The Unceasing Swarm

Flight Rising side blog for The Wanderer Clan Profile

[radiant-flutterbun]

Earthshaker or Stormcatcher?

Earthshaker 🪨

Stormcatcher 🌩️

Voting ended onFeb 3, 2023

[insectilenemesis]

Hey everyone! It’s been a long time since I was last on here. Just dropping in to show a little of what I’ve done lately, a writing commission for @nirnrootnoises. Go ahead and check it out.

It’s official. Next time they get hired to battle in the Ashfall Waste, the price should be quadrupled. Singeing one’s toes while dodging spouts of burning liquid was not worth the equivalent of a month’s supply of meals.

And even worse, that certainly wasn’t going to pay for the series of stinging burns along her tail and back legs. It was only through sheer willpower that Krahdinok had not slid entirely off her little island of rock and into the molten sea.

At least when Zobahven alighted on the slab of earth, she seemed to have fared better than her. Not much better, considering she was still wheezing from the never-ending ashfall. The little amulet round her neck was useless for that, providing protection only from more direct harm.

Krahdinok groaned. “Took you long enough.”

“Had to check on the others. More troops alive, more pay for us.” The blue mirror then pointed at Krahdinok. “Now, are you going to give me that foot or not?”

She complied, but not before grumbling, “Sort of backwards. Shouldn’t it be less troops left, more pay?”

Zobahven shrugged as she withdrew a roll of bandages from the satchel at her side. “They’re the employer.”

“But—” A shake of the bandage roll silenced Krahdinok.

“Stop moving. You’re making this harder on yourself.”

For a while the only sounds were that of the bubbling lava surrounding them and of Krahdinok’s growls whenever Zobahven brushed a claw against a particularly tender spot.

“You know,” Krahdinok then said, rolling over to give her sister-in-arms better access to her other foot, “you’re the lucky one.”

Zobahven briefly paused in the midst of wrapping. “How so?”

“Well…”

How could she put this? That thing niggling at the back of her mind.

As if in response, the Zobahven’s amulet caught her eye, its well-worn and golden surface tinged red from the lava’s glow.

“Everything seems to go better for you than well, everyone else I know. Not that it means much, I guess.” She shook her head. “Ugh, I mean. Just forget about it.” With another huff, Krahdinok grew quiet again.

However, a claw lightly tapped on her still not completely bandaged foot. Krahdinok lifted her gaze and was met with her sister’s own calm one.

“Go ahead,” she said with another tap and a soft smile. “Speak your mind.”

“You never get badly injured like me. You just get the best loot. Employers love you. I mean, look at that!” Forcing herself somewhat more upright from lying on her side, Krahdinok waved a paw at the amulet. “You don’t see me ever getting any spelled items for my trouble.”

Her outburst spent, the mirror slumped back down.

Zobahven snorted.

“The heck, Zobah!”

“I’m sorry, really.” She resumed wrapping the injured foot. “It’s just, I think you missed something important.”

“What?”

Another snort. And was that a giggle too? “That I’m, well, older! And more experienced. It means I have more trust, and with that comes more… Perks, I guess?”

She had to be kidding her.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah!” Zobahven finished up with the foot and gave it a pat. “And that takes time. So I guess you could consider your work experience as gifts for now.”

“Great,” Kradinok whined. “The gifts of being caught on fire and asphyxiated by ash. I feel honored.”

Her sister-in-arms seemed far too happy about the remark as she moved on to examining Krahdinok’s tail. “Well, if that’s what the job throws you!”

[dollhouse-xiv]

After having this inactive blog for my Flight Rising account for well over year, I’ve finally decided to put it to use. I would like some other Flight Rising blogs to follow, especially lore clans!

[insectilenemesis]

Not the most active lore clan, but a lore clan nonetheless.

[cerillosvillage]

Show me a dragon and I’ll give you a headcanon about them

This is already a forum game, but I wanna do it outside the forums as well! No limit to how many people can get headcanons, if I run out of steam tonight I’ll come back to this post when I have a chance!

Please be sure to link me to the dragon’s bio!

[insectilenemesis]

How about having a go at Horus?

[necrofr-blog]

when will flightrising give us the giant scythe apparel we deserve

[kiriatifr]

My two cents on the whole surname business: they’re earned or given, not inherited, and unless you’re from a blue-blooded line that puts a big emphasis on tracking heritage most dragons don’t ever get a “family name” to speak of

You either pick it up through other people calling you that based on defining characteristics (Arwin Petalhide - assuming she’s a petals gened fae) or based on something you did (Galford Rockbreaker - kind of self-explanatory but yeah)

[scandalousadventures]

I really want Flight Rising apparel that are “caused” by how the dragon lives. Dirt and mud would be awesome. And then things like goo and slime would be great for pearlcatchers and bogsneaks and the capsule gene. I’d suggest blood but that probably wouldn’t fly. Also bugs. Like swarms of bugs around your gross dragon (kind of like the fairy entourages but like, flies instead of fairies). Apparel where the dragons are a bit patchy, have hair and/or feathers falling off where they look kind of sickly with dark-rimmed eyes Additionally, I really want prosthetics. Prosthetic arms and legs and even patches on damaged wings to help dragons with torn wings to fly. More scar apparel too. It would be fun to have dragon makeup too. Maybe for April Fools day there could be a few fun scribbly makeups and a few fancy ones… maybe inspired by each flight? “Marva and her little sister wanted to make the dragons pretty!” LOL That’d be interesting. I think a lot of these things would 1. add a lot to the dragon’s uniqueness and 2. allow a person to make their dragon reflect their lore accurately and 3. allow people to see themselves in their dragons (as real people do have prosthetics and scars)

[insectilenemesis]

I just realized I have the makings of two separate family dramas in my lore. That’s not necessarily bad, but oh boy. The Swarm might tear itself apart before any outside forces do. I’m going to need to make sure I have plenty of other unrelated lore to even that out. Don’t want too much of one thing.

[rusavia-deactivated20201207]

I never finished a painting of any Flight Rising dragons until now, so here’s Elm. Although she resides in Plague’s domain, she is known to make excursions into Shadow’s territory for alchemy ingredients.

[brahkest-fr]

Things stir in the boneyard~

[mirrordragon]

[insectilenemesis]

I wrote some backstory in this girl’s bio. It will probably be revised more later because something doesn’t sit right with what I have now.

Arina

[absolem0]

Her name is Hemera and she’s majestic af

FR series

[sornieths-black-market]

I’ve been doin a followed purgin Bc there’s just too much drama on my dash as of late, so now I would like to request-

Reblog this of you don’t have/reblog drama or have a simple tag to block if you post a little drama sometimes! I like to make super long queues of the community’s art and lore (which posts twice a day) so I’d like to see more art and lore posts on my dashboard!

[insectilenemesis]

No drama here. I spend most of my time on lore and don’t want any of that distracting me.

[insectilenemesis]

Into the Void: Missing Memories

Months passed before speaking became more than garbling to him. Every string of sounds formed words. At least, that’s what he thought they called them. Perhaps it was wurts. Either way, actions were better. No one could mistake intent there. And the way Impeereeall huffed and stretched out their leathery appendages was perfectly understood.

Impeereeall was very limited in speech. They would always point to themselves with a hooked claw and declare two words: impeereeall and eyeriss. Sometimes that claw was thrust in his direction with a barked “meeroar”. He supposed that meant him, though it didn’t sound particularly pleasant. Waves of heat flowed off each syllable. Then, Impeereeall would sear through him with those miniature discs, like the one hanging in the above.

His discs burned wrong. He had once gestured at his and back to Impeereeall’s, cocking his head.

“Eyes,” they mumbled.

Meeroar didn’t know what eyeriss had to do with this. He waved his claws once more towards his discs, then at Impeereeall’s. In addition, he waved up at the disc above.

This was what became the starting point for Meeroar’s education. Colors. With them, the world expanded from being an amalgamation of senses and shapes. So many complicated feelings could now be condensed into one word.

Impeereeall had to be Red. There was no denying how the color burst forth from their every grunt and growl. However, their scales were Blue and Green, and those burning discs were Yellow.

Apparently, discs were eyes. The large one above was the sun. Meeroar considered this one of the many things that didn’t quite make sense. Impeereeall’s eyes are what they call Light, but the sun is Light too. When he tried to question this, Impeereeall gave one of their usual huffs and gestured at themself. So they are Light as well? His grumpy acquaintance may not be the fount of the knowledge he had believed him to be. What nonsense.

The pair were making progress though. At least, he thought so from the way Impeereeall seemed a little less intent at plucking their whiskers in squirming agitation.

Understanding writing had proven to be more helpful than Mirror was inclined to admit. There was less awkward back and forth between him and his companion now. So many initial misconceptions were beginning to be cleared. For one, Imperial was what Iris considered herself. Other imperials existed. At least, that’s what she claimed.

Other mirrors were somewhere. But there was one Mirror here, so he’d worry about confusion later.

There were other breeds as well. Iris said that this clan was mostly composed of a peculiar mixture of what are called fae and coatl. Her primary position was to serve as a go-between for any crucial interactions.

‘Why would you need to do that?’ Mirror scrawled.

“Why? What a ridiculous…!” She paused, then sighed. “Remind me to lend you a few scrolls on the matter.”

He nodded. ‘Will do. When can I see others?’

Her eyes seemed to glint with an emotion unfamiliar to him. “Not quite yet, I should think. The others… They might not take your certain, um, difficulties well. That is, you’re a bit different from what they’re, we’re, used to.”

Iris’s gaze seemed to burn harsher than it ever had as of late. Like he often did, Mirror could feel its pinprick upon his shoulders. There the wounds were, still gaping and charred. No matter the magic or medicine, they had remained throughout the months a reminder of whatever befell him when all other scrapes and burns had vanished.

A worrying peculiarity, that was certain. The attention she paid to them cleaved panic deep into his bones. However, Iris never said a word about it.

Something terribly wrong was afoot, and no one was giving him a single straightforward answer.

It was late one night when Mirror heard a creak. He stirred from his curled up position on the ground to see one of the double doors to his sanctuary cracked open. Moonlight streaming in from the domed skylight allowed him to see a great antlered shadow cast out from the darkness. With a snort, the imperial butted the door away and lumbered inside. Their scales were blotchy and odd patches of them glinted like gemstones. Eyes more lukewarm than searing stared back at him. Purple, that was it. Purple.

“You’re not Iris.”

A snicker. “And you like to state the obvious.” They craned their head down to his level. “I thought you were a tad smarter than that. Clearly, my expectations need to be lowered.”

“Am I supposed to know you?”

“Me?” The imperial flicked a claw back at themselves. “My oozing mother, no. I’m just a concerned and rather curious diplomat who wanted to see what all the fuss was over the amnesiac holed up here.”

There it was. Mirror could see the spark alight in this stranger’s eyes, could feel the sweep of their gaze over his shoulders.

“How long have those been there?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

At least he wasn’t tiptoeing around the subject like Iris.

“Please,” the imperial scoffed. He stretched his neck out farther to the point of him almost touching snouts with Mirror.

At this, Mirror shrank away, fangs bared. “I already told you, I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything about them since whenever I got here. Nobody tells me anything about myself. They were there when I first woke up here, that’s all.”

“Really? How disappointing. I figured those bookworms would’ve already had their fun prodding you for some answers to your little peculiarity. They love that. Picking apart mysteries to see what makes them tick.”

“By, uh, pick apart… You don’t mean…”

“Yes, naturally. Not all of their sort are scholars. After all, someone has to do the dirty work if they want proper research.”

Mirror frowned. “And what would be your sort?”

The stranger chuckled and flashed a wide grin at him. “The fun sort, of course. We’re certainly not ones to keep our acquaintances locked away in dusty towers for safe observation. No, the best way to know someone is to let them roam. You’ve got to let them have the freedom to stretch their wings.”

“Wings.”

“Yes, wings!” There was a pause as the imperial caught Mirror’s very unimpressed stare. “Oh, right. Pardon me. Stretch your claws, if you will. Anyways. I’m here to make an offer. How would you like to have a guided tour of the world out there. I mean, this lot will be angry of course, but do you really think that being cooped up out like this will help your problem in the long run? I can get you connections.”

“And what do you get?”

“Ah, another friend? The self-satisfaction of letting someone out of their cage? Really, there’s no need to think so deeply as to my reasons. I live for the simple things like these moments. So… What do you say?”

He had a point. There are so many unknown things beyond these walls, none of which Iris has bothered to elaborate on. And he has played by her clan’s rules for how long without any progress on his condition. So why not try something new?

However, going along with a stranger like this is dangerous, no matter how friendly. At least there is some measure of security in the familiarity here.

He’d never met the others. Was what this stranger said about them true?

Sometimes risks must be taken. Perhaps this is one of those times.

“Fine. I’ll go, but don’t expect me not to learn everything there is to know about you.”

“It’d be a shame if you didn’t. By the way, let’s get introductions out of the way.” The imperial extended out a set of claws. “Name’s Zombie. I’ll catch you up on everything there is to know, you’ll see. Now be quiet. Don’t want to wake anyone up now, do we?”

[insectilenemesis]

You know how months ago I said that some new lore would be posted? Yeah, I do too. 

Life became really busy for me so I haven’t had the time to finish what I want to. But I have been working on it. Really.

[insectilenemesis]

Probably going to be uploading some additional backstory for Jakul soon. Hopefully it proves to be as interesting for everyone else as it’s been for me.

[pocketss]

terrible concept: tundra emperors