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 going to learn more about slimes.
What you see here is a typical dragon's cave, being watched over by a variety of slimes. This piece came with an extensive explanation by Mono:
"Slimes are considered weak, but fearless. Being the curious learners that they are, they'll hang out with you and treat you like their own as long as you teach them. Slimes soak up knowledge like a sponge. Old slimes will know how to greet many different species in their traditional ways, even those otherwise lost to time. Since they're polite, intelligent, and curious, slimes are often used by other species as neutral translators.
"Now for this piece of art: Dragons find slimes amusing, since slimes, like dragons, are purely magical beings. It is considered hilarious that they are so similar apart from their sheer power. They tend to use slimes to raise their children safely in the caves. Dragons are thaumavores (magic eaters), and the hoards of items they collect tend to be used as food. Baby dragons, of course, have a harder time eating magical swords and the like, and this is where the slimes come in: they eat items, just like dragons, and digest them. The items are processed through their magical bodies to make a mana-based solution (basically a formula) that the baby dragons can easily drink.
"In return for caring for their young, dragons treat slimes as favored pets, protecting and playing with them, and of course, satisfying their curiosity. Any knowledge learned is traded to make the slimes even more skilled wetnurses and nannies. Old slimes can tell you stories about every dragon they've raised in detail, from what hoard the parents left as food for them to their first flight."
As you can see, Mono has thought about slimes for awhile. Possibly a little too long. Maybe they should go sit down.
