hi im draconithere im a dragon and you can come back tomorrow for another obvious observation. it/he (heavy on the it) (if you only ever he/him me i will take your he/him privileges away). come up with names to use for me! i prefer it to picking my own name :-)
made this blog to talk about being a dragon because ive been repeatedly denying and re-realising it for like 3 - 4 years and maybe this'll keep me from doing that. im not a mythical dragon with anything special going on that a goat couldn't do if it was really evolutionarily determined to do it, im just an animal of type flying and big. specific terms im just a dragon :shrug:. dragon therian is best but i just call myself a dragon because ive had experiences in the past with the word 'therian' or 'kin' being leveraged to put some distance between the individual and what they are and i don't fw that. calling myself dragonkin would feel weird because im just a dragon, end-of. i do experience some level of delusional thinking (though not really complete delusions) related to my draconity. if you're an asshole about people who experience any form of altered reality i will kill you with a big rock
"are you mental or spiritual or physical" idk idc leave me alone
we r a system. pro endo idc about syscourse or any discourse for that matter. fuck off and stop trying to tell people what can or can't be happening in their head. it's not entirely one individual who uses this blog though, many of us share this identity. if they feel that the post is specific to their individual experience with our draconity they'll tag it as such.
i'm TRANSGENDER and INTERSEX and AROMANTIC and will hit you with my beams if you let me. Come closer i promise i don't have aromantic rabies :)
you can always always dm even if we've never talked before. if you want to talk but don't know what to say just send me an image. any of them. send me asks reblog my shit comment on it i love interactions. interests include umm those evil games i hate (military fps) (genuinely can't be normal while talking about them though because one of our cohosts is fictkin from like so many of them) (sorry), paleontology (megaraptora enjoyers rise up), planes, fiction writing, a lot of other things idk this is scary you gotta ask for specifics
specific biology under the cut because i like talking about it but it's really long so. woe. information be upon ye
hi i can't believe you clicked the big blue button ur so cool.
my species (or more likely, genera) are four-limbed with a wyvernous body plan. body size is roughly ~17ft length with a ~40ft wingspan and a shoulder height when standing on the ground of ~5ft. the greatest majority of that length is not in massive / heavy areas; our torsos are only 5ish feet long and the rest of that length is tail and neck, plus a 2ish foot skull. most of our weight is muscular; we have extensively pneumatised bones as well as an efficient avian-style respiratory system. fun fact, feeling like i can never take a full enough breath is a source of mild dysphoria for me.
we have extremely extensive flight musculature, as one would expect when you're lugging around wings that total 20ft each. we have five digits on each limb. our metacarpals are quite broad and reinforced, and arranged in such a way that the fourth digit is somewhat stacked on top of the third digit. the first three digits are terrestrial locomotive talons, the claws of which are heavily hooked and powerful to support cliff latching. the final two digits act as wing supports; the fourth digit supports the final part of the leading edge and the fifth digit helps distribute the weight and improve maneuverability. a segment of membrane connects the first digit to the humerus, creating a large section of leading edge across the gap left by the bend of the elbow. the wing membranes terminate partway down the body of the tail. over half of the length of the wings is in the digits rather than the humerus and ulna/radius.
the hindlimbs are arranged in a similar configuration to the forelimbs; three wicked grasping talons used in prey pins and two flight surface supports. here, the flight digits are significantly stiffer and less elongated. i sometimes refer to these rear flight control surfaces as 'canards'. they help to regulate stability, pull brakes, and make microcorrections. in flight, these are arranged under part of the trailing edge of the wing where the membrane comes in towards its point of termination. there's a lot of hindlimb-first action during landing and hunting, so the hindtalons end up taking the brunt of a lot of impacts.
the tail is, akin to the hindlimbs, largely used for stability and course correction. it is proximally relatively stiff and gets progressively more flexible in the distal regions. it's lined in a flat, flexible membrane supported by multiple small ray bones that assist in maneuvering.
our bodies are lined with electrically charged organs we'll refer to as charge points. these charge points are identifiable as circular spots in the center of a patch of raised flesh. they line the sides of the neck and the dorsal sides of the wings. there are multiple smaller charge points lining the horns, as well. the horns themselves largely act as pressure detection organs, used to sense oncoming storm fronts. partway up the length of the horn (size and placement being individual-dependent) is an abrupt upwards hook. the rest of the body of the horn is relatively flat and straight, depending on the individual. the 'main' body of the horn is not covered in a keratinous sheath; only the hooks are. these feature heavily in specific competition and display. they are additionally extremely effective at accumulating charge.
the charge points are used, as one may guess, in electrogenesis. the exact mechanics of this are beyond me idk im not a chemist. i do know that supplemental ambient charge plays a large role in our use of electricity; we get our actual charge through our environment rather than directly generating it ourselves (which is a not-small part of our draw towards thunderstorms), we only conduct and amplify that charge. discharge occurs through specific heavily insulated channels that greatly include the wings, with discharge displays occurring on both their ventrals and dorsals. there are also discharge glands within the mouth behind the canines and on the undersides of the rear talons, where brief electrical discharge is used to stun and/or minorly paralyse prey. the electricity is not ranged and cannot travel long distances. it's more a display and assistive weapon than a primary weapon.
because of our electrogenesis, we require a very high mineral intake, seemingly as a result of high presence of conductive metals within our charge points and/or discharge channels. rock gnawing and the swallowing of stones then becomes a relatively common behavior, and our highly acidic gut biomes break the minerals down. stone collecting is therefore a common behavior, and a robust personal collection is seen as a sign of vitality. along that train of thought, we do experience some level of hoarding behaviors but it is highly specific. rather than collecting just anything that catches our eye, it's typically specifically trophies. ritual collection of prey remains such as bones, horns, feathers, etc, happens often and is a part of social signaling.
we're carnivorous aerial ambush predators who largely hunt through gravity-assisted talon-first dives. we have extremely sensitive eyesight to compensate for this, assisted by thermosensory pit organs lining both the upper and lower sides of our snouts. our senses of smell are relatively limited and don't come into play much at all. we hear in very high definition but not from large distances. much of our hearing is dedicated to sensing when we're being approached rather than as a prey detector. you may see me refer to (part of) my snout as a 'beak'; this is not exactly accurate, given we do have dentition, but our snouts end in hard, pointy keratinous bits, so 'beak' is a quick way to communicate that. our heads are slender and our jaws are not particularly robust; our dentition is built for slicing and tearing off meat from prey and carcasses pinned by our claws.
other physical traits include protective facial spikes under the eyes and at the backs of the jaws, flexible external ears (these spend a lot of time tucked in flight, but are often moving around a lot when perched), display frills behind the ears following the jaw, a sail of varying height and shape starting at the head and following the spine, and a fleshy 'fan' / loose crest along the throat. behavioral quirks include that active time of day varies between populations and seasons, we are flocking but not entirely gregarious (it's more of a toleration thing than a true pack mentality), and we are highly competitive amongst ourselves. we spend a lot of time at high altitudes and are mostly cliffside soarers capable of brief bursts of high speed.
no, i'm not actually monochrome grey, but i don't retain a lot of color/pattern information in my head, so it's hard to say what i actually look like. probably something sandy-toned because i remember spending a lot of time on desert cliffs.
-Spyro reignited trilogy (or the original ps1 versions) are phenomenal 3d platformer collectathons that still hold up well
-minecraft dragon survival mod is surprisingly good and has the most satisfying flight controls/physics out of any game here, and offers an insane amount of customization
-fire and steel is an Arial shooter where you play as a dragon fighting in world War 2
-panzer dragoon is a star fox style rail shooter where you control a dragon as well as its rider with a gun (there's a pc remake but ive only played the sega saturn version so I don't know how good it is)
-dragontwin is a game i would definitely keep my eye on that is still in development
-draconia is a game in early access that has the potential to be good as it has tons of customization options for basically any type of dragon but is incredibly lacking in things to actually do do
may i ask you what the exact definition of physical non humanity is then? this is a genuine question!
is physical nonhumanity another label for people who have delusions regarding their physical body being inhuman? if so, i’m not sure why anyone has an issue with that. being schizospec or delusional isn’t a crime, those aren’t bad words and i have no idea why physical nonhumanity would be such a widely discriminated against group of people by therians and other alter humans, who also identify as being something Other, even if not physically.
i would prefer if someone would just say it in a straight forward manner that’s easily understandable as i don’t always grasp topics when people are feather footing around saying what they actually mean.
In short, at least by how it was originally used within community spaces before definitions became widened and muddied to the point of essentially meaninglessness, it is what it says on the ticket - physically nonhuman.
A physical nonhuman is someone that experiences meaningful nonhumanity in a physical, literal, non-metaphorical way. This can take the form of physical transformations, having animal parts internal or external including bloed, genetics, organs, or some other means of being physically, biologically, nonhuman.
Many of us have been labeled as delusional, either by the psychiatric system or by therian/otherkind/alterhuman community, but for the most part reject that understanding. There is a significant crossover between those identifying as physically nonhuman and clinical zoanthropy, but they are not the same experience as the latter has a narrower and stricter definition and is much more defined by the relationship to psychiatrisation where the former is defined by the relationship to and form of nonhumanity. The community regretably does have a very strong push towards "consensus reality" and towards sanism that often makes it so those with physical identity cannot find refuge within therian and brothercommunity spaces as we are forced to deny our experience as genuine and are subjected to constant "reality check"s. Why exactly I really cannot say - it might be an effect of legitimancy to outsiders, to themselves, or some misguided belief that it will protect us or them.
The waters though get muddy because others started using that word as well from mechanically applying transgender frameworks to animal identity viewed that identifying as the creature - generally animal as this was primarily a therian behaviour - meant that your body was inherently a [species] body in the same way that popular transgender frameworks set that a transwoman's body is still a woman's body because she is a woman, regardless of effect or degree transition. While this sort of framework and understanding can be useful or helpful in certain contexts, it led to a very metaphorical understanding of physical nonhuman eventually coming to dominate. Pushback against our spaces being occupied and destroyed though were met with cries of exclusion, superiourity, and continued mechanical application of transgender frameworks, and in the end their voices were simply louder, aligned more with the hegemonic narrative within therian spaces, and there were more of them that eventually many of us just had to leave or retreat to our own follower feed, specific tasks that we continued to defend, or discords and leave tumblr entirely.
btw you're so cool if you're a dragon who's just a regular animal who happens to fall under a draconic body plan. i feel like i see more attention paid to mythic-adjacent dragons in general (which is cool they deserve it) but love to all my fellow dragons who are basically "if a hawk (or other animal) could be called a dragon"
I'd like to see more variety too. I'm somewhat in the middle, but I don't think there's a word for "has sapience, but as a species would be completely content living in the wild like any other animal".
The book series Age of Fire comes the closest, I think we've read it like... almost yearly since 2005 lol
that's similar to how it goes for me as well! i don't think i'd call it full sapience on my part, but i also don't know what else to call it when there's enough intelligence and self-awareness there to enforce cultural norms and make complex judgements on non-immediate issues. there really just seems to be a very large, frustrating null void of terminology somewhere between "animal that lives off of only instinct" and "animal shaped person".
Once you stop defining your therianthropy in measures of dysphoria and focus on what brings you fulfillment as an animal, you start caring a lot less about where other people fall on the chosen kintype vs involuntary kintype axis. It opens you up to start caring about how people engage with their kintype, and what experiences it brings instead, which I think are far more valuable.
btw you're so cool if you're a dragon who's just a regular animal who happens to fall under a draconic body plan. i feel like i see more attention paid to mythic-adjacent dragons in general (which is cool they deserve it) but love to all my fellow dragons who are basically "if a hawk (or other animal) could be called a dragon"
a dragon who's mid transition and hides in his room for hours because he doesn't want to be seen with his ugly flat face LET HIS SNOUT COME IN FOR FUCK'S SAKE
hi explaining a thing? what would this be? dragonphobia? dragonmisia? western dragon normativity? lol words
basically even in accepting alterhuman spaces, there is this expectation of how a dragon should be. beings will often assume:
* your species originates in folklore from this earth (eastern vs western)
* you are a western dragon by default
* you have a hoard
* you are big and scary
* relation to the whole dragon slayer vs. dragon who steals princesses thing
* you are carnivorous
* you have batlike wings and are able to fly
* you breathe fire (or have any DND-style "breath power")
* you have scales
And of course a lot of dragons are like this, but a large amount are... not?
I love shiny objects as much as the next guy, but the concept of having a "hoard" is unnatural to me. I tried really hard as a newly discovered dragon to have one despite this. I don't breathe fire or anything except air like most animals. On that note I'm not really magical, I'm just an animal.
[I live in the water (ocean preferred) and eat fish. Sometimes I go on land and eat meat.] <- these are related to how I live in our collective's inner world. Sometimes I front to eat a shrimp (or post on tumblr) but I generally dislike to front bc body dysphoria.
I don't consider myself "scary", I'm just living here. Though some of my headmates are surprised when they see me for the first time, because I am much bigger than them. And furthermore, my species is not from this earth. I am a species of dragon that only exists in our collective's inner world. We have a variety of shapes and sizes. And I don't care about princesses or really human activities at all. I have a partner, she is a house.
That went on longer than intended. What I'm trying to say is: Don't assume anything about a dragon you meet. It's not quite the same as meeting, say, a wolf, because their species originates on this earth and typically varies in coat color and habitat, rather than the wide range of diversity in dragon species. Don't make general statements about dragons without considering all dragons. It sucks to see "shoutout to dragons/dragonkin! you are so big and scary and breathe so much fire and steal so many princesses!" as a creature who does not fit that (frankly western) idea of what a dragon should be. There is nothing wrong with being this kind of dragon, and certainly not anything wrong with supporting their existence. But do not assume that all dragons are this way, or let that view of what a dragon should be lead your interactions with dragons.
btw you're so cool if you're a dragon who's just a regular animal who happens to fall under a draconic body plan. i feel like i see more attention paid to mythic-adjacent dragons in general (which is cool they deserve it) but love to all my fellow dragons who are basically "if a hawk (or other animal) could be called a dragon"
