What is your take on Akhekhu?
In the current draft of Dracones Mundi, the Akhekhu is a footnote in the azidaja page - speculated to be a small subspecies or breed of the Persian dragon that lived in Egypt.
In the 2017 version of the book, I did have the Akhekhu as it’s own dragon, and this is what was written and drawn for it:
Akhekhu (Pyrodraco aegyptus)
3ft
Egypt, Mediterranean Europe
This cat-sized drake has a mane of thin golden ‘featherlike’ scales (1) from the back of its head, down its neck and to the base of the wings. The rest of the body is a dull tan, with dark brown spots. The akhekhu has curious fringes on the edges of its wing-membranes Its nose-horn joins with its upper lip in a beaklike mouth. It seems to mimic the larger, more formidable Egyptian Griffin (Aquilaleo aegyptium) in the hopes of avoiding predation.
Like other drakes (2), it is also armed with venom. Akhekhu venom does not create true fire (3), but it is highly corrosive venom that it can spit very precisely at victims, often aiming for the eyes. The venom comes out as a thin jet rather than the usual spray of saliva, and it is used sparingly in defense. The dragon’s main method of hunting is to tackle prey at close proximity: they are therefore well adapted for running and chasing fast-moving animals.
There is very little in mythology to suggest that akhekhu were ever adapted for true flight (4), and this may be one of the methods that used to distinguish an akhekhu from a griffon, which is capable of a variety of aerial acrobatics and often hunts on the wing.
The akhekhu is a burrowing drake; waiting out the hot desert sun in its burrow, and keeping warm within a sandy burrow at night. They are crepuscular hunters, catching snakes, lizards and small mammals at dawn and dusk.
When the dragons are ready to lay eggs they go in search of an oasis in the desert so that the young may be raised in water until they grow legs. They have the reputation of being poor caregivers for their offspring, which can be easily stolen by people working for the illegal pet trade. However, they are as poor a guard dog as they are parents, and can only serve as messy and loud house pets which may choose to have a venom-spitting fit at any time. (5)
Notes
(1) - I wrote this before I invented the word ‘pseudopennae’
(2) - the ‘drake’ category isn’t used in the current draft of Dracones Mundi
(3) - ‘true fire’ is not really a concept in the current draft of Dracones Mundi, in the 2017 draft the ‘true fire’ was the venom with glowing luciferins, the venom that didn’t glow was not called dragon fire. In the current draft, all venom can be called ‘fire’ if you want to.
(4) - this draft had the concept of magic waning from the world; dragons were once able to fly using magic, but when the magic of dragon flight left the world, so did the memories that dragons could ever fly, so the ‘author’ of the book had to look through mythology to see if there was ever evidence of the dragon flying.
(5) - I have since deleted this version of Akheku because a brief summary of both ecology and mythology lasted for 335 words, whereas in subsequent drafts I have tried to have each dragon have a beefy chapter with lots of mythology and science in it. This is also why I do not have a Mushussu/Sirrush in the current draft. There is not much mythology to the Akheku, just a few wall carvings in Egypt and then a few heraldic drawings in Europe based on the artworks in Egypt, no stories or sightings. It’s a cool dragon design, but I probably won’t have an Akhukhu in the final draft of Dracones Mundi.
Thanks for the question!
