u/awesthedragon

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I was thinking as I was getting ready for work about ways to get a better feel on how the community vibe is going. So I thought I would create this little ask a mod anything post and give everyone a chance to ask any questions they want about the sub or things related to it. You can ask me questions about myself, but I do not promise to answer those.

So this will run for 24 hours and I will respond to any questions after I finish my work tasks for the day. Might answer a few on my lunch break.

Feel free to ask anything that you want as long as it is SFW. I will do my best to answer sub related questions and the ones directed towards me that I feel are alright.

Hello my fellow dragons of scale and fur and otherwise! Just a quick heads up about the new blog that I have previously mentioned.

For those who might have missed my previous post, I and a few others have come together to create a new blog that is going to share articles from the perspective of dragons and other fantastical creatures. It is called From on Top of the Hoard and will publish every 1st and 15th of the month. This is entirely free to read and is more or less our way of entertaining ourselves and others by looking at the news in the entertainment world and otherwise through the eyes of our characters, most of whom are dragons. We will be avoiding politics and real world religion as topics, but most other topics are fair game excluding nsfw stuff.

Our upcoming lineup of articles is looking really good with columns for mental health talk, history, writing tips, self-care, and even a terrible dragon movie review! These articles are kept smaller and meant to be easily digestible so that you can read them on a work break or while using the bathroom.

We also accept guest contributors after we review them and their articles, so if you would like to be a contributor at some point, check out how to do so on the blog itself.

We also have the ability to stick advertisements for people into the tops or bottoms of articles so if you want to advertise your books or art or crafts you can send us a message through our contact page and we can provide the rules and limitations for doing that. Right now, this is going to be free, but there will be limited slots for it and we will be pretty selective based on the criteria we share.

The blog is kind of just a passion project to help many of us who are writers get into stronger habits of writing. Most of us have novels about dragons in progress and life just gets in the way sometimes and throws up writers block with no warning. We hope that you will come read and interact with us so we can build it into something truly entertaining and hopefully provide the world with some higher quality dragon content.

Hello r/dragons members and fans.

Due to a recent uptick in complaints about sexual and pseudo-sexual content as well as our own uptick in encounters to these types of posts, we feel compelled to make an announcement regarding this.

r/dragons is and will remain a public and welcoming community for those of all ages. Because of this sexual or suggestive content and content that pushes the definition of sexual or suggestive will not be allowed here. We have a responsibility to our members who are minors to provide a safe, non-sexual space to them as well as any members who do not wish to participate in a community filled with posts like this. There are and have always been other subs that you can go to in order to post those types of images and participate in that type of conversation or roleplay.

We repeat, r/dragons is not that place.

If this offends you, then we understand, but we will not be changing our stance on this. Rule 4 is very clear. But we will attempt to make it clearer.

What is strictly prohibited:

• Sexual art, stories, comments, questions (including anatomical questions)
• Sexual content of any kind
• Suggestive content of any kind, If we look at your post and one of the first thoughts to pop into our heads is "That is implying sex" then your post will be taken down.
• Suggestive expressions or poses
• Sexually charged Inuendo, specifically speech meant to skirt these rules.
• Alt art that is clearly just the NSFW art minus the genitals, we will not accept "There is no NSFW version" If it appears to fit this description we will take it down
• Fetish art, stories, questions, or comments
• Memes that contain sexual connotations or inuendo, including in comments
• Any other content that we agree as a team is pushing the boundary of what is allowed.

We realize this comes across as a bit overbearing, but the rules regarding this have not changed and this kind of behavior has honestly been given a gentle response for some time now. We owe it to the community to stand by the rules and enforce them to the best of our ability. This announcement is to inform the community as a whole that we on the mod team are determined to continue serving you as a community and strengthening the trust you have in us.

If you have questions about whether your post breaks the rules you are always welcome to reach out to us via modmail prior to posting it to ask for a review. This post will also be set into the highlights and the modteam will receive notifications should you choose to ask any questions via comments on it.

We thank you for your understanding in this matter and apologize for the sterner nature of this update. We will try to go back to our more enjoyable and softer spoken updates in the future.

Thank you -Mod Dragons

I recently announced the launch of From on Top of the Hoard, a blog about news as delivered from a dragons perspective. But i really would like to know what kind of news interests the dragon community!

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Do you want financial advice? We dragons do tend to hoard a wealth of things. Do you want to hear about books or movies? Some of our writers are actually a bit cinomaphile in nature.

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What can our mythical beasties give their takes on that would genuinely interest you as a reader?

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And if you would like to showcase your art, writing, or animation skills, let us know! We will be trying to put out at least a handful of articles twice a month. Our next publication date will be on the 1st of July so keep your eyes peeled for our flaming hot opinions and reviews!

Hey everyone! We finally have the new banner live! Thanks to Ryukiri for helping us piece it together!

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We will open up submissions for next year's banner on January 1st of 2027! Thank you to everyone who participated!

So I really like the idea of viewing the world and the news that goes on in it through my eyes as a dragon. Giving the dragon's perspective so to say. So today while talking with some of my dragon friends and my unicorn the idea of a blog came up. So I introduce to you From on Top of the Hoard. A bi-monthly news blog with a focus on the more entertaining aspects of news. We will be avoiding politics and religion, but many other things will be discussed by myself and any other contributors that we might get. I would love to know what kind of news you would like to hear a dragon talk about!

You can find the blog here: https://ontopofthehoard.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think, my claws are itching to write more articles!

The gentle creaking of the boat and the sound of the cables softly thumping against the mast and one another echoed through the deck. The ever present scent of sea water and salmon. And something else… Coffee… and ugh… burnt toast…

"Jamey must be making breakfast again…" I thought to myself.

Jamey is this old bloodhound who has spent way too much time on the water and it has wrecked his nose.

My name is Vesper. I am a Zephyr Dragon, and if you haven't guessed it, I'm on a boat. I'm a fisherbeast on the Gallant Tortoise, along with ole Jamey and the rest of the crew. The pay is good, and it keeps me out of trouble, plus I get all the fish I can eat!

The coffee did smell good at least, so I decided I should get up before Allen, the hedgehog did. Allen lives on coffee. I never have figured out how his small body can handle it. I looked over at his bunk and could see he was still asleep. So I pushed myself up and stood. Of course my head bumped the ceiling and It made my horns ring a little. Stretching my arms and back, I looked around for my pants and pulled them on. My paw grips were hanging from the hook on the bed frame.

Unlike some of the other species, I can't wear boots because of the way my footpaws are shaped. Instead, I wear these special kinds of strap on soles that give me grip on the deck and cover the tips of my claws to prevent me from tearing up the deck. After I got them strapped on I walked to the gally and dug a mug out of one of the cabinets and poured myself some coffee.

"Looks like clear weather today." Jamey said with his usual gruff voice. He was standing by the open door looking out. "Reckon you want to go flyin today."

I carried my warm drink out onto the deck and stretched out my wings finally. The bunk room is awfully cramped for someone as big as me. Just over seven feet tall and my wingspan is twenty-three feet. Flying would be excellent today. I could feel the air currents moving along at a slow, lazy pace.

"It would be nice to get off the boat for a bit." I finally answered. Jamey had followed me out and was sitting on a barrel. Another crew member was exclaiming about there being no more coffee. I guess Allen had beat the rest of the crew to it.

"Allen! I am not gonna tell you again! Quit taking all the coffee or I will throw you overboard until your pins all fall out!" Captain Enid shouted. Enid was this lanky stork, bit of a loud fella. He was all squawk and no peck though. Every morning he made the same threat and the next wouldn't be any different.

"Ves, if you go flying and head to shore, bring me back some candy!" the stork ordered.

"Why don't you go with me?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"You know damn well I can't fly as fast as you… ya damn wind drake…"

I just laughed. Wind drake was the common name for my species. We are actually called Zephyr dragons. We are lighter than most dragons and don't breathe flames, instead I can shoot balls of compressed air out of my mouth like a mortar shell.

"Well you guys write a list and put some money together and I'll go out in a bit and get what you need." I said before taking a sip of the coffee. A gentle breeze flowed across the water's surface. The morning sunlight felt delicious on my scales as it helped finish waking my body up.

****

It was a couple of hours later and we were casting the nets for one last pass before we brought this trip to an end. Everyone on board wanted to be back in before the summer celebrations. I had just tossed the last marker overboard when the captain called me up to the bridge.

"Money is in the envelope, and the list is in there too. Don't forget my candy dammit!"

"You are gonna rot your beak eating so much candy Captain." I said as I stuffed the envelope in my pocket.

"I'm gonna rot your ass when I break my foot off in it! Smartass!" Enid quipped.

"Well then we could get you a peg leg and you could look like one of those silly cartoon captains!" I shot back as I walked out.

Out on the deck I headed for the rear of the ship. With my wingspan I had to climb the mast to be able to take off effectively. I kept a backpack there, one of those with a single strap that snapped together. Once I had it snapped on across my chest I sat down and unstrapped the paw grips from my feet, stretching and wiggling my claws with a sigh of relief. Tucking them in the pack, I stood back up and pulled out my phone. I looked at the map I had saved since there was no service out here. With my bearings double checked, I lept into the air and snapped my wings open, sailing out over the water. Looking back the whole boat rocked a little from the force of my jump.

I flapped my wings slowly, there were plenty of thermals today so climbing was no real issue. My body would sink into one and the warm air would push me higher. Soon I was passing through what little clouds there were and I picked up the pace. I could easily cover two hundred miles in an hour but we had been sailing only about eighty or so miles out. The outline of the shore was already in sight.

****

The street radiated warmth up into my feet as I walked. The little store fronts glimmered and flickered with shiny bits and baubles here and there. The ruins of one of the now illegal mega stores stood in stark contrast to the small shops that populated most cities. That was part of the summer celebrations. The chance to remember what triumph the country felt after overthrowing the old government that had become a corporate hegemony. The people had taken the power back and so corporations and massive businesses were outlawed. Now a business could not be publicly traded, nor have more than five locations. The funds seized from all the corporate entities were then used to fund small business startups. Mom and pop type stores bloomed everywhere. Communication laws were standardized and this forced providers to offer there highest speed and unlimited data to everyone for the same price.

These changes did have their drawbacks naturally, but they did more than enough good to outweigh the drawbacks. In the end, quality and competitive markets made a return.

Mrs. Flemming waved a wrinkled paw at me as I walked up to her store.

“Oh Vesper! How have the waters been treating you and Enid and the crew?” she said with a smile.

I smiled back in return and said, “Good good, the weather has been pretty nice lately!”

The old chameleon motioned for me to enter the store behind her as she turned and walked inside. Once she made her way behind the counter she began busying herself scooping candy into a sack.

“I suppose the captain wants his candy?” She said more than asked. One of her eyes focused on me and the other on her task.

I let out a chuckle and started filling a basket with the rest of the crew’s requests.

“He is going to rot a hole in that beak of his.” Mrs. Flemming said matter of factly as she tied off the sack.

“I keep telling him that, but you know him.” I said before doing my best salty Enid impression.

“I’ll rot your tail with my foot! Argh!”

The chameleon laughed softly. She began ringing up the order. I handed her the money and started for the door.

“Tell that salty ole bird to come get his own candy next time so I can tell him myself!”

I looked back at her and gave a grin and a thumbs up before stepping out.

****

I stopped by a library and checked my emails before i got ready to head back. One from my parents telling me how excited they are that I will be heading home for the celebrations. It had been a while since the last time I had made it back home to see them. Colorado is a long flight from New York. It was going to be an all out flight after they made port to make it back in time.

The trip back to the boat was uneventful, though a shift in the air currents told me that a storm was brewing. Not that unusual for this time of year. It wouldn’t be an issue for me to fly through a little rain. But by the time I had made it back to the boat, the waves were thrashing pretty hard and I ended up landing on the roof of the command deck. I quickly slipped my paw grips on and tossed my bag in the wheelhouse before rushing to help the crew pull in the nets.

****

“Get those ropes wound up! The nets gotta get in! Hurry boys! The storm is getting worse!” Enid shouted over the roar of the waves and wind.

Jamey and Allen were busy fighting with a net on one side of the boat and Charley, a Boar, and myself were fighting the other. After twenty minutes of pulling and cranking on the line, Charley and I finally managed to get the net in. Suddenly a loud whip-like crack boomed across the deck followed by a scream. I turned just in time to see Allen disappearing over the side of the boat.

“Beast overboard!!!” Jamey shouted. Charley rushed to help him save the net and I grabbed a float ring.

I got to the edge of the deck and looked out over the crashing waves but I couldn't see Allen. Finally he managed to break the surface with a paw and I knew the ring wouldn't help. Taking a deep breath I leapt into the swelling ocean and swam with all my might. Allen was slowly sinking twenty feet away, so I drug the life ring with me and managed to get his arm and head through it before pushing him to the surface. It was then that I felt a searing pain in my hip.

A hammerhead shark had taken the opportunity and latched onto my hip. I roared with frustration and let out too much air. Punching the shark in the head I managed to get it to let go. Trailing blood I used my wings to fight my way to the surface. But everything was quickly going dark. And the shark was ready to make another attempt. I broke the surface and madly gulped at the air while trying to get airborne. The shark managed to bite into my calf as I got my waist out of the water. I somehow made it to the boat and smashed the creature into the side of the boat with a sickening thud that left a gaping series of gashes in my calf where the shark's teeth raked their way out. Everything went black as I crashed to the deck.

****

“Do you regret anything Vesper?”

“Not really… Should I?”

The big shadowy dragon shook its head.

“I am pretty happy that I did some good.”

“Then are you ready?”

“To die? No not really, but I guess that already happened didn’t it?

“Yes…”

“Then yeah, I am ready.”

************************************************The End***************************************************

I have seen a few new members lately and I wanted to welcome you all to the Gallery!

If you have any questions you can reach out in the comments here or via modmail and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible!

I look forward to all of the draconic creativity you can muster!

Hey everyone! I'm u/awesthedragon, a founding moderator of r/DragonArtGallery.

This is our new home for all things related to showcase and celebrate dragons that are not from the more corporatized media of the world. We are focused on original dragon creations that have a unique flair to them and have struggled when in communities with the corporatized dragons of series such as Wings of Fire or How To Train Your Dragon for example. That does not mean that we do not enjoy those franchises or discourage people from enjoying them, it just means that we do not allow them here because of the way they tend to overwhelm more original pieces. They have thriving communities of their own that we highly encourage their fans to seek out while this sub will be for the new and the unknown dragons lurking in the world! We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post
Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about posts about your new dragons, old dragons, and everything to do with them are welcome (as long as they are SFW in nature).

Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.
2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/DragonArtGallery amazing.