#Dragons in human clothing

[eihwaz-y-d]

Dragons in Human clothing

Part 1

Hi. As I said in the bio I'm also a fan of BBC Merlin / the Adventure of Merlin and I really like Dragons and so I did this. This story was inspired by two fanfiction that I read if I find them again I'll let you know the names. I will probably write this story here as a rough story and later will make a proper fic (with chapters that are logical rather than just ending a part if I don't want to write further and with a proper disclaimer and structure and everything.) but till than, I hope you all enjoy reading it like I enjoyed writing it!

Disclaimer : I do not know anything and I do what I want, it's a fantasy story.

Why does the prat and his knights never listen to him then he tells them not to do something, like going into the creepy cave just because there are rumors about magic. 

Alright, there is magic in this cave, Merlin could immediately tell but it's old and dormant. So freaking old and whatever this magic is, it's better left sleeping. Naturally they woke up whatever it was and it wasn't quite happy to be woken. 

There was a growling and roaring, something really deep in the belly of the cave started softly glowing and the walls started moving. Some ways closed, some new ways opened up and some stones rained from the ceiling, splitting up the group till Merlin was all alone. He could hear the knights calling for each other and just as Merlin wanted to call out for the other too, he heard something. A whisper, a plea to follow and Merlin did follow it. The next thing he remembers is standing in an open space much bigger than Kilgharrah cave under Camelot with a soft blue glowing stone plaque and a dragon skeleton curled around the stone. The stone looks like it once was bigger, the top part broken away and with some inscription on it. Merlin is drawn to it like a moth to the light. He never saw symbols like that but he still can read them like it was all plain English. He reaches for the glowing stone and the words, not unlike the dragon speak, are tumbling from his lips without a way of stopping. With the last word spoken, cold stone meets his hand and he feels he magic within bursting out, knocking him out. 

 

Slowly Merlin regains consciousness and promptly regrets it. 

Everything hurts. His head, his back, his fingertips and palm, heck, even his teeths hurt. Merlin hates waking up like this. 

It's dark, the open space with the glowing stone and the skeleton are gone. Maybe some falling stone hit him in the head and everything was just a dream but Merlin is never that lucky. Something did happen, the magic is quite awake now. 

Feeling around he tries to find a way out, the soft humming from the magic leads him easily but slowly out and to the others. He can hear the knights and Arthur before he sees them. 

Everyone made it out of the cave and no one was seriously hurt, except for Merlin. Merlin has yet to come out. Arthur thinks, The cave was strange, it separated everyone but leads also everyone out again with its opening and closing of ways, everyone expects Merlin. 

Behind him the knights are arguing or more likely Gawain is arguing with everyone else, while his other knights from the round table are silent. 

 " We need to go back, Merlin is still in there!"  shouts Gawain. And Kay shouted right back. 

" You  want to go back in? The cave is cursed! It's like a moving labyrinth in there, we are lucky to have made it all out alive!" 

" Not all! Merlin is still in there! We should-" 

Arthur has enough of it, he can't think with them arguing like that. 

" Enough! Gawain I understand your worries but going I blind will not help Merlin. We can't go in there without a safe way out. We need a plan-. '' 

Before he can say more, Merlin stumbles into the clearing. He looks worse for wear, tired and pale, his clothes have tears everywhere and are dirty with dust and something brownish red, what Arthur prays is not blood but mostly like is. He is swaying where he stands and blood is running from his hands. Aside from that, he is alive. Merlin looks from one knight to another till his gaze locks with Arthur's and the relief he is feeling is like a huge weight was lifted away till  Merlin opens his mouth and starts talking. Arthur nearly rolls his eyes. 

"Arthur, please listen to me the next time I say I've got a bad feeling about something." 

But before Arthur can say something, Merlin's eyes roll back in the back of his head and pass out. 

Lancelot is the first one to reach Merlin, Gawain hot on his heels, and Carefully examined his friend. 

" Sire, there is a nasty wound on the back of his head and his palms. I fear he needs Gaius or at least another physician." 

"Saddle the horse, if we hurry we can make it to the next village before dark, hopefully they have a physician there." 

Gawain and Lancelot are carefully cleaning and dressing up the wound and then they are on the way. 

There isn't in fact a physician in the next village. 

If they were to ride through the night, they would reach Camelot till noon. He could send someone forward to tell Gaius to prepare for the emergency, let the other horses and knights rest for some hours and then someone should share their horses with Merlin. Maybe it would be easier for the horses if the extra weight would be shared every few hours. Merlin really needs some medical attention. But as long as he doesn't get worse, Arthur thinks, there is no need to be fast and reckless, then they need to be careful and fast. It's just his luck that the physician apprentice, the one who would know how to treat the injured, is the one in need of a physician.

He sends Lamorak ahead. 

Merlin did not wake fully till they reached Camelot. 

On the way his temperature started to rise rapidly and he was murmuring and wimmering. Sometimes he would start to twitch and crying out in pain till consciousness pulled him under again. After that, Arthur took Merlin's limp form from Percival and held him till they arrived in Camelot. 

[ganondoodle]

(comic concept art)

rough goron design for my zelda comic, struggled with it for a while bc i didnt want to make their build too similar to demise, tho thematically it fits, ended up going for a more turtle-armadillo kind of approach and a tail just feels right for them and their habit of curling into a ball

since they are even older than the ones from skysw i figured it would still be plausible if they evolved into how they later looked from this

the mogma will need a slight redesign only and parakwa will mostly stay the same as in canon bc i think their goofy look just kinda fits xD

[cloud-ya]

feeties

[panic-flavored]

I can't stop thinking about this idea help

[blaiddraws]

actually, yanno what? direct continuation of this previous post

emmet was genuinely under the impression that Elesa knew. If anything as one of those "unsaid but everyone knows it" things. elesa thought the references to reshiram and zekrom the twins would occasionally make were just jokes.

BONUS:

[chimaerakitten]

Temeraire!Universe Dragon Facebook (fangbook?) has lost and found human groups that are in every way identical to lost and found pet groups in our universe right down to the annoying member who comments the exact same guilt trippy message about it being the fault of an irresponsible owner dragon if a cat human got lost no matter what the circumstances were.

[evelili]

anthro commission! for RelaxingDragon1 on twitter ^^

[fizzigigsimmer]

Steve’s got elfin blood. It’s boring. He’s good with plants and animals like him, but even ordinary humans can do that. His bloods not even thick enough to journey to the fae realm without getting a major skin burn from passing through the barrier. He always figured he’d end up with another elfling or maybe a human witch like his mom. In his wilder dreams he thought maybe some kind of nymph. Elves and nymphs get along well together and there’s a long history of cooperation between their clans. He never thought he’d end up with a shifter, and even if he had he’d never have thought even in his wildest dreams that it would be a dragon shifter.

Billy Hargrove is a dragon, and dragons are… they’re a lot. All of those stories about dragons razing cities, horeding treasure, and abducting helpless victims to stash them away in towers, they come from a place. Dragons are extremely powerful and when they go bad it’s bad for everybody. Even the good ones get away with shit just because there’s no easy way to stop something bigger than a house with impenetrable scales. Before Billy came to the academy Steve had never even met a dragon because they’re so preoccupied with accumulating power that they rarely leave the fae realm. Steve was crossing the quad headed for the astrology tower with Tommy when the sky above them darkened, a large shadow passing over the sun. One by one the heads of students and professors had looked up towards the sky to watch as the dragon had descended from the clouds and circled the castle mound, its huge wings churning up a furious wind with every stroke.

It had been difficult to tell with the sun in his eyes, but the dragon was blueish with scales that shimmered with hints of green and gold like the bottom of a stream in summertime. He’s gorgeous, Billy, in both shapes. It’s like he looked into the sun that afternoon and never got it out of his eye.

PART 2

[joshisodd]

I may not look it but i used to watch ft!!

I've been rewatching some of the episodes and im still wishy washy on whether or not I want to redesign all the characters but here's some recent and old character sketches!! I've been playing around with their designs but trying not to deviate too far so that the characters still look like who they're supposed to be

Idk if anyone would wanna see me redesign/rework every character but I'd post em if there were people who wanted to see that.

Here's the rundown for those who are interested:

My basic ideas for fairy tail are to make every character a fantasy trope/creature/class/myth. Some of the characters will change into a different thing over time as they gain experience. I feel like fairy tail has a lot of potential to write a more modern fairy tale type story because of the whole wizards and magic thing. With dragons and princesses n everything. This is obviously present in the story, but i really want to reinforce that idea. there are some characters who I think really fit this, like Erza (obvi main knight of the story but also has the title of titania queen of the fairies) and natsu (obviously dragon as an mc, sort of a role reversal of the evil dragon. and maybe a fun demonic plot twist haha). But with other characters i may need to make more changes. Lucy is a loose version of the princess (with a fun runaway backstory), but I want her to evolve into a priestess. Grey kinda has nothing going on for him imo, the ice wizard thing keeps throwing me off every time i try to project something onto him. I think i'll go with a hunter -> demon slayer thing. He just happens to use ice magic. i don't wanna go with regular wizard because thats a bit boring lmao. It would also make the elemental thing between natsu and grey funnier bcuz he's a spooky demon and that guys a hunter so you guys REALLY shouldnt get along. They do anyway because the power of friendship lol Anyways that's the basic plan? even if i dont post it on tumblr just know its cooking in the back of my head. thx for reading all this haha

[sysig]

You’re new to the Princess-Rescuing business, aren’t you? (P1 | P2 | P3) (Patreon)

[eihwaz-y-d]

Dragons in Human clothing

Part3

Beginning Previous Part

Taking them towards a guest chamber and getting them a bath isn't difficult, getting Aithusa clean and in clothing again is way more harder. Gwen helped with finding fitting clothings for his 'brother' and 'child', she is truly a Saint. 

Now they are on the way to the Throne room. 

"you know, you couldn't have reached out for me there was no need for this spectacle." 

" You would have ignored me and it wasn't like I planned to attack." 

" oh really? What about the two unconsciously guards?" 

" they attacked Aithusa." 

Merlin hummed and said nothing more about that. Aithusa once again in Merlin's arm was playing with his neckerchief. 

" Why are you two looking like humans? "

" I believe because of the same reason why you look more like us than ever before. Tell me, young warlock, what do you hide under this bandage? Or under your clothing? Your eyes and teeth aren't the only thing that changes, right? "

Taking a deep breath he looks around. " Yes and stop calling me that. What are we telling Arthur and the round table? I never told him who my father was and I believe he remembers Balinor, the last dragon lord quite well, thanks to you. And I believe it will go quite catastrophic if he knows now. I trust him, I don't trust everyone else on the council. "

" Oh brother mine. Don't worry, just let me do the talking. " And with that Merlin's 'funny' feeling is back but before he can say anything else, they are at the throne room. 

Arthur was pacing, his knights of the round table are the only ones with him in the throne room. 

Leon was silent and observing. Lancelot was looking worried from Arthur to the door and back. And Gawain was talking, like ever but at least he was not drinking. 

"Who would have known, Merlin has a child." 

" And a scary brother, don't forget the brother. I'm certain he is bigger than Percival." 

" Does some big wild man scare you Elyan?" 

" Shut up! It's his eyes, I don't like them."

"Elyan is right, his eyes… there is something dangerous about him." says Leon. 

 " Can we please go back to the child. Merlin's child? I think that is more important. Why don't we know about it? Why aren't they living with their father? And what about the mother??? Why do we not know about it?"

And Gawain is right, he wants to know too. Why don't they know? Arthur thought they were friends, weren't they supposed to know something like that about each other? 

" Hey Lance! Did you know about the child? "

The knight in question startled out of his thoughts. " hm? Oh ehm no, I did not know about any child." 

Arthur paced some more and then the door swings open and the subjects of the discussion walks in. Arthur stops his pacing beside the round table and observes the three. 

Merlin, casting a dark glances now and then towards his brother, is carrying the child in his arms. The child is now clean and Arthur is surprised how dirty they were before. Gone is brownish, gray haired dirty child, in their place is now a child with fair skin like Merlin's but unlike Merlin's unruly raven black locks, their wild hair is white like untouched snow. 

Ice blue are looking curious around while their hands are clinging to Merlin's neckerchief. It wears pale fitting clothes, still, Arthur can't with certain say if they are a little girl or a little boy. 

The brother is tall, at least taller than Merlin although Arthur wouldn't say taller than Percival, with broad shoulders. He now wears more fitting clothes and carries himself like a man of power, like a warrior, like a king himself and he knows it. His copper eyes are telling, he looks Arthur head on in the eyes. Arthur shudders involuntarily, his eyes are truly unsettling. The man's long wild hair is dark, not black like merlins, but a dark brown that without light one would think them alike. From under his tunic, over his neck to the left bottom half of his face adorns an old burn scar his skin. The scar tissue should pull on the skin in his face but his face shows no difficulty to smirk arrogant towards the young king. If he didn't knew it better he would say his scar look like some scales. 

Arthur doesn't like Merlin's brother. 

" State your name and cause…." 

Kilgharrah increases his head lightly in a barely show of respect before he looks the king straight back into the eyes.  " I'm Kilgharrah Ambrosius and we are here because Merlin just happened to get himself and his kinship cursed. Our inhuman way of looking is a result of the curse." 

Merlin's head snapped towards his brother after he stated his name and his whole body had gone tense. Somehow the name Ambrosius sounded familiar to Arthur but he could not quite place it but the matter of the curse was more important so it was a question for later. 

" what curse? You said your inhumane looks is a result of this curse but you all look quite normal if not a bit wild" 

"Oh so you say you didn't notice? Well merlin is quite good at hiding, isn't he? Look closely Sire." 

And with that Kilgharrah goes a few steps forward out of Merlin's reach. He grabs for the hem of his tunic and pulls it over his head. Not carrying for anything, he presents his torsos and hands. 

Arthur was right, the scar reaches till under his chest but that is not where everyone is looking, from his shoulders over his chest towards his sides there are bronze coloured scales and as he begins to move around himself he reveals more of these scales on his back. His smirk shows everyone his long and dangerous fangs, his fingertips are long deadly, bronze coloured claws and as he moves to part his hair he reveals horns. Yeah Arthur and everyone else now can see the inhuman look he was talking about, how did they miss it before? 

 This man screams predator and every knight has a hand on their swords ready to defend. 

A low deadly growl sounds through the chamber and everyone is frozen where they stand. Cold sweat runs down Arthurs temple and he is sure they will die. Every moment now this beast man will strike and they are powerless to stop him, it will be a carnage. But then Arthur's fear-addled mind notices how this beast man is just as frozen as anyone else, his smug grin and predator-like posture gone, replaced with something like submission. Arthur's eyes dart towards the real origin of the growl and finds Merlin. 

Merlin, whose whole focus lies on his brother. Merlin, whose pupils are like vertical slits. 

Merlin, who bares his fang like teeths. 

Merlin, who, at this moment, looks just as dangerous if not more so than his brother. 

" Back down Kilgharrah, or by the gods, you will not like What will happen next." 

And to Arthur's surprise, the man grabs  his tunic and moves slowly back towards his brother. His every movement so slow and sure like every hurried movement would be enough for Merlin to attack, to defend and Kilgharrah would be the one who would lose. 

Just as Kilgharrah is back at Merlin's side, the raven haired man relax and everyone can breathe again. 

"Merlin? What….?" Arthur is glad his voice does not tremble but still, he is not sure what he is asking about exactly. What was that? What happened? Why didn't you say anything? 

Merlin's shoulders drop and he is looking towards Arthurs feet, he is trying really hard to look as harmless as possible, it nearly works and Arthur realizes, this is how Merlin carried himself the whole last fortnight. 

" I'm sorry Arthur." 

" you are cursed." not a question but Merlin nobs nevertheless. 

" show me." demands the king and merlin just resign himself and tries to pull the bandage from one hand while he still holds the little child. After a few minutes of pointless tucking he growls frustrated and just rips the bandage off with his teeths, showing again his impressive pair of fangs. 

Free from any cover he holds his hand up showing his claws to anyone in this room. Unlike his brothers, Merlin's claws are short and pitch black but the colour reached between his knuckles and his first joints. Then he moves his clawed hand through his hair to show of his lack of horns. Huh, Arthur was prepared to see horns but maybe it should has crossed the kings mind that with Merlin's short hair the horns should have been oblivious. 

" Why-" before Arthur could say more Lancelot begins to speak. 

" how about we all take a seat and then ask our questions?" 

"That's an excellent idea sir Lancelot." and Kilgharrah takes a seat. There is an awkward silence till everyone is sitting again. Kilgharrah on one end, the knights and Arthur on the other and merlin, still with Aithusa on his arm, between the two sides. And before Arthur can ask again why Merlin didn't tell them, sir Leon beats him towards the first question. 

"You said Ambrosius, Are you truly an Ambrosius, how did you survived the purge?"

"We truly are. Balinor Ambrosius was our Father." 

Merlin is glaring at his brother again with anger and surprise in equal measure. 

"A Dragonlord." 

Merlin jerks away like Was slapped and Arthur's heart breaks for his manservant. What he said as merlin was grieving his father, they need to talk about this. 

"Ah yes, he was a dragonlord and his first born son inherited his power after his death. And I would say I'm some years older than your precious friend, after all I can say without lying your mother was a kind and beloved queen. 

But you see, there is no reason to light a pyre for my kin for he has not inherited any power you fear so much. "

Noone was saying anything, merlin was rigged with tension and his eyes were glazed with unspilled tears. And Arthur himself was fighting with his emotions, there was so much said and he struggled with it all. Kilgharrah thought Merlin would be burned on the pyre just for the blood he got from his father? Merlin's father was the last dragonlord but then he truly wasn't the last? Why did no one knew about Balinors son? And Balinors son, Merlin's brother, he knew his mother, but didn't that mean he knew also the court? And didn't knew the court about him? But This man knew his mother, there is the possibility that he would answer some of Arthurs questions.

Arthur's gaze moves from Kilgharrah towards Merlin, who is looking back at him. His gaze so open and afraid, he is begging with his eyes, for what? Arthur isn't sure but at this moment knew, he just knew he doesn't want to see this look on his best friends face ever again. Later in the privacy of his chamber they will talk and most likely Arthur will get mad but now is not the time for this. 

"I wouldn't…. I couldn't…." clearing his throat he tries again. " Merlin doesn't need to fear the pyre just because of the criticum of his birth, he is safe. But please tell you truly knew my mother?" 

" Yes, I knew her, if not well but let me tell you, you've got her eyes." 

Arthur didn't know if he could say more, his throat feels tight with emotion so he let his gaze room again toward Merlin, who had his face hiding in the wild locks of his child's hair. He was silent but his shoulder shook and the child had their little arms around Merlin's neck while making little noises. 

" We… we should return to the more pressing matters. The curse. Are your looks the only results of the curse or is there more? What do you know about this curse, why aren't you three equally changed and What about hunnith? "

" the boys mother is safe, she does not share the Ambrosius blood, I believe this is the necessary for the curse, the dragon blood. And maybe the amount of dragon blood we share is how much the curse affect us but that is only a theory for I don't know how my brother mine got us in this mess. "

" it was in the cave. I was trying to find my way out but only got further into the cave. I noticed a softly blue glow and followed it. I found a really big space, a really big blue glowing stones and the bones of a dragon. I felt like I was in a dream, something asked me to help. I…. I touched the stone, and that is the last thing I remember before everything goes dark. The next thing I know is that everything hurts and I'm near the exit. What happens next you all know. Our current looks aren't the only results of the curse. I for my part are seeing and hearing better, fire doesn't hurt me that much but if I got to cold, I can barely move. I've also got stronger and I… "

Merlin's pale cheeks turns red and he starring at the table, not meeting anyone's eyes. Interesting, Merlin looks embarrassed. 

" and you what mate? Come, you can tell us we are your friends. "

Merlin's answer is nothing more than a murmur and apartly Kilgharrah was the only one who heard if his smirk is anything to go by. 

"Merlin, speak up, we didn't hear you." 

" I started to behave more like a dragon. I started to hoard and I've got more possessive other things and I got overall more growly." 

And Kilgharrah starts to laugh. Merlin's head wipes around, the young man starts to growl low and treating. " What is so funny?!" 

" Oh brother mine, maybe you are more of a dragon than you think. Do tell me what are you hoarding? You were never really interested in riches." Kilgharrahs grin is just teeth and no friendliness and Merlins just growls louder, if Arthur thought Merlin was embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to now. 

Kilgharrah's knowing eyes travel from one knight to another before returning towards his brother's. " I see, but a word of caution Merlin. If you are not careful a hoard can easily turn into an obsession and no one needs an obsession dragon." 

" Oh shut up will you?" 

Clearing his throat Arthur speaks again. "I believe you aren't here just for a family reunion. Why are you here and where did you even get from? Are you here to claim what is yours from the Ambrosius name? If so why did you wait till you all got cursed?"

" The Ambrosius legacy (inheritance)? No. I'm not interested in this or anything else to claim. It's all merlins to claim. We are here so we can figure a way out to break the curse. That is the only reason for us to be here otherwise I would have never set a foot back in these blasted walls. 

This body is more than unpleasant. Merlin was the one who got us all cursed so he can get the curse broken I believe. So once the curse is over we will be gone again and hopefully never be seen again. "

" you talked a lot but you haven't said where you were from. "

" Why should I trust you, sir knight of Camelot, with where we lived? It was knights with the same red cloaks who slaughtered my kin! Dragon and Dragonlords alike with every magic user along! Your cloak are red from the blood of my kin! You-"

" KILGHARRAH! Stop talking! " merlins voice echoes through the room and eerie silence follows his outburst. His growl is inhuman and treating. 

" Do not say a word. You will not seek vengeance. The man who did it is gone and so is the only one who deserves your rage. "

" ah yeah. A happy day it was as the Bastard died." 

" I said not. A. Word. Kilgharrah." 

[dodgebolt]

i'm a big fan of non-dsmp-viewing qsmp artists depictions of tubbo. most dsmp players have some similarities to their qsmp counterparts but i've seen so many different tubbos - even moreso than usual, since tubbo has always had a variety of designs - that don't have many design aspects that i associate with tubbo due to the dsmp. i think that's neat.

[ravenmoodle]

Some more DnD world building, but this time it's the humans and how their clothing and stuff is different around different parts of the world.

Map V

Wanted to make the humans a lil more interesting in general so

[thegreatyin]

arcturus religious arc?? do say more

arcturus is funny because i haven't actually talked about them and the rest of the MCM cast on this blog very much (in fact i don't think i've even namedropped leus?) but they occupy so much of my brainspace. at least 1/339274th of my singular braincell. and lemme tell you that's more than any one OC frankly ever should

anyway! arcturus is religious. like. in the freak sort of way. in the they're Really Fucking Normal about this sort of way. they're so fucking normal right now. you can trust them. they swear. they are soooooooooooooo normal.

to elaborate further would be getting into MCM (and some hints of APF) lore as a whole, which i will do anyway, but under the cut because i like to pretend to respect my follower's dashboard scrolling time

so. the thing about APF and MCM is that they are two wildly different stories taking place at wildly different times in fantasy world history. but they are taking place in the exact same setting with the exact same shared fantasy world history.

this is the full mimue geographical world map, sans cities, primarily made for APF purposes but also featuring MCM's two (unnamed as of right now) focus continents off to the far left. MCM's story mostly spans the northern part of this duo. unlike what i affectionately refer to as "the APF plot triangle" (or eastern mimue, if you wanna get technical) country names are not synonymous with continent names and this is weirdly way more important to MCM lore than you might think.

this is an extremely rough mockup of a "mimue political map". green designating arboret, gold designating sanctus, blue designating requies... and brown designating medeis, with icy blue designating sulia. grey designates a cluster of various smaller border countries that definitely exist but i haven't worldbuilded them as of yet and don't really plan to go in-depth with them because they're mostly irrelevant to anything ever.

MCM focuses on medeis and sulia. and only these two. another crucial element of MCM is that everyone living there is completely disconnected from the other side of the world. the map makes them seem relatively close to arboret but in actuality it's way more like a mutual undiscovered new world situation. the folks in western mimue have absolutely no idea there's an APF plot happening in the first place, much less a cluster. similarly, everyone in APF is unaware of western mimue's existence and they all consider arboret to be the furthest edge of the known world (with just ocean laying beyond that). christopher columbus hasn't attacked mimue yet is what i'm saying.

however. they do share a world history, and setting, and magic system, and hey wasn't there a whole thing with eastern mimue and an angel blessing the world a thousand years ago that encompassed the entire planet in scope and you can go read about it on Ao3 if you feel like it right now?

y'know. that mildly significant part of mimue history that basically overturned the world forever and inspired a new religion in eastern mimue dedicated to following the angel like it's a god. that mildly important minor detail.

yeah, the MCM crew has no idea about any of that. but they were still affected by it. they just... interpreted it slightly differently.

magic in the world of mimue is an anomaly by mimian standards. something New and Weird and Unnatural. eastern mimue, with the context of the blessing angel as a bringer of peace and forgiveness and prosperity, treats it as something to be valued and admired.

western mimue does not do this. western mimue basically got blasted with magic with zero context of what was going on across the ocean, and everyone is CONFLICTED about it. some believe it's a favor from their gods, others believe it's a curse from those that scorn them, and still others shun anyone with "too much" magical ability in the first place.

by-the-by, completely totally definitely unrelated to that above statement, who are those western mimue gods?

well.

while those in eastern mimue have largely abandoned mimue's old ways and barely anyone has any real recollection of The Before Times, western mimue is desperately clinging to those exact same old beliefs. to its old gods, for lack of a better word.

no, seriously. who were these old gods?

dragons, of course. they're the primary subject of worship in western mimue- and a dying one, at that. in modern-day MCM (and by extension modern-day APF, though it takes place a long while before MCM) most of the median and sulian population haven't seen a real "godlike" dragon in centuries.

but they are still very much around. just. hanging out. being worshipped and served by mortals. fully sapient talking dragons held up as gods. are they actually? that's debatable, but also a debate topic that'll get you a lot of stink-eyes in sulia and some especially devout sectors of medeis.

speaking of.

arcturus! remember when this was an ask about them and not just a mimue theological history lesson? yeah i don't either. but lets discuss them anyway.

a lot of what y'all can know about arcturus (without spoiling MCM too much) can be found in their point-of-view story, wherein they admittedly don't spend a lot of time ruminating on their faith but do namedrop their draconic overlords at the very end all dramatic-like.

they briefly allude to their backstory though! that's something!

to keep an even longer rant about medeis political lore short, arcturus is in a position roughly equivalent to the president. their official in-universe title is Honored Exemplary, but in terms of real-world-analogy it's essentially just being president of the united states.

y'know. if the US was an expansionist empire with technology far surpassing anything else in the world and was also powered by a monster kept in the basement that has to be fed live sacrifices weekly or else the entire thing goes to hell. and also the president and the head of parliament had a weird toxic yuri situationship going on and it's probably inevitably going to end in either murder, a double suicide pact, or both.

so, just the US, really.

the funny thing about arcturus is that they aren't actually native to medeis. parallax is! they aren't. their original home was conquered early-on in their youth, and they've basically grown up surrounded entirely by median society and technology.

and they've adapted like a fish to water. they're like if the country mouse discovered cars exist and became an absolute sicko over it. meanwhile parallax is like if the city mouse just really yearned to be eaten alive by moss (neither of these fucks are normal or honestly entirely sane)

worship of the great big questionably-deity lizards was a BIG part of what little they can remember about their old life. and they're like. REALLY into it. they're the guy who insists you have to pray before every meal and spends an hour daily kneeling in front of their dedicated God Shrine asking for repentance. they latched onto dragonology like a dying man in the desert latches onto a water bottle. they're very very very big on punishing themself for the whole technically-being-a-serial-killer-by-feeding-the-basement-monster thing and they see religion as an outlet for exorcising their own sins. which is really normal behavior, im sure.

and also magic tends to be viewed in a really negative light by Hardcore Traditionalist People™ and they were raised in that environment and as a mutant with zero magical ability to speak of they were basically uplifted as a savior and a favorite of god from day one and they've got an absolutely horrible case of hyperempathy + religious savior complex because of it. so y'know. that's also a mildly important factor. just a tad bit.

TLDR;

arcturus does this. but like. for dragons.

[sleeepydraws]

🫡 My first truly nonhuman character, ever.

Yortle, the tortle. Bard of some renown, known for his emo lute and bagpipe covers of various songs.

[yo-yo-yoshiko]

The Squidiot(squid-idiot) themself.