Paper cavern

my entry for: Mogi DTA! Wings and Rainbows (ends july 10!!)

EDIT: finally got some time to add in the story and personality elements as well as the piece description so enjoy! 

Now little ones, i've wandered this land for a long time, and hear a great number of stories.  Many of the tales i've heard focus on the brave adventurers who'd risk life and limb to find the sacred tree.  this tale however is about one who chose to ignore that urge.  She lives here still, out in the desert.  You should all know of her and maybe one day you will have the pleasure of meeting her yourselves. this is the tale of how the Dragon came to be.

The mogi who would later become the Dragon was born just like any of us, awakening one day in the Glade.  No wings, nothing special, just a normal mogi like you and me.  Back then, there weren't many of us around, so we tended to stick together, but not this one.  Instead she turned her back on her kin, choosing instead to follow her inner urges out into the wastelands.  In that desert she wandered, nobody knows exactly how long, learning gradually to survive in a land fraught with danger.  her personality changed too, becoming rough and jaded to suit the wastes she now called home.   Her new home was dangerous, or maybe the danger was attracted to her, as she seemed to have an extrodarinary number of close calls. Of course she quickly grew accustomed to this, you can't survive out here for long if you don't learn to adapt after all.  She even became a little cocky, taking greater risks as she explored, reeling in the thrill as she danced around the jaws of danger, spinning out of it's reach in the nick of time.  

But one day she was too slow.

The sand opened up, creating a sink hole from the very ground she was standing on.  No matter how fast the little mogi ran, no matter how many times she jumped and dodged, she could not escape her fate and and was sucked into the desert sands.  As she fell, she felt something wrap around her tail and put her swiftly to sleep.  Our mogi thought she had reached the end of her life, but this was not to be.  When she came to, she discovered two things.  One, she was in an enormous cave system that sat just below the desert surface, made entirely of paper.  She wasn't given much time to ponder how this wonder came to be, as right then one of the paper columns collapsed on top of her.  She felt her feet leave the ground as she leapt out of the way, but her nubs didn't touch the ground.  it was then that she discovered the second thing.  Of all things, wings had suddenly sprouted on her back!  when the mogi got to safety she inspected every inch of herself, trying to figure out why the wings had suddenly appeared.  It was then that she discovered that a charm had become stuck in her tail fur, and when she untangled the gizmo the wings vanished.  The mogi had an epiphany.  This land wasn't trying to kill her, it had been preparing her for her calling, and when she was ready it had given her the thing that would help her navigate it.  The mogi, now filled with purpose, tied the gizmo to her tail with a ribbon, and once more the wings burst from her back.  She then took to the sky, leaving her old, meaningless life behind her, and in this moment Soar was born.

Soar spent her days exploring the caves, fixing up fallen columns and protecting it as best she could from intruders.  At first there was nobdy and Soar's job was relatively easy, but on the surface more of us were born, and more of us were wandering into the desert.  Eventually other mogi began to ind their way into the caves, and Soar's work truly began.  She swooped down on the intruders, scaring them from the caves.  She had to protect this place and protect mogi from it and if she had to become a monster to do so then so be it.  The charm reflected Soar's desire to protect, making her fur absorb light to make her look even more menacing.  Needless to say soar soon became a local legend and she became known as "The Dragon" since she reminded mogis of the creatures the old ones drew in their books.  Unshaken by her reputation Soar continued her work, the love and desire to to protect her kind and her home driving her on.

Until one day when she met a very foolish mogi obsessed with paper, but that's a story for another time.



Name: Soar, also known as "The Dragon"
Faction: Frees
Pronouns: She/Them

Soar has a very tough and abrasive personality, but on the inside she has a heart of gold.  she is surprisingly caring and affectionate, some of this is residual energy from the gizmo effecting her.  She can be a bit of a tsundere, pushing others away to protect them from the dangers of her home and because of the hash life she has lived so far.  but if a mogi were truly stubborn enough (or really REALLY wanted the paper)  then Soar would make one of the most loyal and trustworthy friends they could ask for.  Plus having a buddy who can fly up to get high things for yo isvery handy.

Soar and Stratus are very close friends, partly because Stratus's mad obsession with paper kept dragging them back into Soar's home and partly because Stratus saved Soar's life when her charm got knocked off and a paper column fell on her.  the two live together in the "Paper labratory, a home fashioned out of an old origami book.  Soar has opened up to people a little more since coming to live with stratus and she as also taken up the additional duty of guarding Stratus's lab while they are out.  The lab is next to the largest mouth of the paper cavern.  Other mogi are still very intimidated of her, after all a gizmo riddled with affection and a perpetually happy golf ball can only do so much with an edgelord tusndere's personality.



I drew this picture because i wanted to show Soar and Stratus interacting, but i wanted to keep it vague enough for people to make their own assumptions about the pair.  Is this their first encounter, is Soar watching Stratus bumble around after failing to chase the off for the 56th time, or is Stratus waving to one of their oldest and closest friends?  that's up to you to decide, so tell me what you think in the comments!

this picture was an dream and while i struggled royally with Gone Batty's colour scheme, she was an absolute blast to draw.  I really grew attached the setting environment, and interactions i created for the two and i think that made me fall in love with Gone Batty even more. This is the main reason that i chose to show the characters in the setting like this instead of creating a picture that showed off all the details of Gone batty.  While i do wish i had more time to finalize up the details (particularly on the characters) i am very proud of this work and i can say without a doubt this was the most fun i've had with an illustration so far.  

finally good luck to everybody entering! your work is all fantastic and i know it's going to be difficult for the judges to pick a winner, so give yourselves all a pat on the back!

mogi are a closed species by