2022-10-10

The three sandwing lords

Introduction: this au heavily diverges from cannon in all world aspects. This can easily be turned into its own separate story. Species differ a lot from each other physically, culturally, historically and even language wise. Dragon societies are also heavily matriarchal with females having a lot more power in society than males. Sandwings in particular in this au are a lot like cassowaries where males incubate and raise hatchlings until adulthood while the mothers are typically absent from parenting unless they find a daughter strong enough to mentor. Male dragons are referred to as drakes.

(Blaze - Brashie) Brashie is the current leader of the Gilded hold and the valley of gold. Her hold specializes in riches, mainly exotic goods from other species. Rainforest plants and animals, icewing bone carvings, slain leviathans and sea beast and nightwing literature are some of the many items traded. The hold is valued both by royalty and criminals because of its very loose laws regarding trade. The selling and trading of dragons and eggs are not uncommon in the territory. Brashie has a lot more powerful lords as allies compared to the other lords because of her many trade contacts. Any lords who support Brashie are guaranteed riches and luxuries from exotic places. Though her rule is supported by many species most of her armies are made up of rainwings, sanwings, skywings and icewings. She joined the conflict last to combat both the tariffs on resources and to secure her trade partners as suppliers of soldiers. The drakes living there are also said to be the prettiest due to the easy access to decorated fabrics and powder pigments. Brashie is well known for her collection of trophies from animals she killed with her own claws from rainforest panthers to the giant bears of the tundra there is no creature she has not slain. She also keeps very elaborate gardens kept by rainwing servants.

(Blister - Blhisstii) Blhisstii is the current leader of the Ironweld hold and the five tongues river. She was the first lord to take the throne and restricted trade to bolster the holds metal production causing the other lords to create retaliatory tariffs and spiral into armed conflict. Currently Blhisstii's main allies are skywings, mudwings and seawings as they all have skills in mine work and searching for rare metals. While pre war the Ironweld hold was the pinnacle of invention it is now only used to invent new weaponry in the ongoing conflict though tools are still traded to other regions to gain income. Many regions heavily relied on the holds metal productions as places like the rainforest, sea kingdom and just generally low resource areas struggle with producing their own metals. This need of trade is one of the many reasons lords are aiding Blhisstiii's forces along with many holds in the territory being the most heavily defended places on the continent. Blhisstii always wears a metal mask to the point where even her consorts have never seen her real face. It is rumored that she has nightwing blood as her wings are shorter than the average sandwing but the rumors have never ben confirmed outright.

(Burn - Buarrn) Buarrn is the current ruler of the Crimson hold and the Oaisis river delta. Buarrn was the second lord to take throne after Blhisstii began to restrict steel trade routes. Buarrn's main goal in the current conflict is to restrict access to food across the other sandwings forces by heavily restricting trade to only her allies. The Owasiss delta that Buarrn rules is rich in fertile farmland and has been a key point of trade between other tribes and regions. Any lord that has an allegiance to Buarrn is allowed to partake in the riches from the delta and employment for their citizens. This sudden denial of trade to the other sandwing holds after her throning has resulted in a scramble to create new farmlands on home soil and trade with other regions. Almost all of Buarrns forces are well fed and are able to produce healthy offspring which as been a major reason for lords supporting Buarrn in the conflict. The starvation and desperation of Blhisstii's and Brashie's forces has resulted in a general distrust of their forces. Buarrn's battle tactics revolve heavily on restricting and destroying food sources. Many farmlands and farm towns deep in the the other lords territories have been either heavily burned or poisoned. Its a waiting game to see how far she can push the other lords until they submit to her rule but Buarrn is very patient.

Horse figure of the day: J. Anne Butler "Freedom"

ArtFight revenge of a shapeshifter - can be anything with some design restrictions. I enjoyed drawing this, wanted to go for a little more bat-y dragon type

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

A female cougar (Puma concolor) in Torres del Paine, Chile

by Helene Hoffman

Random bee behavior fact for those who wish to read, just because I feel like it and because it’s late and I’m stalling on sleeping:

Bumblebees look like passive, cuddly, and docile creatures; and they generally are- but they won’t hesitate to defend themselves if they feel their warnings aren’t being seen!

I.e. below, when a bumblebee feels threatened they will raise one or more of their legs into the air, signaling to whatever or whomever may be bothering them as a message essentiality saying: “hey, back off, too close!”

species: top, bombus pascuorum / bottom, bombus impatiens

If their defensive posture goes unnoticed or ignored, they may be pushed into defending themselves by stinging (which is an all around sucky experience for not only you, but also for the bee. (Note that bumblebees do not die after stinging, but it is still stressful for them.) If you ever find yourself getting close to a bumblebee while taking pictures, trying to move them, or just admiring them, remember this posture! If they do this, it is simply asking you to take a step back because it feels it is being threatened! You might get stung.

Now you can understand and use this knowledge to your advantage if you ever come across one in the future. (Of course, because it’s very hard not to anthropomorphize animals, I do admit that they look cute when doing it. Just remember to respect their space!)

Official back off post! 🐝

please take my super specific post-999 scenarios, thank u

accidentally uploaded to the wrong place cause I'm an IDIOT sandwich

Fish resemblance

screenshot redraw (slightly altered by mixing frames where Gordon is pointing and stuff to fit the vision)

original screenshot under cut:

Horse life 2?

Wanted to try drawing a juvenile and adult version of the same dragon. Enjoy a majestic skydancer who was quite scrungly as a chick

my chud son