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Ghostwalker2061 β Dragon of the Elements
by-nc-nd
Published: 2013-05-15 17:14:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 17922; Favourites: 399; Downloads: 23
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The Cough Syrup has reminded me about how smexy Nel is. With his crystals.
P.S. Yes, I know about the Trading Card Game image. But I prefer this over that one. Why? For one, he actually looks like a black dragon. In that image, he looks brown and gray. And for another, the crystals make him look more like he's connected to the planet. He's a symbol of the planet, so the crystals fit him. And as a friend of mine said, he looks better with green eyes than with red. So, if you prefer the the TCG version. Then that's your thing. I like my version better. And the beard is awesome.
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Comments: 57
He's snuggly!
Also...you should see this.
Titan Eggs BenedictSo, who wants ketchup on their Titan Scrambled Eggs?
I've had another opportunity to continue to read this atrocity that is the new retconned Warcraft Lore.
Again, I have to say, blech.
Okay, so where do we go from here.
Well, first off, the new lore sucks, but you all caught that from my last journal on the subject.Β
Will there be Titan Eggs in Tectonic Divergence?Β Not unless someone makes a dish called Titan Eggs.
But an actual Titan being at the core of Azeroth.Β No.
Titans living in the cores of other worlds?Β No.
There are NO Titans living in the cores of other worlds waiting to be born.Β Not in my stories.Β Because the Titan Egg idea is STUPID!
Luckily we have Math Nut to tell us why.Β Because I sent him a PDF of the Chronicles and he gave it a quick read.Β And even he hates it.
First off, let's go over as to why there won't be a Titan Egg on Azeroth in Tectonic Divergence, as well as to why the whole Titan Egg thing is stupid in general.
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Nel does indeed look sexy with his crystals.
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He definitely looks better with crystals, and-- well-- actually looking like a black dragon. The TCG design really doesn't make any sense from a lore perspective; it makes Neltharion look like he had his colors washed out from too much sunbathing (or a bad accident with some bleach). Your design makes much more sense from a lore perspective, and just plain looks better.
The color and lighting effects in the image are great; love the saturation and the placement of contrasting and complementary colors.
Nel's anatomy looks a bit off to me in this image, though.
For instance, the shape of his neck seems odd. As a quadruped the vertebra in his neck would join his body parallel to his spine, and they would need to join the back of his head parallel to his jaws. In the image it looks a bit like it's joining his body at a 90 degree angle, and it's joining the back of his head at a 45 degree angle in both the X and Z axis. The turn radius on those bends seems too tight, especially given the size his vertebra would need be given his mass. An "S" shape would be a bit more natural. Part of it may be that his neck seems to be a bit set back relative to his chest, at least when compared with a reference or the side views in the cinematic's making of video. The thickness of his neck also seems a bit off: it's thickest in the middle rather than at the base where it joins his body. To support its weight & the weight of his head his neck would need to be widest where it joins his body, with the front & back of his neck lining up with his chest and back respectively. It'd be narrowest at the head, and about the same width & height as his head.
Nel's head is a bit small in this image relative to his head and body, and the distance from the tip of his nose to the back of his head seems too small relative to his neck and body. Aside from seeming a bit off visually, this makes it much harder to see & interpret Nel's expression. On that note it's unclear what Nel's thinking or doing here-- he seems a bit bored, based on his expression.
It's also a little unclear what he's doing with his wings, or where his forelegs are-- it's a bit confusing. Not sure how he's holding this pose; it looks uncomfortable.
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I'll say this right now. Don't find any faults with that image. I'm not really up to hearing faults. I just want to know that the image is perfect.
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I like glowy, crystally things. Maybe he should weave some more of them in that beard of his.
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Maybe.
I should find a way to have him officially have his crystals back.
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Yes! That would be the best idea EVAR!
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Maybe they're like hair and they grow back by themselves, only more slowly?
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh~ He's so handsome O.O Your version is always best version.
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Like a mix of the 4 different elemental pics you did before. Like how each major part seems to have a 'glow' (orange, blue & purple)
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Yeah, but this one I wanted to do with his crystals.
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dem details...astounding!!!! The elements themselves look so realistic and I love how detailed each little scale is...really nice job!!!
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Is the element of air represented by the lightning bolt?
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Yeah. The clouds are.
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What do you mean?
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I've never seen the trading card game image, but this one is pretty awesome. And long, flowing beards for the win. Not to mention that your attention to detail is as impressive as ever....
Something I've noticed about these four element pictures is that, as a general rule, the fire is conjured rather than existing in the environment with the other three elements. It's not a bad thing by any means, though. I'm just curious as to why you don't often see something like a forest fire or volcano providing it.
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This is what he looks like in the TCG.
[link]
Also, here is him producing fire through lava....
[link]
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Ah, I do think I like your version better myself, for a myriad of reasons. The more glossy look of his scales, the general color scheme, and the beard. Can't forget the beard.
*peeks at the second link* Hehehe, I do love pictures of dragons incinerating things, and doing so through lava spitting is a delightfully different take on it.
My musings were directed to another question, though, which is: Why is fire so often conjured in works that depict the four classical elements? Earth, air, and water are usually present in the scene in some manner already, but fire isn't. The discrepancy is interesting.
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Well, unless lightning strikes some dry brush, there isn't a way to conjure up fire naturally.
However, I don't really play Nel as being a fire user. I try to play him as being someone who can manipulate all forms of matter, and heat. The fire he's using is a representation of that heat, or rather the product of the heat. And the other forms of matter is represented in the image, solid, liquids, and the cloudsβgasses.
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Ah, a more thermodynamically inclined perspective on the elements, then? In which case, the air itself would do as a source for the 'fire', or more properly the plasma he's creating as representative of it.
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Fire is created by three combinations, heat, fuel, and oxygen. So, yeah. His ability to manipulate fire is through his understanding of the other forms of matter.
Which is why in the recent story that I'm writing, Neltharion is going to start using more earth (solid) and water (liquid) elements rather than fire and how he uses them is through his manipulation of heat. He'll also use air or gasses in some of his abilities, like creating vacuums, which can cause a gigantic thunder clap.
In science, there is no such thing as "cold" there is only heat and the absence of heat. Ice has heat, especially when you compare it to the absence of heat that the vacuum of space has.
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The vacuum of space is actually a poor example for 'cold'. While rarefied, it does have some matter in it, and that can be very hot indeed, especially if you look in the vicinity of massive stars and supernova remnants.
But a true vacuum, without any matter or photons or other particles at all, and assuming that it is isolated....yes, that would be as cold as you can get. Without something to hold heat, then it must have a total heat of zero. Temperature would probably do funky things, though. Since temperature is essentially average heat, and there's nothing to distribute the heat over, you might see something like an infinitely positive or infinitely negative temperature....
And a fun fact about fire? You don't need oxygen per se to start one. Any sufficiently aggressive oxidizer will do, and the worst of those will set things on fire you wouldn't think would burn. Like how chlorine trifluoride will go ahead and set sand on fire.
Depending on his degree of control, Neltharion could do some very scary things with his abilities. Most of the elements in a given body could just as happily exist as gases, if rearranged properly. But assuming that too small scale for him, vertebral bodies are still sacks of water supported by a mineralized scaffold.
Looking still more coarsely, wind does a fine job of eroding things, especially if you suspend some sand in it. Manipulating earth could be used to undermine structures, and water is quite destructive in large quantities....the list goes on.
It must be quite interesting to explore.
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I've got a scientist friend who studies water. And what I mean by studying water, is, how to freeze water but keep it liquid by applying enormous amount of pressure to it. Which is why when you go into space, without protection, the water vapor around your body will in fact boil off even if it's cold up there.
Neltharion not only has a subconscious understanding of thermodynamics but also how various materials react in certain environments.
Yes, he can be quite dangerous with his abilities when he applies them correctly. He was able to kill Ultraxion by crushing his heart with his own blood because Neltharion manipulated not only the water in the blood, but also the iron and other minerals in the blood. And because of this manipulation, he can also heal people.
One of the reason why I'm going a bit insane right now is well, I'm doing something stupid with Neltharion, I've blown up Azeroth in a notation could happen in an AU version of the stories I'm writing about him. And the result is Neltharion being trapped in a prison dimension (the Phantom Zone) where he's found by Superman and is brought to Earth.
I'm seeing what all Neltharion could actually do to our world with his powers. And at first he's very helpful to the planet, however a bit nosy because he attempts to save people's lives no matter who they are and gets a little scolded by the Justice League for it. But it ends up with Lex Luthor taking a piece of Nel's DNA and cloning him another Neltharion who then starts using these awesome powers that Neltharion naturally has against the planet. And what can Superman do against this evil version of Neltharion? Especially when Luthor made the evil Nel's crystal back be Kryptonite instead of the amethyst colored stones that Neltharion naturally grows.
I'm going insane.
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A villain that is designed to beat the most op super hero of all time... Yep we are all dead...
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Water's a funky material like that. Water molecules align to form cage-like structures when they freeze, and increasing the pressure makes this less favorable. Hence, it stays liquid for longer. Most materials get more compact when freezing, so they have the opposite behavior.
As for your story, it's not the most insane thing I've heard of. Odd, yes, but it's coherent, which is more than I can say for some other things I've read....
Also, Kryptonite is peanuts compared to some of the other materials out there. It only affects Kryptonians, but I shudder to think about what the evil Neltharion could do with a pile of uranium. Only saving grace there is that the energy release might end up being a bit much for him to handle, but only if he realizes it, and only if the world is very, very lucky that his abilities work that way....
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Well, since I've worked in that the actual core of Azeroth is very much like the core of our own world, that means that it has uranium inside it. Uranium's constant decay is what helps drive the heat in our own planet and helps to drive the liquidy outer core against the solid chunk of nickel-iron inner core to create our electromagnetic field.
And I've been around uranium deposits, such as radium rock. As long as you wash your hands and don't eat after handling it, you're safe. Your skin can protect you from the alpha waves that it mostly produces.
Well, if he ever gets ahold of spent uranium rods from a nuclear plant, he could do some very nasty things with it. Taken out of their vat of pressurized, freezing water, and then heated up with Neltharion's abilities, yeah...very nasty. Uranium rods can be ignited and cause massive clouds of poisonous gasses and radiation. Hell, eating it and then spouting it out as a radioactive lava can be just as nasty.
Since I've stated that Nel swims in magma and even can pass through the various layers of the planet, the green mantle and the molten hot core, he's pretty much radiation proof. Blast a nuke on him and he probably not notice.
As for the Kryptonite. Well one of the reasons why he did that was so that Superman could not stop evil clone Nel. Since Superman was stated to be the most powerful of the Justice League. As for the radiation of Kryptonite. Actually humans are affected and can be poisoned by it, mostly due to long term exposure. Lex was slowly suffering from radiation poisoning because he always wore a kryptonite ring around his finger and over the years he became sick from it. Humans aren't immediately affected like Kryptonians are, but they are still affected.
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Ah, you see, I was thinking on both a smaller and larger scale than that. Thermodynamics also affects nuclear reactions, like the ones that lead to the uncontrolled and powerful energy release of nuclear bombs. And if his abilities have enough resolution to work on that kind of scale, then it is conceivable that he could persuade a pile of uranium to detonate. Since he's immune to the blast, there's really no reason why he wouldn't if he wants to be that destructive.
As for using it as a poison, well, other nuclear reactions breed Pu-239, which is remarkably more dangerous than uranium in the radiation poisoning department, so there's that route if he wants to use it.
Which just goes to show that when one of a character's abilities is messing with a fundamental natural process, the results can be quite alarming....
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It is seriously very scary on what Neltharion can do with his powers. Very scary. Which is why I've often played him as being a bit of a dummy. That's his only handicap...he a bit stupid and naive. And very depressed and clingy to people.
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That is a very good thing for everyone involved, though were he to throw a temper tantrum....well, the only safe spot might be in an adjacent universe. Or better yet, the one beyond that. Hopefully he and his clone never figure out the full extent of their abilities.
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He doesn't throw a tantrum, but whenever he has a bad dream, continents tend to break apart. Also when he's drunk and hiccups, earthquakes happen.
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One wonders if it's safer to try and keep him away from the booze, or to let him have it and make sure one's home is up to code....
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Aw. *pets Nel* He just needs to be in a nice place where there's no Old Gods calling him a pathetic whelp or Twilight Dragons wanting to killing him in a justified manner of ending his suffering.
He just needs a cuddle. A little cuddle. He gets cuddled the world doesn't break apart.
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*chortles* With a dragon of that size, a little cuddle might not enough. Give him a hug from me, Ghost.
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He can shrink himself and just enjoy people hugging him. It's adorable.
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*falls over laughing* Oh, dear. Picturing him shrunk down to cat size and being absolutely squeezed by a hug is giving me a serious case of the giggles.
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But he's Nel. And he's squishy and adorable.
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