Forg

Canonically, it's Clearsight

I should make a new voting game for "who serves the most cunt in wings of fire" and the blaze clears

no thoughts head empty

Two redos of old art of the same creature combinations. First one is quercylurus/dromaeosaurid, second is pakicetus/halszkaraptor. Might recolor that one, I'm not getting enough attachment to the current design.

NightWing design I did for @beefscrap

"I call her Naysayer, though that might be too silly, idk. Perhaps that name was given to her in the hopes that she wouldn't be too gullible and fall for fanciful things. She's the stuck up, boomer Karen type. The condescending teacher that seems to hate kids and you'd wonder why she chose to be that in the first place. She's a history professor, though not super reliable and might alter records to fit her beliefs. Very skeptical about anything magic, since she's all about there being scientific explanations and calculations to everything. A bit hypocritical considering how little sense dragons make but she's not gonna admit that. She doesn't really believe in mind readers and seers either, seeing it all as an elaborate scam. She definitely doesn't let her children read about magic, or anything fantastical at all. Design wise, I gave her musty looking colors and some pearls to clutch. Plus glasses, a ring, earring, some eyeshadow, and some starry stripes that may be reminiscent of a certain flag that has stars and stripes. I draw NightWings with bat features, beaks, and plantigrade feet."

[Image ID: digital art of a NightWing from Wings of Fire in a simplified style, facing left. The character is of a medium build, with a long, narrow face. She has dark, dull reddish scales, with a lighter underside and darker legs, with stripes, the back, and the top of the tail of the same dark color. 3 white teardrops on the neck and tail each. She has long, pointy ears, a sharp nose horn at the end of her gray beak, and downturned gray horns. Claws are also gray. Has some of her teeth exposed in a disapproving expression. She has some wrinkles under her eye, and wears purplish eyeshadow. She has golden glasses connected to the horns by a string, a pearl earring, a gold ring on one finger, and a string of pearls necklace. There are three spines going down her neck and three more at the base of her tail. Her wings are dark with a few stripes of white dots across the inner membrane. End ID]

I just had some...thoughts... about sticking animal heads on human shoulders. Bear with me.

I think the reason some anthros look really strange (I’m looking at you, Skyrim) is because animal skulls don’t attach to their spines the same way ours do. Our spines and skulls are very vertical, but many animals’ are closer to horizontal.

Some people solve this by giving the animal skulls a human skull shape on the back. But, to me it makes them look somehow bald(??) and just kinda weird in general. If, instead, you change their necks to curve so that the spine still connects where their four legged counterparts’ do, they no longer look yucky! (And also don’t need a hair-do!)

This seems especially applicable for animals like big cats, cows, and lizards — animals whose spines attach very horizontally to their heads.

Anyway, enjoy some more art I did while having these very specific thoughts.

Hell yeah

Warrior Bites: Clan Tools

[Image ID: Reedwhisker, a black RiverClan warrior cat, sits behind two terracotta pots, some strips of willowbark, a traditional wooden pot called a firkin, and a rock. He has a stick in his mouth.]

Warriors of the Clans are shown in-canon to be able to weave, dig tunnels, decorate with shells, and do whatever it is that BloodClan’s got going on with those collars and manicures. Have you considered what other tools a semi-realistic warrior could handle?

A guide to the various tools and methods that the Clans can use to prepare complex dishes, including the equipment needed for smoking, baking, pickling, and so on. Part of the Warrior Bites series for Bonefall’s Clan Culture.

(The art in this guide was once again provided by my partner who hasn’t read a single page of warrior cats in their life but so help me god I’ll drag them down with me)

Tools + Equipment

Fire Starting

Containers: Twine + Baskets + Buckets

Cookware: Smokers, Ovens, “Grillstones“

1. Fire Starting

Flint can be used to start a fire, especially for Clans that lack lumber. Because flint is most easily found around the Mothermouth, it’s associated with StarClan’s glow and considered somewhat divine.

But for those situations without a flint starter, the Clans generally teach their apprentices the paw-drill method using a spindle. But these days, SkyClan uses stolen Glass to start fires quicker and easier than any other Clan…

Except on cloudy days, where some unfortunate apprentice still gets saddled with spindle duty.

[Image ID: Reedclaw, a brown tabby Warrior Cat from SkyClan, sits on his haunches and spins a long stick called a ‘spindle’ with his front paws. Smoke is rising from the board the spindle is spinning against.]

2. Containers: Twine + Baskets + Buckets

RiverClan has the easiest access to twine; Willowbark can be peeled right off the tree and used without any processing for simple string to tie things with. WindClan uses woven grass as twine. ShadowClan, SkyClan, and ThunderClan are able to make cordage from Blackberry brambles.

Once the cat has twine, it can be woven into a simple basket to gather things, like berries, clams, or insects. In order to carry liquids, forested Clans can create firkins– a small wooden bucket that requires some carpentry ability, namely creating wooden nails.

But these tremble before the value of pottery, which is needed to store liquids, ferment and pickle food, and create stew.

Pottery is made from clay, which has to be baked in order to go from wet mud to terracotta. RiverClan is responsible for making the majority of new pottery because of the river, and ShadowClan’s marsh gives them lots of access to low-quality clay.

WindClan was once unmatched in the quality of their pottery thanks to tunneling leading them to the finest clay deposits known to the Clans. Though SkyClan is now rivaling the finest ancient WindClan pottery, due to their willingness to steal buckets from twolegs.

(Leafstar says, “if you cant make a firkin, store-bought is fine”)

[Image ID: Leafstar, the brown tabby-and-cream Warrior cat leader of SkyClan, sits behind a counter in front of an audience presenting a man-made firkin, parodying shopping channels. A speech bubble says, “Meow meow meow meow meow, storebought is meow.”]

3. Cookware: Smokers, Ovens, “Grillstones“

A smoker is very easy to construct, all that’s needed is some straight branches, twine, and fire.

First, a round pit is dug into the ground and filled with soaked woodchips. It is important they’re damp, because wet wood gives off more smoke than dry. Then, three beams are set and tied at the top, like a triangle. From there, a shelf is made inside of the beams. Multiple shelves can be made if a lot of food is being smoked at once.

ThunderClan wraps the smoker in a leather pelt, to keep the smoke in. Their prowess with smoking and seasoning a wide range of meats gives them the title of BBQ champions.

[Image ID: A primitive smoker setup, made of three sticks leaned against each other in a triangular shape and tied at the top. Two shelves are tied into the structure, the top row with minnows and the bottom with hanging strips of meat.]

An oven is a large construction. Capable of cooking several meals at once, each clan would have just one to use communally. Because the communal oven is such a big project, each Clan would have one that looks unique to their environment.

ThunderClan’s, for example, is flat and made of stone, simple in design but very sturdy and capable of cooking a lot of meat at once.

[Image ID: A stone oven made of flat, piled rocks. A fire is lit at the bottom and meat is browning on the top shelf. A stick leans against the side.]

For the quickest and easiest way to make a hot meal, meat is roasted on a spit or loose stick over an open fire. The best sear comes from a large, flat slab of rock propped up over a flame, known to the clans as a grillstone.

[Image ID: Firestar, ginger tabby warrior cat leader of ThunderClan, watches bacon sizzle on a large, flat rock placed over a fire. His daughter, Squirrelkit, sits beside him. A thought bubble above her head contains a waffle, and a question mark.]

(Clan blood be damned that kittypet can work a grill)

Some designs of griffons that I've done before. Technically they were me figuring out a character for the Girfugol ARPG, but there's a slim chance I'll actually use any of these.

Species combos: dromeosaurus albertensis/Quercylurus major, yellow bellied sunbird asity/tufted pygmy squirrel, African skimmer/oriental cat, and Anchiornis huxleyi/Yoshi garevskii

This is part 1, I'll show off more designs.

I truly hate the way dragons in wof border on wild instincts and human behavior. It's as unsettling as if Napoleon suddenly got on all fours, ran down the street, ate a live seagull, and then wiped his ass with a rock.

Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.