Zemifon, the elusive Fakemon
Name etymology: Zmei, a dragon from Slavic mythology + myth + gryphon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Many of these Pokemon live at the top of the mountains of Northern Yurosa, in crevices and caves so difficult to reach that its existence was doubted by Pokemon professors until 20 years ago. For this reason they are cautious around humans and can be dangerous to approach without appropriate preparation, especially when their mothers are nearby. Their hostility was the reason why the first writers and poets who wrote of it, in what used to be called legends, portrayed it as malevolent or even as an evil spirit.
This Fakemon was originally drawn 3 years ago as Corwyth, and it was half-crow rather than half-eagle. It was also more of a wyvern than a traditional dragon.
In the current design, the dragon half’s form was based mostly on the Welsh dragon, although the idea for the dragon half came from European dragons as a whole, especially Zmei, a Slavic mythical creature. Although, Zmei’s extra heads are too reminiscient of Hydreigon; neither Zemifon or its evolved form have more than one head. The tail is supposed to look sort of gen 1-ish?? I added lines to make it resemble Nidoking’s tail. The eagle half was made to look still somewhat lion-like. The head is fluffy and also resembles the wings of an eagle as depicted on the coats-of-arms of various countries.
It is loosely inspired by Azhdaya, a demonic version of Zmei from Slavic mythology (again, without the extra heads). Some depictions of Azhdaya appear to show it with partially feathered (but still webbed) wings, and this was what originally made me think of the gryphon-dragon idea. I originally wanted it to be part-wyvern, but decided to separate the wings from the front legs as was more similar to a gryphon.