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clandragonblight · 6 years ago

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my lair is mismatched too lel, i just dress my dragons how i like.

it’s hard to say what random advice to give bc i have no idea of the tone of your lair but i’ll try for those two characters you mentioned in the tags at least lel - i’ll just go with what worked for me which was come up with questions to answer. like you don’t have to think up super long answers to these questions just because the questions are super long, like literally a couple words could act as a foundation.

that said probably the most important thing you’ll have to decide first is how strictly you’ll adhere to canon fr lore for breeds and flights. i personally only use it if i’m struggling to think of something and want to see if i can put a (to me) different take on it (eg: my zombie guardian who died centuries before her charge was born and erupted from the ground on sensing her charge’s presence, my imperial who wants to make an emperor but has such a big ego she thinks she can control it somehow with experiments and keeps screwing up as a result)

how did they meet? were they both part of the same lair and decided to run off into the night together? were they from warring clans and found love on the battlefield, or did they run out of ways to kill each other and resorted to mouth-to-mouth combat forever? were they both alone (and why was that?) and bonded for survival’s sake at first but grew closer over time?

these are hypotheticals but they can all add characterization and room for expansion. for example, if their clans were at war, did they have any friends from their own clans who decided to follow them, and why? are they in danger of either of their home clans invading and forcing them to break apart, and how does that affect their attitude towards dragons that could be spies? if they’re from the same lair, why did they leave? and again, did anyone close to them follow them?

are they similar or complete opposites, or more complimentary like yin/yang? a pessimist/optimist pair? an embarrassingly lovey-dovey couple? or would you never know they were together if you saw them in public? with my own lair, my matriarch is super easy going and chill with a hidden serious side that only comes out when she protects her clan, while her wife is pretty cold and stern but doesn’t hesitate to show her affection for her when/wherever they are.

for other dragons, consider who’d be drawn in by their personalities, and who might find them grating. if it’s relevant depending on how grimdark you want to go, which dragons are prepared to do things the matriarchs won’t, and vice versa? who would challenge them, and why?

what’s their morality? would either wage war to expand their territory? would one object, or would they be a terrifying battle-couple? how do they treat the dragons of the lair around them? is it a dictatorship or a disney-esque nice monarchy system? or is it just ‘these two are the strongest/smartest, i guess they’re in charge’ deal? or did they never ask to be in charge, but simply got shuffled into the position anyway by the dragons around them? do they delegate to proven individuals or handle everything themselves? my couple won’t start a fight with another clan if they can help it, but they’re more than happy to finish one. my lair started as a ragtag group of misfits that slowly grew into their own, with a council vote based system that put the matriarchs at the top simply from inertia, delegating downwards for the various aspects of the lair - but anyone who can prove themselves accordingly and garners enough supports can join the council should they like, or could even oust the matriarchs.

it’s also important to remember that nothing is set in stone - even the backstory could be altered. maybe someone remembers something the other doesn’t, maybe they’re both wrong about certain events, maybe the dragons who follow them believe one thing and they know The Truth or vice versa. character development still applies here and can help launch into other dragons even more. like, a spy who followed them might turn double-agent to protect them after becoming attached to the lair (or someone else in the lair), or a former friend could secretly be a traitor for X reason and nobody suspects (or one does, who nobody believes bc of their own shady behaviour (or ooh it’s the double agent and the former friend finds out they were a spy beforehand ooo)). if your dragons are assholes and run the lair accordingly is there significant resistance against them? do they have dragons loyal to the death in that scenario? why are they loyal? if they’re kind, do other dragons take advantage of that? what happens to dragons who do that? are any around?

stuff like that you know? and like i said i don’t know the tone of your lair but something that’s always helped me out with tone is to have a deliberately lighthearted and silly dragon and see if i can mentally picture them interacting with the grimdarkest dragon. if it comes naturally and feels fine, it’s fine. if it’s like trying to force steven universe into game of thrones as a serious new addition to the cast and it’s not meant to be a joke, you might have to adjust a dial on one end of the grim-soft scale depending on what you’re going for.

hope this helps lel

edit: also you can use these questions for any/every dragon, you’d be surprised at how many AH HAH THAT’S A GREAT IDEA moments you can get once you start linking dragon lore up.

having said that uhhh does anyone have advice on how to write lore when my lair is just a huge mess of different aesthetics that I feel don't mesh as one cohesive story?

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