Gold on a God's Grave

What do you do when your brother is kidnapped by a gang of wolf headed men who burn down your home? You go riding, maybe get the coyote that's been following for the past twenty miles to help.

[ryin-silverfish]

Can we know more about the dragon pearls pls? I think you or Monkey Ruler mentioned that they're like a dragon's heart and that they're incredibly important. Could they be given to others? How special are they?

Clarification: the "they are like a dragon's heart/yaoguai's neidan" part is pretty much just a HC, though you see the same thing in modern works sometimes.

They are still incredibly important to dragons, though.

The first reference to a dragon pearl appeared in the Outer Chapters of Zhuangzi, and here's the translated excerpt from Ctext:

There was a man who, having had an interview with the king of Song, and been presented by him with ten carriages, showed them boastfully to Zhuangzi, as if the latter had been a boy. Zhuangzi said to him, 'Near the He there was a poor man who supported his family by weaving rushes (to form screens). His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said, "Bring a stone, and break it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine Zhong deep, and under the chin of the Black Dragon. That you were able to get it must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences to you will not be small!" Now the kingdom of Song is deeper than any pool of nine Zhong, and its king is fiercer than the Black Dragon. That you were able to get the chariots must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and you will be ground to powder.'

In the translated Buddhist scripture Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, the Mani Pearl is also said to be contained inside the brain of dragon kings, and those who possess the pearl are immune to poison and fire.

The belief that dragon pearls are either under the jaws or inside the mouths of dragons are still more common, tho.

There's also the famous Buddhist where the 8-years-old dragon/Naga girl, daughter of the dragon king Sagara, presents a precious pearl to the Buddha, instantly transforms into a man, and attains Buddha-hood.

Though in this case, the pearl is never said to be her own dragon pearl and probably just a treasure in her possession.

In the folklore compendium Shuyi Ji, dragon pearls are listed alongside "snake pearls", both of which can be spat out by their respective animals.

However, in the Yue region, a thousand snake pearls can't measure up to one "Rose Pearl" in worth, while a dragon pearl is more valuable than a thousand Mu of orange trees.

(This passage is likely copied directly from a Tang text called 灌畦暇语.)

Also, in the Tang-Song period, the "dragons playing with pearls" first shows up as a motif on bronze mirrors, before becoming an incredibly popular decorative pattern in the Ming & Qing.

As the above passages have shown, dragon pearls can clearly be taken away, and are 1) valuable in a monetary sense, and 2) can have magical effects.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Curious dragons encountered in Schönwerth's Bavarian fairy tales:

A dragon with golden tail feathers who lives in a glass mountain with his wife (unclear if she is also a dragon), who keeps house for him. The dragon wife helps the protagonist find out some dragon secrets and he then leaves them in peace. (The King's Bodyguard)

A fire breathing dragon who guards two princes that were taken as prisoners of war during a battle and is defeated by the hero. (Lousehead)

A princess transformed into a dragon by a vengeful mermaid, she still seems to retain her human reason and possibly her voice and the curse is broken by a magician. (The Red Silk Ribbon)

A classic Melusine-type cursed maiden who has a fish tail but is called a dragon, and flies away howling like the wind when she is discovered. (The Howling of the Wind)

[thenixkat]

Brain was poking at the magic system for Grave Gold and trying to find something that feels appropriate for my oldest universe that is the most magical that fits with my animist apatheist scientist type world view.

So maxims about magic in the Grave Gold setting:

Magic is a bunch of bullshit.

The decision to evoke magic is a decision to manipulate or undermine the natural order to achieve a goal.

One cannot evoke magic without sufficient confidence.

Magic is shaped by belief.

What is the strength of Mankind's belief compared to that of every beast, bird, bush, and small invisible thing that lives upon the world?

In matters of contradicting beliefs, the side with more conviction and numbers wins.

All these statements are true and do not contradict: X god created the sun. Y goddess created the sun. Z deity is the sun. The sun is a giant ball of burning gas very far away older than all known gods and peoples.

Magic is aware and has its own opinions.

Magic is the flow of power generated by movement and the processes of life. Where there is more life, there is more magic. Where there is more motion, there is more magic.

Things that are dead are not alive and therefore cannot be killed.

The inanimate set in motion requires a source of power to stay in motion.

[sbrown82]

Reading Rainbow: “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale,“ read by Phylicia Rashād (part 2)

[sbrown82]

Reading Rainbow: “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale,” read by Phylicia Rashād (Part 1)

[thenixart]

[ID: A drawing of a vampire from the hips up against a simple background. The background is a purple rectangle bordered by grey. Inside the rectangle is a moon in pale purple behind the vampire's head alongside the purple silhouettes of a crane's head and wing, a bat wing, and moth wings going down the vampire's left side.

The vampire has brownish skin and long blond hair with long pointed ears and a scar running from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. Most of the vampire's body (neck, shoulders, sides, belly) are covered in short orange fur. The vampire has a goatee the same color as his body fur. His one eye is yellow and the sclera is dark colored. He is dressed in a revealing gothic style wearing dark lipstick, multiple earrings, a spiked collar with a blue moon pendant hanging from it, compression sleeves over his arms, a fabric harness over the upper portion of his chest, and dark grey jeans. /End ID]

Drew Zan von Drake, one of my ocs from high school after 1000 years.

[zorascreation]

Part 1 of newest video essay project COMPLETE! The African-American Folklore Series in honor of Black History Month continueth! Also, I have class in 7 hours so I need to take my black ass to BED, but this HAD to be finished ‘cause it was supposed to go up last week. Anyway, enjoy!

Die Feen. Aos Sí. Fata. Fada. Los Feericos. La Fee. Mmoatia. Nunnehi. Yumboes. Abatwa. Aziza. Fairies. These Spirits are known, beloved, honored and sometimes feared in many cultural and ritual traditions across the world. And how have African-American communities conceived of them?

[fayaziza]

“Finding Black Fairies in the Southern U.S. - Part 2 of 2.”

[gravegoldversearchive]

[thenixart]

I still don’t know how to use krita but here’s my oc Hollow Screeching Under The Mountain

[gravegoldversearchive]

Redesigned E'Tree (formerly known as Mason). He's a part troll witchling necromancer. Older brother of the main character Tziri.

[gravegoldversearchive]

Asafetida bags, small bags stuffed with pungent herbs and other ingredients, were worn to ward off disease and evil spirits, and to treat asthma, colds, or other respiratory ailments.

[gravegoldversearchive]

In front yards across the country, shinty-brightly colored bottles sticking up from an iron frame has become a common site. But their origins are in a folk magic tradition that grew in the Southeastern United States, from seeds that came over from Africa.

[gravegoldversearchive]

A man promised his wife he'd never move her piano after she died. When he tried to break that promise, the piano had other ideas.

[gravegoldversearchive]

A young couple seeking shelter on a dark road at night come across a welcoming home with a warm fire, welcoming food, and a ghost without a head.

[gravegoldversearchive]

A long time ago, a man who owned a mill near Raleigh thought he was at the top of the world when he married a beautiful woman. Little did he know that she had a dark, supernatural secret.

[gravegoldversearchive]

Near the small town of Lynn, North Carolina, a mysterious creature lurked in the woods that terrified the memory of a man who saw it when he was a child. Beware the Whang Doodle.