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Drakontarachne — Elemental Dragons: Flame

#bird #dinosaur #dragon #drake #eagle #feathers #firebird #griffin #gryphon #kami #lizard #monster #pheasant #phoenix #reptavian #saurian #snake #watercolor #wyrm #wyvern #zhuque #fire #creaturedesign #elements #fantasycreature #fantasyillustration #fantasymonster #mythicalcreature #watercolorpainting #worldbuilding
Published: 2021-09-01 23:00:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 3965; Favourites: 99; Downloads: 0
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Description NAME:  Fuchikanna
BREATH:  Fire.  It is not quite as hot as the breath of the Dragon of Fire , but if it is used to light a hearth, then the warmth that hearth gives off is supernaturally comforting—any who sit nearby for a while will feel all their sorrows and fears shrink back and their bodies relax and fill with strength.  Ghosts and dark spirits especially fear it.
LAIR:  A mountainside city of low, elegant marble buildings with sweeping red rooves and elegant terraced gardens.  It is said to be built on the site where the first Dragon of Flame taught early man how to tame fire.  Fuchikanna nests in the vast Eternal Hearth itself, supposedly the very first domestic fire which the folk there have kept alive since before the city existed.  Xe sends smoke spirits out into the world to bring the scent of burnt offerings to other dragons along with the petitioners' prayers.
HOARD:  Countless candles, torches, braziers, and other small domestic flames surrounding the Eternal Hearth.  Every pilgrim who comes to Fuchikanna with an important prayer leaves a flame behind to represent xir request.  The very wealthy sometimes commission the construction of small permanent hearths.
NATIVE FORM:  Golden Pheasantrice

So I already did a Dragon of Fire, and for reasons I outlined in the essay accompanying that piece, I wanted it to look like a completely traditional Western fantasy dragon.  Nonetheless, I could hardly do a series on the elements without referencing all four of the Si Xiang, especially after I already did the White Tiger and the Azure Dragon !  So here's another take on the fire element, a sub-element if you will, based on the Vermillion Bird (Zhu Que) with some additional influence from the Western phoenix and gryphon.  It's also the one and only clearly avian dragon that I intend to illustrate for this series—as I have said, such designs are far from my usual preference, but I want the Elemental Dragons to include at least one example of every dragon design trope.  Fuchikanna's avian elements are based on the Chinese Golden Pheasant , an animal so unbelievably gorgeous that I basically just copied its features without modification.  I couldn't think of any way to make it look more fantastical than it already does!

The name "Fuchikanna" is a fusion of the Ainu theonyms Kamuy Fuchi (the hearth goddess) and Kanna Kamuy (the thunder god, who takes the form of a flaming serpent).

All in all, probably one of the least creative designs in the Elemental Dragons series, but I think I'm okay with that.  I like to space out the more extraordinary creature designs between more traditional ones, for greater contrast and a sense of "grounding" if that makes sense.
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Comments: 8

Xerxes-Texas-Toast [2022-07-27 02:39:31 +0000 UTC]

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TheLOAD [2021-12-27 06:04:38 +0000 UTC]

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EvolutionsVoid [2021-09-12 16:50:25 +0000 UTC]

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Drakontarachne In reply to EvolutionsVoid [2021-09-17 02:27:25 +0000 UTC]

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TheLOAD [2021-09-01 23:36:45 +0000 UTC]

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Drakontarachne In reply to TheLOAD [2021-09-24 19:41:30 +0000 UTC]

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TheLOAD In reply to Drakontarachne [2021-09-24 19:56:53 +0000 UTC]

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