Mono Mondays: Dragon Ecology

On Mondays, we like to support our resident artist, Mono!  They're an up-and-coming scribbler of things dark and weird, and we consider ourselves lucky to have leeched onto— er, formed a mutually beneficial relationship with them.  You can watch Mono hard at work creating various pieces on their YouTube channel.  For those who don't feel like watching digital paint getting splashed around, we'll be showcasing a different piece of theirs right here every Monday.

This week, we're taking our first look at lore-accurate dragons.

Note:  We had to use a screenshot of this one; the original was detailed enough to give our website conniptions.

Per Mono, the dragons that share the world with their slimes are creatures of mostly magic.  As they grow, more and more of their form is comprised of magic, until the oldest of them simply gather together their preferred matter to craft a physical body when they find one necessary.  At this point in their life cycle, they are more or less genius loci, spirits of an area.

The dragon pictured above is one such.  They're a creature of leaves and grass, and even when they assume a draconic body, their skin still carries the imprint and texture of the leaves.  Like all dragons, they prefer magical items as food, and in particular delight in magical plants.  This dragon is being presented with the gift of a lucky clover, which it will no doubt happily eat in a moment.

Mono explains that this is one reason why humans traditionally pick four-leaf clovers.  On more than one occasion, a hungry dragon has come down from the hills, absorbing the magic of locally-grown medicinal herbs and the like; to forestall that, they pick the clovers as tribute and have a nearby slime (well-known for being friendly with dragons) carry them to the dragon, keeping it docile.

All things considered, this would have been a great St. Patrick's Day post.  But hey, we don't control the artist, people.