#circle of the land (arctic)

[reasonsforhope]

““It’s happening now,” Norwegian said. “We need to work as leaders and partners with scientists to see what is coming. We also need to get our own act together.”

Not only are First Nations and the Inuit working closely with Western scientists to inventory and study their lands, but they have also made striking progress setting aside vast tracts of land and ocean, a decades-long push that has recently gained momentum and now amounts to tens of millions of acres. Conservationists say the scale of these efforts is unprecedented.

“The scale of these land withdrawals is certainly far exceeding even the imaginations of conservationists in the U.S., or really from most of the world,” said Jeff Wells, vice president of boreal conservation for the National Audubon Society.

Gerald Antoine, regional chief for Northwest Territories in the Assembly of First Nations of Canada, said he believes the goal in setting aside so much territory is to preserve a traditional way of life by working with scientists—as well as hunters and trappers—to better understand what threatens northern ecosystems and to preserve major portions of their lands from resource development.

“That’s really the best way of dealing with climate change,” he said...

--

Protected Land and Waters

The most recent acreage slated to be withdrawn for conservation in the Northwest Territories is a vast area of wetlands from the Sahtu region. Known locally as Ts’udé Nilįné, the Ramparts River and Wetlands is rich in oil and gas. But it is also culturally important and internationally recognized for its high volume of carbon-dense wetlands and its importance for migratory bird populations. If all goes according to plan, the protected area will be more than twice the size of Yellowstone National Park and will be closely studied by Sahtu hunters working with scientists from Ducks Unlimited, the University of Saskatchewan, and a multidisciplinary group of academic researchers, government, and private industry partners.

Eight years earlier, the Sahtu Dene signed an agreement with the Canadian government to create Nááts’įhch’oh, a 1.2-million-acre national park that protects the headwaters of Nahanni National Park, a United Nations World Heritage site and a traditional hunting ground for the Dehcho Dene. Last June, the Dehcho finalized a deal with the Canadian government to include 3.5 million acres of their land in the Horn Plateau, the Hay River Lowlands, and the Great Slave Plain on the list of national wildlife areas. Edéhzhíe is now the first Indigenous National Wildlife Area in Canada.

Apart from Edéhzhíe, nearly 12 million acres of land has recently been set aside in the Northwest Territories under various acts. Another 6.5 million acres are under consideration for conservation withdrawals.

In the Yukon, 13.8 million acres were recently set aside for the Peel River watershed, with another 9.8 million slated for the Dawson region, and nearly 5 million acres along the Yukon North Slope.

In the eastern Arctic, the Canadian government and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association signed a landmark agreement in 2019 to establish the Tallurutiup Imanga Lancaster Sound National Marine Conservation Area, Canada’s newest and—at 27 million acres—by far its largest marine protected area.

In the Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Manitoba, three Indigenous communities in the Seal River watershed are working, along with several conservation groups, to protect 12 million acres of boreal peatlands. The mineral-rich forest and tundra watershed hold 1.7 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to eight years’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

“Down here in the U.S, or even in southern Canada,” said Wells, “it is considered a triumph to conserve a parcel in the thousands of acres, while these Indigenous-led initiatives in Canada are conserving landscapes in the millions of acres. That higher-level vision and ambition is what is needed to confront the biodiversity and climate change crises.”” -via Yes! Magazine, 12/27/22

[he1ian]

started icebound and fak!!! it's so good

[bugpysforge]

When Snowbelle Village experiences blizzards, Hisuian Avalugg is summoned. Using his spear staff, he divides the wintry clouds.

Race: Saxam Class: Druid Subclass: Circle of Arctic Land Location: Snowbelle Alignment: Neutral Good

View the pokedex of all dungeon pokemon by following the link in the menu.

[muirneach]

do other countries have their own alternate lyrics to this land is your land or is it just canada that wanted to be different

[viesetbanda]

Meet capechak! Everyone else in the party has made enemies and gotten in trouble w the law, but no one has beef w him since he’s always just “straight chillin”

[familythings]

Sommarøy: The World’s First Time-Free Zone

In 2019, the residents of Sommarøy, a small island in Northern Norway, made a bold decision: they would no longer keep time. Many citizens tucked their clocks away, dreaming of a life unbound by hours. Their goal? To declare Sommarøy as the world’s first “time-free zone.” A Unique Perspective on Time Situated above the Arctic Circle, Sommarøy is nicknamed the “Land of the Midnight Sun.” Here,…

[thekawaiifanart]

anyone else ever cringe enough to give their dnd characters an actual birthday? well...I am, and today (8/15/23) is it!

Happy Birthday, Snowstorm!

[elbiotipo]

Some notes on worldbuilding with carnivorous cultures:

Animals feed more people than you think. You don't kill a cow for just one steak, this is a modern misconception since we're removed from the actual animals we eat our meat from; a single cow has several kilos of meat. In fact, slaughtering a single cow often means a feast time for possibly dozens of people. Every part of an animal can be used, and you can see this in cultures that live by ranching and transhumance.

Here, you should look at the Mongols and the people of the Eurasian Steppe, the people of the North American Plains, the people of the Pampas (fun fact; Buenos Aires was called the "carnivore city"), European and Asian cultures that practice transhumance, and those of the Arctic circle.

There are many ways to cook meat, but arguably, the most nutritious way to consume meat is in stew, as it allows you to consume all the fats of the animal and add other ingredients. In fact, mutton soup and stew historically was one of the basic meals for the for people in the Eurasian Steppe, who are one of the people with the highest meat consumption in the world.

Of course, meat spoils away easily. Fortunately, from jerky to cured meats, there are ways to prevent this. In pre-industrial and proto-industrial societies, salted meat was the main way of consumption and exporting meat. This makes salt even a more prized good.

Often, certain parts of animals like eyes, the liver, the testicles, the entrails, are considered not only cultural delicacies but as essential for vitamins and nutrients unavailable in environments such as the poles. The Inuit diet is a very strong example.

Pastures and agriculture have often competing dynamics. The lands that are ideal for mass pasture, that is, temperature wet grasslands, are also often ideal for agriculture. So pastoralism has often been in the margins of agrarian societies. This dynamic could be seen in the Americas. After the introduction of cattle and horses, the Pampas hosted semi-nomadic herdsmen, natives and criollo gauchos. The introduction of wire eventually reduced this open territory, converting it into intense agriculture, and traditional ranching was displaced to more "marginal" land less suitable for agriculture. Similar processes have happened all over the world.

This also brings an interesting question to explore. Agriculture is able to feed more people by density. What about species that DON'T do agriculture, because they're completely carnivorous? The use of what human civilization considers prime agricultural land will be different. They will be able to support much higher population densities than pastoralism.

Pastoral human populations have developed lactase persistance to be able to feed on dairy products even in adulthood. This mutation has happened all over the world, presumably with different origins. In any mammalian species that domesticates other mammals such a thing would be very common if not ubiqutous, as it massively expands the diet. Milk provides hydration, and cheese, yogurth and other such products allows long lasting food sources.

What about hunting? Early humans were apex predators and we are still ones today. However, humans can eat plants, which somewhat reduces the hunting pressure on fauna (though not the pressure of agrarian expansion which can be even worse). An exclusively carnivorous species (for example some kind of cat people) would have to develop very rigid and very complex cultural behavior of managing hunting, or else they would go extinct from hunger before even managing domestication. These cultural views towards hunting have also arosen in people all over the world, so you can get a sense of them by researching it.

It is possible for pastoral nomadic people, without any agriculture, to have cities? Of course. All nomadic peoples had amazing cultures and in Eurasia, they famously built empires. But they traded and entered conflicts with agrarian societies, too. They weren't isolated. Most of nomadic societies were defined by trade with settled ones.

The origin of human civilization and agriculture is still debated. It would be probably completely different for a non-human carnivorous society. One possible spark would be ritual meeting points (such as the historical Gobleki Tepe) or trade markets growing into permanent cities. But in general, pastoralism, hunting and ranching favors low-density populations that would be quite different.

Fishing, on the other hand, is a reliable source of protein and promotes settled cities. One can imagine acquaculture would be developed very early by a civilization hungry for protein.

Other possibilities of course are the raising of insects and mushrooms, both very uncommonly explored in fiction besides passing mentions.

Of course, most carnivorous species have some limited consumption of plant matter and many herbivores are oportunistic predators. The main thing to ask here is what the daily meal is here. For most human agrarian cultures, it's actually grain (this is where the word meal comes from). What about species that cannot live with a grain-based diet? You will find that many things people take for granted in agrarian society would be completely different.

As I always say: the most important question you can ask is "where does the food comes from?"

I hope you found these comments interesting and useful! I would love to do a better post once I'm able to replace my PC (yes, I wrote this all in a phone and I almost went insane). If you like what I write and would love to see more worldbuilding tips, consider tipping my ko-fi and checking my other posts. More elaborate posts on this and other subjects are coming.

[1800titz]

BEWARE THE WATER | merman/siren!Harry x reader

You’ll never forget it— the time when you suggested an outing. You were sitting around in your room with beer bottles on the off hours, you on your twin-sized mattress with your knees tucked to your chest. Skinny dipping. Like a kidhood pastime under the coat of nightfall. A fuddled proposal off your liquified tongue, spurned by the alcohol simmering your veins. You regretted it the moment it slinked from your mouth (the moment the weight of the silence lodged in the rational part of your brain, clinging through insobriety), but you doubled down. “…You’re crazy, rookie,” you remember one told you, eyes listing to the side, over the rubescent smear across the bridge of his nose. “Why not?” Curse of the North Shore, they called it. Call it. An urban legend— but the circles of their eyes shrink into the framing of white when they tell the story of men strewn across the coastline. Skins. Sapped down to the marrow, hollowed bones marred with scrapes, littered across the beach, the patch of rock shed off the cliffside. Spread all over. Eaten from the inside. A fable for grown men to chase, like a monster hiding in the coal-dark nooks under their cots. You stuck the lip of the beer bottle to your mouth and rolled your misty eyes. “Bullshit.”

preview

Your self-preservation scratches up, from beneath the surface of the sea’s hymn settling into your bones. Wrong. Dangerous. Go back. It carves a nick, like a scrape from under a layer of ice across the arctic pelagic, and fractures your mindless audacity. Your foolish gall. Leaves you blinking like you’re batting a haze of smoke off with your lashes, out on the rocks with your lantern swinging in your hand. 

It hits you all at once. Anxiety like storm surge. The sense of impending doom makes your throat tight when you swallow. Dry. What are you doing? Clotting up your lungs, waves slamming against the rocks you’ve trekked. The foundation under you quakes with the hairline fracture of your risk, and something tacky oozes in. Fear. Instinct. The consequence of your recklessness—

A moment too late. Moments. A moment too stupid, too uncalculated, too rash. Ill-advised, when you left the base and stepped out from behind the barricade of the dunes. You take slow, cautious steps back into the direction of the sand across the slippery eigengrau, shaking. Stupid, stupid— counting your steps, reaching for the stretch of land out of fingertip’s length.

(And really, there’s only so long you can dangle a filet out in front of an animal before it breaks and bites. Only so long you can lure something from the sea with a soft, fleshy silhouette over the surface of the water.)

The ocean is humming. Singing. Like it’s lapping in an echo of the word that shatters the calm of the reticence— “Soldier.”

Not quite a bark. No ire. But it’s louder than the water and makes your heart lurch to your throat when your head snaps over your shoulder. Your balance is threadbare, and the plummet of your stomach makes the string ripple. Your heel nearly slips across the jagged stone—

(Not rookie. Soldier. Shedding the moniker feels like molting a worn, second skin that’s started to crackle across the stretch of your appendages.)

Hindsight laughs at your irreparable, full fledged stupidity— you, ignoring every warning they handed out to you in the cup of their palm. 

(You were supposed to cradle them close, heed like the signs told you.)

Your unease is a vicious pulse across your throat, roaring in your ears, mottling the perfect tempo of the waves, when the lantern between your fingers sways to the craggy patch behind you, where you once stood. It casts ochreous light across the slippery tar-black of the stones. 

There’s a man in the water. Your lungs squeeze. Caught. Stuck. In stasis. 

Wet skin. Slippery, slick. Burnt orange catching on sinews, even with a patch of jagged stones between you, emphasizing your distance. 

You’ve never believed in fairy tales, not as a child. Not now. Never chased legends, and myths, imaginary friends and monsters under your bed. But something unspools inside of you. Unfurls in the pit of your belly. Instinctual. Like a sixth sense to save your skin. You still have a chance, a distance, muffled echo behind your skull hisses, you still—

But you’re glued onto the stone. Stagnant. Stalemating, with a chill stinging like shards across your veins, nausea lingering from the sharp bludgeon of being swung off kilter. 

A deer caught in headlights. 

(Game, staring across the plain at the looming predator.)

Fear tastes like heme and crushed ice. Your emotions are a farrago— terror, confusion, apprehension.

Dread. 

“You’re a soldier,” he asks— tells you, it feels like a statement— over the roaring sea, cadence honey smooth. Molasses heavy. A treacle across your ears that ghosts and melts across your earlobes. The scruff of your neck, where the peach fuzz bristles at attention. “Aren’t you?”

Your tongue feels stuck to the roof of your mouth. Bloated up in your mouth. From this distance, you can’t make out his face. Not the details— only the shape, and his gaze. Liquified tar. Glinting, coruscating like the peaks of the waves. 

Uncanny. Wrong. The echo of an urban legend— a mystical beast waiting to swallow you whole. 

You should run. Sprint across the rocks, let adrenaline aid in your coordination and pray for the best—

But you're stuck. Your brows notched, your ribcage rattling with your heart bursting behind it. Bounding, in place of your stubborn feet. 

“You— you’re not supposed to be out here,” you bluster. Ever the pedant (as if you are, mouthy, little hypocrite). Shoulders rigid like the stretch of nightfall limestone, chin high in your wavering merit. A soldier— a mask you wear as a cloak that can’t hide the quake in your fingers, and the burnt orange off the lantern jumps across the waves. 

It all feels pointless. Otiose— there is no warranted explanation when the unimaginable, unforeseen myth, blurs with reality and crumbles your expectations (your rationale) out from under you. 

His arms stretch across the stone. Lax. Languorous. The delineation of ease— and you can’t stop your eyes from roving across the breadth of his shoulders, the heft, the way the musculature there flexes when he moves. The way the water sticks to his skin. Glimmering obsidian roams you. Wanders. Strays. Drifts. Across every inch, every piece. Assessing. Contemplating. Absorbing.

“Aren’t you the sweetest thing?” he says, instead of answering you. 

The purr stuns you. Weaves across your logic, the congeries of your emotions— the fear— in ropework. Ties to an anchor, lugging you, luring you to drift further from the coastline, closer to him. Sediment from the ocean floor dredged under your feet when they nearly shuffle forward over the stone. 

The words sound wrong. Hungry. Like an omen— and the paradox of them, their tone, against your crumbling mettle, jars you back into survival-mode. Your head feels heavy. Clogged. Wading through a mist you can barely shake off—

“How did you get here?” you demand. Your teeth feel tight.

In the lack of immediate response, you know he’s staring at you. Inkblots roaming across your shape like the eyes of a carnivore over a meal. Incisors aching. It spills your resolve across your shoulders. A wave laps across your toes. He hums.

“Givin’ me a fuckin’ toothache, just looking at you,” he murmurs. A sawtooth dodge around your questions, the anger that bubbles off you in a broken defense mechanism— a vicious cat baring its teeth, swiping out with its little claws, backed into a corner. 

[xhxhxhx]

Let's write something today.

I.

I came to the United States a few years ago to live with my partner. I know little of the country. To me, it's still a vast, foreign place.

Its states, represented in its upper house, span lands from the Arctic Circle to points four degrees south of the Tropic of Cancer.

The states themselves are vast. It's the stuff of popular song. The spacious skies, mountain majesties, redwood forests and Gulf Stream waters, this land from sea to shining sea.

Its territories, where its Constitution does not apply of its own force, extend to the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, where the United States acquired its unincorporated overseas territories.

These territories extend past the 64th meridian west in the Caribbean, points parallel with Bermuda, and past the 144th meridian east, points parallel with Hokkaido.

These territories are entirely south of the contiguous United States, and extend to the 14th parallel south, past the equator, to points parallel with Angola and Mozambique.

But most Americans don't think much about the territories.

The territories, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States, are usually set aside.

The United States tends to set them aside too.

II.

The territories of the United States aren't represented in its constitutional government. There's a straightforward reason for that: The Constitution defines its government in terms of the States.

The House consists of representatives "apportioned among the several States," U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3; cf. id. amend. XIV, § 2, elected "by the People of the several States." Id. cl. 1.

The Senate consists of "two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof," id. amend. XVII, cl. 1, and the President is elected by electors appointed by "[e]ach State." Id. art. II, § 1, cl. 2.

Together, these three persons, the House, Senate, and President, have the whole legislative and executive power of the United States. Id. art. I, § 1; id. art. II, § 1, cl. 1.

They're chosen from the States, "by the People of the several States;" "from each State, elected by the people thereof;" and electors from "[e]ach State"—and no one else. States only.

And territories aren't states.

III.

The territories aren't protected by the Constitution either.

Under current precedent, the Constitution does not extend to what we call the "unincorporated territories." See generally United States v. Vaello Madero, 596 U.S. 159, 180ff. (2022) (Gorsuch, J., concurring). The United States extends its benefits to the territories by grace, not compulsion.

For example, people born in Puerto Rico are United States citizens by birth. But they're citizens only by virtue of congressional acts, not the Constitution. Even though they should be United States citizens by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Under the Citizenship Clause, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

To all appearances, Puerto Rico is "in the United States." Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and under the United States. The territory and people of Puerto Rico are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

That means that any person born or naturalized in Puerto Rico, not otherwise outside the jurisdiction of the United States, must be a citizen of the United States, simply by virtue of the Constitution and its Citizenship Clause.

That's consistent with the law of the United States, Under current law, "a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," is a national and a citizen of the United States at birth. 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a).

And Puerto Rico is "in the United States." It tells us that "United States" here "means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island." § 1101(38).

That means that any person born or naturalized in Puerto Rico, not otherwise outside the jurisdiction of the United States, must be a citizen of the United States, simply by virtue of the Constitution and its Citizenship Clause.

But under current precedent, that's not so. The Fourteenth Amendment doesn't apply to Puerto Rico. Nor do most of the other bits of the Constitution.

Because it's not "in the United States."

IV.

Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris 1898, 30 Stat. 1754. Under its terms, those who remained in Puerto Rico became United States nationals by default. Congress would determine their rights and status. Id. at 1759.

When Congress established a civil government for Puerto Rico, it deemed its residents "citizens of Porto Rico, and as such entitled to the protection of the United States." 31 Stat. 77, 79.

That suggested that citizens of Puerto Rico were at least nationals of the United States. As nationals, they would owe the United States allegiance and the United States would owe them protection. But not necessarily more than that.

The Supreme Court confirmed that reading in Gonzales v. Williams, 192 U.S. 1 (1904). The citizens of Puerto Rico were "nonaliens," putting them beyond the power of immigration control, permitting them to travel without exclusion, parole, or removal.

But not citizens of the United States. That only happened when Congress made them citizens.

That's what Congress did in March 1917, when it made any citizen of Puerto Rico a citizen of the United States, and anyone born there a citizen of the United States. 39 Stat. 951, 953. That's the predecessor of the current provisions. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1401(a), 1101(38).

But anyone else? Anyone born in American Samoa, a territory of the United States, but not part of the "United States" defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(38)? Not a citizen.

Current law makes people born in American Samoa "nationals, but not citizens." 8 U.S.C. §§ 1408, 1101(29). And the courts, content to see the territories as places not "in the United States," have sustained that law. Fitisemanu v. United States, 1 F.4th 862 (10th Cir. 2021); Tuaua v. United States, 788 F.3d 300 (D.C. Cir. 2015).

And I don't know much about the United States, but.

That just seems wrong to me.

[reasonsforhope]

People ask me sometimes how I'm so confident that we can beat climate change.

There are a lot of reasons, but here's a major one: it would take a really, really long time for Earth to genuinely become uninhabitable for humans.

Humans have, throughout history, carved out a living for themselves in some of the most harsh, uninhabitable corners of the world. The Arctic Circle. The Sahara. The peaks of the Himalayas. The densest, most tropical regions of the Amazon Rainforest. The Australian Outback. etc. etc.

Frankly, if there had been a land bridge to Antarctica, I'm pretty sure we would have been living there for thousands of years, too. And in fact, there are humans living in Antarctica now, albeit not permanently.

And now, we're not even facing down apocalypse, anymore. Here's a 2022 quote from the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells, a leader on climate change and the furthest thing from a climate optimist:

"The most terrifying predictions [have been] made improbable by decarbonization and the most hopeful ones practically foreclosed by tragic delay. The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse. Over the last several months, I’ve had dozens of conversations — with climate scientists and economists and policymakers, advocates and activists and novelists and philosophers — about that new world and the ways we might conceptualize it. Perhaps the most capacious and galvanizing account is one I heard from Kate Marvel of NASA, a lead chapter author on the fifth National Climate Assessment: “The world will be what we make it.”" -David Wallace-Wells for the New York Times, October 26, 2022

If we can adapt to some of the harshest climates on the planet - if we could adapt to them thousands of years ago, without any hint of modern technology - then I have every faith that we can adjust to the world that is coming.

What matters now is how fast we can change, because there is a wide, wide gap between "climate apocalypse" and "no harm done." We've already passed no harm done; the climate disasters are here, and they've been here. People have died from climate disasters already, especially in the Global South, and that will keep happening.

But as long as we stay alive - as long as we keep each other alive - we will have centuries to fix the effects of climate change, as much as we possibly can.

And looking at how far we've come in the past two decades alone - in the past five years alone - I genuinely think it is inevitable that we will overcome climate change.

So, we're going to survive climate change, as a species.

What matters now is making sure that every possible individual human survives climate change as well.

What matters now is cutting emissions and reinventing the world as quickly as we possibly can.

What matters now is saving every life and livelihood and way of life that we possibly can.

[transformers-nerd-13]

Hi everyone! This is my analysis of Fire in the Sky. Sorry this took so long; my life has been kind of hectic for the last few days, but I finally found the time to sit down and analyze this episode, so without further ado, let's get into it!

We open on a shot of the Ark and the surrounding desert covered in snow--like, a LOT of snow. And pine trees. Aren't they in a desert--where did the pine trees come from?? Also why is the snow going up??

The snow gets fixed in the next shot where Spike—who has winter clothes for some reason—finds a giant snowman and comments that it's the biggest snowman he's ever seen. The snowman is actually just Jazz covered in snow. (How long was he standing out there??)

There are snow many (couldn't resist) snow puns in the first few minutes of this episode and I love it so much.

The bots have a snowball fight and Spike warns Ratchet about Bee, who's about to throw a snowball at the medic, but instead throws the snowball at Spike for ratting on him. Spike falls and tumbles down a hill (where did that hill come from--) and the snow builds up around him as he rolls down making him a giant snowball--big enough to somehow swallow Ratchet, Hound, and Cliffjumper and take them with him (how did that much snow build up around him in 2 seconds--) but the snowball falls apart soon after. Spike laughs and says he can't believe he's in a snowball fight in July in the middle of the desert.

Optimus (who's inside the Ark) is worried about this snow and asks Teletraan for a worldwide weather report. Teletraan reports that the temperatures worldwide are 40 degrees below normal and dropping rapidly; the planet is freezing. I'm not sure if that's how that works Teletraan but, okay. For the sake of this episode working I will suspend my disbelief.

Optimus says that the heat energy from Earth's core is somehow being drained away, and Gears says that it must be the cons. 

Cut to what is presumably the arctic where we see an explosion followed by a green crystal pushing its way out of the ground. Pan over to Skywarp who tells someone to add a new part to...something.

Reflector puts this...thing (I genuinely have no idea what this is; I'm gonna chalk it up to Cybertronian tech) into the side of the green crystal, which they're apparently using to siphon energy from the earth’s core to make energon cubes. Starscream tells Megatron that all is proceeding on schedule; locating the crystal shaft that led to the earth's core was the hard part, but pumping the heat energy out is simplicity itself.

It is getting harder to suspend my disbelief here.

Megatron says that soon Earth will freeze and the Decepticons will return to Cybertron with enough energon to conquer the universe.

Cut to Rumble who is currently using his pile drivers on a wall of ice (for some reason; legitimately no idea why he's doing this) but the ice isn't breaking. Skywarp (who's appeared from the void) shows up and mocks Rumble for not being able to break the ice. Rumble hits the ice wall again and this time it breaks, but it causes a small avalanche that sends Rumble running (an extremely goofy run I must add) and lands Skywarp flat on his aft. Rumble spots something in the newly uncovered ice. Starscream shows up and asks them why they're just sitting around, and Skywarp tells him they found something in the ice. Megatron (appearing from the void) says he wants a clearer look of what's in the ice, and Starscream promises him that he'll have it. After some more digging, they discover that it's a "Robot of unknown classification" (the word Cybertronian didn't exist yet) and that with his size and probable strength, he'd make an excellent Decepticon. 

Cut to the Ark where Teletraan reports of an abnormally large energy expenditure in the arctic circle. On the video feed provided by the sky spy, Spike notices the green crystal sticking up out of the ground. Jazz suggests that maybe it's some kind of natural phenomenon, but Teletraan tells them that Decepticon activity has been sighted. Optimus says "If we don't stop Megatron and his bunch, earth is doomed. Autobots, transform and roll out!" I'm sorry, Megatron and his bunch??? What is that phrasing lol?? Also, how are y'all gonna drive to the arctic???

Cut to the cons who've gotten the unknown bot out of the ice and are currently trying to fix it. Thundercracker comments that "Whatever it is, being on ice kept it fresh." Sir. This is a Cybertronian?? And y'all were dead for 4 million years just sitting in a ship and I don't see you decaying.

Soundwave (who's also there) hits the bot with 50,000 volts to try to reactivate his impulse center and memory monitor (whatever those are) but it doesn't work. Megatron asks Starscream "Why are you so concerned about this creature?"

I've said it before but I'll say it again, this is a Cybertronian!! Why are they talking like they've discovered a woolly mammoth or a mermaid or something?? Like Thundercracker could've said "Whoever this is, being on ice kept them fresh." It still wouldn't have made sense but it'd be more polite at least. And I understand that the word Cybertronian didn’t exist yet but Megatron could've asked Starscream "Why are you so concerned for this bot?" It would've made more sense.

Starscream says he's concerned because he knew this bot once a long time ago, back on Cybertron. Soundwave gives Skyfire one million volts to reactivate his impulse center and memory monitor and it works. Megatron seems surprised that Starscream had friends before the war--or just friends, period.

Starscream explains that the bot's name is Skyfire. He and Skyfire were both explorers, and they left Cybertron together just before the con's final falling out with the Autobots (whatever that means) and went to explore what was an uncharted planet at the time; Earth. Despite the fact that they detected no intelligent life on the planet, Skyfire insisted that they look closer. A polar windstorm kicked up and the two were separated. "I circled half the globe looking for him, but he was gone." Starscream says.

For everyone who's confused about why a good amount of people in the fandom ship these two, this is why. But I do have to question a few things here; just half the globe? Also how did you know what a polar windstorm was; you don't have snow or polar winds on Cybertron?? And you two flew to earth in your alt modes; earth CAN'T be that far from Cybetron; why don't the cons just use their built-in flight capabilities to go back to Cybertron??

Skyfire wakes up and asks what happened. He sees Starscream and figures that Starscream must've rescued him and he asks where they are. Starscream explains that they're on Earth, the planet where Skyfire crashed. Megatron introduces himself and tells Skyfire that they're on this planet to collect the energy needed to revive Cybertron and conquer the universe, and the Autobots are their enemies.

Cut to the bots who have somehow driven to the arctic circle (my ability to suspend my disbelief is seriously dwindling) where Spike points out the Aurora Borealis to Optimus who says that it's very pleasing to his optic sensors (sir you're a truck how can you see anything right now; or are you just pretending you can see this—). 

Cut to the cons where Skyfire has been given a Decepticon insignia. This is also the one time we see the Decepticons have a salute (seen above). Megatron instructs Starscream to put Skyfire on guard patrol and leaves. Skyfire asks Starscream if he's happier being a warrior than a scientist, and Starscream tells him yes, he does; it's much more exciting. He tells him that one day he'll be the leader of the Decepticons, and when that day comes, Skyfire will be his second in command. Skyfire tells him that he's grateful to him for freeing him, so he'll try to bring him credit.

Not going to lie, this scene kind of breaks my heart. Skyfire’s just woken up after who knows how many millions of years on a world that isn't his own, and the one shred of familiarity he has is Starscream, who's no longer the same bot he once knew in the slightest, but despite that, Skyfire still wants to hang on to the one piece of his old life that he has left and is willing to go pretty far to hang onto it. 

Cut to a little later with Skyfire on guard duty. He sees the Autobots in their alt modes approaching, and says "It seems the time has come for me to make the change from science to war." This line hit me so much harder than I expected it to. Skyfire is changing everything about himself for the sake of staying close to Starscream. Don't mind me I'm just gonna go scream into a pillow for a sec.

The bots near Skyfire and Spike says "Prime, what is that?" as he sees the giant bot.

Again. Cybertronian.

The bots transform and Skyfire (having heard Optimus call the bots Autobots) declares that they must be destroyed. Skyfire fires at the bots a couple of times and misses, but it's enough to send Ironhide face-planting into the snow.

Spike and Sparkplug (who's also here) try to run but trip on...something (snow I guess) and Spike ends up slipping into a patch of ocean that's there for some reason and calls to his dad for help (he's completely fine five seconds later so we won't talk about it). Sparkplug pulls Spike back up onto the ice as Skyfire fires again, this time separating the humans from land. Spike yells to the bots for help to get back to land. Skyfire hears them and goes to investigate and try to communicate with them (showing he's still a scientist at heart, er, spark) despite the fact that the other Autobots are still shooting at him but since they have the aim of Stormtroopers, he'll be fine.

Skyfire picks up the two humans who struggle in his grasp and call for help. He asks them why they're so frightened; he won't harm them. Spike asks why he's wearing the Decepticon logo (to be with Starscream) and Skyfire answers that only the evil Autobots need fear him, which isn't really an answer. It just sounds like the continuation of his previous line that was spaced out weird. Spike tells him that the Autobots are good; that they're fighting to protect earth and all the humans on it; that the Decepticons are the real monsters. Skyfire says that that can't be right, and he'll prove they're not evil; he'll take them to Megatron.

Yeah there's no way that could go wrong.

The autobots just kinda watch Skyfire walk away since they can't fire on him because they might hit the humans. 

Cut to a little later with the cons with Skyfire peering into the ice cave looking very polite as Megatron commends him for a job well done and says that the two Autobot sympathizers may prove useful. He tells Starscream (who's holding the humans now) to deal with the two. Starscream sort of tosses Spike and Sparkplug and the two tumble a few times before hitting the wall. Starscream uses his blaster to melt the ice above the humans to make a sort of makeshift cage that the two could easily get out of if they wanted but nope. Skyfire says that he promised the humans that no harm would come to them; that this is wrong; Megatron tells him he overstepped his authority. Starscream asks Skyfire who he is to promise safety to their enemies. Skyfire says that they're not his enemies; they're his friends. He tries to reach into the ice cave to grab them, but Starscream tells him not to interfere as he shoots Skyfire's hand. He tells Skyfire that the humans are insignificant, and that once they cease to be useful, they'll be terminated. 

Cut over to the bots who've found the con's ice cave. They drive into the cave in their alt modes, but Gears stops just before entering, causing Hound, Ratchet and Ironhide to have to stop behind him. Hound tells Gears to move it, but Gears tells him he's got a feeling they're about to fall right into a trap. Right after he says that, the ice breaks below them and they fall into the caves below. Hound leads the way to find Spike and Sparkplug.

There is no trap by the way so I guess your sensors are off Gears.

Meanwhile, Bee tells Optimus that there's no sign of the four who fell through the ice and suggests that they could be lost. CliffJumper hears Spike calling for help (he seems to do that a lot) and goes to find him.

He finds the humans remarkably quickly and uses the defrost cycle on his blaster (apparently it has that) to free them from their icy prison cell. Jazz, Bee, and Optimus show up and now all they have to do is find the other four.

Cut to said other four finding Reflector who's still got that thing plugged into the crystal (has he just been standing here the whole time??) and figure out what the con's plan was. Gears says that they should get out of there and find Optimus before the cons find them. Megatron and Starscream appear from the void to restate their plan of getting energon, leaving the dead world of earth behind them, yada yada yada, and Megatron spots the four Autobots and gives the order to seize them. Skywarp and Thundercracker trap (sort of--they could easily get out of this) the bots and Megatron tells them to dispose of them immediately, which Starscream eagerly says he'll do with pleasure. Megatron tells Soundwave (who's also there) to check the tunnels for any other autobots, but Soundwave sends Ravage to go check the tunnels instead. 

Cut to the humans, Optimus, Bee, Cliff and Jazz walking through the tunnels. "We've been searching these tunnels for astro-minutes, and still no Ironhide! Maybe we oughta split up." Jazz says. How long is an astro-minute?? And it's not just Ironhide missing dude, Ratchet, Hound and Gears are too. It would've been better if he'd said "...and still no sign of the others!..." instead.

Bee suggests that they double back but Optimus tells them to stick to the pre-arranged search pattern. Cliffjumper tells Optimus that that'll take too long and runs ahead a few feet, only to be tackled by Ravage. Optimus shoots Ravage and they all transform and roll out with Ravage tailing them. When the bots get some distance between them and Ravage, Bee stops and transforms, shooting at the roof of the cave, causing a blockade of ice to come down in front of Ravage and block his path. 

Cut to Ratchet, Hound, Gears and Ironhide aboveground near the green crystal with Skyfire and Starscream standing in front of them. Starscream comments that Skyfire's years in the ice diminished his loyalty, but because of their old friendship, he would give Skyfire the pleasure of melting down these Autobots. "But I'm a scientist--not an executioner!" Skyfire protests. "I am your superior! I order you to terminate them!" Starscream shouts at him. "No. I will not. They have done no wrong." Skyfire says firmly. "But you have! Traitor!" Starscream screeches before he shoots Skyfire.

...I have never wanted to kick Starscream's aft more. I cannot properly express how much I would like to hit him with a chair. This moment right here is where Skyfire realizes that the Starscream he knew is gone, and he's never coming back. Starscream is going too far and Skyfire is finally drawing the line because he isn't going to sacrifice his morals for the monster his friend has become, when this monster has sacrificed nothing for him. Even the Autobots are in shock when Starscream shoots Skyfire. ...I'm gonna go scream into a pillow again real quick. 

Starscream shoots the green crystal behind the autobots that causes an explosion that breaks the bots into a million pieces and somehow doesn't affect the crystal even a little bit. Starscream laughs victoriously before he turns his attention to Skyfire. "As for you Skyfire, consider yourself fortunate that you did not end up like your friends." Starscream sneers before he steps Skyfire in the most awkward fashion I have ever witnessed.

Also the Autobots are completely fine; them being broken into a million pieces was one of Hound's holograms. Skyfire asks how they're okay, and Ratchet explains it to him. Skyfire is relieved that they're okay, but Hound is a bit worried about Skyfire. They get Skyfire behind some cover (aka a giant snow drift) and Ratchet begins patching him up.

Optimus and that group of bots/humans have appeared from the void and Optimus asks how Skyfire is. Ratchet reports that Skyfire was badly damaged and isn't looking too good. Cliffjumper doesn't understand why they're fixing a Decepticon; Hound tells him that Skyfire tried to save them; "And Starscream blasted him for it!" Ratchet adds, sounding furious.

The fact that the Autobots, who have no backstory on Starscream and Skyfire, are angry with Starscream for shooting someone they perceived to be a friend of his speaks volumes to me. Maybe the Autobots have been betrayed like that, and know how it feels to be in Skyfire's position. 

Ratchet announces that he's done all that he can for Skyfire, and that now it was a matter of time and luck.

Cut to Laserbeak who's apparently been watching all this go down and sends a message to Megatron in what I can only assume to be Cybertronian morse code. Cut to Megatron who's admiring an energon cube when he gets Laserbeak's message. He gets angry and throws the cube at Starscream, the cube hitting Starscream in the head. He tells Starscream that he failed to get rid of the autobots, and Starscream realizes that Hound's holograms tricked him. Megatron says that they won’t be tricked a second time and orders the Decepticons to attack but only the seekers go to attack.

The seekers go aboveground and start raining bombs down on the Autobots.

Ratchet tries to wake up Skyfire, telling him that he won't leave him here. (...God I love Ratchet.)

The Seekers and the Autobots exchange fire, Skywarp and Thundercracker crash into the ocean, and Megatron shows up. Optimus and Megatron both break a chunk off of the giant green crystal and use them as weapons as they duke it out. Optimus beats Megatron, but when Skyfire shows up, Megatron believes that he has the upper hand, ordering Skyfire to destroy Optimus. This implies that he didn't know about Starscream shooting Skyfire and leaving him for dead. Maybe Starscream dodged a bullet there. 

Skyfire tells Megatron that he takes no orders from him as he removes his Decepticon logo and replaces it with an Autobot one that he pulled from the void as he declares that he's an autobot. He yeets Megatron into the nearest ice dune and the Reflector triplets attack him in pyramid formation (what did they think that was gonna do??) and Skyfire just kinda shoves them to the side. Starscream shoots at Skyfire telling him that he's through. Skyfire transforms and goes after Starscream, talking about evening the score as the humans cheer for him from the ground.

Starscream demands that Skyfire show himself even though Skyfire is literally right above him (again I must ask where the fuck their eyes are when they're in their alt modes-) before Skyfire reveals himself. Starscream promises Skyfire that he will pay for his treachery. The two crash into each other; Starscream lands unceremoniously in a snow drift and the Autobots cheer for Skyfire until Ratchet points out that Skyfire is losing altitude fast.

Skyfire shoots...something and re-buries the green crystal the cons were using to siphon energy from the earth's core, but Skyfire is buried with it. The Autobots think that Skyfire is dead; he risked everything to save earth--the energy drain has stopped, the earth will warm up again, and the cons have been defeated. Optimus tells Spike that "He won't be forgotten Spike, he will live forever, so long as freedom exists. We will remember you, Skyfire." "We will remember." The other Autobots echo solemnly. 

....my heart hurts. This scene packs such an emotional punch I can't put it into words. This whole episode does. It's one that resonates with me because I've been in a similar, albeit much less dramatic, situation to Skyfire. It's one I think could resonate with a lot of people. Through the entire last half of this episode, I just wanted to punch Starscream and I have never wanted to punch him more than when I was watching this--I really hated him in this episode which is something the episode did really well. And it gives you room to wonder what Starscream was like before the war; before Skyfire went missing. Honestly I think this just made it to my top three favorite G1 episodes. 

Anyways, I'll be putting up a poll soon after I post this so you guys can vote on if you want me to analyze more of season one or move on to season two. I hope this was enjoyable! :) 

[bugpysforge]

To protect himself from the bitter cold, Piloswine envelops himself in heavy furs. He has no trouble on the ice, but he travels gently.

Race: Porcein Class: Druid Subclass: Circle of Arctic Land Location: Snowbelle Alignment: Neutral Good

View the pokedex of all dungeon pokemon on the Bugpy's Forge website.

[fatorangepoo]

Wriothesley Teaches You How to Fight Like A Pro

"First things first... fix that attitude of yours," Wriothesley grumbled, clad in his long-sleeved dress shirt, fitted pants and mechanical gauntlets. Slicking his hair back with both hands over his head, he groaned, "You don't even want to do this properly. Are you just here for me or what?"

Upon hearing that, your jokester ass laughed out loud and you clutched your clenched stomach bending over in joy. Wiping a tear from your eye, you muse, "Well what if I was?" and continued giggling with your feet circling in arcs like a dying roach.

Let's just say some people have a different sense of humour. You weren't even surprised when you lightly peeked with one eye at Wriothesley to find him glaring daggers at you with those striking eyes of his, because he has never appreciated your skibidi toilet jokes.

Even you knew his limits, and you didn't know him well. Just well enough to share drinks and inside jokes. For you, well was quality time and bouts of intimate touches. So no, you didn't know him well. You got up and sprung back into action, picking up some Gintama move you saw Chinese grandmothers do in Tai Chi. Hands in karate chop motion, you tornadoed to his direction and landed a foot directly in front of him, hand positioned directly before his nose.

Wriothesley scrunched up his nose and forced out a reluctant "Better, I guess," and lowered his head. Addled and confused, you tilted your neck to your side in a classic WHAT?! pose, then you heard a chuckle from somewhere around the room. Looking around, you said, "Well, I never knew you invited some others to our practises."

When he didn't respond, you turned back to him kneeling on the floor, gorgeous di-coloured hair sprawling out from his scalp. You squat with your legs open like a frog or sneaky spider in front of him, leggings stretching against your calf. Looking down at him, you saw a glimpse of his canine tooth revealed by a devilish grin. He looked up at you and laughed at your face, eyes closed all the way through in a joyful daze.

Sobering up, he projected with a husky voice, "So funny, are we?" and you could swear his Arctic glacier eyes thundered periodically, letting you in a world of dark, deep sea typhoons. "Let's see what happens when you face real danger. You think they would loosen their grip because you said something that started with ski, ended with di and rhymed with clinically? I'd like you see you £#¢¥ing try," he threatened gloomily, advancing onto you with a fat forearm.

You hastily avoided his arm by holding it back with both hands, but you never really won over the gymbros in arm wrestling, so you got overpowered instead. He locked his arm under your neck, lifting you up so your toes were dreaming of touching land, which never happened considering you were taller than the average population. His shirt sleeve was so distracting because it smelled like your cousin's detergent and made you wish you had money to afford laundry that was more than just rinsing fabric with water.

You felt like Loki being held by his neck by Thor, albeit being the superior brother in the situation. In every situation, actually. Loki just suited you better. Pranksters have your whole heart.

You snuck your hands under his arm and pushed outward with all your might, and he was still unyielding. Bruh, at this point you just gotta turn around and start pushing his chest away from you. That'd be more effective, right? Whose chest can withstand brute force? Well, not yours, to be frank. You can't even wrestle your cousin.

"LET ME... THE £@#& GO!" you yelled with your back against his locked hands in a smooth manoeuvre, and tried to push at his chest. Ew, this feels like molestation. Who cared about molestation when your life was being threatened by a raider!!! You don't care anymore, you went from poking his chest playfully to shoving the hell out of his dress shirt, and he stumbled, hands losing their grip.

Like a proud hen, you stood arms akimbo, head inclined as you stared Wrio down. Oh my effing god. He surged and started CHARGING at you!!! He threw himself on you like on those WWE Superslams and you flew with your back sliding on the floor. His arms were around you, then you realised they weren't around you as much as they were wrapped around an actual dagger. Oh archons!

If you were wrong in the head, you would think this was fun and mentally stimulating. It was a bit exhilarating, but you were fearing for your life here. Mr Puppy here looks like he would actually kill you here and now for saying skibidi toilet during a company dinner 3 weeks ago. Deeply stashed anger, am I right? Poor pup doesn't have an outlet to release stress, so he keeps it all pent up and explodes on you for a tiny joke consisting of toilet...

His knee kneeling in the space between your thighs, he seemed chivalrous and angelic and deadly. The light shining on him from his table lamp just further intensified the dark side of his face, unilluminated by anything. That pretty much sums up your first impression of him. Dark, sepulchral and a pain to be with. Now, you're wrong. This is fun.

"Alright, yes yes, I'm afraid I'm deeply invested now, Your Grace. Continue," you chirped happily from your position under the Duke's glinting knife. If you stole a jewel from the hilt now, would he realise? You were quite good at this gemstone side hustle of yours.

"Second of all, do not let yourself be vulnerable," he gritted his teeth and you wanted to caress his neck just right above your collarbone. "Well, I don't. I never open up to people! I consider it one of my great strengths-" you got cut off by his bejeweled dagger pinning itself on the fabric of your tank top like a dart pinned to a dartboard.

"Not what I meant," he offered, "but thanks for the invitation." Then he lifted a hand and punched you on your good side. Alas, no more side profile selfies!

You grabbed the gloved hand that was about to go for a second round of punching you with one determined fist of yours, unyielding in your grip. You observe Wriothesley's amusement, his face on top of you taunting. God, his lifted lips are so distracting in their angles, sharp at all the right places. Dangerous men should not have smiles more perilous than their charm.

Despite that, you shook him with your hand guiding him in the direction you wanted to go - in this situation you wanted him the floor where you previously were. Locking your elbow around his dangerous arm, you channeled enough strength to pull him down on the floor beside you. After the satisfying thud of your bully/mentor's back hitting the floor (his tough back muscles are probably fine), you swiftly roll yourself on top of him, legs clamped around both of his. Tank top strap slowly sliding down your shoulder, you dislodge the dagger on the floor and rest your elbows on the sides of his face. Curling his hair on the dagger's pointy edge, you look down, half-lidded, on his tired blue eyes and sadistically remarked, "Any tips for ending someone with a dagger?"

[leafnighthybridwolfsbane]

Icewing Headcanons

(Info below the cut)

OK. FINALLY GETTING TO THESE AGAIN. I got the motivation when going back to working on designs for horror movie villains (+the Final Girl). I greatly apologize about not getting these done sooner. Hopefully you all enjoy these last 5 headcanons and the designs. As a fair warning two of them look a lot like their canon designs. I will explain more in those posts specifically.

Tribe Headcanons

Icewings have icicle like spikes along their neck that work similarly to a North American porcupine's quills. Meaning that they're loosely attached. Though, they can still pierce another dragon. These quills have tiny little barbs that keep the quills stuck. This makes it extremely hard and extremely painful to take the spikes out of another dragon.

Their horns branch similarly to an elk's or caribou's antlers as one of the very few ways you can rise in the ranks is by fighting for dominance. Normally this is one by the matriarch of the family.

Their ears are made of a thicker layer of skin and have a thin layer of muscle around the middle sections of the ear. Meaning that their ears can do a lot more movement than other dragons. Though it also means that this muscle can easily be torn if not careful. Much like the human eyelid.

The thick skin goes along with their wing membranes. This makes them one of the loudest flyers besides Hivewings.

Icewings can be under the arctic waters for around an hour, their nostrils working a lot like a seal's nostrils or a marine mammal's blowhole.

Fur covers the entirety of an Icewing's body to help keep them warm in the frozen lands they inhabit. Some Icewings end up sharing patters with arctic animals such as arctic hares or lynx.

Though, patterns seem to be extremely looked down upon. Typically being considered an impurity in the ice nests the young hatched from. The only accepted pattern is a darker gradient going into a lighter gradient. It's only been in the most recent ruler's time as queen that this belief has been slowly worked on unlearning.

Most Icewings have some form of gradient on the top of their wings while the bottom is the lightest color on their body.

Icewings are well known for being pursuit predators, having the most stamina when they run out of all of the tribes. Most of the time prey is caught in a group with a leader of the hunt.

These hunting groups works similarly to a pack of wolves as they are all the same rank. One is considered the "Alpha", or leader, of the group and another is considered the "Beta", or second in command, of the group to keep things organized. Alphas and betas are considered responsible for the lives and performance of their group, meaning they can get put into a lower circle if their efforts are not good enough.

There is a rare coloration morph an Icewing can get called Auroran. It is considered a version of melanistic where the coloration on an Icewing match up colors to the northern lights. This means they can end up being colored to any color of the aurora.

Environment also dictates coloration. Closer to a forest most of the time will cause them to look more green. Closer to an ocean would bring out more of a blue coloration. Closer to the sky means either a more purple or pink-ish coloration. Barren icelands or ground level of the palace will grant a teal-ish coloration. Sometimes this is a great indication of which rank they came from.

Icewings are considered the second grumpiest tribe while also being the coldest. Unlike skywings that seem angry or easily annoyed, Icewings tend to be arrogant, cold, or conniving with their grumpiness. Some believe it's due to their close-mindedness.

Icewings have the opposite to an ancient sandwing's fire scales. This cold is the only thing that can combat a skywing's fire scales, and even potentially freeze them with frost bite. Most Icewings, though, only have a chill that come off of them naturally and isn't enough to combat a fire scales skywing.

Icewings are also well known for holding festivals, but most of the time it is only rumored as no one is able to cross into their border to really get the full story.

If an Icewing were to be a hybrid of any sort, their blood will come out as a bluish tinted purple color. This can cause their coloration to have purple coloration, especially in the spikes, horns, and face.

Icewings aren't as quick to anger as Seawings, but they are more ruthless. Their loyalty to their queen is unmatched though. This is due to how their society works and has been for many generations.

An Icewing will almost always think about everything they do and the outcomes due to how their society is and how brutal it is when looking at their strict rules.

Lore Headcanons

Icewing society was one of the first societies to exist. First it was made of militant group, then they had kings until their society started becoming matriarchal. Their society eventually being lead by females or fem presenting (transfem and fem nonbinary individuals specifically) individuals.

It is said that they're the first tribe to have an animus dragon. Meaning that they're the first to control it and learned how to "properly" keep them from becoming murderers.

Family groups are not too important in Icewing society due to their use of the circles and the gift of order. Families can be separated at any point, typically when the dragonets become adults and either move up or down in the ranks.

Icewings have communal homes for dragonets in different circles that work similarly to private schools. These communal homes are meant to provide dragonets their best chances at rising in the ranks. Though, not all do. Normally being rare (much like a lower grade school in the US) as they don't always have the resources.

It is Considered an honor for lower ranked Icewings to be called out to a war as it means that if they come back with enough kills, they can potentially come back with a higher rank. Though these opportunities are far and few in between.

Their festivals are normally to celebrate the northern lights. It is said that during the great battle between the Icewings and Nightwings, and Auroran Icewing went into battle and slaugtered tens of hundreds of them in a week on their own. Eventually dying and ending the war temporarily. Eventually dying the night where the northern lights came out. There are also festivals similar to yule as it is culturally believed the first Icewings didn't have their current resistance to the cold.

Most Frost scales Icewings were killed during the animus scare. Though not all were killed and aren't considered as dangerous as an animus. Though, they are looked down upon until recent wars that they were cast into to try to combat sandwings and skywings.

Current exports of the Icewings are pelts and taxidermy due to their knowledge on how to properly take care of the hide and bones. Though, some tend to export lumber and delicacies only in the Ice Kingdom.

Drawing Inspirations

Turkish Angoras were the cat species I took some inspiration from for the body typing.

"Till I Collapse" by Eminem was great inspiration for drawing, but I imagine any militaristic beat will work for Icewings due to the militaristic society I see them having.

Used a lynx for the patterns on this one. Plus the idea of when you pick up snow while the temperature warms gave me the idea of "impurities" patterns imply to their society.

Basically they're giant antlered penguins when they swim, which is why they have counter shading as well

Wings of Fire Headcanon Lists

Mudwings

Leafwings

Hivewings

Silkwings

[mapsontheweb]

Land Cover in the Arctic Circle.

by pheebely