#he's just the original progenitor of the D. clan

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

The Loa Civil War

The Loa Civil War is the funnest shit EVER to me!! It’s soooooooooo much fun to think about this!! I think about this all the time.

My goddamn deviantArt OCs are really just living in my brain rent-free and partying it up in there. 

Anyways, let’s discuss the Loa Civil War.

The Loa Civil War is literally an impossible scenario because when Bondye was cooking them up, he built into them a condition that they like making jazz together too much to do battle with each other. This is why they are a jazz band. Bondye knew that if there was even the smallest chance that could pick a fight with each other, it is only a matter of time before SADISM INCARNATE and MISCHIEF INCARNATE start beefing over who gets the remote, and they blow up the entire fucking multiverse! I don’t know about you guys, but I think having to recreate the multiverse would be a real pain in the ass. Bondye does not want to go through that trouble, that’s why the gods are a jazz band.

The Loa Civil War is still endlessly fun to think about. It’s so good because I genuinely think there is a nonzero chance that any one of the Loa gets the W. 

This is the Loa Civil War:

Big Papa claps his hands three times or winks once. Everything - and I mean everything - that was ever put into fiction is dead. There are only five boys left standing: Jazzman Santy Claus, Scary Skeleton Man, His Hot Ass Wife, Mother Mary, and a fucking snake. They’re just floating out in a huge void, and then start throwin hands.

The human forms they take are just magic avatars. Normally, they take zero damage if you target that, but I think it’s soooooooo much funnier if one god can hurt another god by targeting its avatar. You literally just see Santy Claus throwin hands with Mother Mary, and they’re blowing up the multiverse doing it.

So let’s get down their battle stats: 

ATTACK: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < Big Papa < The Baron-Maman Dyad

SPEED: Erzulie Dantor < The Baron-Maman Dyad = Big Papa < Damballah

BATTLE IQ: Damballah < The Baron-Maman Dyad < Big Papa < Erzulie Dantor

DEFENSE: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < Big Papa < The Baron-Maman Dyad 

RUTHLESSNESS: Damballah <<< Erzulie Dantor = Big Papa < The Baron-Maman Dyad

If you were curious, here’s the same with the Baron by himself:

ATTACK: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < Big Papa < The Baron

SPEED: Erzulie Dantor < The Baron = Big Papa < Damballah

BATTLE IQ: Damballah < The Baron < Big Papa < Erzulie Dantor

DEFENSE: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < The Baron < Big Papa

RUTHLESSNESS: Damballah <<< Erzulie Dantor = Big Papa < The Baron

And here is berserk mode Baron:

ATTACK: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < Big Papa <<< Berserk Mode Baron

SPEED: Erzulie Dantor < Big Papa < Damballah = Berserk Mode Baron

BATTLE IQ: Berserk Mode Baron <<< Damballah < Big Papa < Erzulie Dantor

DEFENSE: Damballah < Erzulie Dantor < Berserk Mode Baron < Big Papa 

RUTHLESSNESS: Damballah <<< Erzulie Dantor = Big Papa <<< Berserk Mode Baron

This is so dumb that there’s only five stats. I didn’t include nearly enough stats.

My favorite thing of all is the scenario when Damballah takes the W. The weakest of the Loa is the only one left standing.

I really believe there is a nonzero probability that any one of these guys takes the W. So obviously, I think the Baron-Maman dyad takes the W most of the time, Big Papa is a close second, insanely enough Erzulie can actually win too (she maims Big Papa and the Baron at the start of the fight, those two literally take until the end of time until only one of them is left standing, whoever is left is weaker than they were before, she kills his ass with her daggers) (this is still very improbable, most of the time she gets clapped by whoever’s still alive)

But yeah, even Damballah can win! This is how he wins: He just slithers away super fast at the beginning of the fight and hides in some secluded part of the multiverse. The only one with high enough Battle IQ who would think to kill his ass is Erzulie. But she’s not going to waste her time, because she knows she low-diffs him, and she doesn’t have to worried about getting maimed. But those other two monsters - the most busted and second most busted thing ever - actually do have to worry about getting maimed. It is very probable that Big Papa or the Baron or both kill Erzulie during The Loa Civil War, at any point during the war and possibly very early in it too. But as I explained before, if Erzulie dies her daggers continue to move along a straight path in whatever direction she set them to before she died. Normally, postmortem daggers are easy for the two most busted things in all of existence to dodge, because they just move along straight paths. But those guys are throwin hands, they can't focus any of their magic on dodging the daggers. They are so neck-and-neck, they have to focus all their magic on just fighting each other. They duke it out literally until the end of time, and Erzulie has INSANE Battle IQ! She fired an unfathomable amount of these daggers before she died. Literally, n=INFINITY-1. Mr. Sadism and Mr. Mischief both get maimed as all fuck if the Loa Civil War breaks out. The Baron doesn’t have high enough Battle IQ to even think about Damballah. Big Papa has high enough Battle IQ to think about Damballah, but he can’t waste any of his magic pursuing that guy. Again, he is so neck-and-neck with the Baron-Maman Dyad that he has to focus all his magic on them, or he’s going to die. At the end of time, only Big Papa or the Baron-Maman Dyad is left standing. But whoever is left got maimed by Erzulie. They are weaker than they were at the start of the fight. In fact, they are weak enough for Damballah to slither out from where he was hiding and kill their ass with his absurd speed. They just too maimed and slow to hit him or escape him. Damballah takes the W. 

The weakest of all the gods is the only one left standing.

This is just endlessly fun to think about.

I would watch multiple seasons of anime about the Loa Civil War.

[flightless-rising]

Made a new Flight Rising iceberg and also wrote an explanation.. man, this took way longer than it should have.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy :D

Iceberg explanation

( If there are any mistakes please let me know and I’ll edit this asap. Also, English isn't my first language so please forgive me for any grammatical errors)

EDIT 28/06: Added some new info! Thanks to everyone who tagged and responded with new stuff to add, I really appreciate it!

The Sky

Naomi

Back in the day, whenever you bought or sold something on the auction house a message would show up in your inbox confirming the transaction. These messages were sent by one of the dragon couriers: Pearl, Spitfire or Edgar.

On January 2016, a strange glitch occurred that replaced the images and names of couriers with the ones of a female fae named “Naomi”.

It goes deeper than that, though: if you looked up her name in the user search menu, a clan would pop up with over 15 million dragons.

It was quickly discovered that all exalted dragons had somehow become part of her clan. Naomi herself apparently didn’t exist, and clicking on her page redirected to an error page. This was later fixed and the original Naomi page can be now visited.

What exactly caused this glitch is still a mystery and today Naomi is still a well-known piece of Flight Rising history.

Missing Tidelord

In the official lore, the deity of the water flight disappeared in early 2018, as described in the short story “Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow”.

In the follow up story (Mixed Elements) posted in April of the next year it is confirmed that the Tidelord is still missing, but alive. This coincides with the fact that the Tidelord account hasn’t made any forum posts aside from festival announcements.

Emperors

Emperors are a type of unobtainable dragon that are formed when several Imperial corpses are left in close proximity to each other, which then fuse forming a multi-headed chimera.

Emperors are described in the lore as having an animal-like behavior and destroying everything in sight. They are extremely difficult to kill, which is the reason why in-universe Imperials have such strange burial rites.

An emperor named Luminax is first described in the Raising a Family short story, and their sprite can be seen walking around on the world map.

The Surface

Old color wheel

Originally, there were only 67 available colors for dragons. On June 8th 2016, 110 more colors were added, meaning that currently there are a total of 177 colors available.

When making a custom progenitor dragon, it is only possible to choose among the 67 original colors because it would be otherwise unfair for those who made their account before the new colors were added.

Imperial breed scrolls

Imperial breed change scrolls are one of, if not the most, rare type of item on the site. They were given only to those who pledged 30 dollars or more on the original Flight Rising kickstarter.

At the time, this was the only way of obtaining an Imperial dragon, which meant that the breed as a whole was pretty valuable. Now that Imperials are abundant this is no longer the case, but First generation Imperials are still extremely sought and probably the most expensive type of dragon on the site.

There were also other items that were only given to Kickstarted backers, namely Skycats, Bonefiend, Golden Idol and Cogfrog familiars, and those are also pretty much impossible to obtain.

Baldwin breed change

When Baldwin was introduced in 2015 he was originally a Pearlcatcher. On September 14th of 2016 however his site art started to gradually change, until his transformation was completed five days later.

In-universe, Baldwin started to change after a lightning strike hit his cauldron during an experiment, which made him slowly mutate into the breed we now know as Bogsneaks.

Trans Fiona

When Fiona was added as a trading post dragon people speculated that she was trans, because the female pose for Skydancers only displays two antennae, while the male one has four.

Since Fiona has four antennae in her site art, many wondered whether it was an oversight or actually intended. Aequorin later confirmed in a forum thread that Fiona is indeed trans.

Boolean

Speaking of rare items, the Boolean familiar was only given to a handful of Flight rising beta testers and as such is extremely rare and valuable.

Plaguebringer coli team

On the Plaguebringer’s page she is listed as being part of a coliseum team.

As of now we have no clue as to why this is, and even more strangely she is the only deity that does this.

Boston & Hope

This story is a bit complicated. I’ve scoured the forums in search of info but it seems like there are still some pieces missing. I’ll try my best to explain anyway.

So, for a long while the Lightweaver was the only deity that had other dragons aside from herself in her lair: these dragons were a Spiral named Boston and a Tundra named Hope. Strangely, they were both Earth dragons and apparently have been there since the beginning (?). When asked why (this happened back when deities would interact on the forums) the Lightweaver responded that they were having a dinner party together.

In August 2014 during a pretty heated dominance battle between Shadow and Light Boston and Hope disappeared from the Lightweaver’s lair.

The Shadowbinder now had them, and both their elements were alsochanged to Shadow. The two deities acknowledged this and changed their broadcast messages accordingly.

If I had to guess this was some kind of inside joke that the admins had, although some people got angry that the Shadowbinder now had both Hope and Boston. Some time later(?) Boston was returned to the Lightweaver and for some reason his element was changed to wind.

I don’t have any more info on the matter but if some of you do I would appreciate it if you tell me.

Shallow Waters

Eyepocalypse

On June 8th 2018 eye type variants were introduced. This update was pretty controversial for a bunch of reasons, and the topic is still discussed today. The majority of people(?) seemed to be upset by the fact the “best” eye types (primarily goat, primal and multi-gaze) could only be displayed on dragons that were born with them, and the fact that every dragon born prior to the update couldn’t have these eye types at all displeased a lot of users.

Another problem was the fact that most of the non-special eye types (i.e the only ones that could be applied to already existing dragons using a vial of Scattersight) were not clearly visible on the grand majority of adult dragons.

A smaller(?) complaint was that two of the primal eye types, Shadow and Plague, were seen as kind of disturbing by some people.

Three years later staff attempted to fix this issue by adding Eye type vials for every available eye type. This resulted in a market crash for special eye typed dragons, as now these eye types could be applied to any dragon. The value of Scattersights also tanked, and the people bought them and hadn’t used them yet lost money as now they were infinitely less useful.

EDIT 28/06: Goat isn’t actually obtainable via breeding, faceted is. Bad mistake on my part.

Also, Scattersights were given away freely by Galore on Flight Rising’s fifth anniversary in 2018 and could not be bought afterwards. I admit that I thought people could be able to buy Scattersights due to how upset people were that the value went down, but whatever.

Courier Breed

The courier dragons (Edgar, Spitfire, and Pearl) are part of an exclusive dragon breed that is currently unobtainable. Even though their eye color still reflects the flight they were born in, in-universe they are considered to be “neutral” and they are granted free access to all domains. This raises the question as to which deity created them, as every other dragon breed (Bogsneaks being the only exception) has been created by one of The Eleven.

Multiaccounting

According to the site’s terms of service, no one is allowed to have more than one account. This is pretty standard for pet sites, as having multiple accounts grants unfair advantages and can mess up the site economy. This doesn’t completely stop people for having more than one account, and the practice as a whole is called “Multiaccounting” or “having multis”.

Some people only do this to have multiple clans or reboot their account without deleting their old one. They mostly do no harm but it is reasonable that the site wouldn’t allow this because of how easy it is exploit.

The real harm of multis comes from a practice called “funneling” which is when someone creates multiple accounts only for the purpose of giving items to their main account. This practice violates the game’s rules and can result in a ban. Funneling is not limited to multiaccounting though, and having an account only to feed another is against the site’s rules whether or not the account in question belongs to another person or not.

Some people fear of being banned for multiaccounting even if they haven’t done so, especially if they share a computer with other people.

Purble

“he purble” is probably among the most famous Flight Rising memes.

In 2016(?) a rant was submitted to the original Dramarising blog by a very angry user that wanted to buy an XXX Purple Ridgeback back when triples were pretty expensive, but got beat by someone else.

I’m not going to copy paste it here because in my opinion it’s one of the funniest Flight Rising related posts ever and I don’t want to spoil the experience of reading it for the first time. You can find it pretty easily by searching it up.

Tert Picking

This is something that refaced recently, even though I’ve seen people talking about this for a while. Some people vividly remember being able to pick their custom progenitor’s tertiary color, even though the developers have made it clear that such thing would be impossible. This is without a doubt just one of those weird situations where a lot of people somehow remember the same thing wrong.

Still, it’s fascinating just how many people claim to remember doing picking their tert.

Swiftwings

Swiftwings were a dragon breed that was scrapped in development. The design was rejected because it didn’t fit the 2 arms 2 legs 2 wings format that every dragon design had to follow before the introduction of ancient breeds.

The reason for this rule is that otherwise it would mess up apparel placement. Although the concept was scrapped, echoes of the design were scattered throughout the site: for example, the empty dragon slots that were present prior to 2019 had the silhouette of a Swiftwings dragon. They are also mentioned in the April Fool’s update of 2018.

“Real” Lore dragons

Most people don’t know that some of the dragons featured on the lore stories are actually real, and you can visit their pages. This is the case for Tetra, Cracklinne, Velya, Liefa, Garote and Mirth, which are currently chilling in Aequorin’s lair.

All of the other dragons in the developers’ lairs are not canon and are used to test bugs and features on the site.

The Middle ground

True deity names

When the site first started the deities used to have actual names instead of titles. Some of these names were based off of the site founders’s usernames on other sites.

The names are the following:

Amogayvhi - Gladekeeper Xhaztol - Arcanist Rhenik - Tidelord Akiri - Flamecaller Thrage - Stormcatcher Undel - Shadowbinder Jhortanas - Plaguebringer Ghurab - Windsinger Artaios - Earthshaker Rhiow – Lightweaver

As you can tell, Xhaztol, Akiri, Thrage and Undel are the usernames of some of the admins of the site, and the flight they are a part of corresponds with the previous name of their deity.

No leg coatls

On January 16, 2015 an iconic thread was posted in the flight rising discussion forum, which displayed a photoshopped image of a coatl with its legs removed. Quickly the thread devolved into a general photoshop thread were people took official site art of dragons and modified it.

The thread was eventually locked due to spam and quote pyramids, but spiritual successors of the original “phoatlshop” thread still exist today.

Dress slot unlocking

A thing that a surprising amount of people don’t know is the fact that when buy an additional apparel slot, the slot opens for every dragon in your lair and not just the one you bought it on.

This is something I also discovered very recently and it’s kind of funny that so many people that have been on the site for very long don’t know this.

Clanbound scatterscrolls

I think the wiki explains it best, so I’ll just copy paste this here:

“Tri-Color Scatterscrolls suffered from an issue where they would only scatter a random range from colors 1-47 (white through sunshine) rather than 1-67 (white through rose). They have been fixed and are now functioning correctly with a random range within the 67 color set. The affected timeframe was from August 15th, 2013 until September 22nd, 2013. The admins allowed users who were unsatisfied with their bugged Tri-Color Scatterscrolls to receive the same amount of them back in the form of Clanbound Scatterscrolls to try scattering their own dragons again with the full color range.”

Beta Mirrors

Ever wondered why they’re called Mirrors?

According to Undel, the main artist of Flight Rising, mirrors originally were supposed to have every part of their body “mirrored”, meaning they had two sets of eyes, two pairs of wings, two tails, and so on.

This design ended up being too cluttered and looked weird shrunken down. The name was kept the same, even though the only mirrored part of the design are the eyes.

Dragons are evil

If you read the “Beastclans on the rise” lore bit, the dragons come across as… very evil, stealing territory from the beastclans when they have been living on Sornieth way longer than the dragons have and killing them for loot.

Furthermore, in the Bounty of the Elements lore bit the Beastclan rebellion guided by Talona is seen by the dragons as unreasonable and wrong even when in canon Beastclans are framed as the innocent party.

The Depths

Scroll of Divorce

In the alpha stage dragons were supposed to be monogamous and could only breed with the dragon they were “paired” with. To break their bond you had to use an item called “Scroll of Divorce” which even featured broken marriage rings in the art.

If I had to guess, this item and the concept as a whole were scrapped because the idea of dragons having “weddings” and needing to divorce before breeding with another dragon felt kind of weird, especially in a game targeted towards teens.

First Festival

The first Holiday festival in Flight rising history was the 2013 Brightshine Jubilee. The items that were available for this festival only are incredibly rare, particularily the Light Sprite which is one of the most valuable items on the site. Apart from that and the fact that the skincent contest only had 6 winners, not much is notable about it.

Offsite drama

Flight Rising has had its fair share of drama both on and off site, but due to the fact that it’s against the site’s rule to discuss user drama on the forums most of the notable drama happened off site (mainly tumblr).

Egg rot

Egg rot was a very early mechanic that was pretty quickly removed from the site. If you forgot to incubate your eggs, they would “rot” and no longer hatch.

It’s the reason why in the nesting grounds the text reads “Eggs healthy” and also the reason why on the stats section of the Account settings it says “Eggs discarded”. The mechanic was removed because it heavily punished casual players and the frequent downtimes of the site meant that even if someone logged in every day they could still have their eggs die.

Also, the images of egg rot look extremely cursed.

Pablo

From what I could gather, Pablo is a dragon which became somewhat popular after user “Desmondtiny” wrote a very long and detailed backstory of them being the Arcanist’s lost boyfriend.

I’m pretty sure it gues deeper than that but I couldn’t find any further information. As usual, if you know something more let me know.

Latest News

On November 12, 2014, a glitch(?) occurred that let anyone post in the Announcements thread. Anything that was posted went directly to the front page, which resulted in quite a bit of chaos.

This was fixed only half an hour later, but the screenshots people have from that time are extremely funny.

Lameforger

On the 2014 Flameforger’s festival announcement Undel accidentally misspelled “Flameforger” as “Lameforger”, which prompted the official account of the Flamecaller to respond aggressively. Lameforger is still jokingly used by users, even after the typo was fixed.

Festival of one (1)

On the first day of the 2014 Greenskeeper Gathering a glitch occurred which switched the site banner for the Starfall celebration banner instead of the Greenskeeper one.

It didn’t end there, in the coliseum Magical shards dropped instead of Bladed Flatleaves, even though skin chests dropped as normal(?).

The weirdest thing about it all was Joxar’s Space inventory, which didn’t display any items at all and had glitched dialogue.

The event was nicknamed by the fanbase “Festival of 1” and even the deity’s official accounts acknowledged the incident.

Vape Juice

As far as I know the original forum thread as been lost, but the vape juice fiasco will always remain cemented in Flight Rising History.

A company called Vape Daugz was making vape juice with Flight Rising dragons plastered on their packaging, completely violating the site’s policy.

The company’s site still exists, and browsing through their products I found that the products that previously had Flight Rising dragons on them still exist, but now feature completely different packaging.

I have no idea whether they changed the packaging spontaneously or staff did something about it.

I think there’s a potentially interesting story buried down there, but we’ll likely never the truth behind the Flight Rising vape juice.

The Abyss

Humans

There’s been some speculation over the years as to whether or not humans are canon in the Flight Rising universe. Some people believe that the “Mages” of the second age in the official lore are actually humans, but we can’t be sure because they are depicted with long robes that cover their whole bodies.

The idea of humans existing in canon has spawned a couple of memes, most infamously Thomas.

Plague healers

Again, I think the wiki explains this one better:

“According to Aequorin, Plague healers are an interesting bunch because rather than administer treatments that counter illness, they use a mixture of magic and contagion that stress the affected dragon further, allowing them to reach a stronger, healed, and resistant state faster than other elements. Plague healers will treat physical injuries with sutures, bandages, and braces, but they won't clean the wounds or apply ointments."

Akitla

As described in the original thread, Akitla was a dragon that user “qunii” saw on the front page, but noticed that she wasn’t accompanied by the username of the person owning them.

After clicking on her, an error page loaded. It was discovered that putting her color combination or ID in the search bar would result in an error page. This was later fixed, and both Akitla and her mate were now displayed as being exalted to the Arcanist. T

here are some theories as to what happened to the Akitla’s user, some think that she belonged to a deleted account, others that it was the result of an incomplete account creation.

As with a lot of things on this iceberg, it will likely remain a mystery forever.

Arcane sprite book

“what is the arcane sprite reading??” is probably one of the oldest still active threads on the forums.

On September 25, 2013 user “Kaadashi” started a joke thread were they wondered what exactly is the arcane sprite reading, and playfully suggested that it could be erotic fanfiction. People went crazy of course, and started to wonder what kind of juicy secrets were hidden within the pages of that book.

I don’t want to say too much because I really don’t want to spoil the experience of reading through this very cursed tread.

Sunshine

Sunshine is one of the most… interesting lairs on the site, and certainly one of the most well-known.

They(?) have a lair (almost) completely full of triple basic sunshine dragons, most of which are Tundras. So far they have collected about 320 triple hundred Sunshine dragons, almost all of which are also named “Sunshine”. They’re not all the same, some of them have apparel, some of them are gened and some have unique art and descriptions.

They’re dedicated and I respect that.

EDIT 28/06: Apparently some people seem to think that the sunshine-dedicated lair is based on a meme concerning the announcement of the color wheel expansion, which became so discussed that the itself site broke. The two things are unrelated however, as the Sunshine lair has been around for much longer.

The announcement of the color wheel expansion was cryptic, with only a few post showing off differently colored coatls and then 3 pages of reserved posts, with no explanation whatsoever.

Simple Farmer

Another very famous thread is the “I am but a simple farmer” thread started by user “someKindOfGenius”. It’s not really about anything specific, it’s just a rather silly thread were people photoshop flight rising dragons onto various crops.

Still, this thread is iconic so I had to include it.

Dragon Deaths

Way back in 2014 former flight rising programmer Thrage revealed on a forum thread that way back before the beta, dragons could actually starve to death if left unfed.

Yep.

Obviously they had to remove this mechanic because it would have been extremely harsh to casual players and make people frustrated with the game.

Zalvador

User “manojalpa” became fairly well-known for the extremely dark lore they(?) had written for their Clan, it was so dark in fact that every single one of their dragon’s bios had to moved to their tumblr where they couldn’t be easily seen by the site’s mainly underage usebase.

Their lore centered around their progen dragon, a tundra named Zalvador, which behaved and had the same powers as a flight rising user: buying dragons off of the action house, having “breeding projects”, exalting dragons, etc.

These things seem pretty normal when done by a player, but when taking them as actual real things that happen in universe… yeah, it was way too morbid for the site.

The Pit

Black linen neck wraps

For some weird reason, the apparel piece “Black linen neck wrap” when put on a male pose Coatl wraps around the dragon’s throat instead of it’s neck. It’s kind of subtle and hard to see, but if you compare it with the female pose the difference is clear. This is probably just an art error, although it’s weird that it hasn’t been fixed yet, since linen wraps are a very old piece of apparel.

Another weird thing about linen wraps in general is that the wing wraps just sort of… go through the membrane? This is not possible. These dragons are in pain.

Icewarden ears

Another very remarkably popular thread is the Icewarden ears thread.

In 2014 user “Llanai” simply makes note of the fact that the Icewarden has teeny tiny ears.

As we have come to expect from these threads, it quickly devolved into nonsense.

Forbidden Snapper lore

Snappers used to have a way different lore section that was changed because it deemed too similar to the lore of another petsite.

This is what the original section read:

"Snapper dragons do not sleep, but exist in a constant state of reverie. They receive and catalogue all experiences and stories told within their dreams. This persistent state of awakened dreaming awards them the longest memory of any dragon species. They are living encyclopedias, and any dragon who is seeking difficult-to-obtain information will have the most luck unearthing it from a Snapper clan - provided they have the patience for it. If you want two dozen quick answers, talk to a spiral. If you want a fully developed answer, camp out around a Snapper. These dreamers move at their own pace, which varies from dragon to dragon. For some, the awakened dream can prove to be more interesting than their surroundings. This leads to a focus upon the dream, and the waking world as filtered background noise. Interacting with these sleepwalkers can be a trying and repetitive task. Other Snappers may be fairly lucid, with a focus upon their surroundings and the constant hum of the dream pushed aside."

Bee movie script

I’ve seen this story around the forums a few times but I’ve never been able to learn the details.

From what I’ve heard someone copy pasted the entire bee movie script into their clan bio in a drop down text format, which completely broke the page for anyone who visited it. This was fixed, apparently, although I have no clue as to who this user is.

EDIT 28/06: Zeus

Zeus is an XXX gold g1 permababy imperial that used to belong to user "happywing".

Their account is now locked because Zeus was created with the use of a duplication glitch on an imperial breed change scroll, which is obviously not allowed (although I've heard some people say that the dragon was hacked in altogether). Before the account was locked, people speculated that Zeus was the most valuable dragon on the site, because an XXX g1 imperial is impossibly rare.

Wegg shaming

On July 2017 user “Dreamnorn” made a thread were they(?) claimed to have a dream where everything was the same except people used the term “wegged” when two dragons would lay only one egg in a nest.

Ex. Aw man! I’ve been wegged again! = Aw man! I bred two dragons and they only had one egg!

The dream ended up being prophetic, as the term catched on and people started to use it unironically.

The practice of “Wegg shaming” I think refers to the trend of people posting pictures of the dragons that “wegged” them in order to “shame” them.

Plague nest skull

The site art of the plague nest features an unique dragon skull that doesn’t match with any currently existing dragon breed or creature: It appears to have two sets of eyes, like a mirror, but also long and curled horns.

It’s probably just for decoration and it likely doesn’t have any significance whatsoever, but personally I believe it would be pretty cool if when they eventually release plague ancient it at least somewhat resembled this skull.

EDIT 28/06: On second thought, the skull doesn’t seem to have two pairs of eyes, It just has the generic shape of a carnivore.

Rock bottom

CAPTAINPLANET

…this is CAPTAINPLANET. Somehow, user “Decres”' managed to overlay a Fae skin on top of a Tundra, creating this horrifyingly fascinating abomination.

I have no idea how she did this, and she seems pretty adamant to tell.

EDIT 28/06: People have pointed out that this skin overlay glitch was actually somewhat common (although I still haven't found another dragon like CAPTAINPLANET). What you had to do was breed change a dragon while attaching a skin to them in another tab.

This glitch has been patched and such thing is no longer possible.

Lair 46264

A cursed lair.

Dreams

I’ve seen a lot of people, both on forums and on Tumblr, sharing dreams they had about Flight Rising.

A lot of people dream of just being on the site, while occasionally weird things happen.

I’ve read of people who dreamed the distribution of a new breed, buying an exclusive item, a new Fiona feat or Swipp trade, or just browsing the forums.

The most common type of Flight rising-associated dream I’ve seen however is being caught multiaccounting and having their account banned.

I’m no psychoanalyst, but I think it’s pretty clear that these nightmares stem from the paranoia of being banned from their beloved petsite instead of showing any actual intention of doing the “crime” in question.

Anyways, I think it’s fascinating how so many people dream about this site, and it reminds me of the dreams people claimed to have about Mario 64 where completely new levels were added or a scary monster appeared.

Dragon Slime

Dragon Slime was an infamous thread which was supposed to be start off point for an ARG.

It was deleted because it was considered too “spammy” and also because ARGs are banned from the forums. The thread has been lost, unfortunately.

EDIT 28/06: Thanks to @randompurple-fr for providing screenshots of the dragon slime tutorial! You can find them here

Cucumber

Cucumber is the only dragon ever to have been exalted with a skin, which is something that should not be possible. This raises some questions as to what exactly did the person that exalted them do to achieve this, but we have no way of knowing who Cucumber belonged to.

EDIT 28/06: Actually, we do know who used to Cucumber belonged to! Its owner was Osiem: an official flight rising artist. I couldn’t find the thread where they(?) acknowledged the glitch though, if someone has it please let me know!

[detroitbydark]

Characters:Crosshair/Omari (OC), The Bad Batch

Warnings: None

Summary: Surprises all around

A/N:It’s a coincidence but this is coming out on Mother's Day. So.... Happy Mother's Day!

Previous Parts and Extended Universe can be found here

“So as you can see here-“ Tech’s gloved hand points to the twisting strands that take up the screen like a nightmarish ladder, “Where the double helix connects at- this part, and- right here. See?”

Crosshair nods mutely trying to take in what the engineer is explaining. His body feels numb, like he’s taken a step out of it and it’s watching the whole scene on a holo. In a different language. The techno jargon and science lingo is going so far over his head it's in the stratosphere.

“Crosshair? Are you ok?” Fixing his goggles, Tech turns in his chair. “You don’t look so good.”

As if cued Crosshair sinks into the desk chair next to him. He rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands. He knew this was coming. A simple time frame had given him a round about idea when Mari would be having the baby. He just- it was still a shock when after their last mission Tech had mentioned he’d gotten a ping. 

A ping. 

As simple as that the sniper felt himself spiraling.

Omari had the baby.

“I’m good. I’m good” he reassures, leaning onto his knees, “keep going.”

Tech gives him a questioning look because he certainly was not ok but he didn’t see the point in arguing with him. Best course of action was to finish explaining what he was seeing and give his brother some answers.

“So that is your sequencing” he continues to explain, punching some keys and pulling up another sample that floats on the screen next to the original. “Without the mother’s sample this would usually be more difficult as inheritance is a tricky thing BUT like I was saying before, this little tweaky looking thing right here?”

Crosshair nods looking at the strange connection on his sample.

“This is 100% Kimoan intellectual property. Think of it as a brand to mark their work, like a signature on the bottom of ceramics-“

“Tech” Crosshair groans lowly, “please, let’s just get to the point”

The engineer nods, “so if we look over at sample B-“

“The baby’s sample” Crosshair clarifies.

“Yes, B is for baby, keep up.”

“What are you two studying so hard?” Hunter’s voice asks suddenly as the door slides open and Hunter, along with Echo and Wrecker, pile into the small space of their barracks.

Tech doesn’t miss a beat, “I’m just trying to tell Crosshair he’s a buir” 

 The sound of a popper pin dropping would be deafening. Crosshair feels a wave of nausea and something more faint, more pleasant- relief, wash over him. It’s short lived.

“His what?!” Wrecker’s voice booms. As he crowds into the pairs space looking at the dna samples on the screen. 

Echos brows skim his hairline as he glances from one newly adopted brother to the next.

Hunter's eyes narrow as Crosshair looks at him. He looks away quickly and punches Tech in the shoulder, not hard enough to really hurt him but enough that the engineer rubs at it and gives him a sour look.

“Listen, If you thought I wasn't going to let the other ba’vodu know about the child you were sorely mistaken.”

“You’re going to be sorely mistaken” the sniper grumbles without much fire behind the words.  He’s still reeling. He was a buir, a father. The thought is dizzying.

“Stay where you are Cross” Hunter orders knowingly. Any anger that may have been in his eyes cooling at the uncharacteristic look on the marksman's face.

“Let’s see the little man!” Wrecker’s voice booms and the Sergeant shoots him a quieting look. Echo hangs back at the periphery and Hunter urges him forward with a shift of his head.

“She’s a girl” Tech corrects with a grin.

“A girl! You have a daughter!” Wrecker's big meaty hand smacks against Crosshair’s back with such force that he makes an oomph of discomfort “well, where is the little biter? When do we get to see her?”

“Wrecker” Hunter hisses, “keep it down. This is sensitive information. Need to know only.” 

Wrecker looks chastened for a moment and then repeats he questions at a lower tone, “when do we get to see her?”

“for kriff's sake...” Hunter manages to hide the roll of his eyes as he glances at Echo for support. The bionic clone holds up his hands.

“Not getting into this, sir.”

“Your part of this, now” the Sargent reminds.

“Last I checked I wasn’t involved with the making of any babies.” A grin rubs at the corner of Echos mouth as he moves closer to the other clones. He reaches out and gives Crosshair a gentle pat on the shoulder. The marksman’s head whips around. “Congratulations.”

Crosshair lets out a soft puff of air from between his lips, a nervous smile taking up residence on his face, “thanks, I think.”

“This is a remarkable thing” Tech begins, looking about the his gathered brothers, “it shouldn’t even be possible the Kiminoans-“

“Tech” the group turns back to the new buir. He’s still pale but his back is straight. He looks like a man on a mission, “Is there a picture of her?”

“Well, of course, for security reasons the medical facility takes a picture of all the infants a couple hours after birth.”

“He wants to see it, Tech” Hunter explains.

Wrecker is keen to be heard as well, “Me too!”

Tech looks sullen, having really been looking forward to discussing the implications of this new discovery but another part of him, a part that screams i’m an uncle, has him quickly refocusing his attention back to his holopad. The DNA strands fall away as he plugs in information. It takes only a minute for him to pull up the first one. A collective breath travels through the group.

“Poor thing. She’s got her buir’s scowl” Tech mutters sifting through more files.

Wrecker nods solemnly, “she’ll grow out of it”

Everyone studies the tiny bundled babe with rapt attention commenting on her round cheeks and furrowed brow. “It’s like she’s already disappointed with the world.” Echo murmurs to Hunter.

“Force help us if she has Cross’s attitude”

“Force help him is more like it” Echo agrees, “I’m aiming for fun uncle”

Hunter chuckles and then glances at his uncharacteristically quiet sniper. His toothpick is hanging from his lower lip, long forgotten as his eyes trace over the image. Hunter grabs his arm and pulls him closer. Crosshair’s eyes never leave the babe.

“That’s a pretty little creature you helped make.” He says neutrally. Crosshair nods. “It’s an honor I don’t know if any clone has had. A lot of responsibility-“

The newly minted father shakes his head and focuses his gaze on his superior. “I understand what this all means” he keeps his voice pitched below the sound of the others chatter, “I’m going to take care of my girls.”

Hunter watches the set of the other man’s shoulders, hears the intent in his voice. He nods. “Good but you're not in this alone.”

Crosshair raises a brow, “pretty sure you weren’t in the room when-“ Hunter’s unamused expression has him pressing his lips tight. His comment going unfinished.

“Aliit ori’shya tal’din”

“Yeah, yeah” the sniper plucks the forgotten toothpick from his mouth and flips it between his fingers, “it’s more then blood and all that Mandolorian banthashit.”

“I’m serious Cross” Hunter pushes the subject, “you know we’ll be there for anything you and you-“

“Oh damn son!” Wrecker’s voice interrupts the profound point Hunter is trying to make, “Is that your girlfriend?!”

Tech has flipped to a second picture and all eyes flick from the picture of Omari holding the baby to Crosshair.

Reaching behind Hunter, Echo manages to give the sniper another pat on the shoulder “I said it before but, congratulations.”

“I mean, I guess in some circles he could be considered handsome?” Tech looks at Crosshair assessingly.

Wrecker nods, “but I mean those have to be really tiny circles like” he points at the picture, “she’s got to be the only one that can fit in it.”

Crosshair is deaf to the jokes. His eyes are focused solely on Mari, his Mari, sitting in the bed in a white gown holding his child. And he wasn’t there. Something uncomfortable seizes in his chest. Had she been scared? Had she hurt? Were they safe? A million questions filter through his mind as his brothers slowly come to the realization that he’s not listening to them.

“Cross?” It’s Tech’s voice that finally breaks through to him, “they were sent home three days ago. You could use the holo?”

“You haven’t talked to her yet?” It’s Wrecker’s incredulous voice that asks, “if I had a looker like that-“

“Well you don’t” Crosshair snaps waspishly turning to his over exuberant brother. Wrecker gives him a skeptical look.

Hunter sees the building tension in the set of his sniper’s shoulders, his stiff posture and the flash of uncertainty behind his eyes. He never would have thought a situation like this would have been possible. Supposedly they’d been engineered without the ability to produce offspring. Sterility was a cruel fate for clones still clinging to their progenitor’s people’s need for clan and family. Having brothers, vode, was one thing but Hunter knew the feeling of yearning for more. The yearning for family, for clan and children. For a life after war.

Now, one of their own, likely the least prepared for fatherhood, had managed the impossible. The tiny rounded cheeks, smattering is soft hair and puckered lips greeting them on the holo were living proof that even what they all believed to be impossible could be within reach.

“That’s it” the Sargent announces his voice sharp and his command beyond question, “everyone out!”

The sound of grumbling can be heard from Wrecker as he and Echo leave, shoulder to shoulder. Tech looks at his holo but doesn’t move to grab it as Hunter gives him a quick shake of his head. The sniper gives him a questioning look when he steps in front of the door.

“Not you. We’ve got a conversation that needs to be had.”

“I figured you were going to say that.” Shoulders slump as he moves back into the room and sits in front of the holo. His eyes scan the new face, memorizing the fine details of his daughter’s face before letting his eyes trail to her mother. She looked tired but also, something else he’s never seen before. She looks serene. Fine lines pull at the corner of her eyes as she smiles, her dark hair framing her face. He feels like he’s intruding on a moment he has no right to see. The things he’s said when she’s tried to tell him, the excuses he’d found not to continually reach out to her, all of it compounded into a feeling of disgust that roiled and ate at him.

“Crosshair?”

His eyes move up to the Sargent. He realizes he doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at the image and he quickly moves to close it out.

“Sorry”

The apology goes unacknowledged as Hunter sits down across from his marksman. The pair mirror one another, resting their elbows on their knees.

“Were you going to tell us?”

The question makes Crosshair feel nearly as bad as the holoimages had. “I don’t know what I was planning on doing. I hadn’t figured it out myself yet.”

Hunter nods, “you realize the responsibility-“

A raised hand cuts him off, “do you all think I’m an idiot? That I haven’t thought about this- about her- them since I learned it could even be a possibility?”

“We wouldn’t know though would we- well Tech would- but the rest of us? We’re your brothers. And that woman...”

“Mari” Crosshair offers chastened.

“Mari and that baby, your daughter? They are our family, our responsibility to protect and care for almost as much as they are yours.”

Crosshairs head hangs down, he pulls in deep slow breaths because, yeah, he hasn’t even contemplated the way this news would affect his brothers. If the reactions of Wrecker and Tech were anything to go off he’d missed a very important point. Hunter sighs.

“When did you last speak with her?” There was no use in making him feel worse. It’s written across his face. Now was the time to lead and support.

“I saw her last time we stepped in Coruscant.” He catches the Sargent’s raised brow.

“And nothing since?”

“I sent her a flimsy- and some credits and... stuff” it sounds weak in his own ears.

“You’ve got a half-hour, a holo, and an empty barracks.” Hunter informs, rising to his full height, “my suggestion is you correct your shortsighted decision.”

———

The greedy sounds of nursing infant fill the single room apartment. Mari looks down softly at her daughter. Calla complains in a series of tiny grunts as her mother switches her from one breast to the other. She’s always hungry, only seeming to be content when she’s nursing or held close after a feeding. Mari has never been more in love with anything or anybody in her life. 

She’d often worried and wondered what she’d feel when her child would be placed in her arms. Before the birth, she hadn’t felt some deep bond to the little being that grew inside her but when the obstetric droid had placed the naked, squalling babe in her arms for the first time she’d nearly cried. The feeling so overwhelming and intense that it had threatened to overcome her. From the moment her eyes had locked with her daughters she’d known that she would do anything, give up everything to love and protect her.

Coming home had been a learning experience. She had to balance Calla’s needs with allowing herself to heal. She was tired, body exhausted in a way that felt like even the marrow in her bones had been used up.

The sound of the holo ringing startles her. She hasn’t had visitors nor has she had many well wishers calling. She reaches across the bed, attempting not to dislodge the infant falling asleep as her breast.

Crosshair’s image springs to life as she leans back, too tired to smother the surprise that flashes across her features. She hasn’t seen the sniper since… she thinks back on the last few months and realizes how long it’s actually been. She’s gotten his simple missive and his gifts and the credits of course but none of it was what she had really wanted, what she had really needed-

“Hey Kitten” The soothing rasp of his words is offset by the obvious anxiety lacing them. 

“Crosshair” Mari greets. At a complete loss for words, she waits. She watches him, eyes seemingly search her as if he’s in the same position. He breaks first. 

“I heard- you had the baby.”

Pulling in a steadying breath Mari readjusts the holo camera, widening the frame to show off the tiny bundle of blankets. She glances down and hears the marksman's ragged exhale.

“That’s-  we- we did that?” She can hear the same awe tinging his voice that she had felt the first time the baby girl had let out a cry.  Mari can’t help the small, tired smile that pulls at her lips. She’d known the moment she found out she was pregnant that the child was the clones. There had never been any questions in her mind or her heart. To hear him say we, to claim ownership, had moisture forming at the corner of her eyes. She wipes weakly and Crosshair frowns. 

“Mari... Kitten, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I know I’m not who you would have chosen. I’ve been banthashit through this whole thing but-”

“Shut up.” she says with no heat in her voice. She chokes through a small laugh “Crosshair, shut up. It’s hormones. I’m fine” she lies and he doesn’t call her on it. She’s thankful. 

He nods slowly, proceeding carefully as if she were live ordinance he wasn’t sure how to handle. “Ok. Did you get my package?”

Mari huffs out a sound as she reaches out of frame and grabs the DC-17 from her drawer. “This?”

Crosshair nods again, “I need to know you’d be safe. Both of you. The credits too. I’ll send more-”

“Do you want to know more about your daughter?” She asks the question she knows he’s afraid to ask. He looks relieved for her mercy as he nods. “What do you want to know?”

Chuckling nervously he rocks forward, hands propped on his knees, “Everything. I want to know if you were scared? How big is she? Is she giving you a hard time. What is it like?” He rubs a hand over his forehead, “What did you name her?”

“Her name is Calla.”

“Calla…” he tries the name out softly, saying it a second time to hear the way it sounds. He’s right, with the gentle gravel of his voice it sounds perfect. “it’s beautiful. Is she- is she healthy?”

The fear in his voice is palpable. It’s something she never thought she’d hear. “She’s so strong, Cross. Loudest lungs in the hospital. Ten fingers and ten toes. And always hungry.” as if on command Calla’s suction like grip to her mother's breast comes loose with an almost audible pop and her head lolls back. Mari nestles the milk drunk infant closer and Crosshair laughs a real laugh that warms and comforts any frayed nerves she may have had. “She’s not the biggest baby but you’d never know it. She’s got your attitude already.”

“Sexy and aloof?”

Mari can’t help the peel of laughter that escapes her lips startling Calla awake. The baby blinks grumpily as her mother readjusts her to face the camera. “Needy is more like it.” she murmurs down at the babe “Alright grumpy girl. Take a look at your Daddy.” she encourages as the baby gives a gummy yawn and begins to fall back asleep, a dribble of milk catching at the corner of her mouth. 

“Daddy…” he tests out the word like he’d tested out her name just moments ago.

“Is that ok?”

“It’s perfect.”

Taglist: @skdubbs  @my-own-oracle @underworldqueen13​ @obiorbenkenobi​  @daniellajocelyn​ @cxptain-rex​ @imahardcase​ @lady-tano

[sickviking-fr]

Dragon a day lore challenge: pre lore info extended

So Stormhurst started out with just my progenitor, Voltair and was originally from Shadow. So Voltair is and has always been, Lord of clan Stormhurst. Generally considered a good tactician, he set out from his nest to build an army for hire. They had a really good run for a number of years, rarely losing members to battle. By the end, he had a liaison (his own daughter) for dealing with proud and pompous​ Kings who weren’t interested in hearing the nitty gritty of what they wanted done, doctors and surgeons, specialized hunting parties, scouts, armors and blacksmiths. They were a true clan then and Voltair got it in his mind to settle down. Let the Kings come to him if they wanted his sword, but there was no longer a valid reason to move the whole hoard constantly.

He decided that a short stay in The scarred wasteland would make to strengthen his men’s Constitution and resistance to disease as much as they were to the sword(or so he thought with his head swollen by pride). Within the first two months, they lost all the hatchlings. Then some of the older clansmen. Then the scouts. His doctors did what they could to save as many of their numbers as possible but with lack of what decent dragons would consider edible food in the wasteland, and no recognizable healing herbs, the healers quickly became overwhelmed. Voltair recruited wandering plague healers to help but they could only do so so much. Medicine isn’t a huge commodity in the wasteland s, you had to grow a d defeat the disease yourself.

Voltair sent his scouts and some able warriors to search for easy paths out of the disease ridden territory. He couldn’t just up and leave now. More than half his clan was unfit for normal travel and he wasn’t going to just leave anyone behind.

Dragons of The Windswept Plateau offered the salvation he needed to extract his people in the form of balloons. The sick could ride in them, pulled by what few able bodies were left to pull them. After a year in the Scarred Wasteland, Voltair was finally getting his men to safety. They made for the Plateau and didn’t stop until they we’re at the other side. Voltair would have liked to go further, put as much space between his people and that he’ll as possible but some of the I’ll could go no further and needed tending to. They set down on an empty, unclaimed strech of grass and have been there ever since. They have made the village Voltair had set out on years ago, but few of the dragons he’d promised it to were still around to see it.

Voltair doesn’t want to be leader anymore, wants to just live in the pub and let his daughter take over this new, non-violent troupe. He doesn’t know how to lead them, how to sit calmly and professionally and diplomatic. How not to slam his claws on a table and declare war at any squabble. But his people still love him and trust him, so he has no choice.

[entergamingxp]

a brief history of orcs in video games • Eurogamer.net

When we first meet the young orc warchief Thrall in Warcraft 3, he’s just woken from a nightmare; visions of orc and human armies clashing on a battlefield as the sky burns above them.

“Like fools, we clung to the old hatreds,” a voiceover laments. It’s rendered stunningly, this battle, in an early progenitor of Blizzard’s now-renowned cinematics. But unlike in the previous two games, there’s no glory to it. The morally simplistic battles of old are chronicled in the language of regret. Old triumph is revised as cyclical folly.

Thrall wakes from his vision and jolts up in bed. We can see terror on his face at first, and then… sorrow. And just like that, Warcraft’s orcs are given something they’d never really had previously:

A chance to be people.

As far as I knew at 10 years old, no-one had ‘invented’ orcs. They just were. Like giants, fairies, or dragons. I’d fought them in HeroQuest, all protruding lower canines and piercing red eyes, brandishing meat cleavers and falchions above their heads. I’d defended castles from them in the Dungeons & Dragons board game DragonStrike. I’d even controlled orcish warriors and catapults and giant snapping turtles in Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but I’d placed orcs in the realm of folklore, a part of our collective storytelling public domain. That is, until my Year Five teacher jokingly called a story I’d written a ‘Tolkien rip-off’ and lent me her personal, faded hardcover of The Hobbit. It was, I thought at the time, even cooler than C.S Lewis. It had bigger battles. Dragons. Gollum. And a lot more orcs.

Orcs.

Evil. Disposable. Generally up for a party but will probably end up killing each other. Disposable. Bad at tactics but too numerous for it to really matter. Disposable. Just good enough at fighting to make our heroes look cool, but never good enough to pose a real threat.

Disposable.

This isn’t what makes them endearing, and enduring, though. Sure, they’re often hilarious. Mostly fearless. But they’re also perpetual outsiders. Sometimes, like Warhammer 40,000’s Goff Rockers and Blizzard’s mohawked trolls, they’re punks. Fantasy’s counterculture. Scrappy. Resourceful. All DIY aesthetics and painted banners. Backs against the wall, grog held high in the air with one hand, and a long, gnarled, green middle finger on the other.

The first level of Warcraft 3’s prologue starts with a line of text on a loading screen. A single line that grants Thrall, and by extension the Horde, more agency than the previous two games combined.

“Somewhere in the Arathi Highlands, Thrall, the young warchief of the orcish Horde, wakes from his troubling dream.”

His troubling dream. Imagine that. Thrall is troubled. Not angry. Not vengeful. Not somewhere on the spectrum between recently having finished killing humans and planning out which humans to kill next. But troubled. When he speaks to the prophet Medivh in the following cutscene, his voice is measured. A tone of resolute contemplation, in sharp contrast to the ornery Fozzy Bear gargles that delivered the old game’s orcish text scrolls.

Playing the Warcraft strategy trilogy in order today, this change seems sudden. Jarring, even though it had been in the works for a while. The character Thrall was conceived for the adventure game Warcraft: Lord of the Clans. The ill-fated, darkly comedic project imagined the warchief as a sardonic, wise-cracking Guybrush Threepwood type. Very different from what we’d eventually see in Warcraft 3, sure, but also much different from any orc in the series before. The first human we meet in the game – Thrall’s jailer – is cruel and clumsy, a stark contrast to noble imperialism present in previous depictions of the Alliance. By the time of Lord of The Clans, the orcs have been corralled to reservations, made slaves after their defeat by humans. For the first time in a mainstream fantasy game series, orcs are portrayed as victims, not aggressors. Even the name, Thrall, evokes servitude and chains.

Despite its eventual cancellation 18 months into development, the story of Lord of the Clans would later be retold and canonised in a novel with a much more contemplative tone, released a year before Warcraft 3’s release. In that same year, 2001, another Warcraft novel named Of Blood and Honour reimagined the orcs in similar ways. But we wouldn’t see these new orcs in action until Thrall first stepped out of that tent.

Early depictions of noble orcs are about as common as beardless dwarves. The odds were stacked against them from the start, really. The world ‘orc’ is believed, by some, to have been derived by Tolkien from the English epic Beowulf. It appears in the poem as ‘orcneas’ – an evil tribe, condemned by god. Another possible corollary – and one Tolkien would likely have been familiar with – was the Saxon term for the Norman invaders. Here, ‘orc’ means ‘demons’ or ‘foreigners’. The link becomes even more apparent when you consider – as the historical novelist Kate Sedley asserts in Tintern Treasure – that the Anglo-Saxons called our world, as a place between heaven and hell, Middle Earth. A Middle Earth they tried to defend against ‘orcs’ at the Battle of Hastings.

How much of this history was actually relevant to Tolkien is unclear, though. In a letter to Scottish novelist and Lord of the Rings proofreader Naomi Mitchison, the author writes: “the word is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English orc ‘demon’, but only because of its phonetic suitability.”

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1920.

Pour one out for the green-skinned lads, othered from conception by an etymological whim. They didn’t fare much better in terms of appearance. George MacDonald’s 1872 fairytale The Princess and the Goblin – a childhood favourite of Tolkien’s – is widely credited with inspiring the author in the creation of his own goblins and orcs. MacDonald’s story describes them as a “subterranean” race, “called by some gnomes, by some kobolds, by some goblins.”

“Not ordinarily ugly, but either absolutely hideous, or ludicrously grotesque both in face and form.”

Which doesn’t differ all that much from Tolkien’s own, uh – let’s say antiquated for now, though back to this later – description of orcs.

“… they are (or were) squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.”

It’s also worth clarifying here that to Tolkien, ‘orcs’ and ‘goblins’ are the same thing. The divisions in size and hierarchy between goblins and orcs is something fantasy has iterated on since. Don’t tell an orc that, though.

From here, the orc’s first mainstream appearance in tabletop roleplaying was in the 1974 Dungeons & Dragons ‘White Box Set’. Borrowing many Tolkienian tropes, orcs appear here as evil and warlike, harboring an intense dislike for sunlight. Relatable. They feature again in the original 1977 Monster Manual (the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in D&D), where several orc ‘tribes’ are listed. This dodgy correlation between low intelligence, aggressive creatures and tribal societies was rife in traditional fantasy, and one of the major tropes Warcraft 3 would later grapple with. For now though, orcs were firmly disposable minions of darkness.

The 1977 Monster Manual.

Even in the 1977 Monster Manual, though, orcs are missing one of their most famous traits: they’re still not green. Tolkien’s were described as “swart” and “sallow”. The Monster Manual describes them as “brown or brownish green with a bluish sheen”. For popular codification of orcs’ now-ubiquitous green colouring, we have to look to another tabletop game.

The (widely considered to be apocryphal) story goes like this. Someone at Games Workshop in the 80s is painting their orcish army, but runs out of the obviously correct purple paint halfway through. Frustrated, but feeling resourceful, they reach for the same grass-green a colleague has been using to base their dwarves, and lovingly slather each orcish muscle and jutting jaw with it. Everyone who sees the army the next day agrees: that’s orcs, baby. And so, the greenskins are born.

Warhammer Armies 1988.

True or not (and likely not), Warhammer does seem to be the turning point for green orcs to become the norm, although they wouldn’t be called ‘Greenskins’ just yet. Warhammer’s collected horde of orcs, goblins and other related lads are still referred to as ‘Goblinoids’ all the way through their first army book in 1988, up to the 4th edition Orcs and Goblins. Despite the absence of the term ‘greenskins’ however, Games Workshop’s orcs are, primarily, uniformly green from 1988 onwards.

While Games Workshop’s Space Orks, introduced in 1987’s Rogue Trader ruleset, continued in the tradition of warlike, generally unsympathetic orcish depictions, the first edition of Shadowrun, published in 1989, was a little more nuanced. The ‘Ork Mercenary’ class features the following description:

“He is coarse and rough and of limited sensibilities, but he does function in society. He is not a psychotic killer as some Humanis cultists claim. He’s just making a living doing what he does best.”

Shadowrun’s Ork Mercenary.

Despite a few early attempts, such as Shadowrun’s, to grant the orcs some humanity, they largely remained the same one-note villains. As the developers have confirmed, it’s Tolkien and Games Workshop’s orcs that Warcraft: Orcs and Humans drew the most inspiration from.

Thanks to the influence of D&D, however, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was a long way off from being the first game to feature orcs – even setting aside games that use the D&D or Warhammer licence. 1980’s Rogue (of roguelike fame), 1985’s Bard’s Tale, and 1987’s Megami Tensei all feature a variation on either Tolkein’s antagonists, or their D&D adaption. Megami Tensei is especially notable, as the orcs it features serve the demon Orcus: the historical Latin god of the underworld, and another speculated etymological origin.

Orcs also make an appearance in Elder Scrolls: Arena, developed around the same time as Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, though released a year later. It wouldn’t be until Morrowind, however, that the Orsimer were made playable. Their in-game description is as follows:

“These sophisticated barbarian beast peoples of the Wrothgarian and Dragontail Mountains are noted for their unshakeable courage in war and their unflinching endurance of hardships. Orc warriors in heavy armor are among the finest front-line troops in the Empire. Most Imperial citizens regard Orc society as rough and cruel, but there is much to admire in their fierce tribal loyalties and generous equality of rank and respect among the sexes.”

The trope of Orcs being accepted into society only once having proved their worth to humans as foot soldiers is one we’ll look at a little later, too.

Writing for Waypoint, Rowan Kaiser describes Warcraft 3’s orc campaign as dealing with “the conflicts between moderation and radicalism, revenge and forgiveness, and dying for freedom or living to fight another day, with Thrall serving as as a cross between Moses and Martin Luther King, Jr.” Kaiser is largely – and rightfully – critical of Blizzard’s lacking POC representation, but his identification of Warcraft 3 as an outlier even within the studio’s own catalogue shows just how different – in video games, at least – its orcish story felt at the time.

While World of Warcraft would continue the story Warcraft 3 established – occasionally relying on various strains of demonic corruption to allow the orcs to fill in their archaic role as destructive antagonists – a few other games popped up afterward that featured the greenskins in a starring role.

Cyanide Studio’s Of Orcs and Men, and spin-off Styx titles, all featured orcs and goblins as playable characters. In Cyanide’s universe, orcs and goblins are persecuted and enslaved by an expansionist human empire. “It’s not easy being a Greenskin on this fucking continent,” the narrator tells us in the introduction. A similar history of slavery is present in Divinity: Original Sin – although no orcs appear in its sequel.

Of Orcs and Men.

And then we come to Shadow of Mordor, right back to Tolkien’s orcs, 12 years after Thrall woke from his nightmare and set out to unite his people.

As a lover of both orcs and procedural storytelling, the Nemesis system – Mordor’s AI memory that has orcs building up personal vendettas against the player over tens of hours of play – is still my favourite mechanic in recent memory. Orcs are more than just fodder in Monolith’s open-world – they’re the crux around which the whole game revolves.

They are the stars of the show, and yet, are strangely absent from its story in any meaningful sense. With the Nemesis system, Tolkien’s orcs were granted a digital facsimile of more agency than they’d ever had before. With it, they were confined back in chains forged from the old tropes. Writing for Paste, Austin Walker observed how the wraith Celebrimbor’s description of the orcs as “vile, savage beasts” was, in effect “imperialism dressed up as spirited determination”.

The sequel, Shadow of War, expanded its protagonist’s skillset to grant the ability to mentally enslave the orcish denizens of Mordor. For some critics, the game rewarding you for breaking the spirits of orcs like “brood mares and racing horses” was the line past which they no longer felt comfortable playing. Cameron Kunzelman, writing for Polygon, grants that Celebrimbor’s heel turn does attempt to critique his cruelty towards the orcs – but the game’s mechanics are still too firmly rooted in rewarding the player for the same cruelty to make this critique effective.

“Whether you buy the real-world race implications of the depictions of orcs or not, the logic of real-world racism is clearly being referenced in how Celebrimbor justifies the enslavement of orcs and trolls,” says Kunzelman, “he sees them as half-people at best, and above all understands them as a resource to be harnessed in competition with his enemy.”

At the start of this piece, I suggested that we might look at orcs as the fantasy genre’s counterculture. Perpetual outsiders, misunderstood by the haughty, self-righteous realms of men. This is where things get uncomfortable, though. If orcs are portrayed as evil, an abomination, or – in Tolkien’s case – a twisted, ugly mockery of a fey, beautiful and noble race, – what does that say about outsiders?

“Kinda-sorta-people, who aren’t worthy of even the most basic moral considerations, like the right to exist,” writes the sci-fi and fantasy author N.K Jemisin in a 2013 blog post The Unbearable Baggage of Orcing. “Only way to deal with them is to control them utterly a la slavery, or wipe them all out. Huh. Sounds familiar.”

I found the N.K Jemisin quote – and an erudite and comprehensive argument to why the history of orcs is inexorable from British imperial racism – in a two part essay by game designer and cultural consultant James Mendez Hodes called Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth. In the piece, Mendez Hodes traces Tolkien’s inspiration for the orcs back to Attila the Hun and the Mongols, through the sinophobic ‘Yellow Peril’. It’s a compelling and thoroughly researched argument to why we shouldn’t downplay the significance of Tolkien’s description of his orcs as “degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types” – and why even the term ‘degraded’ has roots in harmful, nonsensical race-science.

Even the idea of a warrior ‘race’, argues Mendez Hodes, is deeply rooted in the British Imperial concept of ‘Martial Races’. A designation created by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, to identify warlike ‘castes’ from which to recruit for service in the colonial army. The British colonial powers viewed such peoples as:

“… strong, tough, savage. Born into violent, warlike cultures. Raised to prize military prowess above all other pursuits. Naturally inclined to raid their neighbors or, when no neighbors can be found, to fight amongst themselves. Stubborn and simple-minded, despite all their martial skill. Easily controlled by more graceful, cerebral people…”

Which might sound familiar, if you’ve been paying attention.

“I learned of orcs when a friend showed me Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1996, then was disappointed they didn’t look like jacked badasses in illustrations from Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons,” Mendez Hodes tells me over email.

“When Blizzard Entertainment announced Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, I lit up. A story about an orc named Thrall who grew up in bondage to European humans, but rises to become warchief of the Horde? This tiny Filipino was here for it. I was sad they cancelled it, but thrilled when Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos picked up on Thrall’s story.”

While the first two games villainised the orcs, Mendez Hodes tells me Warcraft 3 “made Horde species feel like people with voices and cultures”.

Their design, unfortunately, was still rooted to those old noble savage and martial race tropes.

“If I tried to list all the Indigenous, Asian and African stereotypes and misrepresentations on the Horde unit and spell lists – or their antecedents and descendants in the Diablo series, for that matter – we’d be here all night. For instance, there’s a good deal of the Horde in Diablo’s kindest and most offensive character, Carl Lumbly and Erica Luttrell’s Witch Doctor.

“The problem with positive stereotypes is that when you’re starving for any positive representation at all, they’re intoxicating…”

Mendez Hodes brings up Grom Hellscream’s redemption arc in Warcraft 3 as “proof that evil is a choice and not a racial trait for orcs, [it] resonates with all the times I’ve felt tempted to embody a stereotype to seize a momentary advantage in a hostile world”.

“So many of our first heroes were queer-coded and disabled villains, stereotypical karate guys, jive-talking gangsters and criminals. Sometimes we were too young to know the ways they hurt us. Other times we knew – because even if we didn’t at first, the other kids made sure we found out – but we took them into our hearts like they were wayward relatives. If nothing else, unconscious bias ensured we felt the Horde were our own.”

I ask Mendez Hodes if he feels Warcraft 3’s sea change was a positive step, all things considered.

“I’m glad Warcraft 3 happened. I think we needed to move through that phase, to iterate on it, to get where I want orcs to go. “

Mendez Hodes learned a lot from Warcraft 3, he says. The relationship between fantasy and culture. How to maintain the cognitive dissonance necessary to recognise the same work can both help, and harm, his cause and identity.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m gonna make coffee and play Reforged, and fall in love with Thrall and all my problematic faves all over again.”

At the end of Mendez Hodes’ essay, he sets out some thoughts on reclaiming orcs from Tolkien’s legacy by humanising and personifying them across fiction, role playing and video games. I wanted to end this one on a positive note, so I spoke to some creators that have been doing just that.

Developer Bitter Berries describes Salting the Earth as a modern-fantasy that takes place in a post civil-war world, focusing on sex-positive LGBT+ themes, and femininity: friendship, motherhood and sisterhood.

“Orcs are often portrayed as ugly, muscle-headed and patriarchal in mainstream media,” Bitter Berries tells me over email.

“And at the same time, women with tall and muscular builds were more likely put in the minor roles of villains, perhaps due to their appearances being the opposite of mainstream’s understanding of femininity.”

Salting the Earth’s universe is populated by Orogans – borrowed from ‘Orog’, Forgotten Realm’s taller, smarter Underdark orcs.

“The project attempted to subvert the usual tropes, giving the physically dominant women more complex personalities and a variety of roles, and to make them ‘sexy’. Personally, quirky and powerful women really appeal to me.

“Instead of primitivism, the culture of the orcs in the game was inspired by me and my friends’ South East Asian cultures. While racism isn’t the main theme, there’s a hierarchy within the orcs in the game based on the colour of their skin.”

Salting the Earth.

Tusks is a visual novel where the players joins a band of queer orcs at a festival and travels together through what creator Mitch Alexander describes as a “semi-mythical Scotland”.

“Most of the ideas that are explored with relation to orcish life in the game – community, history, found family, sexuality, power, social status – are also massively relevant to queer people, and they’re derived from my experiences as a queer man.”

Alexander came up with the concept for Tusks while playing Skyrim as an Orsimer who, he figured, was trying to unite Orsimer throughout the land, to come together and build their own “wee queer orc stronghold”.

Alexander also wanted to reflect his home country in the game.

“Orcs make a very good stand-in for things like folklore and myth about faeries, selkies, goblins and elves in Scotland, as though these creatures may be in some way synonymous or related to the orcs from Tusks.”

Tusks.

When thinking about the history of orcs, Alexander considered not just portrayals of race, but also gender and sexuality.

“There’s a lot you have to reckon with if you want to reduce the amount of harmful tropes being employed in depicting orcs… they’re often described or depicted in racist, imperialist or essentialist ways that feel like it’s been written by some 19th Century British head-size-measurer. There are few depictions of orc women in the media, and when they are, they’re conventionally attractive human women who are green; the only consideration of queerness you get in orc worldbuilding tends to be one-off jokes.”

Tusks, says Alexander, was an opportunity for him to explore themes like found family, community, polyamory, sexuality and power dynamics. As much as it allowed him to subvert orcs, it presented a chance to use orcs to challenge how we think about things in our own lives. With so many people made to feel inhuman, or monstrous, Alexander says, it can be useful for artists to play with and reclaim these ideas for themselves.

“If we’re interested in worldbuilding and having something interesting to say in our media, it’s a hard sell to then claim the way we depict and portray non-humans doesn’t really matter or isn’t worth exploring.”

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/a-brief-history-of-orcs-in-video-games-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-brief-history-of-orcs-in-video-games-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net