Dragon Forum

oh I love these dragon designs! I especially like the varied head shapes. I remember reading the dragonology book a lot as a kid, that thing ruled

very cool designs, i agree

Oh my gosh These are super cool !

I can't pick a favorite haha.

synthcrow wrote: ↑August 20th, 2023, 2:36 am oh I love these dragon designs! I especially like the varied head shapes.

The unique head shapes and fin designs are so good. The Wyvern's pointier nose compared to the Knucker's alligator snout stood out to me

Azhdaha (Long baijin)
Size: 15 feet long
Habitat: coasts
Coloration: white
Diet: rabbits, birds, fish
Magical Abilities: electric breath, flight
~
Today’s dragon is our first dragon inspired by Asian folklore, the azhdaha! They’re not really a type you see a lot in modern media, or at least I haven’t seen any. There is a dragon in Genshin Impact named after them, which is pretty neat. I will admit, I haven’t found too much info on them, and a lot of sources seem to have the same info on them? If anyone is more knowledgeable on them, I’d love more info! Actually if you have additional/especially obscure info on dragon folklore, please share it with me, I love learning about dragons!
The azhdaha is a dragon from Persian legend, appearing in several stories, usually as an antagonist. Something interesting about them to me is the sort of crossover between European and East Asian dragons in their nature. They have the usually antagonistic role of European dragons, and the physical appearance of Asian dragons. Which does make sense, since they’re geographically sandwiched between the regions those come from.
The electric breath is something I added in, because they don’t seem to have a breath weapon in folklore, and also to do with a little theme I’m doing with all the Asian inspired dragons, which I’ll explain with the next dragon. But for now, the fact that these fellows are coastal is from their lore of starting life out as terrestrial snakes, and then being banished to the ocean once they reach maturity. They usually dwell in coral reefs, so they’re like sharks in their ecology.

also AAAAAAAAAAAAA thank you all for the kind comments!!!

Graytaloty wrote: ↑August 21st, 2023, 11:16 am Oh my gosh These are super cool !

I can't pick a favorite haha.

synthcrow wrote: ↑August 20th, 2023, 2:36 am oh I love these dragon designs! I especially like the varied head shapes.

The unique head shapes and fin designs are so good. The Wyvern's pointier nose compared to the Knucker's alligator snout stood out to me

Yeah, I wanted to make them distinct in their designs and visual personality!

Seiryu (Long qingmu)
Size: 20 feet long
Habitat: forests, lakes
Coloration: blue, green
Diet: fruit, fish, fowl
Magical Abilities: fertilizing breath, accelerated plant growth
~
Last time, I mentioned that I was doing a little theme with the Asian dragons. That theme would be the philosophy of wuxing, or the Five Phases. Corresponding with the Five Phases are the Four (or sometimes Five) symbols, which includes the Azure Dragon/Qinglong, or as they’re called here, Seiryu.
I choose the name Seiryu because another dragon species is called the long and it feels weird to have a different species with a name that includes that. The specific archetype this species is based in are some freshwater dragons like the dilong and panlong.
The plant powers are due to Qinglong being associated with the phase of Wood. The fertilizing breath is a mist that makes plant life grow, which combined with their diet including seeds can make them basically breathe out plants (this concept was inspired by the flash game “How to Raise a Dragon”).
Seiryu are very important maintainers of their environment, allowing for a lot of plant life to grow with their very presence. Thus, a lot of human settlements are stationed around their forests, as their presence brings a good harvest and more than enough trees for the multitude of uses for wood. The seiryu don’t mind, as it doesn’t cause them any exhaust, and they like to have chats with the locals from time to time.

Tatsu (Long heishui)
Size: 40 feet long
Habitat: pelagic oceans
Coloration: black, gray
Diet: large fish
Magical abilities: steam breath, pseudogills, storm manipulation
~
Today’s dragon is the tatsu! They kinda caused some headaches for me, actually. You see, the direction associated with Heilong, the dragon this is inspired by, is the north, specifically the north of China. But I wanted this dragon to be the “ocean king” archetype in Asian legends, because they correspond with the Water phase and all. Buuuuut I could just handwave it somehow since this setting isnt real life with magical creatures, maybe there’s a saltwater lake that leads to the ocean or something, or north is the north ocean, idk. Anyway, a fun fact: according to legend, the first emperor of Japan descended from dragons!
The name tatsu is Japanese in origin, and is an alternate word for ryu, I went with the former since seiryu contains “ryu” in it, so it felt weird to me. They’re mainly based on the archetype of sea dragons in Asian myth, which is especially common in Japan. There’s also some basis from the jiaolong, with how they don’t have horns, a unique trait amongst the other dragon species. Obviously, their breath weapon is water related, being a blast of scalding steam.
I’ve gotten praise for the unique face designs of each dragon, so I wanted to give these fellows a head based on the gharial. It just fits perfectly. While usually amicable with humans, tatsu do tend to be somewhat more territorial than their kin. One hypothesis for why this is posits that they could have encounters with leviathans that managed to swim to the oceans they dwell in, but due to the general difficulty of observing what goes on at sea, nothing is wholly proven.

This has been such a fun read I appreciate the detail of thought went into each creature
Smagust is sadly over, but should you continue this, I would love to read more

AAAAAAAAAA I'm so flattered!
Don't worry, this isn't finished, and it won't be abandoned. I got some art block, but I got back on the groove! I've finished the last two pieces, just need to write down some stuff for them

These are all awesome! (Although, I have a soft spot for noodles that look similar to your Seiryu, so I’m going to have to say that it’s my favorite so far.)