Malevolent Embertalon is a species of true magical dragons with profound attunement to the element of fire and it may be the most infamous dragon species in all of the land, mostly responsible for the cultural image of the evil dragon that breathes fire, hoards gold and kidnaps princesses. Arguably being the most culturally influential dragons in multiple regions, they sport two wings, four legs, long whip-like tail and a thin long snout, atop of which are two crooked, powerful and sharp horns - It is believed that because of them having red hide and horns that these features are so often used as symbols of wickedness in myth and fairytales. In the modern day we know enough about these dragons to understand that they aren't indeed inherently evil, they may even show benevolence and willingness to communicate with humans, however their reputation is definitely not baseless.
Their most important core trait as a species is that they are a magical dragon, attuned to the element of fire. In case of Malevolent Embertalon specifically this attunement manifests in their ability to shoot out massive plumes of flames, set their mane on fire, and heat up their talons and tip of the tail to temperatures of white-hot metal. And, obviously, it also makes them immune to flames themselves. However, the problem with that is is that for a Malevolent Embertalon to use it's powers, it should absorb upon the magic of the element, which for them is rather hard because while very powerful, the element of fire is naturally rarely occurring, being usually only found in forest fires, volcanoes, and the giant orb of fire in the sky - the Sun. As such, in nature these beasts are either causing and following forest or field fires, which inevitably leads to them fighting with the dragons who's domains occupy these lands, fight with each other over lava pools around and on the volcanoes, or simply sunbathe for days on warm rocks in hills or open fields, slowly taking in the magic of the sun.
However outside of nature there's tow different sources of fire for a Malevolent Embertalon to fuel itself upon. First one is other dragons, usually non-magical, which flames are fueled not by the elements but by a physical fuel. In order to access this source of magic, a rare Embertalon will trade and bargain for it - Bring the firebreather an animal carcass or trinkets and jewels, in exchange allowing itself to relax as the dragon showers it in blazing inferno. However more often than not, these beasts just pick fights with dragons they find using their agility to avoid attacks, while biting, scratching, and even whipping the target with it's tail, while maintaining it's distance in order to provoke a ranged attack with the fire breath and absorb it.
The second source however is where the malevolent title truly comes from - Human settlements. Lit by torches and lanterns and candles, with houses full of firewood and kegs full of alcohol and other fuels, often destroyed or damaged by fires and rebuild over ashes, human settlements without many people knowing it are soaked through and through with fire magic, and as that they are a tantalizing treat for the fire-element-hungry Malevolent Embertalon, which leads them to fly in and inevitably cause havoc, usually with goal of causing even more fire, as well as to conveniently feed itself on the local population, which led to these beasts to terrorize civilizations for millennia. In the modern day however the situation got marginally better, as many long-time attackers got eventually slain, other ancient dragons have agreed to bargains to prevent them from attacking the cities, so now the main threat to humans are mostly younger and thus weaker Malevolent Embertalons, that are much easier to fight off, although full grown dragons eager to attack human cities are still numerous, as well as powerful ones that just live far away from towns, such as on volcanoes, and just didn't yet had an opportunity to attack them.
Barrelguts (Plural of Barrelgut) is a collective name for several close sub-species of non-magical true dragons. They are huge and heavy bipedal winged beasts with powerful tails and legs, armored in thick hide and armed with huge powerful jaws, as well as rather small but potentially still dangerous arms.
The name originates from their body's unique ability to ferment various types of plant matter into alcohol in a special sub-section of the gut separate from the rest of the digestive track, with each subspecies being defined by what plants do they use to produce alcohol (The one in the picture is the Cider Barrelgut). Fermentation that happens inside Barrelguts however is much different than regular beer brewing, because it is performed by a unique extremophile microorganism - Dragon Yeast. Able to survive digestive system of the dragon unlike regular yeast, this species if capable of extracting more sugar out of the plants, and therefore producing much higher concentrations of alcohol than any ol' human brewery. It is sought after as a rare ingredient by brewers and bakers alike, since while it is possible to use it after extracting it from the beast's stomach, it however won't reproduce outside of said organs and will slowly wither away, with no way to keep it alive in the long run still found.
Alcohol that is produced that way is stored by the Barrelgut's body in special sacks connected to the mouth of the beast, allowing it to spew it out as a stream of fire hot enough to melt iron in a prolonged exposure. Due to the liquid nature of the fuel that causes the fire, the flame will also stick to the surfaces it hits until the alcohol burns away. Apart from fire breath however, Barrelguts have another, quite unique ability - Along with alcohol, they also have sacks that store pressurized gas produced from fermentation. In case of an emergency, this gas can be released in a long and powerful burp, causing all flames in the area to go out, making it hard to breathe and even suffocating small animals.
However alcohol-based fire breathing has it's downsides - A percentage of said alcohol gets absorbed into the beast's bloodstream, rendering it perpetually drunk - While having alcohol reserves a Barrelgut sees double, has poor judge of dangers and risks, has low motor skills and is an awkward flyer, not to mention is always on the verge of passing out and go into a drunken slumber. With any other dragon constantly being in this drunken state would be a death sentence. However Barrelguts have qualities that make them well adapted for that lifestyle - Dense hide to protect from scratches, special "bouncy" fat tissue that protects them from damage in case of falls and collisions, and a unique train that other dragons don't have - A secondary brain.
Located slightly above the pelvis, secondary brain is a developed section of a spinal cord, almost as big as the main brain, and directly connected to it, and unlike the main brain it is unaffected by the alcohol content in the blood via yet unknown means. Due to that, as the main brain is only semi-operational due to alcohol, it's the secondary brain that usually keeps the dragon alive. It has full control of the dragon's legs and tail, partial control of arms and wings. Secondary brain can also stimulate fire breathing and gas burp if need be, but can't properly aim it as head and neck are fully under control of the main brain, and thus aiming is fully reliant on a drunk. Because of that observing a barrelgut can be a rather humorous experience because of the visual of the top half of the body wobbling drunklike while the bottom half walks and acts soberly. The secondary brain is capable of all that because it is able to see and hear all the same as the main brain does, but is capable of processing it separately. Thanks to that the dragon is capable of being weirdly observant and hard to fight, because it can act both upon something directly in front of it what's processed by the main brain, and to react on say something visible in the peripheral vision that was processed by the secondary brain, making it a dangerous foe despite the state of intoxication.
Mosslike Flatback is a smaller dragon species that survives on ambush hunting smaller prey and concealing itself from bigger predators. It achieves that with it's signature moss- and lichen-imitating skin flaps, that cover it's entire back. That combined with it's flexible collapsible skeleton allows them to spread themselves thin or contort themselves to hide in grass, pretend to be patches of moss on rocks or trees, with the sharp bone spikes on their chin allowing them to hang onto rocks and trees with no effort, like on an ice axe, while their huge eyes capable of rotating in any direction, allow them to have the full view of the surrounding area while not moving an inch. In addition to all that, their skin also secrets a substance called Flatback Oil, which possesses a strange quality of taking on the scents of the surrounding environment, therefore allowing Mosslike Flatback not only look like part of the scenery, but also smell like it.
And yes, for those wondering, they can indeed fly.
Recently randomly remebered that dragons are bloody cool as cool gets, and decided to draw some dragons. 4 basic alchemical elements, like in those good ol' mobile games (RIP dragon world). Will possibly expand on the dragons, probably add even more species, cuz i really got into it all of the sudden.
Imagine how it sucked to be them of all things, move over Zooble, here's some real body dismorphia. I have no mouth and i must scream? Thats cute sweety, try no mouth, no arms, no legs.
Okay, nerds of Tumblr, i need your opinion - I talked with a friend about pokemon and i gave my hot take that Malamar would look better if it didn't have a beak. My friend dissagreas, so i wanna know who's opinion is the most popular one. So...
Got kinda hooked on various Evil Genius 2 content, and im also a huge DnD nerd, so i decided to try doodling some fantasy-style villains while also experimenting a bit with an artstyle im not used to.
First of the bunch is Ekrogoz, the Infernal Warmonger - Born as a meek tiefling, and kept alive by a witch which adopted him as a servant so he would boil her cauldron with his innate fire magic, he was motivated to violence his entire childhood by his infernal blood. After only a few years of servitude he gorged himself on multiple different potions and burned the witch's hut to the ground before escaping into the world. Years later, Ekrogoz showed up, a hulking warior of incredible power and infernal nature, clothed in inch-thick heavy armor, draped in a cloak fireproofed with his own demonic blood, his face consealed by a blinding, everburning inferno. The enemy to all of world's clergy and every paladin order, his goal is simple - to get his hands on all the power that the material plane has to offer him, and then make his way into hell, to claim his rightful place as a demon lord he was meant to be.
Got kinda hooked on various Evil Genius 2 content, and im also a huge DnD nerd, so i decided to try doodling some fantasy-style villains while also experimenting a bit with an artstyle im not used to.
First of the bunch is Ekrogoz, the Infernal Warmonger - Born as a meek tiefling, and kept alive by a witch which adopted him as a servant so he would boil her cauldron with his innate fire magic, he was motivated to violence his entire childhood by his infernal blood. After only a few years of servitude he gorged himself on multiple different potions and burned the witch's hut to the ground before escaping into the world. Years later, Ekrogoz showed up, a hulking warior of incredible power and infernal nature, clothed in inch-thick heavy armor, draped in a cloak fireproofed with his own demonic blood, his face consealed by a blinding, everburning inferno. The enemy to all of world's clergy and every paladin order, his goal is simple - to get his hands on all the power that the material plane has to offer him, and then make his way into hell, to claim his rightful place as a demon lord he was meant to be.
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