Yeah but what if... dragon Apprentice?

Some colorful Pride flag moodboards for some OCs! I could do more but these were easy to whip up LOL

Alec: bisexual flag

Jamil: gay men’s pride flag

Camia: sunset lesbian flag

Very quick and general headcanons for what the M6 do at a Pride Festival/Parade lmao enjoy

Asra

Covered in body glitter (and not much else), will be leaving a sparkly trail behind him every where he goes

Watches the parade just to boo at the corporation floats and collect as much free beads and paraphernalia as possible while drinking a fruity little beverage

Is definitely making out with at least three (3) people by the end of the night, probably during the fireworks

Julian

Brought extra water and sunscreen and bandaids for everyone else but absolutely neglects to follow his own advice and will need to be treated for heat exhaustion at some point

Gets roped into some performance on a stage and kills it - drag queen Julian when

Hosts and wins (barely) a drinking game but yes please some help getting home would be appreciated

Nadia

Enjoys the festivities but prefers to watch the parade from the shaded outdoor balcony of a restaurant where she can sip her drink and wave a flag or clack a fan demurely

Buys herself/her friends/her partner whatever they want from vendors, though she ends up getting a lot of things for free

Somehow finds the best, most private spot to watch the fireworks at the end of the night and invites the rest of the group to join her

Portia

Having the time of her Life, wearing pasties and glitter and maybe she burns a little bit but it could be much worse

Clacking her fan like her life depends on it for every passing float, will have no voice the next day

Spends wayyy too much money on vendors but yes she absolutely needs all of the tacky resin earrings and hey she’s supporting queer small businesses what else do you want from her

Muriel

Only went to make sure Asra had a sober ride home but okay maybe some of this isn’t too bad everyone is so happy and maybe it rubs off a little

Finds a few little trinkets he takes home, like a wolf-shaped crystal necklace and some treats for Inanna

Ends up with a pride flag over his shoulders like a cape by the end of the night and some of Asra’s glitter on his face

Lucio

Finds his way on the biggest loudest float somehow and will chuck beads and flowers and whatever else the float has way too hard at everyone watching

Gets sunburned horribly because he swears he put sunscreen on but doesn’t understand Once is not enough and that jockstrap is not nearly enough coverage

We love that you create.

We love that you build worlds and stories and imagine.

We love that you draw.

That you write.

That you sew.

That you make playlists and hashtags and headcanons and threads.

You are so much.

And we are grateful for that muchness.

Please keep creating. The Arcana, or whatever makes your spirit sing that day.

Please.

love my pumpkin

Vulgora, in particular, is heavily underused in the topic of horror-esque elements of the Arcana, and in the game itself tbh. I headcanon them to be the second oldest of the Courtiers, and by extension the second most powerful and, frankly, fucked up. While Valdemar is an "eldritch being beyond human comprehension" kind of being, Vulgora is a walking hivemind. Almost literally a swarm of beetles in a trench coat. The implications of that are fascinating. What was the transition from a single individual to a swarm like? How is the swarm maintained? Are the plague-carrier beetles a separate "breed" so to speak, or are they a part of the hivemind too?

I do have some thoughts/headcanons about this too! ovo

Vulgora's demonic trait, their one goal and passion, is war. Conflict, violence, however you name it. With them being an ancient being, they could have a major influence on some cultures and territories – like, say, an entire region so prone to violent clashes and full of raiders that it earns a name "Scourgelands". You know, the place where some tribes practice demon worship.

If the Scourgelands are Vulgora's usual playground, it would explain two things: why are beetles seen as a symbol of destruction by cultures of the Scourgelands and the Steppe, and why did a beetle show up at the end of that backstory tale. I don't think it was already a "plague" beetle, but rather a part of Vulgora's swarm that acted as a scout, attracted to the conflict and Vlastomil's "mark".

They were the second demon that Lucio, at the time a terrified freshly exiled 18 year old Montag, met and dealt with. In the following months, as Lucio picks up a new name and cobbles together a merc group, Vulgora would eat real well on the fighting that follows him. Still hounded by fear of his mother finding him, Lucio made more deals to gain power, and in that time some of Vulgora's beetles began merging with Vlastomil's pestilence, turning into the iconic carrier of the plague.

@aconite-besiaka

The "war hivemind" is a good point! Some swarm insects, especially ants, get into pretty intense conflicts (also this is how I find out that Wikipedia has a page about "war in ants" so that's fun), so the insect symbolism for a representation of War makes a lot of sense.

We do know that the demons in Arcana lore used to be humans once, the process can even be reversed if they're not too far gone. We know Volta's backstory fairly well, and some bits of Vlastomil's, but the origin of Vulgora and Valdemar are up for interpretation. From the Arcana artbook:

Vesuvia’s foremost courtiers traded their souls to the Devil in exchange for prolonged life and demonic boons. While their reasons differ, the end result was the same: a lifetime of bondage in the Devil’s service. In a way, they serve as cautionary tales, showing what happens when one’s dealings with the Devil grow too weighty to bear. While magical connections to beings of realms outside his own allow the Devil’s power to grow, the beings themselves become drained of their humanity. They lose the Upright traits of the Arcana they are closest to, and are reduced to hollowed-out shells representing only the Reversed traits.

Regarding their appearance:

The courtiers in bondage to the Devil are able to maintain the illusion of looking just human enough to pass as eccentric Vesuvian aristocrats... except in the realms of the Arcana, where their fully demonic forms shine through.

We also do get to see how some of them look like when freed from demon magic, so the human "disguises" are fairly close to what they were like as humans. I think it's also a semi-common headcanon that most people can't actually see the weird eyes and whatnot, kind of like the "never-mind-me" spell from Julian's route, and it's just the MC's "magic immunity" that lets the illusion slip somewhat.

Regarding Vulgora's connection to the Red Plague, my headcanon is that the Plague is a magic amalgam that grew and "mutated" as Lucio's unfulfilled deals accumulated. Vulgora's beetles just kind of happened to be a good host/carrier for the disease (see my previous addition to the post).