to find a fuzzy swath of them.  Items float when you look at them, sometimes.  You’ve broken more glassware than you could ever dream of counting.

Say you’re a lightning primal.  Your eyes snap and spark, lashing out at the world.  Your clan knows well to keep you away from the circuitry; one wrong look could fry a whole grid of lights.  You have no control over the bolts that dance around your eyes, and they strike on their own pleasure.  And they hurt–not you, but others.  It takes a sturdy dragon to keep your company, or a suit of rubber.  And you know well just how difficult electrical fires are to quench.

Say you’re a nature primal.  Of the batch, you seem quite tame, but to have a living thing embedded in your face is no easy task.  It needs water and sun and careful tending; it drinks your blood and tears, and you can feel when it’s failing to thrive.  Every fallen petal hurts like a blow to the gut, a little more of your power drifting away out of exhausted negligence.  Gladekeeper forbid if you were to ever let it wilt.  Roots drift in your veins, and flowers bloom at your every step–sometimes tethering you in place.

Say you’re an earth primal.  Your danger doesn’t come from within; rather, from without.  Precious gems encircle your eyes; your tears are diamonds and sapphires and other precious stones.  You’ve been hurt so many times for nothing but profit; so many friends have ulterior motives.  All the Earthshaker ever wanted was to bring his children together, but this was not the way to do it.  You have a hard heart and a skeptical eye, now; you cannot trust.

Say you’re an ice primal.  The snowflakes around your eyes never really melt; they flutter and fall and freeze holes wherever they like.  It takes strong concentration to keep them in place, to keep them from doing harm–either to the world you inhabit or the creatures around you.  Often, they dance around your eyes and obscure your vision.  Your touch leaves frost, even in the heart of the Ashfall Waste.  You are paranoid.

Say you’re a wind primal.  The breeze follows you wherever you go; its gusty presence is felt whenever you enter the room.  One wrong thought could send a dragon sprawling; a fit of anger could fell a forest.  You can feel yourself becoming deaf, the wind’s constant howls wearing slowly at your ears.

Say you’re a plague primal.  You cannot blink; your dozen eyes are ever open, the blobby scar tissue on your face refusing to shut over them.  Outside the humidity of the Wasteland, they become terribly dry; it hurts to be out in the sun.  Disease follows you, striking when you least expect it.  You are immune, but your companions are not.  Too often, you can do nothing to help.

-

Just an idea I had.  I imagine that magic helps in many cases, but some of these things are quite impractical, no?  Feel free to use these as lore prompts if you’d like, or add on to them with your own thoughts.  I’d love to see!

FR questions 12, 21, 25, 33, 38, and 41? Also your FR art is really making me want to put out some sketches I've done with my dragons : D

Ah, time to consult a few clan historians~

12. The Talosian Kingdom is very, very isolated, and thus has little interaction with most beast clans(and even neighboring dragon clans). What they lack in variety they make up for in their strong relations with a neighboring Harpy flock, which they trade both products and information with quite often. Mismallo, an informant, is very fond of harpies and feels more of a connection when talking and listening to their stories. Harpy feathers, claws, eggshells, and spun cloth are popular, in-demand raw materials for the average crafty Talos citizen.

21. My clan’s healers are mainly Orca Subclan dragons, their leader, Orkrist,  being renowned for her contributions to their field of medicine. She’s currently working closely with sorcerers to figure out more about magical maladies.

25. Cooks? Everyone cooks! It’s not a question on who cooks, but who hunts the game, gathers the plants, dries the herbs, and picks the fruit. These tasks have been delegated to the Cerulean subclan as payment for inflicting their sister subclans with a harrowing ancestral curse. This policy ends after the third generation, and grows more lenient as the curse dies out. As for distribution, food can be bought directly from these subclans OR can be bought from a few local merchants, such as Nulii.{ His bio }has an entire food shop with items separated by the ranks of the hunters who gathered them!

33. Do they have any beastclan members? No. If one would want to move in, they would be dubbed ‘Honorary Dragon’, and probably be fawned over for being fashionably new, exciting, or just plain cool. They’d have their life cut out for them, honestly!

38. There is an entire judicial system in place for a kingdom as large as it is. Subclans do control their own internal laws, but the Elite Council makes decisions for law that binds all subclans. Think state rights vs federal, if that makes sense. If minor laws are broken, usually something along the line of years worth of community service, fines, and re-education on codes of ethics are used to help rehabilitate and discourage the behavior. There aren’t a whole lot of crimes committed anyways, but for the really rare, major ones, there resides an Onyx prison...

41. Talosians are not bias towards breeds of dragons, but they both LOOOVE the light flight and absolutely ABHOR the plague flight(sorry plague flight fans, ik you guys are the bad guys so much, I swear I actually really love plague lore!) This is due to two separate incidents including the plague flight. These are:

One, the aforementioned ancestral curse cast by a plague spirit. This resulted in the traumatic deaths of countless loved ones and a rather decisive policy of semi-servitude lasting over the span of three generations.

and Two, a kidnapping incident involving Talosian hatchlings. They were unfortunately eaten and turned into pelts by a band of dragons who were, coincidentally, plague flight. 

This has left about 400 years of bad taste in their mouths for plague flight dragons, but then again, they are rather isolated from seeing dragons from any flight too often. They really should get out more.

You totally should post some dragon sketches, that would be awesome ^^ if it’s digital just make sure to save! This...this happens alot...the risk is too great to bear another loss to this:

~Thanks for these tasty tasty lore questions~