ask me about my dragon headcanons

why are sornieth's poles as climatically different as they are? the far north is a jungle and the far south is a tundra. they should get the same amount of insolation. what gives?

my theory is that sornieth is 1:1 tidally locked with its parent star, centered on the beacon of the radiant eye.

for everyone who doesn't know flight rising is a virtual pet site ala neopets, but with dragons. On its forums I made a thread pointing out that the dragon designs were becoming relatively more "same face" over time, with similar face shapes and often with a similar "noodly" anatomy my point being that they were both losing some of the charm of a lot of the animals they were based on (with bug, bird, and eel inspired dragons all looking somewhat similar and mammalian), and even more pertinently, not allowing for a wide variety of body types for user characters in the game - with most of the gameplay being a dressup/character creator, you see why having very few buff, chubby, stocky, etc character designs is a pretty big downside. These are the dragons released in the first half of the website's history, with the shapes outlined:

(these pairs are the same species but have somewhat different body shapes, so they were both outlined) And these are the dragons released recently. The stockier guy on the bottom left is the very oldest of these:

I also pointed out several of these designs have very similar faces, relative to the facial variety you could have with dragon designs (other two recent guys are outlined above):

In comparison, here's some of the head shapes from earlier dragon designs:

and yeah I think you can see what I mean about the shape language getting a bit more homogeneous. I expressed that I felt like the art team may have observed the popularity of the thinner, doglike dragons in comparison to the chubby reptilian ones and decided to err towards the former.

I also drew some dragons to better get across my point about shape language when people suggested I was failing to account for the fact that the "sameface" dragons weren't entirely identical:

(obviously I'm exaggerating shapes for clarity of point; clarifying here as some people believed I was knocking the art style and wanted it to be more cartoonish...) I also pointed out that you could easily draw very identifiable fanart of two breeds which people were saying looked different:

(someone told me these didn't read as fanart of either dragon. you be the judge, I guess) I did get a lot of very nice comments, both in agreement and disagreement, but also some comments that I was being disingenuous, arrogant, or (much more dishearteningly) suggesting that fat designs are simply too unappealing and that the artists can't waste their time on it because the website is a business.

yesterday they released a sneak peak at their newest dragons, which people believe are cetacean inspired. I tuned in as the initial preview (which only featured an arm) made it look pretty stocky:

but, shocker:

they'd be a sort of chest item/grand exchange hybrid, where clicking on the parchment item from your hoard would let you instantly choose which version of the gene you want to trade it in for via a little pop-up

"yeah there's a new type of dragon breed you can't dress up. also every individual ancient breed uses completely separate gene items which is really annoying. also we added gene parchments as part of our solution to the ancient gene bloat we created. and to trade the parchments in for actual genes you have to go to this new grand exchange shop that has a really annoying filter/search system."

We are now open for new registrations until the end of the day (Eastern Time) on Saturday, September 28th.

Pixel Cat's End is a virtual pet site where you collect and manage a village of cat-like creatures. You can dress them up, give them jobs, build and decorate their homes, and take them on tabletop-rpg-style adventures.

Come down and get yourself some small, round little kitty not-cats! Features:

The tiniest baby kittens you have ever seen in your entire life.

A very slow/casual-paced game that you can easily keep up with even if busy with work or school.

Say goodbye to the gender binary.

Giant (friendly) magical moose with hundreds of eyes, if that sweetens the deal for you.

*NEW* There are now TWO magical mooses! Two of them!

Mermaid kitties with fishy tails.

Some future features:

Ascend your cats to their final form and give them antlers, wings, and spare eyes.

Magical kitty cat powers (and terrible consequences for unlocking the secrets of the universe).

long story short (for anyone who hadn't heard of this before) the kids online safety act, aka kosa, is a bill that will censor online content and resources for lgbtq+ matters, reproductive healthcare, activism (INCLUDING PALESTINE AND LIKELY OTHER CRISES GOING ON LIKE IN CONGO OR SUDAN), mental health, etc. everywhere--its effects likely won't be contained to just america.

today, july 30th, 2024, the senate passed it 91-3. it has officially moved to the house of representatives.

is this a pretty massive setback? yes. do you have every right to be scared, sad, angry, or whatever else about this happening? absolutely. but should you give up hope completely? NO!

even though kosa passed the senate, the house is on break/august recess at the moment. we have around an entire month to get emails, calls, and faxes in to house reps, maybe more depending on when they decide to vote on it.

should it pass the house and get signed into law, we still have a whole 18 months before it actually goes into effect. this is plenty of time for digital rights orgs (e.g. fight for the future, the electronic frontier foundation) and other groups that oppose it to file a lawsuit against it. even if, worst-case scenario, it flies through the house immediately after the recess ends, we can still fight this up to march 2026.

so, yes, remember what's at stake here, but also remember that it's not over yet. we lost a battle, not the war.

below are some resources to learn more about kosa and how to contact your reps (first link) + a page that lets you directly contact progressive house reps, sign an open letter opposing the bill, and view others' testimonies against it (second link):

Hello, I'm here to talk about the issue with Auraboas, their design, lore, and the racism contained in them. Please read the entire thing before replying and be respectful, thank you. The issue: Auraboas are an ancient dragon species with a crest that has a headdress design, that live in a remote isolated area and are so exotic and different from other dragons that they cannot communicate with other species beyond baby talk (explicit text in their lore) until BoE happens in world and their children act normal.

The entire plot is about a dragon being confused and condescending about the elder Auraboas, who are panicking about losing their connection to the new generation who cannot speak like them. This entire situation is 1:1 with various stereotypes and racist beliefs about native people, and it needs to be addressed. Before you comment, I am not saying individual elements of the lore are racist, but that the combination of them and the context of the dragon design result in a racist narrative.

Deconstructing each argument:

1. The “not like us” setting and the difficulty with learning the other's language is a common stereotype for native people to treat them as exotic and uncivilized. Through the story, elder Auraboas are described as talking like a newborn hatchling:

Not only that, but they're completely unable to understand basic concepts that other dragons do, and will often need explanation. They're placed in this “beyond comprehension” box that ostracizes them as not like the others:

This is a good segway to the next issue: 2. Auraboas are treated extremely condescendingly by the narrative. Not only is there the issue above of not understanding simple concepts, but their main peril of losing contact with the next generation (who cannot communicate with them proper) is treated as funny, small issue and an opportunity for them to finally interact with other dragons.

In world, this is a character finding another species losing the connection to their young and the latter losing part of their culture in the process funny, and replying condescendingly that this is just how normal children act, and they'll figure the issues out tomorrow. The panicking Auraboas are meant to be a little gag, why are they stressing over something so minor? The kids are fine, this is just how everyone does it (“and you're the weird ones” is not said, but implied).

The final scenes barely touch upon how terrifying, how worrying this is. We don't get to know how the Auraboas feel beyond a panicked adult that's treated as overreacting and background characters who exist to not understand things.

Instead, we get a cute scene. The hatchling got a name! They finally have the chance to experience the world as everyone else does it. They're free from being Auraboas.

I know there'll be a few arguments, so I'd like to reply to them before it starts:

1. The crest is just a bird crest, it being similar to headdresses and war bonnets is just a coincidence.

I ask you to look at this image, and tell me which side does the Auraboa design looks more like:

2. They act like this because they experience time in a non-linear fashion, it's nothing to do with racism.

The fact that there's an explanation on why they act they way they do does not erase the connotations that the lore + design leave. Auraboas have an important native cultural piece in their design and a lore that reads in the same way as the exotic native stereotype does. The ostracization and othering doesn't go away because it has a motive.

Okay, what should be done then?

The best case scenario would be a redesign of their headcrest AND a rewrite of their lore. Both contribute to the racism in Auraboas, and are being addressed equaly. Even if the design is somehow untouchable (though I believe removing racist depiction should come before gameplay and people's feelings on redesigns), the lore should still be removed and written from scratch.