They are the darkness of the ocean floor. The loneliness of the open depths. The whirlpool left in the wake of the Tidelord's departure. You listened - hoped for guidance, but they are the silence you received.

And the silence is angry.

While I do enjoy that the writers for the lore decided to take a more familial approach to the deities as having them as siblings - I find a lot of issues in how certain aspects of the lore are set up. As a note before I start my spiel — this is not in defense of any incest shipping or irl incest or whatever, I for one am not personally invested in the lore to care enough about what people do with these characters off-site, it’s just not my problem at that point; but, I will say I don’t personally care for the incest shipping or shipping the deities because I’m not as invested in their individual characters to seek enjoyment of that and the implication of incest is yes - a deterrent to me. This “rant” isn’t against any group of people it’s just me observing the personal issues I have with the lore using my skills in narrative, mythological, and metaphorical literacy (which isn’t a college degree level or anything it’s just my basic understanding of literature). That being said; I agree with this needing to stay offsite for the reason alone that things will get extremely hostile fast with this sort of stuff, and as creators of the site, if they feel uncomfortable with certain things on their site are allowed to keep it off site - if you like this you can still create and view content of them OFF site. While maybe not the best solution it’s better than the amount of vitriol this would spew from both sides of the argument. That being said, nerd time.

So from the beginning we can infer a very sibling esc relationship with the first four - not only is it heavily implied through the very beginning of their stories, but (though I wouldn’t blame or belittle anyone for not seeing it or interpreting it this way) when the Deities bicker about what should be done with their new planet, reminiscent of sibling rivalry. To quickly draw our attention back to the very start, you could infer their relation to eachother from their overall creation; all four Gods are borne of magic imbibed within Sorneith, the magic within the planet or celestial body itself being the Parent in this case to the four. In many mythologies this metaphorical “birth” of primordial beings in its most basic attributes is common; from chaos or nothingness comes forth the first major Gods, deities, spirits, etc. and often in these cases, if multiple are born at this point they are counted as each others siblings because they share the same creator. Now that we’ve got that settled, this is generally where the problem begins.

After the Deities begin to scuffle between eachother, two other Draconic beings are directly formed from each pairs elements combining, the Icewarden and Stormcatcher are born from the pairs of siblings — but they are simply referred to as their siblings too. Now, this doesn’t make sense to me, and while I can generally argue that the other gods after this point are a lot more vague as to their creation and thus their relationship with the four, Icewarden and Stormcatcher aren’t; they have, in some form, parents due to how the story has them come to be as more of a direct outcome of two individuals interactions with each other.

Generally, in mythology, and in modern media as well, when an individual or more creates something they are assigned a paternal role, while their creation is their offspring. We modernly do this with inanimate objects, concepts, etc. and in ancient times this was no different, for example, in Egyptian mythology Ra created Sekhmet from his severed eye and she is thus referred to as one of his children. While their creation is not typical, a similar relationship of parent and child is given to them, even when said “child” isn’t humanoid or even alive. So when I read this even if they are canonically siblings — it just doesn’t read that way. It reads like Tidelord and Windsinger are fathering the Stormcatcher into existence due to how the story places them specifically as responsible for the birth of this new Deity, the same going for the Earthshaker and Flamecaller with the creation of the Icewarden. This isn’t necessarily a bad or even uncommon thing though - specifically from a purely mythological standpoint, may I emphasize, because commonly, we can see this throughout many different myths - especially the creation myth.

To use Greek mythology this time, within the Hesiod version of the myth, Chaos is the first being to exist and they do so in complete obscurity until they form Nyx, the goddess of darkness from the shadows all around them. Afterwards, Chaos and Nyx, parent and daughter, create Erebus, and Nyx and Erebus, mother and son, take each other as husband and wife and bring forth Aether and Hemera. Technically, we can argue that Nyx is not genetically related to Chaos, they did not literally birth her, her creation is spoken of as a more literal action of them forming her like a sculpture, but that does not remove them as her parent and this is done afterwards in many other myths with the resulting Gods still being seen as their creator’s child. So, to me, no matter how you choose to view it, or the story attempts to direct you towards another outcome, the story overall implies that Wind and Tide fathered Storm (goes for earth flame and ice too I just got lazy) since these concepts do not exist within a vacuum, and it might be more so due to the focus on Wind and Tide than the elements at hand. How the story is told puts too much emphasis on them being Storms ultimate creators when it is implied slightly at the beginning that technically; this magic was always out there in existence, it’s just that it needed a push to be awakened. An easy solution to this is simply adding an easier “parent” or source to all of the deities which seems to be Sorneiths essence(?) as it is, I feel like if they downplayed or didn’t emphasize the first four’s hands in the creation of storm and ice, people would be less likely to make the connection of that being their parents - because even though the incest may be uncomfortable, to me what is more bothersome (as someone who has no life) is how the story and writers insist sibling-hood when that’s not discernible outside of the insistence.

I also have an overall issue with how the deities interact with one another seeming generally either reductive of siblinghood or ignorant of it, while when deities do interact like siblings occasionally it is very engaging. I love the Earthshaker in personality when it comes to all the deities, but I honestly perceive his role as paternal more so than sibling esc, and honestly it might solve the overall issue? But even then I feel like that’s more headcanon-y than it is an actual solution. I feel like the deities need either more interaction as siblings or their relationships with eachother should be further explained - tell us what siblinghood means to them on some level, because while the Plaguebringer and Gladekeeper are more obviously siblings out of all the eleven, it’s mainly cause we get to seem the interact in a way that is familiar. If how they behave is alien to us, the viewers, it should be at least somewhat explained what sibling relationships or titles mean to them — lore wise it would even translate as to how dragons might view eachother day to day. Like, the deities could’ve been made from the same source, but due to them being inhuman and not thinking on our terms, they thought absolutely nothing of it and didn’t care what it might imply - that’s a possible way to view this, but the source material does directly tell us they are related at the very least via the same “creator”. I just think that if they want to better solidify this sibling bond they should alter how ice and storm are born because it conflicts with what they’re telling us, and I do like the sibling angle a lot because of how funny it is that the deities are all just having a really shitty family get together — only a few of them stay in contact with eachother and at least four of them actually wanna kill eachother. Earthshaker just wants his family to get along for long enough to actually set up the silverware for the love of god - as a concept it’s great, but it has problems in its execution that can be easily repaired and I hope these specific issues are if they ever edit or revamp the lore. It just sticks out to me in a way that breaks some of the immersion is all. With that said, my stupidly long rant about digital dragons is over and I’m sorry to anyone who had to read this before actually sending it out there — this has been sitting in the back of my head for two weeks through sickness and health and I just needed to scream into the void.

FR in 50 Days: P4

Post a picture of the dragon wearing the most apparel in your lair.

I had to go through everybody one-by-one cause I couldn’t remember who maxed out my slots, but apparently it’s Dovetail! She’s got 16 whole layers on her, bless her (Kulvenlaas & Caspian are the runners-up, tied with 15 each)! I didn’t actually think Dovetail was the one who topped this, but I forgot about her silk layering. Sneaky girl. If I ever have to unlock more slots, it’ll be for her!

Dovetail is a young member of my deep-sea clan, born to two influential figures- her father, Caesus, was the high priest, while her mother, Irene, is a respected oracle. However, her nest was one born of duty to the clan rather than love. 

While Dovetail’s talent with water manipulation and bubbly character quickly endeared her to her father, this did not extend to her calm, studious mother- though never cruel, she could find little love in her heart for this child she never truly wished for. The girl’s lack of prophetic sight was the final nail in the coffin; with no desire to connect and no viable reason for tutelage, Irene saw little reason to further her part in her daughter’s life.

As such, Dovetail spent her adolescence raised far more communally between her father and the clan’s other branches, rather than in the oracular chambers. The Tidelord’s cold, stone shrine spoke more to her than his prophets ever did. She was raised on Caesus’s songs of worship, his soothing words, and his trusted place within the clan’s spiritual heart- and so, she was devastated when he was exiled after the blame for the late-matriarch’s murder was placed upon him. 

In the fallout, Dovetail struggled with both her loss and vehement disagreement with the guards’ decision. This conflict nearly led her to exile as well, as her mother stood silent among the watching oracles; they had seen no warning of this sudden tragedy in their visions. Only the word of a remaining heir, Oruleen, had spared Dovetail from her father’s fate- it was through this protection that Dovetail chose to remain with the clan as a priestess. With time, she has calmed and found her place offering steady spiritual guidance & diplomacy to the dragons of the depths, much like her father always had. Even now, she still searches for him through prayer.

Post a picture of the dragon with the fanciest accent in your lair.

Speak of the devil, I suppose; that would definitely be Oruleen, one of the twin matriarchs. Still the only dragon that’s broken my lair’s ‘no stupidly regal imperials with overly fancy accents’ rule, damn her. Her skin is Lunar Dancer by Tirea; for a long time, this was just a dream goal of mine (given that it’s an old custom skin, like a ~5 off print? Or something else completely unobtainable lol) but a ridiculously generous friend of mine just.... surprised me with it one day. Just gave it to me cause she saw that I liked it. Still overwhelmed by that all these years later, honestly. I don’t even want to think about how many gems that cost (Bri, if you’re out there, I love you).

(Bonus: the horrible mock up I made looking for this thing. Still amazed anybody recognized it lmao)

Oruleen is one of the late-matriarch’s two surviving daughters, along with Daluga. Born in what would be the queen’s final nest, under accordance of the lunar signs and oracular oversight, the sisters were granted great strength & innate water magic. Their eyes shone with the great pale lights above the waves, and it was seen that they would lead the clan with clear vision, like their mother and all mothers before her- the moons’ blessing flows through their bloodline like water. 

Like all the clan’s heirs, the twins were raised to one day guide their people; as this nest bore two sisters, leadership would be shared between them together. While the naturally-regal Oruleen showed great clarity in her divination and diplomacy, Daluga possessed a more fierce disposition and a prowess with water magic in combat like her mother. They were trained in all aspects of flight history, strategy, and spirituality; adolescence was a rigorous, but well-supported affair for the two of them with their mother’s guidance. 

Though their strengths differed, they never sought to overrule one another, but instead kept each other in balance; the clan thanked the Tidelord that they had been given such strong, capable children. Their mother would continue to lead until her death, as was foretold. Her daughters would prepare for their eventual ascension through the old lunar ritual within the remote waters of the outer ocean to strengthen the bond of clan & sea.

The night arrived and--- the ritual was interrupted, waves churning- the matriarch run through from above with gleaming spears and hauled aboard a great metal vessel- the daughters spared the harpoon only by the flesh of the priest--- it wasn’t in the prophecies, it wasn’t right- the light in the butcher’s eyes looking down in the moonlight- the blood in the water- it was wrong, all wrong---