He's Golgaaryol, and he's Golgaaryol... And...
As with the journals... let's start with the music... Yes, this music. Yes, this is my favorite game from my youth on which I spent a lot of time. Yes, it's Gothic 3 ^^
https://youtu.be/Mttl9y7sz98
It's not a reptile, it's not an amphibian, it's not a mammal, it's not a fish, it's not a bird, it's a dragon. A 10-meter swamp dragon, measured from the nose to the tip of the tail. The height at the withers is about 2.5 meters. He has a large tail fin, webbed paws. He has four feet, of course, a bit catlike, with pink pads. Now let's move on to less important things…
One of the elemental dragons; fire dragon. Fire is a symbol of life and death, the dragon carries these elements completely uncontrollable over them and his power to create scenarios - he’s unaware that his imagination creates life and death scenarios for others; it’s enough for him to think about it. He’s much more powerful than he realises. Even his dreams and visions are so powerful that if he dreams of someone, then that someone dreams of him. Depending on his mood, he can unknowingly have truly destructive abilities that can destroy the mentality, desires and psyche of others around him; it's a fire that burns out. If he was happy, it does the opposite; it is the fire of life. In his youthful nature on a lost road, it is completely chaotic and unpredictable. He is subject to the soul of the Phoenix Of Relativity, which dies and is reborn from time to time.
Where did he come from? In December 2020 I started writing a story about a dragon. I had no script, no plan. It was just an idea, inspired by the stories, Skyrim and the old green dragon in Soul Cairn, because this place was really amazing and it's probably the best thing I remember from the game. But it's not that dragon. Golgaaryol is a dragon who, through an unfortunate fate, found himself in something like Soul Cairn, a destroyed world and a crazy storyteller, something that was supposed to be the end of his life and consciousness, but actually became the beginning, or just another cycle... The rest was written by my unconscious side - that's what this dragon is, a product of the unconscious.
After writing "his" story for a long time, Golgaaryol turned out to be more than just a fictional character for the plot. It is a manifestation of suffering, illness, depression, but it has been given the humor of an inner child - because this is what depression looks like, pain hidden behind laughter and smile.
In the story; Strongly damaged psyche. He broke the barriers of death many times, the first during hatching, when the shell of his egg turned out to be too thick. He got a lot of new chances. But he never took the side of life. Still in the cycle of death.
His intelligence is mainly based on linking theories and things to dependencies and relationships, so he sees a virtually endless amount of scenarios linking past and future into a tragic story full of loops, this destroys his meaning of life and creates destructive scenarios, or beautiful ideas. Through his visions, theories and combined facts, he hates humanity in general, he does not despise any life, but he has complete contempt for the human species in general. He doesn't feel part of the dragon race either. Isolated himself completely from all society and family. He believes in no gods, belongs to no one, belongs to no kingdom, his home is earth and sky, with no borders, but the shadow of this beautiful idea creates dark scenarios that persist in a parallel world. And all the worlds are connected into one world, which simultaneously carries many versions of events. The dragon's unconscious exists in each of them, but his consciousness is limited to seeming to live in one. As you can imagine, it would be very, very bad if this dragon's spirit was broken to the end.
The only one who sees all the worlds in one is;
https://www.deviantart.com/qahnareen/art/Phoenix-Of-Relativity-938975735
Phoenix Of Relativity - the guardian of balance, but has no influence on the amount of good or evil. It is the Fire. "The suffering of one spreads to many, like in a spiral, so that in another version, everyone can be happy... together." The soft corners of its beak curled into a smile. "You are the being, like everyone else, being of every world, but your actions determine what you know and remember. Do you feel unfair to this fate? I can give you an insight into your other versions. Not fate, but your purity of spirit will decide whether it will be better or worse. You'll just pay with your life. Will you trust me?" He reached out with his beak to pull out a beautiful white feather. “You won't remember me or anything of this existence. One name written in the sand. The blood will soak like into the spiral of time.”
…
You can't see it from him, but he’s incredibly sensory - what I mean by that - reacts to everything around, extremely sensitive to smell, hearing, but unfortunately with a strong visual impairment. Extremely eaten by fear of people and other creatures, that's why he’s always withdrawn and hidden, and would love to be sociable and open. A severe breakdown by the past and isolation have made him too wild - he's aware of this, but is also aware that sometimes he completely loses consciousness and is driven only by animal instincts. Due to the fear of completely losing consciousness, he tried to keep in contact with people, but it turned out to be too difficult and revealed all his flaws and fear.
“Wouldn't hurt a fly”
He's harmless, but has aggressive behaviors that he hates. Is very afraid of the "beast" within, but his nature is mostly completely calm and pacifist. He won't hurt anyone, but has little control over his defense system, and can seem harsh when defending his point or vision. In general, you can call him a hippie.
//- “Incredibly irritating that your sspecies is learning to fight to kill.”
- “And your s-species, what are you doing?”
- “And we… We have it in ourr blood. But don't get me vrong. Therre would never be such a thing as var in ourr ideass. Defenss, attack, it's just part of our naturre, it's insittin… ins-tinc-tive, but it neverr becomes a social movement. That's one of the reezons why I... strongly... despise humanity.”
//
Incredibly respects freedom and nature.
His value system is;
Freedom
Distance
Tenderness
"Earth, without borders, without states, without nationality."
This is the dragon's perspective;
"Always open sky"
But has been completely eaten up by nihilism. In a way, he couldn't handle the amount of suffering and tragically burst the bubble of the fantasy world, destroying this world, turning it to ashes to set free and become my friend - and here comes his second role, unplanned - manifestation of part of my unconscious, discovering… unconsciously, when writing a story, i.e. instincts, shadow, desires, but also carries many elements of the ego. He’s constantly being discovered and built - doesn’t have a permanent "self", although would like to be himself; thinking about it ends up in deep philosophical dilemmas that take up a lot of his time. Apparently that's why dragons live so long - in my universe, about 600 years. Golgaaryol is a young dragon who by human standards is about 15 years old and represents such a teenager's nature in the story.
Dragons grow up differently than humans. After hatching, they are quite independent, and their consciousness develops only around the age of 25 - 30, and this is strongly based on contacts with others and experiences that have drawn paths in the unconscious at a young age. A lone dragon who would grow up completely wild, without the ability to talk to others, would be quite animalistic and possibly very dangerous. This represents the problem of today's society - many lonely people who, around the age of 30, are just starting their independent life, often alienated and scared, begin to learn the reality around - and the dragon, at this age, is like a child who learns the world anew, with consciousness, not just instincts. This is another extremely important step in the development of a dragon, so that it can grow into a being capable of coexisting with humans and other dragons. Golgaaryol's significant problem lies in the first and second stages of development, which he can no longer catch up with.
This dragon is a reflection of me, but also partly my opposite - it came out quite by accident; I'm afraid of heights, I don't really like water or swimming, I hate hunting and killing animals for food, I'll admit that I've never even bought raw meat… I don't like eating fish either. I would definitely prefer a mountain landscape than a flat horizon and swamps that I have around me on a daily basis. That's why "I’m" a swamp dragon! Who loves the swamp, water, fish, etc dragon stuff... And it wasn't until almost two years into writing the story that I realized this opposite. This beast is actually a good manifestation of my Shadow side.
As for the look, I never wanted to look for other ready-made patterns, so that my dragon would be the most mine, of all that would be in my head. I once learned about the quetzalcoatlus from an fb article, a person also reminded me of it in a comment, and it made me think that the dragon might be more real than it seemed, but it would require too much transformation of its body, which would destroy the "charm" of being such a majestic, so beautiful combination of the characteristics of many creatures, (yes, he wrote this) it would rather look like an ugly bird with scales, a wyvern with glued front paws. This is where the bending of realism comes in.
The quetzalcoatlus;
10 - 11 meters
200 – 250 kg…
I thought about how much a dragon could weigh, there was always a limit to my imagination. Coincidentally, his size is very similar to this creature. This is very little weight for such a large birb, extremely little. Four paws and a huge tail alone would probably exceed this result, so here you have to make up for it with your imagination and cunning.
If you have seen the structure of dragon scales;
https://www.deviantart.com/qahnareen/art/From-a-notebook-Scales-931473983
it can also be said that a lot of cunning built his whole body, although I believe that it is impossible for him to go down to such a low weight without a drastic change in body structure. The dragon would have to make up for it with the strength and size of its wing membranes. His build would be more for gliding and not fast flapping, rather hard hits. Rather, it would make significant use of air currents to facilitate his flight. However, it cannot weigh close to a ton, or several tons, as some say in the sheets for their dragons.
This "clever" physique makes the dragon much lighter than it looks - it's like a sponge filled with air. Even his scales can "breathe" and store air. Although I think that perhaps it would be at least 450 - 500 kg. If it were a wingless, non-flying dragon, it would probably weigh at least two tons at this size, with a normal physique like a lizard.
Such a physique has a negative side; he’s not as tough and strong as he looks, so his descent to the ground is very risky in a fight with a predator created to live stably on four legs and carry a huge mass of muscles, which weighs, say, over 800 kg, would already be much heavier than a dragon. Therefore, dragons have very keen senses of hearing and observing, like prey, fear is no stranger to them, but they won't admit it. A lesser ground predator would be a lethal threat to a dragon. In this aspect, due to his complete solitude and lack of any support, Golgaaryol became extremely fearful, timid and distrustful of other creatures.
A big problem is also proper nutrition and finding a balance between the size of the prey and the frequency of hunting, because everything requires a huge amount of energy. For the swamp dragon, it is convenient because it can catch fish efficiently, but the dragon needs meat, on a regular basis. He also has a primordial pouch, a bit like cats, a soft underbelly that is able to store larger prey for digestion. He eats practically everything, loves fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, even spruce needles or young birch branches. All that can be eaten and that will give vitamins and nutritional values.
Defensive systems;
He has no magical abilities. Well, maybe a smile... He can create fire with fire bile located in glands just below the lower jaw. He shoots bile with a strong breath of air, and everything is ignited by the spark created by the grinding of fangs - all this takes great skill. Creates several types of flame; highly explosive when he spreads fire bile widely, the effect of burning oil that burns for a long time on some surface and produces a lot of black smoke, or a simple flame. The fire power of swamp dragons is the most powerful among other races, it can be dangerous to the dragons themselves - their flame is much hotter than an ordinary campfire, it can take on a blue color. Used rather as a last resort due to the risk of burns and a strong blow for energy.
Poison. A very strong poison hidden in the scales on the neck protects the dragon from suffocation and bite. Poison is also in the largest fangs. Does not kill dragons, but effectively incapacitates and causes pain or long-term numbness. Deadly to smaller creatures.
Frills are not only decoration - their edge is sharp as a knife. Not to mention the whole collection of spikes, and even the spiked scales, which can also cause wounds.
The claws underneath are like a jagged sword blade, like polished granite. Just like the great claws on the wings.
Moving on to serious systems;
Words and intelligence. The ability to communicate is developed throughout life, it concerns the relationship between dragons, humans, and even animals - body language.
The most powerful defense is knowledge. Infinite curiosity pushes for knowledge on all topics. Knowledge is no substitute for scales. Curiosity is also the cause of problems.
He doesn't bite, he judges. Judging, choice of words and body language. He makes a deep analysis of the "adversary" and is not afraid to tell the truth if he sees fit. He can usually suppress any hostile attitude towards him. Always hides his depth, and like many other creatures, can surprise you a lot when you get to know him better. His inner universe is never closed and he will gladly let anyone into his crazy "library", but it requires the right approach and trust. And trust me, gaining a dragon's trust isn't as easy as offering him fish or a piece of smoked ham - although that can be an important gesture. Understanding him is also not easy and not everyone can handle it to find themselves in his universe. The world is divided into cat lovers and dog lovers. Golgaaryol is definitely closer to the feline lifestyle. Full understanding of all its sounds, body language, gestures is rather unattainable for a human being.
The greatest defense is distance, pacifism, tenderness, sensitivity, understanding and tolerance that can reach beyond any human mentality. However, he would not be indifferent to wrongdoing, but he will never judge right and wrong unjustifiably.
The oxygen uptake system must be extremely efficient. His breathing should be no faster than the flapping of his wings, which is relatively slow on this scale, as it would negatively affect the use of muscles and the power of flapping his wings. I thought of extending the lung function to somehow additional oxygen reservoirs; many ducts would distribute air all over the dragon, that is also what the hollow bones are for. Everything is supposed to accumulate as much air as possible. Possible additional reservoirs located in the base of the neck and in the area of the spine. The negative side of this is sensitivity to humidity and air temperature. Any gases and sprayed poisons, even those from plants and fungi, are extremely bad for the dragon. Flying too high or poorly ventilated caves can be fatal.
Wings, under the resistance of the wind that carries, as if spread themselves like a parachute, so the dragon can glide for a long time without much effort. Their movement is severely restricted by the tension of the membranes. A separate set of tendons and muscles works for wing lift and others for wing flap. The dragon is also supposed to swim efficiently, then his wings are folded tightly on the back. Nor is it that the dragon has to be the greatest flyer, or whatever. He just has to be able to fly, to swim in swamps and run in forests. It's just universal, but not the best beast.
They usually play the role of the proud kings of the world, but this world is actually extremely dangerous, as well as for all creatures, and dragons are not gods. Although Golgaaryol is a bit different. "Usually" is not a rule. Yes, he would try to play the proud beast, but he knows his killed ego very well.
The size of the dragon means that the claws of the wing and tail fin are sometimes forced to move at unimaginable speeds. I thought that breaking the sound barrier with wing fingers or tail would be quite fun for dragons… Maybe I should change the gravity and air density in my fantasy world a bit to be more dragon friendly. ;) Here is the border between realism and imagination, where creativity must break the barriers of realism, the only problem is to somehow manifest it in this realism.
Originally, he was supposed to be a wyvern - a dragon similar to those from Skyrim. Moreover, I thought four legs and wings was a stupid and unrealistic combination, but Of The Wilds' novels changed my perception by 360... yes, I know, by 180 degrees, although it is still problematic in imagination and in drawing. Once upon a time I had a paw-wing concept; for example, two fingers and a thumb would be for walking, grasping, and two fingers would be the fingers of a wing with a membrane attached to the tail. But ultimately this dragon was also supposed to be the most classic Western one, but in my personal edition. I think that such a typical western dragon is the essence of imagination. If something is to be big and untamed, let it be a dragon.
latest update; spikes have been added on the hips and on the side of the tail, which spread out and increase the membrane surface and lift, also serve as a brake during flight, help to control the air flow.
Something about the picture; it's just that one day I found that if I mastered every position of the dragon's body in a drawing; flying, running, sitting, lying, etc., it means that it has actually been well developed and only then deserves a reference sheet. I also know that, unfortunately, procrastination and lack of time mean that I’m not developing my drawing at the pace I would like, so I’m still not satisfied with many things. It's a combination of sketches collected over months. I know that such sketches are not impressive, because it could be done in... a few hours? For me, getting the dragon to this level was two years of continuous work - writing, drawing. Yes, I could push it to the level of photorealism, but I really don't want to bother with it right now. Also, I think sketches offer the most honest expression, because the less detail there is, the more the viewer's imagination has to run, and it then creates an enhanced version of itself through one's imagination.
- “You just cleverly explained your laziness.”
- “Indeed, I did…”
...
I could write a lot of details here… but for what? Everything will probably be in the story or in the descriptions under the pictures. Things are never quite constant either, but I don't want to keep these notes hidden any longer - they've spent several months there waiting for a proper image to be made - unfortunately, my next problem - there will never be a proper image for me, because to me everything is a WIP, so officially his race could be called The WIPDragon.
His other role? My imaginary friend, a guest… or rather, sort of director, manager of my diaries/journals. There he really reveals his qualities as an ENTJ type - he makes sure everything is "show", he wants to “BE FOR OTHERS”. My Shadow side, something like a manifestation of the inner child... inner hatchling. Complete opposite to my “Se Trickster” - His Extraverted Sensing would be a strong character trait.
What is your greatest weakness is a powerful feature of your shadow. Turn it into a beast and meet. If you treat it as a friend, you can break the limits of your weakness.
https://youtu.be/Mttl9y7sz98
It's not a reptile, it's not an amphibian, it's not a mammal, it's not a fish, it's not a bird, it's a dragon. A 10-meter swamp dragon, measured from the nose to the tip of the tail. The height at the withers is about 2.5 meters. He has a large tail fin, webbed paws. He has four feet, of course, a bit catlike, with pink pads. Now let's move on to less important things…
One of the elemental dragons; fire dragon. Fire is a symbol of life and death, the dragon carries these elements completely uncontrollable over them and his power to create scenarios - he’s unaware that his imagination creates life and death scenarios for others; it’s enough for him to think about it. He’s much more powerful than he realises. Even his dreams and visions are so powerful that if he dreams of someone, then that someone dreams of him. Depending on his mood, he can unknowingly have truly destructive abilities that can destroy the mentality, desires and psyche of others around him; it's a fire that burns out. If he was happy, it does the opposite; it is the fire of life. In his youthful nature on a lost road, it is completely chaotic and unpredictable. He is subject to the soul of the Phoenix Of Relativity, which dies and is reborn from time to time.
Where did he come from? In December 2020 I started writing a story about a dragon. I had no script, no plan. It was just an idea, inspired by the stories, Skyrim and the old green dragon in Soul Cairn, because this place was really amazing and it's probably the best thing I remember from the game. But it's not that dragon. Golgaaryol is a dragon who, through an unfortunate fate, found himself in something like Soul Cairn, a destroyed world and a crazy storyteller, something that was supposed to be the end of his life and consciousness, but actually became the beginning, or just another cycle... The rest was written by my unconscious side - that's what this dragon is, a product of the unconscious.
After writing "his" story for a long time, Golgaaryol turned out to be more than just a fictional character for the plot. It is a manifestation of suffering, illness, depression, but it has been given the humor of an inner child - because this is what depression looks like, pain hidden behind laughter and smile.
In the story; Strongly damaged psyche. He broke the barriers of death many times, the first during hatching, when the shell of his egg turned out to be too thick. He got a lot of new chances. But he never took the side of life. Still in the cycle of death.
His intelligence is mainly based on linking theories and things to dependencies and relationships, so he sees a virtually endless amount of scenarios linking past and future into a tragic story full of loops, this destroys his meaning of life and creates destructive scenarios, or beautiful ideas. Through his visions, theories and combined facts, he hates humanity in general, he does not despise any life, but he has complete contempt for the human species in general. He doesn't feel part of the dragon race either. Isolated himself completely from all society and family. He believes in no gods, belongs to no one, belongs to no kingdom, his home is earth and sky, with no borders, but the shadow of this beautiful idea creates dark scenarios that persist in a parallel world. And all the worlds are connected into one world, which simultaneously carries many versions of events. The dragon's unconscious exists in each of them, but his consciousness is limited to seeming to live in one. As you can imagine, it would be very, very bad if this dragon's spirit was broken to the end.
The only one who sees all the worlds in one is;
https://www.deviantart.com/qahnareen/art/Phoenix-Of-Relativity-938975735
Phoenix Of Relativity - the guardian of balance, but has no influence on the amount of good or evil. It is the Fire. "The suffering of one spreads to many, like in a spiral, so that in another version, everyone can be happy... together." The soft corners of its beak curled into a smile. "You are the being, like everyone else, being of every world, but your actions determine what you know and remember. Do you feel unfair to this fate? I can give you an insight into your other versions. Not fate, but your purity of spirit will decide whether it will be better or worse. You'll just pay with your life. Will you trust me?" He reached out with his beak to pull out a beautiful white feather. “You won't remember me or anything of this existence. One name written in the sand. The blood will soak like into the spiral of time.”
…
You can't see it from him, but he’s incredibly sensory - what I mean by that - reacts to everything around, extremely sensitive to smell, hearing, but unfortunately with a strong visual impairment. Extremely eaten by fear of people and other creatures, that's why he’s always withdrawn and hidden, and would love to be sociable and open. A severe breakdown by the past and isolation have made him too wild - he's aware of this, but is also aware that sometimes he completely loses consciousness and is driven only by animal instincts. Due to the fear of completely losing consciousness, he tried to keep in contact with people, but it turned out to be too difficult and revealed all his flaws and fear.
“Wouldn't hurt a fly”
He's harmless, but has aggressive behaviors that he hates. Is very afraid of the "beast" within, but his nature is mostly completely calm and pacifist. He won't hurt anyone, but has little control over his defense system, and can seem harsh when defending his point or vision. In general, you can call him a hippie.
//- “Incredibly irritating that your sspecies is learning to fight to kill.”
- “And your s-species, what are you doing?”
- “And we… We have it in ourr blood. But don't get me vrong. Therre would never be such a thing as var in ourr ideass. Defenss, attack, it's just part of our naturre, it's insittin… ins-tinc-tive, but it neverr becomes a social movement. That's one of the reezons why I... strongly... despise humanity.”
//
Incredibly respects freedom and nature.
His value system is;
Freedom
Distance
Tenderness
"Earth, without borders, without states, without nationality."
This is the dragon's perspective;
"Always open sky"
But has been completely eaten up by nihilism. In a way, he couldn't handle the amount of suffering and tragically burst the bubble of the fantasy world, destroying this world, turning it to ashes to set free and become my friend - and here comes his second role, unplanned - manifestation of part of my unconscious, discovering… unconsciously, when writing a story, i.e. instincts, shadow, desires, but also carries many elements of the ego. He’s constantly being discovered and built - doesn’t have a permanent "self", although would like to be himself; thinking about it ends up in deep philosophical dilemmas that take up a lot of his time. Apparently that's why dragons live so long - in my universe, about 600 years. Golgaaryol is a young dragon who by human standards is about 15 years old and represents such a teenager's nature in the story.
Dragons grow up differently than humans. After hatching, they are quite independent, and their consciousness develops only around the age of 25 - 30, and this is strongly based on contacts with others and experiences that have drawn paths in the unconscious at a young age. A lone dragon who would grow up completely wild, without the ability to talk to others, would be quite animalistic and possibly very dangerous. This represents the problem of today's society - many lonely people who, around the age of 30, are just starting their independent life, often alienated and scared, begin to learn the reality around - and the dragon, at this age, is like a child who learns the world anew, with consciousness, not just instincts. This is another extremely important step in the development of a dragon, so that it can grow into a being capable of coexisting with humans and other dragons. Golgaaryol's significant problem lies in the first and second stages of development, which he can no longer catch up with.
This dragon is a reflection of me, but also partly my opposite - it came out quite by accident; I'm afraid of heights, I don't really like water or swimming, I hate hunting and killing animals for food, I'll admit that I've never even bought raw meat… I don't like eating fish either. I would definitely prefer a mountain landscape than a flat horizon and swamps that I have around me on a daily basis. That's why "I’m" a swamp dragon! Who loves the swamp, water, fish, etc dragon stuff... And it wasn't until almost two years into writing the story that I realized this opposite. This beast is actually a good manifestation of my Shadow side.
As for the look, I never wanted to look for other ready-made patterns, so that my dragon would be the most mine, of all that would be in my head. I once learned about the quetzalcoatlus from an fb article, a person also reminded me of it in a comment, and it made me think that the dragon might be more real than it seemed, but it would require too much transformation of its body, which would destroy the "charm" of being such a majestic, so beautiful combination of the characteristics of many creatures, (yes, he wrote this) it would rather look like an ugly bird with scales, a wyvern with glued front paws. This is where the bending of realism comes in.
The quetzalcoatlus;
10 - 11 meters
200 – 250 kg…
I thought about how much a dragon could weigh, there was always a limit to my imagination. Coincidentally, his size is very similar to this creature. This is very little weight for such a large birb, extremely little. Four paws and a huge tail alone would probably exceed this result, so here you have to make up for it with your imagination and cunning.
If you have seen the structure of dragon scales;
https://www.deviantart.com/qahnareen/art/From-a-notebook-Scales-931473983
it can also be said that a lot of cunning built his whole body, although I believe that it is impossible for him to go down to such a low weight without a drastic change in body structure. The dragon would have to make up for it with the strength and size of its wing membranes. His build would be more for gliding and not fast flapping, rather hard hits. Rather, it would make significant use of air currents to facilitate his flight. However, it cannot weigh close to a ton, or several tons, as some say in the sheets for their dragons.
This "clever" physique makes the dragon much lighter than it looks - it's like a sponge filled with air. Even his scales can "breathe" and store air. Although I think that perhaps it would be at least 450 - 500 kg. If it were a wingless, non-flying dragon, it would probably weigh at least two tons at this size, with a normal physique like a lizard.
Such a physique has a negative side; he’s not as tough and strong as he looks, so his descent to the ground is very risky in a fight with a predator created to live stably on four legs and carry a huge mass of muscles, which weighs, say, over 800 kg, would already be much heavier than a dragon. Therefore, dragons have very keen senses of hearing and observing, like prey, fear is no stranger to them, but they won't admit it. A lesser ground predator would be a lethal threat to a dragon. In this aspect, due to his complete solitude and lack of any support, Golgaaryol became extremely fearful, timid and distrustful of other creatures.
A big problem is also proper nutrition and finding a balance between the size of the prey and the frequency of hunting, because everything requires a huge amount of energy. For the swamp dragon, it is convenient because it can catch fish efficiently, but the dragon needs meat, on a regular basis. He also has a primordial pouch, a bit like cats, a soft underbelly that is able to store larger prey for digestion. He eats practically everything, loves fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, even spruce needles or young birch branches. All that can be eaten and that will give vitamins and nutritional values.
Defensive systems;
He has no magical abilities. Well, maybe a smile... He can create fire with fire bile located in glands just below the lower jaw. He shoots bile with a strong breath of air, and everything is ignited by the spark created by the grinding of fangs - all this takes great skill. Creates several types of flame; highly explosive when he spreads fire bile widely, the effect of burning oil that burns for a long time on some surface and produces a lot of black smoke, or a simple flame. The fire power of swamp dragons is the most powerful among other races, it can be dangerous to the dragons themselves - their flame is much hotter than an ordinary campfire, it can take on a blue color. Used rather as a last resort due to the risk of burns and a strong blow for energy.
Poison. A very strong poison hidden in the scales on the neck protects the dragon from suffocation and bite. Poison is also in the largest fangs. Does not kill dragons, but effectively incapacitates and causes pain or long-term numbness. Deadly to smaller creatures.
Frills are not only decoration - their edge is sharp as a knife. Not to mention the whole collection of spikes, and even the spiked scales, which can also cause wounds.
The claws underneath are like a jagged sword blade, like polished granite. Just like the great claws on the wings.
Moving on to serious systems;
Words and intelligence. The ability to communicate is developed throughout life, it concerns the relationship between dragons, humans, and even animals - body language.
The most powerful defense is knowledge. Infinite curiosity pushes for knowledge on all topics. Knowledge is no substitute for scales. Curiosity is also the cause of problems.
He doesn't bite, he judges. Judging, choice of words and body language. He makes a deep analysis of the "adversary" and is not afraid to tell the truth if he sees fit. He can usually suppress any hostile attitude towards him. Always hides his depth, and like many other creatures, can surprise you a lot when you get to know him better. His inner universe is never closed and he will gladly let anyone into his crazy "library", but it requires the right approach and trust. And trust me, gaining a dragon's trust isn't as easy as offering him fish or a piece of smoked ham - although that can be an important gesture. Understanding him is also not easy and not everyone can handle it to find themselves in his universe. The world is divided into cat lovers and dog lovers. Golgaaryol is definitely closer to the feline lifestyle. Full understanding of all its sounds, body language, gestures is rather unattainable for a human being.
The greatest defense is distance, pacifism, tenderness, sensitivity, understanding and tolerance that can reach beyond any human mentality. However, he would not be indifferent to wrongdoing, but he will never judge right and wrong unjustifiably.
The oxygen uptake system must be extremely efficient. His breathing should be no faster than the flapping of his wings, which is relatively slow on this scale, as it would negatively affect the use of muscles and the power of flapping his wings. I thought of extending the lung function to somehow additional oxygen reservoirs; many ducts would distribute air all over the dragon, that is also what the hollow bones are for. Everything is supposed to accumulate as much air as possible. Possible additional reservoirs located in the base of the neck and in the area of the spine. The negative side of this is sensitivity to humidity and air temperature. Any gases and sprayed poisons, even those from plants and fungi, are extremely bad for the dragon. Flying too high or poorly ventilated caves can be fatal.
Wings, under the resistance of the wind that carries, as if spread themselves like a parachute, so the dragon can glide for a long time without much effort. Their movement is severely restricted by the tension of the membranes. A separate set of tendons and muscles works for wing lift and others for wing flap. The dragon is also supposed to swim efficiently, then his wings are folded tightly on the back. Nor is it that the dragon has to be the greatest flyer, or whatever. He just has to be able to fly, to swim in swamps and run in forests. It's just universal, but not the best beast.
They usually play the role of the proud kings of the world, but this world is actually extremely dangerous, as well as for all creatures, and dragons are not gods. Although Golgaaryol is a bit different. "Usually" is not a rule. Yes, he would try to play the proud beast, but he knows his killed ego very well.
The size of the dragon means that the claws of the wing and tail fin are sometimes forced to move at unimaginable speeds. I thought that breaking the sound barrier with wing fingers or tail would be quite fun for dragons… Maybe I should change the gravity and air density in my fantasy world a bit to be more dragon friendly. ;) Here is the border between realism and imagination, where creativity must break the barriers of realism, the only problem is to somehow manifest it in this realism.
Originally, he was supposed to be a wyvern - a dragon similar to those from Skyrim. Moreover, I thought four legs and wings was a stupid and unrealistic combination, but Of The Wilds' novels changed my perception by 360... yes, I know, by 180 degrees, although it is still problematic in imagination and in drawing. Once upon a time I had a paw-wing concept; for example, two fingers and a thumb would be for walking, grasping, and two fingers would be the fingers of a wing with a membrane attached to the tail. But ultimately this dragon was also supposed to be the most classic Western one, but in my personal edition. I think that such a typical western dragon is the essence of imagination. If something is to be big and untamed, let it be a dragon.
latest update; spikes have been added on the hips and on the side of the tail, which spread out and increase the membrane surface and lift, also serve as a brake during flight, help to control the air flow.
Something about the picture; it's just that one day I found that if I mastered every position of the dragon's body in a drawing; flying, running, sitting, lying, etc., it means that it has actually been well developed and only then deserves a reference sheet. I also know that, unfortunately, procrastination and lack of time mean that I’m not developing my drawing at the pace I would like, so I’m still not satisfied with many things. It's a combination of sketches collected over months. I know that such sketches are not impressive, because it could be done in... a few hours? For me, getting the dragon to this level was two years of continuous work - writing, drawing. Yes, I could push it to the level of photorealism, but I really don't want to bother with it right now. Also, I think sketches offer the most honest expression, because the less detail there is, the more the viewer's imagination has to run, and it then creates an enhanced version of itself through one's imagination.
- “You just cleverly explained your laziness.”
- “Indeed, I did…”
...
I could write a lot of details here… but for what? Everything will probably be in the story or in the descriptions under the pictures. Things are never quite constant either, but I don't want to keep these notes hidden any longer - they've spent several months there waiting for a proper image to be made - unfortunately, my next problem - there will never be a proper image for me, because to me everything is a WIP, so officially his race could be called The WIPDragon.
His other role? My imaginary friend, a guest… or rather, sort of director, manager of my diaries/journals. There he really reveals his qualities as an ENTJ type - he makes sure everything is "show", he wants to “BE FOR OTHERS”. My Shadow side, something like a manifestation of the inner child... inner hatchling. Complete opposite to my “Se Trickster” - His Extraverted Sensing would be a strong character trait.
What is your greatest weakness is a powerful feature of your shadow. Turn it into a beast and meet. If you treat it as a friend, you can break the limits of your weakness.
3 years ago
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