On the wings of a dragon - Dekafox's excuse to post art

[Dekafox]

Next one is of my chakat OC again, Chakat Swiftwind. After a five year tour as helmsman of a Star Fleet Fast Cruiser exploring the frontier, shi found hirself unsatisfied with the limitations of flying such a ship. Shi retired from service, finding a new career in the private sector as a test pilot for high-speed prototype craft. As most Star Fleet personel either remain in the service for most of their working lives or end up transferring to the Star Corps instead, this caught the attention of a well-known pilot's magazine, who asked for an interview and photoshoot. Hir employer jumped at the chance for the additonal PR boost, and Swiftwind hirself was rather amenable to the idea. Shi had been a subscriber to the bi-annual magazine for many Terran years hirself; for hir, being featured on the cover of Full Impulse was yet another dream come true!

This was an idea I'd been pursuing for a long while, but it was harder than you'd think to find an artist that does faux magazine covers, while also using a style I like, and taur-friendly on top of that. The artist in question for this one is https://www.furaffinity.net/user/fluffy-void

 

[Dekafox]

Had a long wait on this one but it was worth it!

A slightly peeved Rahna about to show some poor schmuck that even in a desert, water can take life just as easy as give it. This art's by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/ariesredlo/

 

[Dekafox]

Been a little bit! Got a couple this month for characters I haven't really gotten much(or anything at all) of!

First, this one I actually got near the beginning of the month. I was reminded of Dusk, my old 4e Gnoll Druid, because some folks on the Discord server I already play 5E D&D Luna on were looking to setup a Eberron campaign, which DOES have playable gnolls in 5E, albeit unofficially(but from the creator!). That fell through due to scheduling, but someone else was looking to try out a rules-light 5E-like rules system called Nimble - you can search "Nimble ttrpg" on Youtube to se a few videos about it. it so happens that it ALSO has effectively playable gnolls(with the serial number filed off), and has animal-focused druids under a different name that lines up somewhat with Dusk's shapeshifting focus!

So now I'm playing Dusk, Gnoll Stormshifter of Fang and Claw, alongside a birdfolk bard, a reincarnated eldritch being of some sort, a elven mage, and for a time a ochre-scaled Dragonborn thief who is off on her own adventure now. This version of Dusk has a similar background, but is a bit of a herbo, and tends to just stick her nose into situations because they seem interesting. One of her other traits that was inspired by this campaign now(and definitely a part of her if she comes up again later elsewhere) is that she's a cook! Being well-versed in plants and herbs, as well as a natural hunter, she is no stranger to cooking delicious things for her friends!

This piece was done by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/sadnicole and the framing was inspired by Magic: The Gathering art!



Within the past couple days, I got one I'd been waiting a while on back, from an artist who normally does mostly World of Warcraft art. This is of Zhakarii, an ESO character of mine dating back to the Elsweyr chapter. I'd originally made her to be a stamina-focused Necromancer, but changes in the game over the years removed that distinction, so she kind of fell into disuse as I couldn't find a good gameplay hook for her that didn't overlap with Speaks-With-Bones, who I've posted previously in here.

Well, when subclassing came about, I got hit with inspiration, and turned her into a "dark scholar" type of character... like a Indiana Jones type who uses dark magics, playing off how I'd themed her around the dro-m'athra as her having halted a transformation into one with a mix of necromantic and psijiic magic, and now she uses a mix of her former necromancy skills, Namira's dark magic, and soul magic born of the dro-m'athra. I find her much more fun to play now, and distinct from most of my other characters, both in concept and gameplay.

So here she is, confused and annoyed that the lead she had gotten on these ruins turned out to be wrong! The artist for this is https://www.furaffinity.net/user/howlite/

 

[Dekafox]

And here is 2025's Halloween piece! This was actually done earlier than I expected(this artist was fast!).

A constant danger in the Black Marsh is the bog blights. Naturally raised zombies formed from the bodies of Argonians lost to the swamp, with no one to tell their tale. As a grave-singer, one of Speaks's duties was to lay them to rest, and impale them with a proper gravestake so that they do not rise again.

In fact, that was the nature of her chukka-sei, that is, her naming ritual. To pass the test and become an adult, she sought out and laid to rest a large infestation of bog blights, hidden in the shadow of a fallen xanmeer. With this, she proved herself, and earned the name Xulveeka, setting her on the path that would one day take her out of the Marsh and into the wider world of Tamriel.

I would have almost considered this to be from her test, if not for the staff being included, as she did not have the hist-amber capping it until after she left her original tribe. Either way, it still reminded me of that bit of her history!

Artist: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/gaertan

 

[Dekafox]

Got a really good deal, so I had an old character from a story I wrote drawn for the first time.

Nexus is a stellar foxtaur from the chakatverse, and the closest thing to a denmate/lifemate Swiftwind has, even if they are not officially such. Stellars were genetically engineered like chakats were, and share many of their traits, such as being dual-gendered. Nexus hirself is of the Starwalker sub-breed, which has many adaptations for surviving in space such as anti-glare secondary eyelids, fur designed to have anti-radiation properties, and a dedicated organ(located in the tail) to store oxygen for survival.

In the story in question, shi and Swiftwind are assigned to a Star Fleet ship belonging to a new class of long-range cruiser, where shi ends up in the chief engineer billet and Swiftwind as the senior helmsman and pilot. I originally meant to write more, but never did, beyond an outline for some episode ideas and a half-finished "episode 3".

Art is by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/tumannajamgla/

 

[Dekafox]

A bit late posting it for Taursday, but I did get it yesterday!

Every good chief engineer has had to get in the Jeffries tubes at least a few times, and Nexus is no exception there. A fun little piece from https://www.furaffinity.net/user/sadnicole/

 

[Dekafox]

Fresh Lunaria art for #werewolfwednesday!

Though she doesn't hail from the Northlands, her lupine aspects do resemble those of the winter wolf. Regardless of whether it was intentional on the part of the Great Stag, her activities can take her up there on occasion and her thick fur is very much a blessing in that climate.

This position is not unusual for her either in werewolf form, whether taking a rest from a long hike, or bringing herself down closer to eye level to speak to the shorter folk. Given her size and bulk, her appearance can be quite intimidating otherwise!

This art is by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/heathenfang

 

[Dekafox]

Another one, of a bit darker turn, from https://www.furaffinity.net/user/saf

This one comes from the backstory of my ESO khajiit necromancer Zhakarii.

After an encounter with an Oblivion portal to Namiira's realm in the Reach, she realized she was becoming dro-m'athra, and decided to improvise a ritual using psijiic and necromantic magics to stop it. In the process, she etched herself with protective magical psijiic tattoos to help stabilize her very being, while warding off Namiira and the drums of Lorkhaj. Luckily she also had Jone and Jode full in the sky to help supercharge the process, as the whole thing worked... though it didn't reverse what had already been done, merely stopped it mid-change, and blocked out any further influence from the Great Dark Behind the World.

End result is she somehow remained herself, despite the physical changes, and gained the ability to wield both shadow magic and dro-m'athra soulfire. She also gained a newfound ability to use the lunar lattice to travel between places of power, as well as resurrect herself, much like the rumored Vestige that fought Molag Bal(since she isn't my canon Vestige).

She does get the occasional suspicious looks from khajiit that notice the soulfire glow in her eyes. Thankfully, the psijiic tattoos also provide her a convenient excuse in that regard, as the only other outward sign of her half-changed nature is the darkness of her fur, which is not in and of itself an unusual color for khajiit anyways, and has plenty of mundane excuses for any who knew her before her ordeal. And as for the occasional moon-singer or moon priest who picks up on her inner darkness? To them, she appears simply an exceptionally troubled walker, and a word of warning or stern admonished to seek cleansing is all she gets before they move on to something more important.

 

[Dekafox]

Well, the first of a few Guild Wars 2 commissions that I queued up has been finished.

This is my main, a charr mechanist named Glitch Sootpaw. The charr are a militaristic steampunk feline race, and for a long time as an Engineer(actual in-game class) and member of the charr's Iron Legion, she had been working on autonomous weapons. She started with deplorable independant turrets, then (offscreen only, since I went straight to the Mechanist subclass) learned to make drones called gyros, but those were still single-function and limited, and she was never able to get full unfettered access to Asura golems to tear one apart.

Eventually her adventures took her to the cyberpunk-looking jadepunk land of Cantha, which had advanced technology powered by magical jade which had been charged with Elder Dragon essence(which is a Thing that would need its own explanation). They were also less exclusive with their tech, and she finally was able to build her Jade Sentry, run by a primitive AI and powered by a dragon jade reactor.

In this image, she's back in an Iron Legion workshop, doing some maintenance on one arm while it tries to peek over her shoulder, not understanding what she's doing. Her Canthan Jade Bot helper is doing its best to help too!

This art is by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/xhyperwolfx/

 

[Dekafox]

Got a couple more of a different charr character! I couldn't decide which image idea I wanted more, so I ended up just getting both.

This is Athena Ghoststalker, Blood Legion sniper and Deadeye. She's middle-aged(almost 50 rather than Glitch's 30-something) and a bit of a grump unless you get her talking about guns, or get her some mead. Or even better, both! The rifle she's holding here was one that she won from a shooting contest, during the 200th anniversary celebration of the Charr Legions having been liberated from the Flame Legion's control. Since then, she's totally reworked the innards to power it up into something truly combat-capable, rather than the display piece it was originally.

And this is a shot from the Elona campaign, out in the Crystal Desert. She has connections with the Order of Whispers(a secretive organization dating back to the first Guild Wars) thanks to a request in her younger days from the Order for Legion assistance, and the assignments that followed. (Why the choice of Blood Legion instead of Ash, she still does not know to this day.) The charr higher ups had been wanting to build up relations with some of the various unaligned forces out there, and this was one of several opportunities they pursued in that goal. Due to that, she also eventually got pulled into the various operations of the Pact, a meta-organization made of several groups like the Order of Whispers that was founded to bring down the out-of-control Elder Dragons before the next Dragon Cycle could start anew and wipe out civilization again. The Crystal Desert would otherwise normally be a bit far afield for the Legions to operate in, but the Pact did have a hand in events there. After all, their former Commander was directly involved in both of the Balathazar and Joko crises, not to mention one of the titular Elder Dragons eventually making their presence known.

Artist for both is https://www.furaffinity.net/user/caniscappuccino/

 

[Caldwin]

Won a raffle and got another commission done for a character I'd long wanted to see done by that artist.

But first, the blep:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1577670587232800768

Finally, I'd always liked the dynamic and energetic style of Neotheta and this time around I actually had a character that would work well in her style. I love how it came out:

View attachment 19741

My Pathfinder wuxia cheetah warrior, finally demonstrating her connection to all 4 elements in an actual image, rather than just fire(which to be fair tends to be the default most associate with weapon magic).

Okay, true story, I've had this cheeta characte in my iPhone photos for a while. I even have color graded versions as one of my saved wallpapers.

So this morning I was like, where in the world did this come from? So I did a Google image search and it led me to fur affinity. Odd! Not a website I topically go to.

Oh! Commission for Dekafox! I know that guy!

 

[Dekafox]

It's still one of my favorites of Rahna, alongside the most recent one(and the one in the cloak)!

Got another one to show off too, of Jasmine. I'd wanted something to show both of her typical forms together, like the one of Lunaria I'd had for so long, but was torn on how to do it. I finally landed on an idea I was happy with though, and https://www.furaffinity.net/user/madnessdemon/ brought it to fruition!

You see, on the Prime Material plane, her true form would draw attention, and most likely some unwanted questions about her nature from the usual natives that live in such places. Rather than have to try to come up with explanations, as much as she might like the attention at times, for interacting with Primes on their home turf she instead created a human guise that was the best 1:1 translation she could come up with. It's still useful to be recognized, after all, and she can still make other changes for when a true disguise is needed. On the planes she wouldn't need to rely on this of course; her draconic aspects would throw off any suspicions of her maternal heritage.

With this piece though, I can finally show what she looks like in adventuring gear in her human guise, and still show the truth that lies in the shadows.

 

[Dekafox]

So far, most of Rahna's art has focused more on her polearm techniques and her relatively disciplined demeanor. That is not all she is however, and with this commission from https://www.furaffinity.net/user/amadenchart/ I wanted to show another side of her that has come into play before.

For Rahna, dancing and martial arts are effectively the same thing. In battle, she dances with her polearm to the underlying melody created by the clashing of blades and spells. but she also enjoys following the call of a musician's tune just as much. In one campaign I played her in, during downtime she would set her weapon aside and perform alongside street musicians for the people passing by, and just generally enjoy living in the moment. It might not always work out well(generally in places where catfolk are looked down upon as thieves and vagrants) but the times when she can simply "embody" the music for the appreciation of the onlookers make it all worthwhile!

 

[Caldwin]

Just to be sure...because I mis-pronounced Wolfsbane's name for way too long..

Rahna = Rain Ah?

 

[Dekafox]

Nah, its pronounced more like Ra nuh

Bit of trivia too: before she claimed it, I originally created the name for an ancient MMO called... Planeshift I think it was? It was in development at the time and I was trying to come up with something feline-soundng, since I dont think they had a lot of naming guidelines then. I didnt play it for too long as there wasn't a lot to do yet. Their main interesting feature was that you addressed the quest givers in natural language rather than hardcoded selections. May not be as big a deal now since you can leverage LLMs potentially like Where Winds Meet did, but this was long before that. Maybe late 2000s, early 2010s?

When I created my wuxia-themed cheetah though, I came back to this name, which worked great for her given the background of her people, and it stuck.

*edit* huh, Planeshift's still around even! https://www.planeshift.it/

 

[Dekafox]

Back to a little more representation for my charr, thanks to https://www.furaffinity.net/user/caniscappuccino/ since I really like the way they depict them, and they're very affordable!

Just Glitch doing her Commander thing, breaking into an Inquest lab and making sure whatever war crime tech they were working on gets wiped out, with her Jade Sentry configured to provide close fire support.

For ease of control, she has the mech tied to her headset so she can give vocal commands wherever she is, for things such as initiating pre-programmed attack sequences, recalling it from an assault if it starts to go off-script or needs repositioning, or dismissing it to aerial overwatch. Targeting data can be passed to it as well on an as-needed basis

Given the close quarters, she also opted for her multifiunction HOPE(Hylek Optimized Projectile Experiment) pistols rather than her more direct and longer-ranged repeater rifle. They combine transcendental energies with an alchemical catalyst to provide energy bullets, poison bullets, a stream of fire, a stunbolt, or a blast of universal glue(think the Web spell from D&D) selected by a simple flick of her thumb.

 

[Dekafox]

This one took a bit for the artist( https://www.furaffinity.net/user/catnamedfish/ ) to get to, but it was a fun little idea I couldn't resist.

A few parallel universes over from the chakatverse, Swiftwind and Nexus have a bit of a discussion about the upcoming mission for the USS Excslibur. Nexus is rather concerned about what could go wrong, while Swift is sure shi'll be able to fly them out of whatever may happen.

Almost went with the canon chakatverse uniforms, but honestly the Lower Decks ones really do fit taur bodies well, so AU it was!

Also, did I really forget to post the other pic I got of Nexus a little while ago?

Shi's a fan of certain kinds of classical music from the late 20th and early 21st century, which were called "metal" at that time. Shi even learned to play bass guitar, but shi has a bit of performance anxiety, so shi just mostly plays by hirself in the holodeck, where soundproofing keeps hir from bothering others when shi plays along to classical compositions from that era.

The guitar though is actually real, and was a birthday gift from Swiftwind. Nexus is left-handed naturally, so it took a bit of effort to find someone who made left-handed instruments, as Swift didn't want to just replicate one. Nexus's career in Star Fleet has made her naturally adept with both hands, but it feels far more comfortable to hir when shi can lean into hir natural hand preference.

This one was from https://www.furaffinity.net/user/kirena-kaya

 

[Dekafox]

Wrote a little short story during my midday exercise, inspired by the image of Athena in position I posted previously:

Slow breaths. In, out. Focus.

The white-furred charr on the bluff could have been a statue for all the movement she made. Even the slight breeze over the sands of Elona barely ruffled her braided hair or the cloth on her crimson Blood Legion armor.

In, out.

One would think that laying here in the open would make for an easy target to spot, especially with the way her rifle's loading chamber blazed ever so slightly with magical fire. As Athena had shown many times before, however, they would be wrong.

In, out.

The world narrowed as she waited. The occasional screech of a griffin. The hydra stomping by at the bottom of the cliff she rested on. The warm sun beating down on her. In these moments, none of that existed. The only thing that mattered was the view within her scope.

In, out.

It shouldn't be much longer now. Let heroes like the Pact Commander fight the human gods. Her mission, given by Tribune Brimstone himself, was much simpler.

In, out.

The distant squeal of unoiled hinges almost broke her concentration, and Athena could feel the anticipation begin to rise. But she was Blood Legion and she would rule her impulses, not let them rule her.

In, out.

Finally, with all the grace of a Iron Legion tank, the Forged contingent began to leave the safety of their walls. Was it a combat patrol? An assault on the nearby Elonian town? For her, none if it mattered as her world narrowed further. The Forged... and their commander.

In, out, squeeze.

One breath, and one bullet.

It's a thing I encountered on Mastodon called microfiction, where you write just little snippets or scenes, and seems like it'd be fun to do more often! Especially as I have done it here and there in the past for some images when I've posted them in my galleries.

 

[Dekafox]

First, wrote another microfiction short featuring my werewolf paladin gal, before she goes on the mission with the Soul Mirror that reveals the truth to her.

That dream again.

I shot upright with a gasp. As the sheet fell away, I could feel my bed drenched with sweat, and gradually, I forced my breathing to slow as I sought to calm the thoughts racing through my mind.

The air of the Order's chambers had a slight chill to it as I pushed the sheet aside and lowered my bare feet to the floor. In other circumstances I would have found it uncomfortable, but the cool air on my sweat-soaked skin right now was an anchor to who I was. Skin, not fur. Not that white fur...

Shaking my head to clear it, I rose up from my sitting position, a murmured prayer filling the chamber with the familiar soft glow of magical light.

Walking past the equipment rack holding my arms and armor, I stood in front of the full-length mirror next to the armoire that held what clothes I still owned. At first, I had almost asked for it to be removed when I had been assigned this room, as I am not one for vanity, but for nights like tonight, I was glad that I had been too busy to submit the request to the fort's keepers.

The image looking back at me was a familiar one. A dark-skinned woman, fit and muscular as my years of apprenticeship as a blacksmith, then as an aspirant paladin had required. Golden eyes framed by platinum hair - some might call it pretty, but I was never one for dalliances. Most importantly, however, I was not wearing the shape of the wolf.

In that dream, my body had been much larger, at least a head and a half taller, with even more muscles and curves than what this one afforded me, and every inch covered in thick, snow-white fur. Dagger-like claws had dug into the ground as I had run through the woods, my ears and tail catching the wind as I chased... something.

Or was I the one being chased? The circumstances were already beginning to fade from memory, leaving me only the sharp recollections of the ground beneath my paws, the vast array of scents and sounds that were much more intense than anything I had experianced in my waking hours, and the canine visage I had seen reflected in a gentle forest stream before I had awoken... one with the same golden eyes looking back at me now from the mirror.

I was fairly sure I was not a werewolf, at least. These dreams had been with me for years as I had grown, and I had never woken up naked in the woods, covered in blood next to a dead cow. They had even faded for a time, when I had begun my training with the Order, but had recently returned in earnest, with even more intensity.

But why now? And even more disturbing, why did that shape, that form, still feel so right?

Second, I also got another commission back of Jasmine, my hal-dragon rakshasa, from an artist who goes by Meezer. ( https://bsky.app/profile/catscomics.com )

I'd been thinking of tweaking her torso armor, and I rather like this interpretation of it, though I'm still debating something a bit more breastplate-ish. This came out feeling very classic fantasy, either way.

 

[Dekafox]

Going back to one of my other less-used characters, I got a new image of my ESO dark scholar khajiit, Zhakarii, from https://www.furaffinity.net/user/ratte/

This one is more meant to show off her actual capabilities, as both the necromancer bone "armor" and the magicka beam are actual in-game skills she uses, from two of her three "custom class" skill trees. All this is missing is her affinity for shadow, which she mostly uses to either hide herself or to summon forth a minion of shadow