Schrodinger's Dragon: A Look at the Cecilverse
Happy birthday @tyrantisterror
Something that can be both frustrating and intriguing when studying dragons is how the term can be applied both in and out of universe when it comes to fiction. A popular example of this would be Godzilla. Godzilla exists, within his own universe, as some sort of dinosaur or retrosaur creature, but he is never classified as a dragon. However, if one were to look at Godzilla, and the traits and tropes he embodies, they would find little reason to not classify him as a dragon outside of his world. And this is something that can be seen multiple times. Something which is not, due to in universe rules, a dragon can still fit the archetype, making it a dragon, yet also not. Schrodinger's Dragon, if you will.
Today, I would like to examine the works of Tyrantisterror, and see what sort of Schrodinger's Dragons he brings to the table.
I won't be looking at his Retrosaurs of ATOM, though they would be a great place to start. Like Godzilla, many of them fill the tropes required of dragons while still being distinct. However, today I would like to take a look at his Serpents.
In Cecilverse, Serpents are the group of creatures, evolved from Varanids, which include Dragons, Hoogahs, Basilisks, Snakes of both the magic and mundane varieties, and some other fantastical reptiles. Though they are all related to dragons, since dragons are classified among their ranks, they themselves are not dragons.
You see, in Cecilverse dragon has a very specific definition. Only Serpents on a specific branch of their family tree can be classified as such. Dragons include Drakes, both Lesser and Greater, Wyrms, Loong, Wyverns, and some others. They have key defining features, including but not limited to an affinity towards all four kinds of magic, beaked snouts, horns, and specific ear and wing types. Anything not within this branch of the Serpent tree cannot and is not classified as a dragon in universe.
But as I mentioned, there are related creatures which, when looked at with an outsider's POV, have little reason not to be considered dragons in the archetypal sense.
The first would be the Hoogahs, which is also the closest kin to Tyrantisterror's dragons. Created by a young TT, who was frustrated with how dragons in media and myth were almost unanimously evil, Hoogahs are the good, or at least more sociable, answer to Cevilverse's more stand offish dragons. There are both flightless and flighted varieties, and they have the ability to turn themselves to stone.
While not classified as dragons within the confines of the universe, to a outside observer they would appear to be rather obviously dragons. They are large, magical reptiles, with unique and clearly fantastical features which sets them apart. And they are, both in and out of universe, closely linked with dragons. They share a fairly close ancestor on the Serpent Tree, and their meta origin was an attempt to subvert the more popular, and less pleasant, dragon tropes.
Other Serpents in Cecilverse have more mythical origins, and here is where Schrodinger's Dragon truly comes into play. In Cecilverse creatures such as the Basilisk, Cockatrice, and Amphisbaena are all related to, yet distinct from, the dragons they share their world with. Yet when one looks at the creatures in mythology, it can become fuzzier as to whether or not they are dragons. Some people have a more narrow view, and would not consider them dragons. Others have a wider view, and would view them as dragons. Some would have a viewpoint that is more fluctuating, perhaps seeing one variant on the Amphisbaena as a snake while another would be a dragon. The term Dragon itself has such a flexible definition, being more a word to describe a collection of possible traits rather than a concrete creature, that it can be tricky figuring out which serpent deserves it and which doesn't.
Which brings us nicely to the final Schrodinger's Dragons I would like to discuss in Cevilverse, ones which aren't Serpents at all.
Leviathans are a group of fish where many members have evolved elongated, serpentine bodies, and draconic heads. These are one of the many sea serpent varieties, yet it would be hard for them to be further from dragons in terms of taxonomy.
Originally Leviathans were dragons, yet due to the harassment of others TT was forced to change them into fish. This is not uncommon in fiction. Despite the earliest dragons being water dwelling serpents, Sea Serpents are some of the most common Schrodinger's Dragons in media. They are draconic enough to fit the archetype, yet are so different from the modern perception of dragons that they are rarely classified as such by their creators.
Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how TT expands on his lore, and I look forward to reading and learning about all his dragons, Schrodinger or otherwise.