A big ol’ commission set for my friend Feather! I got to do some designwork and worldbuilding for the dragons in their dragon setting/story, Heart of Penumbra.

The world of HoP lost its magic long before the start of the story for reasons not well understood by modern day denizens. Dragons (and all other fantasy critters, but the main guys are dragons) have since shrunken and taken on more naturalistic appearances, losing touch with the magical abilities they once had. Things like logic defying flight and elemental breath weapons have been lost to time, except of course when our heroes stumble into the plot.

There’s heaps more but I’ll leave the bulk any loreposting for Feather to do whenever the project is ready to share. For now, here’s some little tidbits:

Facial hair is gender neutral on fire dragons and always seen as rugged and handsome even if it’s a lady dragon.

There are deep sea water dragon populations that non-water dragons never see due to difficulties existing on land.

A non-negligible percentage of earth dragons are born eyeless so their native script is dragon braille.

Air dragons are the only ones who can still fly and they have a corvidlike affinity for anything that sparkles or jingles.

Since the dressing room dummies are really bad especially for breeds such as the Aberration it resulted in the coverage checker being particularly bad in giving an idea where you may have stray pixels.

What prompted me was this post in particular: https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/help/3128781

I've now added an option for the coverage checker to use a scry image as your base image to compare against, since scries are the same size as actual dragons they give a more accurate result. I've not set this as the default, since for the majority of people the dressing room dummy will be "good enough" as usually a ~0.1% outside pixels won't get you rejected anyway.

I made a new bio code for fun! It features custom dividers for a clean look.

i. What is this?

This is a port of the thread @brightmyth-fr posted earlier today in the FR discussion forums, which was then deleted a short while ago. I am reuploading it here to my blog on behalf of the AAA discord server for visibility; though I agree with the contents of this post, I did not write it. Please keep this in mind when commenting/sending messages.

Tl;DR: 

- Several skin denials in the recent past seem to reflect unclear or unwritten rules for custom skins. The listed skin rules have also not been updated significantly in a number of years, despite significant changes being made to the applied skin rules over time.

- We, as in a number of skin artists, are requesting that admins clarify the existing skin rules on site. We are not asking for them to be changed; we are asking for them to be reworded in such a way that reflects what skins are and aren’t denied according to sources like recent denial messages, the Skins & Accents problems thread, etc.

- This concerns the admins, not the skin moderators, who we recognize also struggle with the unclear rules and with keeping up with long skin review queues.

- If you are a skin maker, consider releasing the next set of skins you had planned and then avoiding releases for the rest of April to help bring awareness to this issue. A number of artists in the AAA discord server have agreed to do this. However, participation is entirely up to you - this is not a demand for all skin makers to stop submitting personal skins, public skins, festival entries, etc.

This is not a suggestion thread, hence why it’s not posted in suggestions. This is an information and awareness post. 

Skin submission is a very lengthy process for a majority of skin artists. The biggest frustration we are dealing with currently is lack of clarification on rules. The current skin guide is nearly a decade out of date.

We do not ask for the rules to be changed. We would like staff to update the on-site skin guide. Rules have clearly changed since it was written and there are VERY minor things that will get a skin 100% denied.

Failing that, this can serve as a warning for aspiring skin artists to not fall into these common denial traps.

I got this from an eggull battle

A small group of maren floated just in view beyond the walls of the bubble, but didn’t seem to be there for any other reason but mild curiosity.

“How’s it’s condition?” she asked, keeping a careful eye on the beastmen. There was no response from her companion, and finally she looked down to properly address her teammate. “Iris?”

The wildclaw started, looking up from the egg she held cradled in her arms. “I- I’m sorry, what was that?”

“The egg. Is it intact?”

“It is,” she replied. “Just scuffed… waterlogged.”

“Good, good…” The imperial cocked her head and leaned a bit closer. Iris had already wiped it clean. She hummed in thought for a brief moment. “We should call it here, then. Bring it to the surface and hand it off.”

The wildclaw tensed, then folded her wings protectively around herself and the egg. It was a sight that took the imperial back many years, to when Iris’ mate still lived and she’d occasionally see the wildclaw brooding over her own children in such a manner.

“Iris, you…” she began, then paused to consider. It felt terrible to say, but they had been friends longer than most dragons had even lived. Best to be direct. “You do know they won’t let you keep it.”

“No,” Iris replied harshly. “No, I don’t. I know Our Lady wouldn’t have, but she isn’t in charge anymore.”

“She is, even if her daughter now sits on the throne,” the imperial replied. “Iska’s treatment is proof of that.”

“Iska… is still part of the clan as one of your favors,” Iris replied. “I have asked for none. This will be mine. Why are you trying to stop me, Persephone?”

“I’m not trying to stop you!” she replied. “I’m trying to prepare you for if they say no! An egg can either bring money to the clan, or hatch and become a drain of resources, in their eyes. You know this.”

They locked eyes for a moment, and then Persephone resumed her careful guard, watching the surrounding waters carefully.

“…I’ll vouch for you, Iris,” she said, breaking their silence. “If you want to appeal Queen Avonne, I’ll support you.”

“I’m going to try,” Iris said. “Thank you. And I… apologize. For snapping.”

“It’s fine,” the imperial let out something like a chuckle. “I’ve not seen you like this in quite a while, I have to say.”

“Shall we head to the surface?”

Much easier.

Queen Avonne had simply looked over Iris’ records before nodding.

“I grant you the right to hatch the egg and raise the child within,” the imperial had stated simply. “Provided you train said child to be a warrior once they come of age.”

Iris had been more than happy to agree - she had always wished one of her children had grown up to hunt alongside her, and she finally had the chance.

She gratefully accepted the queens offer and rushed to the nesting grounds.

Years pass.

The Fire Guardian is a landmark on the long road between settlements. They sit a ways back from the path alone, huddled around their charge. The pillar of smoke means half way to the next town.

The road is scarcely traveled, but still it isn’t long before the scant passers by begin to pity the poor thing. They leave gifts by the roadside, food, blankets, well wishes. Small things.

Years pass.

A great storm rocks the mountains. All around the locals begin to worry as rain pounds their homes for the pillar of smoke out in the hills. Returning there once the weather has cleared reveals a grizzled dragon, as worn by the elements as anyone would be after so long, huddled around a last glowing ember and so soaked through with rain that their tears are difficult to see.

The next day, a group arrives with gifts. Food, blankets, clothing, lumber, stone, clay, canvas. It takes days for the small circle of stones to become a hearth, and months for the walls and chimney to rise, but the next great storm falls upon a sturdy roof of tile and thatch, and smoke pours from a brick stack strong as ever when the skies clear. The guardian remains sturdy in their gratitude, but smiles to themself as they’re let be in a home that is more than a tent with a fire that is more than simple heat.

Years pass.