This is my submission for greyallison ‘s Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time zine!! My theme was the Shadow Temple, so I really wanted to incorporate the Dead Hand somehow, since it always seemed so horrifyingly out of place in a Zelda game…
goblins were not immune from the medieval humanoid urge to call anything too weird to be immediately categorized a dragon. here we have a selection of beings you'd find populating the illuminated manuscripts of older tomes as they are, and not as they're depicted after being seen once and passed from village to village via wandering storytellers. they are:
1: a Riven- not a dragon. these rarely seen beings are roughly described as a mix between selkies, mammalian mermaids, and water spirits. deep in the supernatural category of mythological sea creatures, but not quite incomprehensible horror tier. like, they're spooky, but fully comprehensible.
2: a Fairy Wring- actually a dragon. these smaller dragons resemble either haphazard mushroom clusters or jellyfish depending on who you ask, but they're closer to cephalopods. they freely show other sapient creatures their hoards because they don't care about bits getting stolen. you probably won't be able to get away from wherever they spirit you away to without their help, and besides, everything ends up back in the sea eventually. even you. they just have to wait :)
3: a Silky Hydra- not a dragon. it's contested on whether it's even a true hydra. when a head is severed from the main body it seemingly awakens from death with its own fresh consciousness and sprouts a new body, which is closer to reproduction than a splitting limb. heads still attached to the main body think and move as one creature, but the "hatched" heads clearly act like separate individuals and are carried back to the Silky Hydra's nest to grow until their new bodies are big enough to set out on their own. the damaged neck stumps close quickly, and new head buds develop within a few weeks.
4: a Dryvern- actually a dragon. much like Rivens, they're rare and more on the supernatural side. despite having no wings and an abstract body plan, they are commonly found in places they should only be able to get to by flying, surrounded by vegetation thriving in strange, unsuitable conditions.
5: a Lapidrairy- unknown. often found in the abandoned hoards of dead dragons looking for...something. other dragons stay away from them, looking away and going still if one comes near. they will not say why.
6: a Fulgrace- actually a dragon. these flying serpents appear during storms, causing strange lightning phenomena. they relish in being struck by lightning because it removes harmful parasites, and the excess energy is stored in their ever growing antler-like sensory organs for future use. they communicate through crackles, pops, and deep electrical hums that are clearly understood by other sapient beings no matter their language. the sound doesn't actually matter, it's just the audio result of them messing with the electric signals in your brain to make you perceive whatever they mean.
7: a Queendrake- depends on who you ask. these are the adult forms of a specific kind of mandrake root that emerges from the ground every hundred years in one large haunting chorus. researchers fight over whether these mysterious entities are dragons, dryads, or the result of cicadas evolving really really weirdly. no one has a solid answer because Queendrake are far more concerned with carrying out whatever business they have to attend to before they burrow back into the earth than explaining their biological quirks. dwarven and dwarven adjacent communities see them as minor deities, referring to them as Goddess Veins.
8: a Glass Dragon- actually a dragon. not actually made of glass. their strangely flexible exoskeleton feels like something that could be glass but it's much more durable. they're mostly called glass dragons because of their ability to modify their bodies into a vast variety of shapes and colors by either creating or finding furnace nests every year. these are used to soften and shape their new growth. Glass Dragons with access to a furnace can survive just fine for a while, but eventually their hides might start to crack as layers grow over stress points and internal organs might even become too large for ill-shaped cavities. personality wise, they are mischievous and creative creatures who like to befriend artisans. which just means they WILL find their way into your workshop so that they can plop down and watch your process. they say that this is a Muse Service and definitely not them adding to their mental technique hoard while freeloading.
Got really into Endoparasitic for a bit and drew a bunch of Cynte and Karis. Pixel silhouettes leave a lot up for interpretation, but I kinda like that… means you can go ham with design: which I did, and also might have gone off the rails with symbol tattoos (‘pologies for the writing I was having fun <3)
fun behaviors to give dragons that aren't feline/canine based
cause as much as i love dragons purring and roaring i wish there was just more variety in how they would act
clacking their teeth together to show contentedness/happiness (budgies)
using tails as a defensive weapon in a whip like fashion (iguana)
twitching to express that they're not a threat to members of their species (hognose snake)
feeling calm when eyes are hooded/covered (birds of prey)
head bobbing as a threat display (anoles/bearded dragons)
flattening neck or sides to appear bigger (snakes/lizards)
mantling over food to protect it from hatchmates (birds of prey)
wiggling neck as a courting maneuver (budgies)
audibly grinding teeth as a warning (macaques)
maintained eye contact as a challenge (gorillas)
pounding wings against sides as a threat (gorillas)
slapping other dragons with their claws when their personal bubble is invaded (seals)
hoards used as a site to impress mates (birds of paradise)
snorting when undergoing heightened stress (horses)
making repeated loud noises with surroundings to establish territory (woodpeckers)
loud constant arguments with other dragons when roosting (bats)
building lairs that cause a domino effect of change in the land around them (beavers)
slapping their tails against the ground/water as a warning (beavers)
wiggling tail tip to attract prey (various animals)
wiggling tail tip as a warning (snakes)
plucking or scraping off scales as a sign of stress (parrots)
raising spines/frills as a response to danger and carrying on with their usual business as they believe they're protected (lionfish)
and im not saying canine and feline behaviors are wrong or bad to give a dragon (people wouldn't write dragons with those behaviors if they weren't fun in the first place!) but i feel for creatures that are mythological giant winged lizards that you can do more and get experimental with it. often the more unfamiliar behavior the more dragony the dragon feels
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