#because if i just tag flight rising then it would end up in the FR search

[the-laws-of-physics-were-harmed]

I mean it makes sense that in the fandoms site the popular posts will be fandom centric

I'm going to assume that this isn't intended as rude (though it kinda comes across that way) and try to respond as if it's a genuine response to my tags in this post.

I am aware that Tumblr is somewhat fandom-centric; however, sometimes I will put hours of work into a drawing of my OCs for it to get less than five notes. Meanwhile, a fandom text post that took me no effort and barely any time will get so much more than that in less than a day and continue to gain traction.

I have an old Flight Rising sideblog which isn't active any more because I kinda got bored of FR. Recently one of my old posts from there seems to have started going round again, and it's literally this:

There's also a banner underneath clarifying that it's a FR post, but that wasn't made by me and I link back to the original maker (as they requested)

This is one sentence about a joke in a fandom I'm not even part of any more.

Over here, it's mainly my Fallen London posts that are doing this. I like Fallen London, but this is also why I ended up making a sideblog for it. I don't want all the activity on my main blog to be fandom stuff. And yes - I do fandom post here. I reblog (and occasionally make original) Dracula Daily posts, because I am literally the Named Himself After A Dracula Character guy and also because it's the only thing occupying my brain 99% of the time.

But when you look at my top posts, there are:

Fallen London post - 295 notes

Fallen London post - 172 notes

HTTYD (books) post asking if I should do something I never actually got around to - 76 notes

Funny(?) little poll - 71 notes

Fallen London screenshot - 47 notes

Flight Rising fanart (which no longer reflects the quality of my art) - 42 notes

Warrior Cats post - 31 notes

Getting angry about people who don't know the definition of AI - 30 notes

Dracula post about how gay Lucy and Mina are (very) - 29 notes

Dracula post - 26 notes

Highlighted in orange are the ones I actually was hoping would gain notes, because I was proud of them or just liked them. That's three out of ten; only one of them isn't fandom-related.

I don't have an issue, as such, with the fact that Tumblr likes fandoms; my issue is that low-effort fandom content is so much more popular than high-effort original content (and even, in some cases, high-effort fandom content)

Most of my art gets less than ten notes, compared to nearly five times that for a screenshot and one sentence about a game I happen to like.

[stories-in-the-wind]

Happy New Years my flight rising friends and to all the new people who have joined this blog this year. Over 600 of you now! Wow!

Next year I plan to try my best to provide image descriptions for the work I post. I would like to do my part to make this blog at least a bit more accessible. If anyone has suggestions about describing FR dragons I’m all ears.

Next, I know I said this in the tags of the last reblog, but just to put it here again in writing the next thing I will be doing is to continue the monthly illustrations I started doing last year.

It was a resolution that broke on the 5th month last year but considering the massive upheaval in my life starting end of March I’m honestly still proud of lasting like I did.

I’m still suffering from the physical consequences the stress took on my body this year but I am going to try anyway. I will be doing my best just to have fun with the challenge.

Doing those illustrations gave me an immense amount of happiness last year not only because I saw massive improvement with each piece I drew, but because the slow paced nature of my art challenge gave me a routine and a deadline that forced me to engage with my hobby and disconnect from the internet. I want to draw, not get so wrapped up in work or doom scrolling or spending the whole day on video games.

I am hopeful and excited for this year to be much better than the last.

So with that little ramble out of the way let me say it again,

Happy new year.

[chimerabytes]

(tl;dr please feel free to reach out to me if you ever want to talk + you can ask if i have any other social platform accounts if youd like to keep talking with me on other things!)

also to add on to my tags on prev post (edited to be put under a read more because this got way longer than i intended):

i apologize if my lack of communication skills and my lack of people permanence has caused anyone to feel awkward around me and/or think that i don't see them as a person worth keeping around.

i sincerely mean this when i say it: i do see you as someone worth keeping around. i know i struggle with showing it, affection is not my strength point in the slightest. but i will continue to keep trying my best to be at least approachable. and i dont mind if you want to keep your distance and just kinda vibe from the sidelines. i still appreciate you and i respect your space.

to be honest i have a pretty big personal bubble that i find nearly impossible to let people into, the closer people want to get to me and the closer i want to get to others. think of my sociability like two magnets with the same sides facing each other: the closer you try and force them together, the stronger the force of repulsion can be felt.

i try not to mean any ill intentions towards most people! but i know that even if i don't mean it, i can still hurt people regardless. and i hate hurting people who don't deserve to be hurt. i appreciate the folks who follow me - by doing so you are welcomed into my bubble, and can peek into a very personal part of my life that i bare out in the open for others to see.

essentially... i just want to say that i do care about others, just not in the most open way. and my inbox is always open if you want to chat with me and get to know me better. i have tumblr dms open - both asks and using the IM feature. i have discord and a plethora of other social accounts on multiple platforms, including:

quotev

mastodon (plush.city is my main instance where i can be found!)

just plain 'ole e-mailing me is totes cool with me!

flight rising (yes. i will allow people to send me messages on FR and tag me in forum posts. i cannot guarantee i will reply to every thing right away, but i do read all my messages within 24-48 hours of them being sent by you!)

i don't use twitter anymore, sadly. so i apologize if thats your preferred avenue of communication!

i could dig up my skype account again if anyone wants to add me on there?

i don't use a lot of other messaging apps that are popular these days aside from discord and tumblr, but if you want you could pitch me an offer to join a website/ chat/ platform that you use and i may join!

however you will Never get me to join instagram, snapchat or tiktok. Sorry, I just dont think those apps are for me.

i try to keep my avenues of conversation open. even though i admittedly am not great at chatting and most of my affection and sillies are gleaned from what kind of memes and silly reaction pics i send, i still do want to offer up a metaphorical chill spot for people to join me in.

i realize this is pretty long so i'm going to end this, although im not sure how? just like, if you ever have any thoughts, concerns, questions, or want to just talk to me at all about literally anything (i dont care if you only send me like, one word, I will likely respond anyway!) then like... As the boys would say, hit me up, I guess?

[olessan-lokenosse]

🥳

[ineffablefool]

I am very much the only person in my household who is interested in Flight Rising, and I don’t talk to anyone on there except to negotiate trades and stuff, which means that I’m going to yell about this here.

So!  I bought a very lovely five-digit back in 2018, who was extra interesting to me because he had been bred/still had descendants who were breeding.  Through a series of steps, that has evolved into me looking up and procuring active dragons descended from each of my 5/6 digits, with the purpose of using them to breed pretties to sell (i.e. keeping the line going).

I bought Halcyon and Sangar as fodder off the AH last July (I couldn’t pick/didn’t want to separate them):

They are the great-greats of the five-digit I started this with (he is my favorite old man and I love him):

Iago 💜 > Rukki > Dasos > Pine > Crabgrass > Bergamot > Eren > Orobranche > Aloe > Xerune > Aurora > Ulmo > Reagle > Zinnasaadi > Shelley > Norman > Aodhaigh > happy gaoler sibs

I’ve been working on looking up descendants for the last couple of oldies and then yesterday I realize --

Azul 💜 > Sabrina > Sage > Tashka > Ask > Pickles > Mayel > Kunzite > Pidge > Kune > Balsam > Aenyrthan > Mauro > Norman > Aodhaigh > wait

waitasec I know those first two offspring names

It turns out that these two dragons, who are descended from my favorite five-digit (and who I sometimes think of as being sort of like me and my lovely sister Hope when I take them to the coli to beat up on offbrand shoggoths, which is another way in which they are special to me) -- are also, in a freak of coincidence, descended from my favorite six-digit as well.

[pets purple babies] i love youuuu

[frillshark-fr]

How do you get people to always buy your dragons? Genuine question

i was gonna say something like “haha i have no fucking clue” but that would be a lie i think about this a lot actually so i might have some insights i’ve been breeding dragons as my primary activity on FR since i started playing FR (in 2014...) and people have only started actually buying dragons from me consistently like, 5-6 months ago, despite 2-3 attempts at running a genuine hatchery onsite that always died due to lack of interest & not really being worth the effort. 

so ive thought a lot about what the hell is happening now and why my dragons are suddenly consistently selling and I think ive come down to these being the main points of advice i can give: 1. make friends! be friendly! don’t be weird! be a cool and fun person to interact with! 2. post consistently. post your dragons consistently. post about other stuff consistently. just be an active member of the community 3. POST YOUR SHIT IN THE “#FLIGHT RISING” TAG. THIS IS PROBABLY THE ONLY TRUELY HELPFUL THING I SAY IN THIS POST 4. make pairs that are sexy as hell and be openly proud of them. make dragons and pairs that you like, not what you think will necessarily sell. people can tell when you like stuff and being genuinely passionate about something, whatever the fuck it is, will get other people passionate as well longer versions/explanations under the cut because man this got a mile long. i wasn’t kidding when i said i think about this a lot and i am so sorry if you wanted something concise and useful

1. to be a little glib. i am mutuals/friends with more clout in the FR community than I do kjdshfdsfdhjhkfdf shoutout to everyone who draws their dragons really good on a regular basis because i am riding on your coattails to sell my dragons. i love you this was never my intent, obviously! DO NOT BEFRIEND PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU WILL GET STUFF FROM THEM IT’S JUST A REALLY BAD THING TO DO TO PEOPLE!!! i wouldn’t be friends w/ people if i didn’t genuinely like and get along with them! no amount of pixel cash is worth putting up with people you dont like or abusing people you admire!  but i’d also somehow feel wrong to just... neglect mentioning this factor. idk it’s probably a self-esteem thing sjdkgfhdsf i just Don’t feel like my #success has been totally out of my own effort because its not like im #hustling or whatever i just posted dragons and stuff happened

-----

2. being consistent! just. posting consistently! posting Every Hatchling I Have and Talking About Them On Tumblr!  Once I had a couple nests just sell super fast likely due to aforementioned clout, i was emboldened to just post more of my nests more often and I swear this has more effect than anything else. i just needed the self-esteem boost to Start Doing That posting consistently makes ppl follow u for ur content which gets even more people to look at your dragons which gets more people to buy your dragons.

-

2a. Also just post a lot in general, even if you aren’t necessarily posting about your dragons for sale. it definitely helps! just be friendly and active and people will come

-----

3. post your shit in the tag. not in “#dragon-sales” or “#fr-dragon-sales” or anything weird like that because I don’t know if anyone actually looks at those, but people definitely browse “#flight rising”. no matter how many followers you have, more people will see your content if you post it in #flight rising than if you just chuck it into the void. 

-

3a. however! do not put links into the post if you want it to actually show up in the tag. tumblr is cool in that it doesn’t actually matter that much when you post something, the same way it really matters on twitter bc twitter has algorithms that decide for you what it thinks you want to be seeing whereas tumblr just shows you everything in chronological order. if you post something into the tag at 1am... it will still be there at 2pm when people log on and start scrolling.

the only thing tumblr seems to consistently hide from a tag (and possibly a dashboard, but idk) are posts with links in them, as a half-assed attempt to limit spam. instead of linking to your sales tab/to the dragons directly in the post, reblog it with the links instead. to reduce latency between a post going up and the links being available, i type out the links in the initial post, cut them, post the thing into the tag, then very quickly reblog, paste the links, and post the reblog jdhfsdf. i don’t know if that benefits anything really? but it can sometimes take me a while to type links, so if i posted, pressed reblog, typed up all the links, then posted, it’d be like ~15 minutes where someone may see the post, think “oh i would like to buy those dragons”, then can’t find the link, think “oh well, i will just find it later”, scroll on, and just... completely forget about it. so uh. go quick?

-

3b. the armchair sociologist in me also thinks self-reblogging has the added benefit of like... you know how people are more likely to tip a barista when a dollar is already in the tip jar? or how people are more likely to take one of those little tabs on a flyer if one of them is already missing? i think that works with notes, too. i don’t know why i think that or why it happens i just swear once a post gets 1 note, suddenly it gets Even More Notes, and if it doesn’t get any notes for a while it will sit at 0 notes until the end of time. so giving yourself 1 obligatory note makes people more likely to interact. i think

-----

4. all of these are hard to quantify but this one is especially so: have cool and unique dragons. make your pairs sexy as hell. don’t put all your eggs (hah) into the one basket of selling dragons that are technically “popular”. we have all seen triple white/triple obsidian/triple orca/triple any other popular colors and cherub/pere/stained or wasp/bee/glim pthahlos or whatever. they’re pretty! we get it! but everyone has had one and everyone has had those pairs and market for dragons like that can be super oversaturated. try to break free from that and sell dragons that people can only get from you. I can’t tell you what to do though bc that rly depends on you. make pairs that you find exciting or interesting and people will feel that. i have a very specific theme and aesthetic that i don’t feel like is especially common on FR and i am genuinely very enthusiastic about it. marine shit is my Thing:tm: both on and off FR and dragons are one of my many ways of expressing that   if you have a Thing:tm:, either some fr-centric aesthetic (like being super into plague or earth or light or something) or something more general (such as any of the -punks or -cores)... just fuckin roll with it honestly. if you’re goth? make got h dragons. like scene stuff that looks straight out of a middle school in 2010? rock that hot-topic lair. outdoorsey type? make dragons that look like you’d meet them on a hike in the woods. it really works with anything!  people can tell when you really love something and i know that seeing someone really love something, even if it’s not necessarily MY thing, makes me really excited too!! 

-

4a. never show fear. people can smell fear. never be like “well this one isn’t that good” because suddenly now you’ve planted the idea that it’s ugly in other people’s heads when they may have really liked it had you not accidentally suggested to them that it’s an ugly dragon. people are EXTREMELY suggestible to even VERY minor cues so be always a little bit bolder than you think you should be you’d be surprised at how many times ive been like “eh, this one’s kind of a dud, i’ll probably have to exalt this one when the auction expires” and then that hatchling is the first to sell. never ever ever ever decide what other people like for them. always act like your dragons are the hottest shit in all the land and Believe It. this is what people mean when they say “fake it till you make it”

- 4b. also, idk if it’s true of everyone but it’s really off-putting to see someone having serious pity-parties for themselves, on sales posts or otherwise. ive had bad experiences with people who are uncomfortably quick to self-depreciate (because they were using their genuine self-hatred to manipulate me or my friends), so i might be a little more trigger-happy about avoiding this behavior than others, but don’t weaponize your sadness to guilt people into doing what you want. it’s really not cool.

-----

okay i think that’s my entire manifesto on how i do dragon selling. anon i am so sorry im sure you were expecting like “believe in yourself :)” and here i am dissecting dragon selling like it’s a frog in a science class

edit: AFTER ALL THAT I STILL THOUGHT OF ONE MORE THING. It’s not really a Point, just a Reminder:

i don’t post about all the times i have to exalt dragons that don’t sell. you are seeing me being very selective about what i post. you dont sit and stare at my lair or click through offspring lists or check old sales posts. there are a lot of times where someone just doesn’t sell. even now when i’m selling stuff pretty consistently i will still sometimes have dragons that don’t sell for seemingly no reason. even dragons I think are sure to sell will sometimes just... not. and that’s ok! you gotta just be.. ok with that. it’s par for the course. i typically list dragons for 7 days on the AH, give them a couple more days after their auction expires (partially because i forget, partially to give them a grace period for people to pm/ask me about them), and then exalt them after that point. w/ some dragons that i don’t think got a fair shake for one reason or another (such as the sales post not showing up in the tag or something) i do a little clearance (like the halloween dragons i recently posted) but for the most part if they don’t sell, i just exalt them. 90% of the time i don’t even bother to level them up i just press the exalt button and call it a day. it’s fine

[wellboyhowdy-fr]

hey y’all!! i hit 300 followers this week! 

when i finally hopped into flight rising tumblr last october i def didn’t think i’d have so many followers by this time, and it’s all been a great experience so far~ so i thought once i hit a nice chunky milestone, i’d do a little giveaway to give back!

to enter, reblog and/or like this post and put your FR username + ID# in the rb or the tags! only one reblog + one like will count per person so things don’t get too wild. you do not have to be following me to enter this giveaway, though of course it would be cool if you did :) no pressure!

the prizes are as follows:

1st prize: one copy each of stitched & patchwork, a fun tacky blingee-style gif* (as seen above), and a gaia outfit**!

2nd prize: 100g, 100kt, and a blingee gif or gaia outfit!

3rd prize: 100g or 100kt or a blingee or a gaia outfit, your choice!

this giveaway begins at 10am EST (07:00 FR time) on september 11th, 2020, and ends at 7pm EST (16:00 FR time) on september 13th, 2020. i’ll do my best to post the winners that evening and get everyone their FR prizes by the next evening; the blingees and outfits obviously will take a little longer!

boosts are appreciated! if you don’t want to enter and just want to boost, say so in the tags and i’ll see and make a note of it. please don’t tag this post with “giveaway,” because it will get disappeared by tumblr! if you win but don’t want a particular part of the prize, we will figure something else out; i know blingees and gaia outfits aren’t up everyone’s alley. ty for your time & attention!

extra info about my blingees & gaia outfits below the cut!

*to see more examples of themed blingee gifs i’ve made so far, please take a peek here, in my hatchery tab! i usually try to theme them around my hatchery pair names, but they can absolutely be tailored for individual dragons as well, so long as you can give me some details about the dragon’s aesthetic, desired color themes, preferred level of eyeburn, etc.

**to see examples of themed gaia outfits, please take a look at my aesthetic gaia avi blog here! i will attempt to match your dragon’s color scheme to the best of my ability, as well as incorporate any important physical characteristics (skin color, horns, etc) or lore-significant items as well as i can, and send you as big a version of the outfit image as i can without it turning into pixelated sludge. in some cases i may be able to turn a gaia outfit into a blingee as well. dragon-specific outfit examples are here and here.

[equikin]

Talk about your boyfriend! Also: sending much good vibes your way. I hope everything goes well.💕💖💖💕💖

My boyfriend (@gamkin / @mcistwave ) is legitimately the most wonderful person in the world, I love him so so SO much and have done ever since I met him. I met him over five years ago on tumblr when we were both blogging about Flight Rising (I was a fairly popular FR blog back then??) and I was stuck in a really horribly abusive relationship, I kinda had a semi public breakdown, basically a huge anxiety attack because of a big old sense of impending doom (which turned out to be well placed because some really awful stuff happened the next day). We had been mutuals for a while and would talk in reblogs and tag each other in stuff, but he reached out to me while I was having a really, really bad time- sent me an ask with his skype/reblogged my post with his skype on it? I can’t remember, but I added him and ended up staying up all night just talking to him.

He calmed me down a tonne? Idk I think I pretty much developed a crush on him from that first encounter, I mean, I didn’t think much of it then because I had a tendency to develop crushes on anyone who was nice to me, but I knew straight away he was important and would be important to me? I don’t know how I knew he would be but I had this overwhelming feeling of “they’re important, don’t let them go, keep them close” from the very start. I spoke to him for a little after, the next day I got a bunch more bullshit from my then abusive partner and they broke up with me and I somewhat disappeared from stuff for about a month? Ended up evacuating most of my social media accounts and leaving lots of communities I was part of because of it. 

I had got into SNK (Attack on Titan) that year, and he had changed his name to Levi Heichou, and noticed it one day after it popped up as the “_____ is online” message in the corner of my screen. I basically sent him a message along the lines of “I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUT I LOVE YOUR NAME” (because the end of our last conversation had been a while ago and was fairly vague and normal?) anyway, he responded saying thanks and reminded me who he was and... pretty much since that moment I don’t think we stopped talking at all. 

Actually that’s a lie, there was one more time when we drifted off for about a month because he was having some really bad mental health issues (I think it was right after he broke up with a nasty ex) and he popped back and messaged me and I checked up on him and i told him I had missed him a tonne- after then it’s been constant really.

He helped me through a lot of stuff and I like to think I helped him through stuff as well? He got me back into the RPC (I had previously RP’d on forums mainly, but he got me into tumblr RP) and we started RPing and writing together day in day out, talking together about ships and writing and angst and just *stuff* and it was so nice? I just loved being around him, he made me so happy all the time and I admired him SO MUCH, seriously, he’s such a talented writer and I honestly felt SO HONOURED to be friends with him.

My crush had been consistent and I ended up admitting my affections to him REALLY AWKWARDLY and with a massive like, multi para gay confession and stuff (I still have it kbgfjkebgjkbteg) and he responded positively but ofc I couldn’t date him!! He was older than I was by a few years and he was of legal age and I wasn’t so he was very sensible and was like hey its not weird it’s chill sorta thing but dating isn’t something I can do for various reasons.

So I was like!! Ok i’m glad it’s not made anything weird, I was still SUPER GAY but I knew nothing was likely to happen even though I genuinely daydreamed about the concept ALL THE TIME. It was all I could think about. I mean honestly it’s still all I think about. I’m super gay. I love him.

I tried to date other people but the crush was still there and I ended up in another toxic relationship and then after that one that wasn’t bad?? it was with a nice person who I’m still friends with but I never really had feelings for them the same way I did for JD, I think at that point I kinda realised that this crush wasn’t going away, it was way more than a crush at this point, two and a half-ish years on and it had only grown stronger, I was straight up in love with this guy and there was nothing that was going to make it go away. I tried everything to because I was CERTAIN he wasn’t gonna wanna date me ever but it REALLY DIDN’T WORK, nothing made my affections even lessen a little.

I did nothing to hide them either throughout the duration of all this, I was pretty open about my Gay Feelies:tm: because it KInDa helped me “cope” with them in a way? Him allowing me to be affectionate 2 him even if he didn’t return it in the same way was really nice and helped me 2 not just exPLoDE with these feelings. I guess I was also piNING FOR HIM TO BE LIKE YES LETS DATE BUT THAT WAS JUST IN MY DREAMS TERRITORY.

I knew no matter what we were I wanted to be by his side forever? As a friend or a partner I didn’t care, all I cared about was his happiness and comfort and I wanted to have him in my life for as long as he’d allow me to be?? But I knew I’d never stop loving him and I let him know that, I told him that and I told him how much he felt like a piece of me, like he fills a missing hole in my soul and how it felt like I should be reaching into myself and giving him a piece of me in return for how complete he made me feel, offering him up my existence I guess??? It doesn’t sound the most healthy but I suffer with DPD so my emotions regarding my boyfriend are INCREDIBLY intense, so so intense and they make me feel SO GOOD- HE makes me feel so good and I can’t lie about how I feel yknow? It’s me, it’s how my personality and emotions work and it can be such an amazingly euphoric experience being around him.

He finally admitted he had affections for me as well but his anxieties about relationships due to past abuse were way to high, and he never knew if he’d be in a mental place where he would feel comfortable dating, and I told him that was fine, I didn’t care, as long as I could still stick by his side and he was comfortable and happy, that would make me happy too, yknow?

He said he’d give it a go with me and it’s been so lovely, I adore him so so much, with every tiny little fibre of my being he makes me so happy and I honestly don’t think I could ever for anyone like I feel for him? He’s just so damn perfect.

[guardsbian]

(drakessimblr/guardsbian here. My reply was too long to fit in anything but a reblog, so I've reblogged this to my FR blog. Long post ahead, with a conclusion but no TLDR, so I've put it under the cut. TW for mentions of suicide within a narrative, and the exploration of slavery in fiction.)

There is a Star Trek Enterprise episode that is almost universally HATED because, when a character learns that a species keeps members of its third gender as reproductive slaves, he empathizes with a slave, introducing them to education and a name, and is chastised for it. He insists that what the species does is wrong, but others insist that challenging this culture is wrong, and tell him to stop intervening. In the end, he is punished by the narrative, as the slave, unable to be freed or educated, kills themself.

Did this episode depict a realistic situation? Yes. Did it posit questions about cultural intervention and judgement? Yes. Does any of this make the episode any less horrifying or disgusting to sit through, especially for trans individuals, or individuals whose ancestors were tortured and victimized by slavery, who are being told by a series defined by societal progress and compassion that a person deserves to have their individuality, choice, and opportunity for a fulfilled life stripped from them, simply because the culture they come from says it's ok? Absolutely not.

Every single decision made by the writers was not made to point out the hypocrisy of the characters- it was an earnest attempt to explore events that might lead to the formation of Starfleet's Prime Directive. The episode's outcome is justified within the narrative, with it not really intending for the audience to question the events once the episode is over, because it is made abundantly obvious that the decision made was the "right" one. The suicide is the dissenting character's punishment for interfering with the culture's status quo of literal slavery.

I bring up this episode because I see it as a crystal-clear example of how most things aren't just as simple as someone seeing them as "inappropriate" to write about. There was no issue with Star Trek depicting a culture which kept slaves (this is fairly common in sci-fi in general), but the way that the narrative definitively defended the viewpoint that humanizing a slave was wrong, simply because of "cultural differences," is something which alienated audiences, and which would, despite the attempts at creating moral dilemmas, be considered disrespectful. It hardly even takes more than just completing the episode to feel as if you've just watched characters you love betray basic human compassion, and to competely question why the writers would think this was an appropriate way to explore the concept of slavery or cultural differences.

The same thing applies to lore. To introduce slavery to a fictional world is a choice, and why a person introduces it, and how they choose to handle it, can serve as a reflection of their values. (With the following, all assuming that, for all intents and purposes, a dragon = a human in storytelling.) Do they humanize the dragons who are slaves, and treat them as victims, or do they reflect the values of the society they've created, and treat them as an "other"? Do they justify the presence of slavery in their lore (as a byproduct of war or division), or just have it as a spectacle? When not writing, do they joke about slavery or slave owners? Have they modelled their world's slavery off of American chattel slavery, and, if so, do they actually display any understanding of or education regarding it? Given the context that this is Flight Rising lore, I feel there is a high possibility that the excitement mentioned about this lore seemed voyeuristic or disrespectful.

In the end, yes, no one gets the final call on what people are "allowed to" write about. But I actually don't think anyone is trying to do that. In a small community (which the FR tag and website are), individuals are making quick judgements about the character and values of other people, and choosing whether to engage with them based on the creations and persona they make public. One person's discomfort with another is not gatekeeping what people can write about, and one person's criticism will not create an unsafe environment for creators.

People are allowed to write about anything, and other people are allowed to make judgements about it, and publicly share their discomfort with it. (Others are allowed to respond to this, obviously, ad infinitum, I don't intend to get caught in some "gotcha" here.) But I don't think trying to insist that certain people want to make certain topics "taboo" to write about is accurate, or even helpful to creators. What is helpful to creators, especially those who intend to tackle "controversial" or "problematic" or "dark" or historically evil topics/events, is for individuals to freely share their interpretations of how these topics and their depiction impact and/or harm them (either as a member of a certain group, or as an emotional reaction). If we want people to tackle these topics respectfully, then allowing discussion of people's negative reactions to disrespectful, or even just questionable depictions of these topics is imperative.

ooookay so im the anon of "this user has problematic lore and their friends see nothing wrong w it" post and i have seen lots of posts regarding/responding my post i guess? i did keep it very vague because i wasn't comfortable getting too specific and it happened awhile ago (i was just reminded of it at the time and wanted to vent my feelings of being uncomfortable here). but now ppl are kinda getting the wrong idea? i dont mind dark lore like get creative dude! im keeping this as vague as possible but still providing context for the saltminers, but this person was *very* happy to include dragon slave trade system in their lore! that is so uncomfortable to me! that's the line where it crosses problematic to me at least. having villains who are rightfully portrayed as bad, morally gray characters, things like that are fine, just. it's weird to be excited about creating lore abt dragon slavery. lore writers exploring stuff go right on ahead, just... maybe not slavery

i hope that clears some things up? i know some ppl might not think its a big deal but im just providing context to my feelings and the situation! much love to the saltmine 💕

[crystallofolia]

I'm new to flight rising and all the guides I've read have been very vague on dragon pricing, simply stating its very subjective. Could you help with "ballpark" figures, or qualities guaranteed to add value and around how much? I know gen 1s and old dragons are worth a lot but that's it.

I’m honestly not the best person to ask about the current dragon economy since I just got back from a year long hiatus last month, but I’ll try to help you out anon using what I remember from when I was super active! Unfortunately pricing is super subjective, so a lot of what I’m about say is probably similar to guides you’ve read. :/For general dragons, a good rule of thumb is to look at what’s selling best and price match! Things like pastels are still super popular from what I can tell, same with color pairs that have matching accents in their primaries and secondaries from genes like Butterfly, Petals, Toxic, Poison, Skink, and Spinner. Good color ranges usually include blues, reds, pinks, the upper white ranges, the lower black ranges, and sometimes greens. Gold is a popular tert when paired with red or black primaries and secondaries. Bright ‘ Lisa Frank ‘ like dragons are still popular too I think, but I might be wrong. Usually above all else the hatchlings with the newest genes are going to sell for the most within a month or so of releasing, but you still need to be conscious of what colors your pairs can produce before you just slap new genes on them and wait five ( or six? ) days hoping that you’ll eventually make back the treasure/gems you spend on the parents.

Following popular trends is a good way to make treasure/gems if your lair has the space and you can afford it. Back when I joined FR XXXs were all the rage and were still relatively rare compared to the massive amounts of them available today, so I ended up structuring my entire lair around breeding XXXs for a good year or so. You can see the remnants of that fad in the very back of my lair with a triple lemon pair I still haven’t been able to let go of. Even though half the pairs I had were colors I weren’t exactly fond of, the fact still remained that I ended up making a ton of money off them everytime I breed them.

Ballpark prices are hard to suggest, unless you’re selling dragons that have similar color schemes to dragons that you know are already selling. Generally I feel like if you have an interesting pair that has some people asking for pings and stuff when they breed you can probably get away with asking for upwards of 50kT+ for hatchlings, with more if they have newer genes. In the case of newer genes ( as in during the weeks immediately following release ) I feel like it’s best to price lower than the cost of the genes themselves for potential quick sells. Pricing dragons around 100kT+ each when they have new primaries and secondaries you can find in the treasure marketplace isn’t unheard of and I’ve seen some dragons sell at the price. As for brand new gem genes I think pricing really depends on how popular the gene seems to be. For release day hatchlings that have been boon’d it isn’t uncommon to see ones in the AH for 500g+, but I’m not sure if most people would ever consider buying at that price unless the colors are really good and they’re disinterested in waiting to see if prices go down.

Oh, as I said above more or less, some people will be happy to pay more than what you expect for dragons that they’re especially fond of. So, if you’re not getting any bites off just putting them in the AH and advertising them in tags, don’t be afraid to go promote them in the Dragon Search forum so long as you’re paying attention to what people are looking for in each thread and offering accordingly. Sometimes having a hatchery in Dragon Sales helps too as far as gathering potential buyers, but I haven’t had experience with running one in forever.

Either way, regardless of what you originally start off as pricing your dragons at, don’t be discouraged to adjust prices if your dragons don’t sell! Sometimes a person won’t consider buying a dragon for more than a certain amount, but might reconsider if they see that you’ve dropped the price to something more affordable to them. That said, never drop them below fodder prices because you can make at least a quick 10~15kt off them yourself via leveling them up in the coli if they haven’t sold by the time they’re adults. A good way to make money in general if you have the lair space and time to waste in the coli is to just have an exalt fodder pair or two that breeds every 15 days, put their hatchlings up for adult fodder prices, and then if they’re not sold by then just train them to level 7 or 8 or so to exalt.

Also, like you said, certain 1st generation and older 3~6 digit dragons are worth a lot of money to the right person! 

First gens with desirable colors and matching eyes sell way better than ones with a completely random unworkable color scheme, but there’s always the possibility that someone might be interested. If you don’t know how much a gen one is worth when you feel like it’s colors are good and work well together there’s several places on the site forums you can ask around for price checks full of people that regularly sell and buy them who might help you. If you have enough starting funds and feel confident in knowing what might sell well, I know that some people have had luck flipping first gens they find on the AH for low prices in dragon sales and auction threads after pinging the gen one collectors list. But that said, I wouldn’t really recommend it since the market for them is always changing it feels like. ( Personally I don’t enjoy the gamble of buying and hatching eggs, so when I do end up with them I usually sell them as soon as possible l o l )

Older dragons are worth more just for the fact that they have lower digit ids, in most cases. Most people who buy super low digits seem to have enough funds not to care what the dragon’s current colors and genes are and are likely to just use scatterscrolls until they get a roll they like. Things that make older dragons more desirable: Unbred/Low # of Offspring 1st Gens, Unbred/Low # of Offspring 2nd Gens, bred dragons that have no Unnameds or weird/vulgar names on their Offspring list, ones that are already breed scroll’d into Wildclaws and Coatls, older 2nd Gen Imperials are especially valuable to the right person ( even more so if both their parents are Imps too! ), and things like that. Back when older dragons were first taking off in popularity it was easy to browse the AH for older 6 digit dragons and filp them for an easy 50kT or so, but I think that’s harder now.

As a closing note, it’s probably super discouraging to hear this, but hatching and selling dragons for treasure outside of making your own exalt fodder isn’t as profitable as it used to be a few years ago. Some of the easiest ways to make money is grinding in the coli and selling all your drops, buying low priced popular apparel/genes in the marketplace every 5~10 min refresh and selling high in the AH, maxing out your fairgrounds earnings daily by playing artifracture, and trying your hand at accent making if you’re able to.

Anyways I really hope that at least one thing I typed up there was semi useful, if anything, for you anon! D|

[jedicreed-fr]

The Turning Point (part V)

General Lore Pinglist: @cityofinoue @fr-lutielle @tackysnaps @tunnel-hydra-fr @fr-owlistuff @shadowdrac-rising @tacticianlyra-fr @mirrorseveryday @thewindbloom @magikarprising @arctic-rising @gardenweyr @frxemriss @moon-eye-dragon

Also tagging @gainstrive for Valda in action!

If you’d like to be added/removed from the lore pinglist, just send me a message!

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Mereda wasn’t stupid. She knew that, for the past few days, she’d been followed. By whom, she didn’t know. But, judging by the smell, and from the way they kept a safe distance, they were from the Windcurrent Clan. They’d finally found her...

Did that mean they had Cynfair? Had he been the one to give away her position?

...No, he couldn’t have. The fool was heads-over-heels in love with her. Too bad it was one-sided. She cared nothing for his feelings, and toyed with him just enough to keep him and his knowledge of poisons close. Despite being so dull-witted, he could do miraculous things with poison. Including the concoction that turned Plagueis int a literal pile of fleshy goo on the floor...

She didn’t know how the Windcurrent clan found her...but it mattered little.

“MEREDA!!”

Khan stood, with five others around him, fully armed to the teeth. Mereda raised a brow--she hadn’t expected Khan to come, of all dragons, much less than with a hunting party. They were all glaring at her. She didn’t need a Skydancer’s sense to know how furious they were with her...

“By decree of the Windcurrent Clan...” started Yomigami, staring her down, “You shall be charged for your crimes, involving the death of Plagueis, and the maiming of Issak.”

Mereda blinked, tilting her head, “I know about Plagueis...Who is this Issak you speak of? Can’t seem to remember him...”

“Issak is my mate, you bitch!! The one you blinded!” snarled Nuoenii, nearly launching forward, being stopped by Commandant and Major on either side of her, “You splashed poison in his eyes, and destroy them! He can’t see at all, because of you!” The normally calm Knight was more than ready to tear into the Guardian, crests flared and anger renewed, now that Mereda was finally in the flesh before her.

Mereda tapped her chin in thought, before blinking, “Oooh, the small red Skydancer! The one that tried to chase after Cynfair and I, when we killed Plagueis!” she said, before smirking, “...I had hoped the acid would eat through his skull and kill him. Guess I made the dose too weak.”

Nuoenii shrieked, attempting to launch herself again, this time needing Yomigami to help the other two hold her back.

“What you did, was disable a knight of the clan, and eventually made him retire from his post!” said Commandant, glaring at the Guardian, “The clan is now less powerful than it was, thanks to you. So you will come with us, and answer for your crimes!”

Mereda bellowed out a laugh, her skull headdress nearly falling off as a result. She recovered herself, wiping away the tears of mirth from her Plague eyes. She looked at them all, and scoffed, shaking her head.

“Answer for my crimes? Pearlcatcher, I’ll have you know, I’m not going back without a fight. So you’ll all either die here, boiled alive by my poison...or kill me here in a battle. Those are your only two choices.”

The group looked to one another. They were at a bit of a disadvantage with Mereda and her Plague poisons. All of them would be badly affected, even Major who was mostly machine. ...But there was one that could have better odds...

“No, there’s a choice three. Incapacitate you, and bring you in alive.”

Valda stepped forward, boasting her larger size. Despite both her and Mereda being Guardians, Valda was considerably larger that the poison witch. Her wings unfurled slightly, claws digging into the ground as she stood proudly, speaking loudly, almost shouting.

“You are a disgrace!!” Valda declared, glaring at Mereda, “You are a disgrace to all Plague Dragons in this realm! You think you’re the top, because of your knowledge with poisons, and killing a single dragon, mind you a defenseless Fae. What sort of coward takes pride in a kill like that?! How dare you injure someone else’s loved one, just as a means to get away!? You pride yourself on being a Plague dragon, but you are a lie! You’re a coward, only claiming to be the pride of the Plague race, when--”

“Silence your tongue!” snarled Mereda, now standing her ground. Everyone knew how she prided herself on being the ‘perfect’ Plague dragon, and criticizing other Plague dragons around her. Valda knew how to get under her poisonous skin, “I am a proud Plague dragon! We take pride in causing death! To see life trickle out between our claws, and end! You, who idolize a stupid Tundra, are blind! You know nothing of what it means to be a true Plague Flight dragon!”

Valda snarled deeply, taking a step forward, her tail slamming down into the ground in her rage, “My brother, Gainstrive, is a prime example of a Plague Dragon! You will rue the day you disgrace his name!” Her wings snapped out, stretching to their full wingspan, “Plague Dragons do take some enjoyment out of death, yes! But the true pride of Plague Dragons is survival! The cycle of life and death! The better the survival, the better you are. Those who only focus on death are not Plague dragons at all, but mere lowly demons who failed in surviving up to the Plague name!”

Mereda quickly reached into the pouch at her side, and everyone got on the defense, raising up armor-covered wings in defense.

“I’ll slaughter you, you Tundra fucker!” shrieked Mereda, throwing bottles at the group. They shattered as they met the ground, splattering a viscous liquid. It was black and more of a sludge, but it burned and sizzled as soon as it hit anything...or anyone. Commandant got some splashed on his paw, and he yelped, drawing back, quickly wiping his paw on the ground, before the poison burnt a whole through him.

Valda charged forward, stepping right into the poison, not even flinching, “You fool! I am a Plague Dragon! Your poison shall not fell me!”

She didn’t even reach for her sword, slamming her larger body into Mereda’s, claws digging into her poisoned flesh. She bit down on the back of Mereda’s neck, causing the Guardian to shriek in pain, moving wildly in an attempt to shake her off. But Valda wouldn’t budge. Poisoned blood filled her mouth, the taste almost nauseating. But she knew the poison wouldn’t affect her. And even if it did, she’d pull through.

The proud Plague blood running through her own veins would trump this poison.

Mereda finally succeeded in shaking Valda off, though not without a few scales and chunks of skin missing. Valda spat off to the side, spitting out the chunks of skin she’d gotten caught in her fangs, before drawing out her sword. She snarled, bloodied lips curling up to reveal blood-stained teeth.

“Submit to me, foul witch!” she shouted, charging forward.

Only this time, Mereda charged past her.

Caught off-guard by her sudden movement, Valda stopped but not in time to prevent Mereda from attacking at Khan. The Ridgeback leader was surprised at the sudden attack, but he was ready. After facing against the Shade, Mereda would hardly be a challenge. Besides, his own scales were slightly poisoned by the Shade itself, having bit down into it to save Tarcy.

Khan met her head-on, his own claws digging into her hide, as her teeth sank into his neck. He felt something burning through his veins instantly, and knew she was poisoning him. His claws tore into her shoulders in an attempt to throw her off, but nothing worked. It wasn’t until he used the sharp thumb claws of his Ridgeback hands to stab into her neck, that she finally drew back with a surprised, and pained, yelp. She charged for him again, only to meet with Yomigami.

The larger Imperial slammed Mereda to the ground, his own claws digging into her. Her blood burned his paws, but he persevered, moving quickly to pin Mereda’s head down, so she wouldn’t turn around to bite him. She struggled to get up, wings and tail thrashing about, but Yomigami kept her down. But he failed to see her reach up in time to stop her, as her claws tore through the fabric of his armguards, managing to get between his armor, and tear into his flesh. Her claws glowed a sickly red, and suddenly it felt as if Yomigami’s whole arm was on fire. He jumped back, cradling his throbbing, burning arm as Mereda quickly got to her feet, grabbing another bottle in her pouch and tossing it right at Yomigami--

“Watch out!”

Before the bottle could hit Yomigami directly, Commandant jumped between them, raising an armor-clad wing to take the blow. The poison bottle shattered against the armor, but the poison still dripped down onto him. Almost instantly, it seemed to absorb into his skin, and welts and boils popped up where ever the poison dripped. Commandant let out a yell of pain, crumpling before Yomigami, as he and Major rushed to his aid.

But before Mereda could go in to deliver the final blow, Valda was upon her once more, sword slashing down, digging deep into Mereda’s shoulder, deep enough to damage muscle.

“Your fight’s with me, Mereda!” snarled Valda, pulling back slightly, before rushing in again. She knew she couldn’t kill Mereda. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t. As she slashed and hacked away, she devised a plan. Something that would hopefully subdue Mereda long enough to get her back to the Windcurrent clan for her trial. When she glanced over at Yomigami, Commandant, and Major, the Skydancer’s glowing wings gave her an idea...

“If your fight’s with me, then pay attention!” spat Mereda, lashing out, her claws catching Valda fully in the face. Sharp, poisonous claws tore through the headdress she wore, digging into flesh underneath. Somehow they missed her eye, but the pain was enough to jolt her senses back to Mereda, as she yanked back away from her, flicking the blood off of her sword.

“You may not die here, but this is your last stand.” said Valda, licking her lips, her own blood trickling down her face. Grabbing her sword like a javelin, she tossed it at Mereda with all of her might. Not expecting such an attack, Mereda had no time to avoid it, as the the sword buried itself into her shoulder, going in quite deep, even cutting into bone. As she fell with a shriek of pain, Valda quickly turned to Major.

“Metal Skydancer! I need you, now!” she shouted, pointing to the blade embedded into Mereda.

Major glanced up from Commandant’s side, before looking at Mereda and her own grievous wound. She wondered what Valda meant...when it clicked. There was metal in Mereda now. Major could generate electricity, thanks to her cyborg body.

Without hestiation, she moved forward, wings spread as they crackled with electricity. She could feel her body heating up, as her inner workings got to generating a powerful bout of electricity. She’d need enough to shock Mereda into unconsciousness, but not enough to kill her. Simple enough. For her, at least.

“It’s over.” said Major, sparks dancing along her body, “You’ve lost, Mereda.”

With that, lightning arced between her spread wings, gathering to a point, before she threw it right at the sword stuck in the Guardian’s shoulder. The electricity traveled through Mereda easily, thanks to the metal in her. She shrieked and thrashed about, twitching madly, before going limp, collapsing to the ground, with only her wings twitching as a side-effect of the massive electrical shock. Major powered down slightly, opening her mouth as a steady stream of steam poured out. She knew Commandant would have to repair her now--she’d never delivered a shock that powerful to anyone before...

Satisfied, Valda strode over to the fallen Mereda, grabbing her blade and yanking it out of her, causing a decent amount of blood to flow from the wound. But she’d live--it didn’t hit anything vital. But just as Valda sheathed her sword, Nuoenii rushed up, claws at the ready, as she slashed across Mereda’s face, raking over one of her eyes, before anyone could stop her. She didn’t know if she’d blinded her...but it felt good to damage at least one of her eyes.

“It’s over...It’s over...” said Nuoenii, as steadily as she could.

Mereda was finally defeated.

And, as the dragons gathered to bind her and carry her back to the clan, a new problem arose.

How would they try Mereda of a crime she obviously admitted to doing?

Fortunately Khan knew how this was going to go. ...But the outcome would more than likely split the clan into two...

[starhaven-fr]

Sea of a Thousand Currents, Tidelord and Coatl please.

Sea of a Thousand Currents - Why did you join Flight Rising?

Let’s see, I have terrible memory but I think I first found out about flight rising because one of my mutuals reblogged @pocketss pumpkin post and then I ended up scrolling through that whole art tag and found out about FR. Then I waited for a welcome week to open up and I’ve been hooked ever since

Tidelord - Does the element of your dragons’ eyes matter to you in lore?

While it certainly plays a role in several of my dragons’ backstories it’s not the most important thing. Mostly I just have it play into how my kids ended up in my lair but besides that not really. 

Coatl - Which dragon breed has your favorite lore, regardless of how much you like/dislike how they look?

Favorite lore would have to be BOGSNEAKS. Look I love alchemy so much so it’s no contest that the bogsneak breed ended up being my favorite lore-wise. I have kind of a hard time with them aesthetically but I will admit they’re pretty goofy and cute.