The Thick-Skulled Diregator

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The Thick-Skulled Diregator is a rarely-seen dragon species, they are typically found in wetlands, though there are members of this species that prefer to live in lakes. They build deep burrows near water, which is where they sleep and lay their eggs, eggs take sixty days to hatch and have a dark spot on one side, this lightens and darkens depending on the level of humidity. Adult Diregators will feed upon large mammals and reptiles, fish, and fruit, larvae mostly feed upon fruit and decaying wood. Their flame breathe is quite unique, not only because of its vibrant green color, but the effects on the brain that its smoke has. When the smoke is inhaled by anything other than a Diregator, the victim's critical thought becomes severely impaired and is much more susceptible to the dragon's wiles. Unless a victim is immediately removed from the area, they will willingly let the dragon eat them. They gain their name from the physical strength of their skull. Their voice is deep and has a drawl.

Something that is commonly said by Diregators is that they lost the ability to fly simply because they excelled in so many other things and no longer had a need. Despite their undeserved reputation as man-eaters, they are much easier to reason with, as many Diregators take up learning the languages of nearby humans as a hobby, it is possible to prevent these dragons from considering one as prey by simply speaking with it. They have a reputation amongst other dragons as being incredibly curious and are prone to having discussions that last several hours. Most human deaths attributed to this dragon are due to dragonhunters attempting to slay it as a show of their skill and strength, before quickly realizing that these dragons trick their prey into letting them be eaten not because they are too slow to fight, but so they can conserve their unbelievable strength for those who believe they can best this titan of a dragon. They do not commonly prey on humans due to them being much too small to be filling, though starving Diregators may get desperate enough to do so.

ART

a sheet depicting a large, quadrupedal dragon and its growth stages, it resembles a fat crocodile with small wings, much of its body is purple with dark purple splotches, the underside is off-white and the spikes and wing membranes are red. The adult dragon has a long snout, the nostrils at the end are prominent and the eyes are about halfway down. Large tusks emerge from the lower jaw, along with smaller teeth. A row of triangular spikes go down its back, ending halfway down the tail. Its legs are short and stocky, its wings are too small for it to be able to fly. Its tail ends in an arrowhead shape. The larval dragon has a dark purple facial shield that ends in a sharp horn, Its body is off-white and segmented. Three pairs of nubby limbs are held close to its body, while another four pairs of much stockier limbs are used in walking. The egg is round and light blue with a dark, greenish center. On the upper left is a front view of the dragon's face and to its right is a side profile of the dragon's head with an open mouth. In the upper right corner next to the side profile are three sketches labeled as 'diet', they are a fish with crossed out eyes, a cartoon hunk of meat, and an apple. In the lower left corner is a fourth sketch depicting the dragon with pursed lips, a green flame emerging from the aformentioned lips. It is labeled with 'green fire' and 'smoke inhibits critical thought'.

Drawn in 2024

Notes

I originally came up with this dragon in 2018, but I only made a finished drawing of it in 2023. The initial concept was pretty mean-spirited, very little remains of that version of it other than this dragon physically having a thick skull. In this most recent incarnation of the Thick-Skulled Diregator, I wanted to make it feel almost folkloric, a dragon that lives deep in the swamp that uses trickery to eat, but can be convinced to free victims by speaking with it. I added the stuff about the overconfident dragonhunters as part of that, they believe that this dragon must be slow, lazy, and easy to kill because it's fat and has short legs, before seeing how immensely powerful they truly are. Actual alligators have stubby legs as well, and they can easily outrun a human for a short distance. It may not seem like much, but a short distance could be the only thing separating you from life and death. Fortunately gators don't really attack people outside of self-defense.