#especially in regards to something as weird and funky and like wtf even is this as neurodivergence

[suicidal-socialist]

Why I haven't played Disco Elysium... Yet... I hope

[iniquity-fr]

i said i would elaborate on my thoughts/lore i guess re: dragons n shapeshifted (humanoid) forms and like.. social rules and whatnot around all that.... and then i wrote a ridiculous amount of notes abt the whole thing, oops.

separated into key sections but still very rambly and stream-of-thought overall, bc, when do i not type..... weird. words are eternally difficult for me and thoughts are a struggle to articulate, but i hope any of this.. makes sense? obviously this is largely abt my own clan/dragons/headspace/etc and not like. headcanons about other ppl’s stuff in general or anything like that haha. this is a LOT to read thru so if u actually go thru the whole thing a) wow thank u so much wtf b) perhaps give it a like so i know how u feel. not required but very very appreciated. :^) also deep apology to anyone for whom the read more breaks or something, oh god.

a tl;dr/basic overview

everyone can shift to humanoid/gijinka/person-shaped forms, differing based on their actual look as a dragon

most day-to-day life within the clan is in shifted forms, partly bc of Convenience, partly bc there’s a lot of Social Rules abt being on relatively equal footing w/ one another and keeping things fair and whatnot

using your dragon form to hurt not-dragon form people or even using it to harm smaller dragons is considered a terrible crime, and harming others while they’re mid-transformation is considered the ultimate taboo.

shifting 101:

everybody can shift between dragon/humanoid (gijinka.. however u wanna word this.... yall know what i Mean) form w/ different results--some more dragon-looking and/or generally monstrous, some looking fairly normal/basically like People, But In Rainbow Colors And With Horns. some may keep tails and/or wings or other things like that, but that isn’t especially common

smaller breeds tend to be shorter, bigger breeds tend to be taller, but there are exceptions & outliers! 

shifted forms tend to be pretty 'set' for most dragons, all obviously dependent on their looks as an actual dragon. their shifted form reflects their dragon form, and they can't make drastic changes to their form like changing entire facial structure/shape or body type or overall coloring.  however, dragons with stronger magic abilities/connections/powers/etc usually tend to have more freedom of their own form and may be able to change certain features at will--not entire faces or body shapes, but things like hair, nails, sometimes even patterns from genes (esp. tert genes)

dragons that are like, deity level or otherwise some sort of not-entirely/not-actually-a-dragon all-powerful creature or w/e usually have MUCH more freedom to change their form completely, if they so choose.

transformation is at will (and cant be done or undone unconsciously... ie a sleeping-in-shifted-form person is Not gonna turn back into dragon form in their sleep) and happens fairly quick for most, usually no long&slow weird animorph-esque thing, though it isn't all in a flash either--usually! once again on the "dragons with More/Better Magic Skillz" concept, a very magic-powerful dragon can usually shift much quicker than others. a "finger snap puff of smoke boom you're done" level of speed is Very Rare, but not unheard of. dragons who are either very young or simply not very talented w/ magic may take longer than others. the largest & smallest breeds also take a bit longer due to having to shrink down/size up every time. all this said, it never takes more than like, 15-20 seconds at Most, and even that range is considered Very Slow. it’s a short window, generally!

things like injury or sickness can make shifting difficult, but typically only like........... basically if you're literally dying you're probably not gonna be able to do it. having a broken leg or the flu shouldn't impact ability much, but bleeding out in the boneyard? ain't gonna make it work, buddy.

idk how clothes work lmfao. they just shift with the dragon i guess? sure. let's go with that. all clothes are magic now. i don't think EVERYTHING through, ok?

ok cool but Why Shift:

shifted forms make for much easier living-together-in-a-big-clan, especially in situations (like my own clan itself) where everyone lives in, y'know, buildings. houses and castles and churches and whatnot. it takes a lot more effort and resources and whatnot to build a house big enough for imperials to comfortably live in in dragon form than it does to just build a regular-sized house that a spiral & a ridgeback both can settle into & live comfortably in in shifted form or smth, yknow. it’s easier to accommodate people than dragons! 

communication & relationships can also be easier to deal with if you are all Relatively Close to the same size range. less leaning down or flying up to try and talk to your friend/coworker/partner/rival/whatever. part of this is also influenced by The Rules About Being On An Even Playing Field We Will Get To In A Moment

for many dragons its just easier to do things like art, music, crafting, writing, or working w/ small & delicate things, etc etc when you have proper hands and lot funky dragon claws. much of the more mundane reasons for these forms is just For Convenience's Sake!

that said, obvs. certain things are easier/preferred to stay in dragon form to do--traveling, for one, since, y'know, Dragons Can Fly, Usually. hunting & gathering is usually done in dragon form as well, though not 100% of the time. maybe u want to be a big and powerful dragon to go take down wild animals for food but just like, chill out w ur buds in person-shape to go have a relaxing fishing trip by the lake. it's up 2 u really.

sometimes dragon forms are preferred for fighting in general, esp against beasts, or if you are a lone dragon trying to protect yourself from threats, etc. in the case of smaller breeds especially, they can also be preferred for making a quick escape instead! (sometimes this is seen as Cowardly to do, but yknow, it’s an Option.)

aaaaaaand now we can get to The Rules which is where things become less abt convenience & common sense and more about my own........... we can call it lore? i guess? sure. it's lore. ok.

The Rules:

all the "for convenience" reasons aside, there are many largely unspoken but VERY important social rules regarding shifting and when you "should" or "should not" be in which form. within my clan/characters/headspace/etc etc it's all just sort of a known thing/smth ur raised knowing, there isn't like, an actual rulebook or smth anyone has to figure out. 

much of these rules are about being on an equal playing field, both socially & in battle. the social rules are much more important & strict within clan living areas, ie. the walls of cities and whatnot. things can get more loose & informal if ur like, out travelling thru the wasteland or wilds or whatever.

it's considered VERY rude to enter/generally be inside buildings in dragon form, usually, unless you're just like... popping in real quick to deliver smth or say hi or whatever.. and you can fit inside said building... and know the ppl there and whatnot... etc...... if you dragon out while already inside somewhere that's usually seen as like, a threat of some sort. due to how much construction & architecture & living spaces are shaped and whatnot, it's deemed unnecessary to bother with dragon forms inside the clan's walls in general, but especially within buildings, bc jesus christ dude ur gonna hit the ceiling or break stuff with your wings or something. be polite.

social interaction in general, esp. when Formal or in work/work-like settings, is seen as something usually meant more for shifted forms... some dragons who are very close, ie family & mates, can be fine in dragon form around each other, bc of the mix of informality & Trust. typically, if you want to have a conversation with someone and Not be seen as impolite or even hostile, shifted form is key. this falls back very much to the fact that dragons come in such VASTLY different sizes, from imps down to faes, and it's seen as unfair and often threatening to present oneself as a giant monster to whom others have to talk to, or as a tiny little creature either down on the floor or flitting around the room. shifted forms have about as much height/size variance as we do as humans, which can be A Lot, and some individuals can be even smaller or bigger than regular people bc Hey Its Fantasy, but generally speaking no People-Shaped height difference is going to be as crazy as dragons' can be.

basically, if you walk into the throne room or the church or anywhere Important & Protected and you're not in shifted form, you WILL be seen as either physically threatening the leadership or as an extremely arrogant & disrespectful fool. walking into shops/businesses in general as a dragon makes you look like you're trying to like, rob the place or smth. even just moving about the streets of the town as a dragon is weird, rude, and will make people uneasy. not to mention it’s potentially destructive!

everything comes back to the idea of being relatively similar in size/shape, in being close enough to equal in ability, strength, weakness, etc, barring the obvious difference that yes some people are stronger/more trained than others, some better at magic, etc etc. it's all about fairness!

this is all MOST IMPORTANT when it comes to FIGHTING........ bc obviously a very large dragon can just squish the bones of a very tiny dragon like nothing...... things like formal duels etc everyone knows OF COURSE this meant for shifted form, it's just an inherently known thing. if u fight with honor u fight shifted.

this even extends to the point that outside city walls, if someone's going to pick a fight with you, you Should still be duking it out in shifted form. it's such an important & revered rule that it's even usual for bandits and such out on the roads to attack travelers while in their own shifted forms. only the worst of all criminals cross the line--from the average petty thief & pickpocket up to professional hitmen and honorable assassins, it's rare to see even career rulebreakers break these rules. it’s That Serious

using your dragon form to attack someone who's shifted is seen as like, a completely horrifying and heinous thing to do, a sign of true cruelty and mercilessness. using your dragon form to escape from people is often seen as a cowardly and weak thing to do, unless ofc ur just like, small and afraid and get fuckin jumped by some big tuff dudes, yknow. being in a real & honorable battle means fighting in your shifted form.

the Ultimate Taboo however is hurting--especially killing--someone while they're mid-transformation, due to the fact that the process--while, as stated previously, is Very Short--leaves someone completely vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. transformation takes focus and action, and you can't really attack or dodge or anything while changing from form to form. the strength and speed and complete lack of hesitation required to end someone's life in the small window of time that it takes to shift is a terrifying thing to behold. killing someone midshift while in your own shifted form is especially weird & scary and means everyone is going to be afraid of you forever, basically, because. dude. holy fuck. how & WHY did you do that.

obviously the Normal reaction that Nice & Good dragons feel knowing someone who has crossed that particular line is, yknow, fear and resentment and seeing them as someone who is heartless and completely evil and terrible. to be avoided at all costs, if not outright arrested and executed for such a thing, in other places where ppl are like. ultimately good & caring abt one another and whatnot. but that ain't my clan babey!

aaaaaand finally a wrap-up w a lil bit abt my clan full of shitty devil babies and how these rules impact their lives hehehe

though the clan is VERY strict abt the larger social rules regarding shifted forms vs. dragon forms, thats more for formality's sake & a part of the clan's entire thing of being like........... full of/ruled by morally bankrupt weirdos and villains and chaotic neutrals mostly And Yet all putting on the show & appearance of being honorable high-status nobles & academics and whatnot. among the court in particular it's all Very Important bc everyone has to behave like stuffy uptight formal folk very often. also their section of the clan home is like, a very compact city w/ narrow streets and stuff, so obviously no one Can just. walk around as a big giant dragon.

a few examples of dragons Breaking The Rules in more 'minor' ways include: -outlaw, who has absolutely 0 issue using the small size of his spiral form to break into houses & businesses and steal shit, or using it to slip away from authority figures and zip off and fly outta there. or to just be able to hide from authorities more easily. -fissure, one of the kings, a guardian, will occasionally use his dragon form as a threat display if anyone shows too much hostility towards his clan. threaten him and his people and he WILL threaten you back big time. -silhouette, royal guard captain, also a guardian, will do the same thing, though she reserves that for people found along the outskirts of the city walls. -sepulcher takes things the other way around--he enjoys the challenge of fighting&killing things 100x his size and if a dragon tries to harm him when he's in his shifted form he gets VERY excited!!!!!

the 2 worst culprits confirmed so far are the high priest, leader of the clan, scary rotten plague cult wyrmwound-worshipping bastard himself, fhtagn......... and the friendly, chatty, fashionable tailor, needle.

the skull mask fhtagn wears is fashioned from the skull of a half-transformed dragon. to have not only crossed the line of killing a dragon mid-shift but to wear a part of them as one's most striking attire that they're never seen without is a truly terrifying sight to behold for most... those of kinder hearts than this clan would see him for the disgusting & dishonorable bastard he is because of that alone, but the clan members--especially the church, of course--revere him for this. fear & horror go hand in hand with love & adoration among the congregation, so of course they love their mercilessly masked priest.

needle does not allow too many people to get a good look at his "trophy room" but it is... certainly something to behold. stitched & stuffed bodies of people killed mid-shift make up his favorite taxidermy collection, and he likes to think of this as.. some form of art. though very private about it, he's still fiercely proud of his collection. go out and bring him such a body yourself for him to work on and he'll love you forever!

anyway that’s it for now. this post is fucking long. i never write this much what fucking possessed me.

if u made it this far i wuv u. thank u :’)

[toenailish]

ugh this is gonna take longer than will ever be necessary to write

Charcoal is an Ice/Sky hybrid, way back from before Darkstalker’s time, when SkyWings first got animuses (it’s implied that SkyWings were the first tribe apart from IceWings to have the magic, as IceWings obviously had it first and Jerboa and Albatross were said to be the first animuses of their tribes, and that was around Darkstalker’s time, which by then Sunset had said that they had already nearly killed off all their animuses). Charcoal was the first line in the SkyWing tribe to be an animus, along with his brother who wasn’t an animus, but carried the trait along until they were eventually killed off. Charcoal was the main reason the SkyWings started killing off animuses; they had already been extremely uneasy of animus magic because they’re not dumb like the other tribes.

Anyways Charcoal’s kind of had a superiority complex since he was a very tiny guy. Since animus magic was something completely unknown to all tribes besides the IceWings at this point, he felt very special being one himself, along with the fact that he looked different from every other dragon in Pyhrria (his brother did too but he pretended he didn’t exist for the most part). At this point the IceWings and SkyWings were starting to butt heads a bit (it’s mentioned in Darkstalker that there was a strong tension between them, this was like the start of that), and I don’t have a story yet for his mother, but I’ll make one soon probably. Anyways when her and their father had eggs the SkyWings were kind of really mad and not okay with that (his mother wasn’t an animus and didn’t mention that she was related to any cause she still didn’t like hate her tribe) but anyways when Charcoal hatched and had some real weird funky powers the SkyWings were like ‘wtf is this’ and she told them all that fun stuff and they were like ‘oh okay cool we’ll keep it’ so he was held in pretty high regards so he got like real cocky and arrogant.

Since there wasn’t really anyone to monitor or instruct him on the use of magic (his mom was like dude use that once like we do and he was all nah) he just kind of did whatever he wanted (I’m a firm believer of ‘simply using animus magic doesn’t corrupt you, the power you can have or whatever does’ so he doesn’t go crazy or anything). He wasn’t as smart as Darkstalker though so he never thought as far ahead as world-domination, he was just kind of a ‘enchant jewelry and stuff to do things’ type of guy.

Which led to the creation of Hiemal and Mantle, two separate entities that are himself. He has a collar that has a little clip, attached to it being two nose rings. When both are put on, he splits between two dragons, Hiemal the IceWing and Mantle the SkyWing (two nose rings would look dumb but he only has them on for a moment before he like splits in half), each wearing whatever nose ring had their main color as the gem. They share different minds, but basically just ‘know’ they’re both Charcoal and don’t (and can’t) like fight or argue or anything like that. While they both have the same mentality for the most part, Hiemal is the most calm and calculated of the two, and Mantle is much more boisterous and sporadic. Simply one taking off their nose ring would result in Charcoal forming again, taking the place of whoever took off their nose ring (the other would just kind of disappear). They both have the average powers for their tribe, but do not have animus magic.

Charcoal’s use for these two forms was basically a WIP immortality (his mother very fiercely warned him that enchanting a spell like that could result in him losing his mind). If either Hiemal or Mantle died, he could remove the nose ring as the other, becoming Charcoal again, and he’d be able to become two dragons again if he could find the nose ring of the other (and even if he couldn’t, he could always make a new one).

This went quite well for a long while, other dragons weren’t aware of his two forms (apart from his brother) so he relatively just had a good time being a little brat to everyone. It all just kind of went downhill when his brother like just kind of mentally snapped (while Charcoal had a not-so-good superiority complex, his brother had the opposite, being shadowed by Charcoal most of his life and feeling just generally useless by not having animus magic or any real recognition. He was a good guy but really really hated Charcoal). One day, when Mantle was being especially narcissistic and just a not nice guy to him, he attacked Mantle (I feel dumb calling him he I need a name I’ll make a ref at some point with a name but for now his brother’s just he okay). Mantle, not wanting to die took off his nose ring (it would be all good cause Hiemal still exists but its still feels like, you know, dying), but at that exact moment his brother lashed out at him, tearing open his neck, killing him. In normal cases Hiemal would fuse back with Mantle where he stood, but since he was like a dead body he instead fused to Hiemal in his location, but was still a dead body. So Hiemal became a kind-of-alive-but-also-dead dragon who was immortal from being both alive and dead, but lacked animus magic as Hiemal and Mantle had none. And so another ‘immortal dragon’ is added to the WoF fandom. Oh boy I am sorry.

-

The whole ‘dead and alive’ Hiemal kind of messed with the Sky Kingdom for quite some time because like, his brother still existed and that made him not so happy. He spread a multitude of rumors about the ‘disappearance of Charcoal’ saying how his powers had corrupted him and he was planning to kill them all or some edgy stuff. His mother, knowing from experience what had happened to some previous animuses of the IceWings, hesitantly agreed that it was possible that this could happen, and the SkyWings got incredibly freaked out, their suspicion of animus magic being bad being confirmed. From there on out any SkyWing born with the traits were killed mercilessly, so much of his brother’s kids, grandkids, and all that stuff were murdered which made him not a very happy guy.

After the SkyWing animus trait had been completely wiped from the tribe, Hiemal didn’t really know what to do anymore. He still had a heavy superiority complex, which was somewhat enforced by immortality, though his animus powers were gone and he couldn’t tell anyone of his immortality (he’s hardcore afraid of pain and dreads even the littlest of things happening to him (bee stings, stubbed toes, papercuts, etc.) scare him an intense amount and he felt as though if he told anyone of his not-dying ability they might try to kill him to find out and his mind was just kind of a mess). I don’t really know where he is now but he is not happy and is terribly dreading the future for whenever dragons go extinct and he’s the only one left or there’s an earthquake and he’s forever buried in rubble or the earth explodes and he’s floating through space and he just really wants to die so bad

Ok

-

Anyways some more general info~~

Charcoal had neither fire nor frostbreath, could not resist cold temperatures or bright lights and did not radiate cold, though he did have good vision and strong wings.

His scale pattern for the most part followed that of a SkyWing’s, with some IceWing spines here and there and some sharp claws. The undersides of his wings fade from gray to black.

-

Gray and orange are my two favorite colors and I’m glad I got to make a gray, orange, and a gray and orange dragon all in one package. Sorry this is like eight thousand words long