Can you do a story or au about the Basiliskans/Lagartoz War Dragons because they deserved better.
PREFACE! I am beyond sorry that it has taken me so long to reply to you Anon. Just know that even thinking of this ask makes me feel so happy cause it’s always good to know I’m not the only one out here wishing we knew more about the Basiliskans, who absolutely deserved so much better than what they got!
Honestly also so surprised fandom doesn’t talk more about them, cause wdym there was a species of literal sentient dragons and no one really brings them up?!
Sadly I don't really have any stories for them currently, but I am hoping to be able to do a story on them one day! Right now I’m in the worldbuilding stages; which as much as I adore worldbuilding, I have the tendency to overthink everything!
Anyhow, rest of the post under the cut🫶🫶🫶
Since I don't have any concrete fics or concepts for you, I will share some of the worldbuilding/vauge appearance headcanons I have [feel more than free to share any of your own ideas btw, even through asks, I love seeing people's various visions!]
For general worldbuilding, a lot of it is on their appearances. Especially as the only picture I believe we have of a Basiliskan is the following from an article about Mandalorian history [and, if I'm remembering correctly, it's the picture that spawned the concept of Lagartoz War Dragons and Basiliskans <- do feel free to correct me on that however if I'm wrong]. Therefore there wasn't really a large frame of reference, but still a lot to be able to explore due to not really being limited by much!
From what we see above they look quite thin, but I'm choosing to headcanon that as merely being an effect of their enslavement.
Now, onto the headcanons!
There were several sub-species of Basiliskans but by the time of the Galactic Republic being formed, most had evolved into having one baseline silhouette. Though things such as scales or hand count or size could vary greatly
They were also typically much more colorful! Brown [as seen above] was possible, but oftentimes brown scaled Basiliskans had scales of various shades or perhaps even a metallic sort of sheen
Despite there being a more common silhouette [winged, more traditionally draconic scales, etc.], there were some Basiliskans who may be more salamander-esque <- others, particularly those who lived primarily underwater, may even have had axolotl type external gills!
I've also been debating whether to give a few of them feathers and/or fur similar to some species of dinosaur!
As for behaviors, I like having a lot of variance while also paying homage to some tropes. Therefore many Basiliskans prefer warmer climates, while others might prefer cooler ones.
One thing I am firmly on [and why I'm unsure about giving them fur] is that the vast majority of them need some kind of high-moisture environment to stay healthy [as Basilisk was said to be a jungle world]. Some might be more like seals, in which they do need some time outside of water and in the sun to stay healthy, but overall [even if not for the more aquatic-leaning sub-species] Basiliskans would need lots of moisture in their environments
Some inspirations for Basiliskans are primarily in the forms of various types of bush and pit vipers, a few types of python [particularly green tree pythons] and of course the above mentioned salamander species! <- of course when it comes to this however it isn't strictly limited to these species
I also took inspiration [though not really shown in the pictures] from various fantasy dragons such as those seen in ASOIAF and other works. Particularly for things such as spikes, horns, etc.
Culture [as well as other miscellaneous biology] wise I mainly have in-general headcanons more than anything as I don't want to fall into the "planet of hats" trope. The primary ideas being:
Very intelligent, with a very technologically advanced society. Technically that's already stated in Legends, but I figured to reiterate
^ due to this education was most likely a common value
In general, I like imagining them as a very long-lived species when compared to the average human lifespan. Probably within the range of 200+ years being the average
I do also have a Basiliskan OC! Their name is Odas [a very shortened and Basic-friendly version of their name] who was a Jedi during the late Old Republic and early High Republic. She's probably the last sentient member of the species by the time she's alive, and it was basically the biggest stroke of luck that she was born sentient.
Design wise, they're also probably one of my favorite non-humanoid OCs. Taking inspiration from the blue insularis, her scales are only a tad duller in color than that, and she has tons of lovely patterns that are brown in color!
I still need to fully polish up her pre-Jedi backstory [as right now most of their personality is from their time as an elder who'd just like to relax], so I'll of course have to do a whole lore dump on them one day!
As of right now, outside of things I'm still not 100% sure on, that's pretty much it! I still apologize for taking so long to finally answer this, but I truly do mean it when I say that it made my day [really more like several months] to see this ask.
Thinking about the Basiliskans caused me to start thinking about the Cathar, which caused me to make an OC stand-in for the woman who tried to stop Cassus Fett.
Why must I torture myself this Christmas Eve (T-T)?
