whalesbone » Clan | Lair | Nesting Grounds

whalesbone's Clan

what is a bird? a delightful little pile of secrets

Ancient Lair

hidden in the

Foxfire Bramble

Clan Info

Secondary succession happens when a climax community
or intermediate community is impacted by a disturbance. This restarts the cycle of succession, but not back
to the beginning—soil and nutrients are still present. (x)

The brambles here are young and creep close to the ground; the trees are even younger, a hundred years away from fully obscuring the sky.

At a glance, there is nothing here.

Upon closer inspection, in fact, there is
nothing here at all.

There are no dragons, to be certain, though there are trace fossils that suggest a not-so-distant inhabitance: the clean-cut ends of felled trees scattered among the saplings; troughs in the soil demarcating once-neat squares of irrigated land; a pock-marked landscape of valleys and holes where some underground structure has begun to collapse. These traces alone could be taken simply as an abandoned lair, but it is not the absence of dragons that makes this area peculiar.

It is not dead. There is soil under short shrubs and woody shoots, but even the sweetest grasses grow free of predators, supporting little beyond dewdrops. There is no deafening insect song like that which permeates the old-growth bramble, only occasional chirps and the congregation of some hardier species along shallow pools of water. With no canopy, the open sky reveals birds overhead, but they do not stop to forage, for the paltry offering of moss and mosquitoes does little to entice them. It is not dead, no, but neither does it feel alive.

Were there blackened boughs and pinecones cracked open by heat, the evidence of a forest fire would be drawn in charcoal. Fresh ravines cracking the earth, a layer of water filling the burrows running below, even signs of battle are easy to interpret. Yet there are no such examples of environmental storytelling. There are no bones. Perhaps the dragons that were once here are as gone as the overarching thickets, the owls within them and the rodents scurrying below them, all consumed by the same unknown force of nature. Perhaps this landscape is dracogenic, drained of all its resources and abandoned for a fresh start, the straggling fauna long forgotten.

It doesn’t matter. To an observer, it's a mystery, a riddle, something that needs solving- something that has an answer, no matter how obscure. To the trees, it's what it always has been: a struggle for survival, sometimes won, sometimes lost. The cause of it all was never written in the rings of their wood, only the consequences. The thorns will regrow and the wildlife will return when the moonlight fades. Perhaps the rehabilitated landscape will bring the dragons back, too. And regardless, in an eon, this empty plot will be here yet again.

Such is the way of things. Whether dragons are here to witness it is no matter; it began long before them, and will end long after.

.........

ぼやけるな
孤立と孤独
不死である
天の川での
兆個の同士

boyakeruna
koritsu to kodoku
fushi de aru
ama no gawa de no
chouko no doushi

do not misconstrue
"isolated" as "alone,"
in the stars above
are a trillion and more
eternal companions

adapted from @/Emanuele <3

no one's around to help.

hikaru [光] / voryn • 23 • he/him • english/日本語 • fr +3

"i'm a scientist" actually miscategorization. whalesbone, who spends 95% of his workweek not doing science, is an outlier and should not receive his phd

interest 1: avian ecology
interest 2: high fantasy RPGs released between 1997 to 2007
interest 3: slavic vampire folklore
interest 4: there is no interest 4.

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steam friends :3?

art shop

Recent Comments

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harpyja said

April 22, 2025 19:26:58

Also your lore is fascinating. No dragon to be found here, everyone go home.

harpyja said

April 22, 2025 19:26:21

Just wanted to say that your "Click for random bird" is utterly delightful, and I was pleased with my result (which I have promptly forgotten. Welp). Birds are an interest of mine too. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you ever want to talk about any!

LadyVesta said

March 18, 2025 13:33:57

ooo this lair theme is really fun

Soloee said

February 04, 2025 10:01:57

you only have 729 dragon slots? idk I don't think that's enough for you, you obviously need more room to store all that emptiness

equinoxious said

January 18, 2025 03:54:16

Ohh I see!! Thank you for telling me, thats so cool omg

equinoxious said

January 16, 2025 15:12:18

how does your avatar work? where does it live? :0 (love your lair btw)

Wisdum said

December 18, 2024 10:23:08

Out of curiosity, with no dragons what do you do on this website?

WisteriaWild said

October 31, 2024 09:19:51

Your lair concept is so interesting!! I've never seen anything like it! I also appreciate the random bird link in your forum signature lol

nightsintodreams said

August 25, 2024 06:38:32

very fun lair and lore, 10/10

BucketoRandom said

August 21, 2024 08:40:15

I’m actually very amused by your lair. You told me nothing would be here, and I went and looked, anyway cx Still, it’s pretty fun as a concept. Well played!