Here be dragons

Copper or Julius | he/ae | Main: @copper-dragon-in-disguise | Tag & ask game friendly | avatar: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1220573

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

Writeblr Re-Intro: 5th edition

Hello! I’m copper or dragon or aspect, he/ae/they. My main is @copper-dragon-in-disguise, and my artfight & ao3 are Aspect_of_Tiamat.

I love asks & tag games, I might take a while to get to them but I should eventually!! I used to write almost solely fantasy, but now it's more historical fiction & a little bit of scifi or steampunk here and there. Sometimes I do art! That also gets posted or reblogged here from my main. All my WIPs have taglists, if you would like to be added please let me know!

WIP(s):

Herald At Dawn (#wip: herald at dawn)

Synopsis:

In the summer of 1949, Alexandrina McLelland is an investigative reporter trying to reveal the truth behind a botched court case 8 years earlier. Shortly after her article is published, the mayor is murdered. Though initially the two events seem unrelated, circumstances soon prove otherwise. Two decades before that, in 1929, Donovan Gates was working on an article about bribery at the horse races. What he uncovers kills first his informant, then him, leaving his family and best friend deep in mourning. Twenty years ago, Ronald Wilkes watched his best friend die. Now he’s watching Donovan’s daughter do the same, and the ghosts that trail behind her all say one thing: he can't let it happen again. 

Herald has gone through so many revisions and rewrites and etcs but its still functionally the same story: how Ronald’s best friend died. It has two POVs, Ronald’s & Alex’s, and switches from 1929 (Ronald’s past & Donovan’s death) to 1949, Alex’s “present” and where the bulk of the story happens. 

The WIP intro for Herald is here.

Sentinel: (#wip: sentinel)

Synopsis:

Pandora Eloise Harriet Fay has been on Voyager III, the last lighthouse running in the galaxy, for forty-two years. For fourteen of them, she’s been alone: herself, her cat, and the lighthouse’s AI Autopilot, Martha, who was never meant to last this long without repair. The ship is dying slowly, just like Pandora herself. Just like all their friends did.  Pandora Eloise Harriet Fay has been alone for twelve years, and it’s... fine. She’s used to it. They like it.  And then, one day, she stops being alone. The crew of the Lyall, limping into the patch of space just past Pluto--broken, bleeding; leaking fuel and missing half her crew--sends out a distress signal, expecting nothing. Expecting to die there. And after three days, Pandora’s orbit takes her past them, and for the first time in more than a decade, she sees another human. But the world changes a lot in forty-two years. And Pandora... maybe isn’t ready to face it. She’ll help them get back: that’s her job. But that’s all she’s going to do. And then they're going to go back to their silence, and her cat, and her slowly dying ship filled with ghosts and a slowly dying crew. They made their peace with that a long time ago. At least, she thinks she did. She did, right?

New wip :). Technically, it's about lighthouse keepers and space pirates, but it's also about endlings (Endling, (n.): The last remaining individual of a species of animal or plant), and the Voyager golden record, and emotionally significant jackets, and ghosts.

The WIP intro for Sentinel is here.

Tags:

All my characters are tagged with #c: [firstname lastname]. The tags for the main characters in herald are #c: Alexandrina McLelland #c: Amelia Gates #c: Ronald Wilkes #c: Donovan Gates #c: León Rivera #c: James Blakely #c: Mary Gates . Sentinel's tags are #c: Pandora Eloise Harriet Fay , so far. My WIPs are always #wip: [WIP name]. Herald’s tag is #wip: herald at dawn & Sentinel's tag is #wip: sentinel . For 2026 I also have #copper’s writing accountability 2026 , and there’s a few herald excerpts in there! I do have a few other WIP intros floating around, but all of them are pretty much permanently abandoned.

Links:

Febuwhump Masterpost 2026

Whumpril Masterpost 2026

[pitviperofdoom]

There's nothing sexier to me in fiction than characters that take integrity to its logical conclusion. Characters who understand and accept that Doing Good is not grand heroism but thankless drudgery, who get dirt and blood and vomit under their nails in the name of kindness, who look hatred and cruelty dead in the eye while throwing themselves into acts of compassion that no one will ever know to thank them for.

[rainintheevening]

*yanking The Character up by the scruff*

YOU are getting Forgiven and Redeemed and Saved by the Narrative, chucklehead!

[scribeherself]

the absolute devastating intimacy of a forehead rest. when you are both just so tired from existing in a world that demands you to be a rigid, functional individual, and you finally collapse into each other and just lean your forehead against theirs, or against their shoulder. it’s the physical equivalent of dropping your shields. it’s saying i am entirely heavy right now, and i am trusting you to bear a piece of that weight. and the most beautiful part is that the other person doesn’t even flinch. they just adjust their stance, tuck you a little closer, and absorb the impact. we were designed to divide the burden of being alive.

[space-writes]

the Writer Mood™ when you've got the shadow of a concept of a scene and a couple lines of dialogue bouncing around in your head like a screensaver and you have to be like buddy, come back when you're something coherent. i can't do anything with this.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

there's something sooooooooo. about alex turning to ronald in a crisis. in this very specific crisis. because she knows he's the one who told her mother donovan was dead.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

cause it makes her feel like a little kid again. amelia telling her someone is dead/injured--that's what happened last time. except Alex isn't, and she's the responsible one now. but she wants someone to take that from her, so she turns to the only person who can. and he says no but hey at least he tries. he'll get better later that's what the character development is for

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

["Someone was murdered," Ronald says. He's not sure why.]

so helpful buddy you're so helpful. <- actively giving James a panic attack

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

alex just because he's the one who told mary doesn't mean he did a good job. they haven't spoken to each other for twenty years and while that may have had more to do with the circumstances surrounding it still doesn't bode well for his "breaking highly emotional news" skills

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

Copper writing accountability 2026: 15 august 2026

Doing this so I keep remembering to write <- forgets.

This year I have a formal goal of 26,000 42,000 60,000 100,000 words, and an informal goal of “finish herald (question mark)? ” "start and maybe finish herald draft 5 (question mark)?"

today i wrote: 775 words

my total so far is: 65,972 / 100,000 words! (65.97%)

excerpt from today:

“Amelia?” Alex’s pose drops, and so does her voice. Quieter, and she freezes up, stiff as a plank. Something skips in Ronald’s chest—Mary’s daughter didn’t call at the paper, didn’t call this early in the morning, didn’t call ever. Not for years. Not since—well. Not since he was alive.

thoughts: i loooooove that you can't fully tell who the "he" is here. the obvious answer is donovan but donovan isn't mentioned in the sentence. ronald died when donovan did. not really, but he might as well. did she stop coming because one of her father's was dead or because the other one got too scared? many such questions. i also might end up scrapping half of what i wrote today on account of not liking the rewritten version of the scene all that much but tis okay.

trackbear graph:

[ID: A line graph of Date vs. Word Count. A dotted line marks the average needed daily to meet the goal. The red line, showing current progress, is mostly even with the dotted line. End ID]

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

there's something sooooooooo. about alex turning to ronald in a crisis. in this very specific crisis. because she knows he's the one who told her mother donovan was dead.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

cause it makes her feel like a little kid again. amelia telling her someone is dead/injured--that's what happened last time. except Alex isn't, and she's the responsible one now. but she wants someone to take that from her, so she turns to the only person who can. and he says no but hey at least he tries. he'll get better later that's what the character development is for

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

["Someone was murdered," Ronald says. He's not sure why.]

so helpful buddy you're so helpful. <- actively giving James a panic attack

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

there's something sooooooooo. about alex turning to ronald in a crisis. in this very specific crisis. because she knows he's the one who told her mother donovan was dead.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

cause it makes her feel like a little kid again. amelia telling her someone is dead/injured--that's what happened last time. except Alex isn't, and she's the responsible one now. but she wants someone to take that from her, so she turns to the only person who can. and he says no but hey at least he tries. he'll get better later that's what the character development is for

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

there's something sooooooooo. about alex turning to ronald in a crisis. in this very specific crisis. because she knows he's the one who told her mother donovan was dead.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

people treat dragons in this world the same way people who don't understand bees treat bees, i think. the bees dragons can leave. they're dragons. we could not keep them there if we tried they're dragons <- in theory the dragons can also talk (?) or otherwise communicate.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

I COULD GET BLAKE BACK

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

further thoughts:

in theory this is set towards the tail-end of dragon power. what steam was in the late 40s and 50s, maybe even 60s. somewhere there's a really sad dragon who's been relegated to essentially functioning as a disgruntled matchbook for non-dragon powered trains. but there are still some dragon trains, little pockets of them. both as a novelty and as a regular run train. maybe even functioning the way the big boys/4000s did towards their end in the 50s: there because nothing else can do what they did, not quite. there because they're the only ones that can.

it is another endlings story, like pandora's. but its a happier one question mark? (okay its not that difficult to be happier than pandora's but like. bear with me here)

i don't know if i would want to go full historical fantasy with it or keep it more vaguely steampunk proper fantasy type things, but if I did go historical fantasy there's a couple time periods i can base off of:

50s. the actual demise of the steam engine in the US, just with dragons this time. I have an awful lot of books about this. the original pennsylvania station in nyc would be in there somewhere. off the top of my head it'd probably be 1954? two years before alex dies in herald's canon.

20s/30s. not many coherent thoughts about this but like you know. i do enjoy the time period, especially the 30s. i'd get to research the effects of the great depression on the railroad industry! and possibly insult herbert hoover and i do love insulting herbert hoover.

1890s. the original period for herald. if it was this i think the closing of the frontier/influence of the transcontinental railroad would factor in somewhere, but idk how. I make no promises on the absence of cowboys. year unclear, could be 1890, 1891, or maybe very late 1880s (88/89).

1900s. 1902 or '03? or 1911, the same year as the standard oil lawsuit & ida tarbell & her investigative journalism. <- just went and fact checked this, the history of standard oil was published 1904-06 as a serial but the lawsuit wasn't until 1911. so hypothetically, i could have standard oil's monopoly doing some Real Shady Stuff promoting the "many wonders of oil based, dragon free trains" and trying to get another fucking monopoly.

but it could also be steampunk and then still have the dragons. i'm drawing a slightly silly distinction between historical fantasy and steampunk here i think. but you know "only weird thing is the dragons" or "many things in addition to the dragons"

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

it could also be a very thinly veiled standard oil knockoff coal company promoting the "many virtues of coal based, dragon free trains", a la the dutch boy lead shit. they just want money. and i could stick in in a more steampunk-ish world, and then OH THE FAE WAIT HOLD ON. i have to go find my old notes hold the fuck on.

(and also feed the kittens)

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

did not find the notes, fed the kittens then got side tracked by eating dinner & then playing scrabble.

anyway. rotating many thoughts about potential reuse of the old herald setting. telegram pigeons comeback question mark? (i HOPE)

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

people treat dragons in this world the same way people who don't understand bees treat bees, i think. the bees dragons can leave. they're dragons. we could not keep them there if we tried they're dragons <- in theory the dragons can also talk (?) or otherwise communicate.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

I COULD GET BLAKE BACK

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

further thoughts:

in theory this is set towards the tail-end of dragon power. what steam was in the late 40s and 50s, maybe even 60s. somewhere there's a really sad dragon who's been relegated to essentially functioning as a disgruntled matchbook for non-dragon powered trains. but there are still some dragon trains, little pockets of them. both as a novelty and as a regular run train. maybe even functioning the way the big boys/4000s did towards their end in the 50s: there because nothing else can do what they did, not quite. there because they're the only ones that can.

it is another endlings story, like pandora's. but its a happier one question mark? (okay its not that difficult to be happier than pandora's but like. bear with me here)

i don't know if i would want to go full historical fantasy with it or keep it more vaguely steampunk proper fantasy type things, but if I did go historical fantasy there's a couple time periods i can base off of:

50s. the actual demise of the steam engine in the US, just with dragons this time. I have an awful lot of books about this. the original pennsylvania station in nyc would be in there somewhere. off the top of my head it'd probably be 1954? two years before alex dies in herald's canon.

20s/30s. not many coherent thoughts about this but like you know. i do enjoy the time period, especially the 30s. i'd get to research the effects of the great depression on the railroad industry! and possibly insult herbert hoover and i do love insulting herbert hoover.

1890s. the original period for herald. if it was this i think the closing of the frontier/influence of the transcontinental railroad would factor in somewhere, but idk how. I make no promises on the absence of cowboys. year unclear, could be 1890, 1891, or maybe very late 1880s (88/89).

1900s. 1902 or '03? or 1911, the same year as the standard oil lawsuit & ida tarbell & her investigative journalism. <- just went and fact checked this, the history of standard oil was published 1904-06 as a serial but the lawsuit wasn't until 1911. so hypothetically, i could have standard oil's monopoly doing some Real Shady Stuff promoting the "many wonders of oil based, dragon free trains" and trying to get another fucking monopoly.

but it could also be steampunk and then still have the dragons. i'm drawing a slightly silly distinction between historical fantasy and steampunk here i think. but you know "only weird thing is the dragons" or "many things in addition to the dragons"

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

it could also be a very thinly veiled standard oil knockoff coal company promoting the "many virtues of coal based, dragon free trains", a la the dutch boy lead shit. they just want money. and i could stick in in a more steampunk-ish world, and then OH THE FAE WAIT HOLD ON. i have to go find my old notes hold the fuck on.

(and also feed the kittens)

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

people treat dragons in this world the same way people who don't understand bees treat bees, i think. the bees dragons can leave. they're dragons. we could not keep them there if we tried they're dragons <- in theory the dragons can also talk (?) or otherwise communicate.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

I COULD GET BLAKE BACK

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

further thoughts:

in theory this is set towards the tail-end of dragon power. what steam was in the late 40s and 50s, maybe even 60s. somewhere there's a really sad dragon who's been relegated to essentially functioning as a disgruntled matchbook for non-dragon powered trains. but there are still some dragon trains, little pockets of them. both as a novelty and as a regular run train. maybe even functioning the way the big boys/4000s did towards their end in the 50s: there because nothing else can do what they did, not quite. there because they're the only ones that can.

it is another endlings story, like pandora's. but its a happier one question mark? (okay its not that difficult to be happier than pandora's but like. bear with me here)

i don't know if i would want to go full historical fantasy with it or keep it more vaguely steampunk proper fantasy type things, but if I did go historical fantasy there's a couple time periods i can base off of:

50s. the actual demise of the steam engine in the US, just with dragons this time. I have an awful lot of books about this. the original pennsylvania station in nyc would be in there somewhere. off the top of my head it'd probably be 1954? two years before alex dies in herald's canon.

20s/30s. not many coherent thoughts about this but like you know. i do enjoy the time period, especially the 30s. i'd get to research the effects of the great depression on the railroad industry! and possibly insult herbert hoover and i do love insulting herbert hoover.

1890s. the original period for herald. if it was this i think the closing of the frontier/influence of the transcontinental railroad would factor in somewhere, but idk how. I make no promises on the absence of cowboys. year unclear, could be 1890, 1891, or maybe very late 1880s (88/89).

1900s. 1902 or '03? or 1911, the same year as the standard oil lawsuit & ida tarbell & her investigative journalism. <- just went and fact checked this, the history of standard oil was published 1904-06 as a serial but the lawsuit wasn't until 1911. so hypothetically, i could have standard oil's monopoly doing some Real Shady Stuff promoting the "many wonders of oil based, dragon free trains" and trying to get another fucking monopoly.

but it could also be steampunk and then still have the dragons. i'm drawing a slightly silly distinction between historical fantasy and steampunk here i think. but you know "only weird thing is the dragons" or "many things in addition to the dragons"

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

people treat dragons in this world the same way people who don't understand bees treat bees, i think. the bees dragons can leave. they're dragons. we could not keep them there if we tried they're dragons <- in theory the dragons can also talk (?) or otherwise communicate.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

I COULD GET BLAKE BACK

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

people treat dragons in this world the same way people who don't understand bees treat bees, i think. the bees dragons can leave. they're dragons. we could not keep them there if we tried they're dragons <- in theory the dragons can also talk (?) or otherwise communicate.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

right so if we have like. obviously there's different sizes of dragons, from itty bitty regional narrow gauge lines to somewhat less itty bitty dragons and then there's whatever the 4000s equivalent of dragons is. something slightly ridiculous i'm sure.

and then hypothetically you've got different types or whatever of engines. you could have

full dragon power. more common on little lines that don't have far to go, or on older lines. occasionally has multiple dragons working the same shift or multiple dragons working different shifts, to keep power going full round (generally on longer distance trips) or go faster, etc. was, at one point, the most common form of steam power everywhere.

partial dragon power. dragon breathes onto fuel that catches on fire, and the heat is generated in part by fuel and in part by dragons. generally uncommon question mark?

full "artifical" power. idk what it would actually be called but some such. no dragons, only fuel, closer to our assumption of steam trains. this world's equivalent of diesel fuel.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

having extremely vague thoughts but hmm. i've been trying to find a way to shoehorn the incredibly impossible outside of scifi "nuclear powered steam trains" into a wip idea, and while I don't think i have that necessarily I do think I have something else:

dragon powered steam trains. cause the thing with steam engines is that you need a source of heat, but it doesn't have to be coal. traditionally it is, but it doesn't have to be! several have been converted to oil to be more efficient (like 4014 ! perhaps the most famous steam engine ever!) in recent years.

so we put an itty bitty dragon inside the firebox, and instead of shoveling coal the dragon just. has fire breath & shit. its not necessarily as efficient as coal, because it'd have to take breaks obviously but hmm.