I post a whole lot of pictures of nature on this blog. But Hadders, you might think, you’re writing a netherdrake – why isn’t this full of space and fog and arcane magic? Something that I feel gets glossed over in dragon lore is that the Netherwing Flight is a mutated offshoot of the Black Dragonflight. Despite papa Neltharion’s corruption and the general unpleasantness of most of the rest of the flight, the black dragons’ demesne is the earth itself with her bones of granite and lava blood. Theirs is the heavy, slow, dramatic power of shifting continents and quaking worlds.
Then why isn’t this place full of caves and volcanoes and deep earth inspiration? The answer goes back to the ‘mutated offshoot’ part. By all rights, Vythaku isn’t connected to any particular world at all. Outland was ripping itself to shambles while he was still in the egg, so not only was he infused with and altered by the pure nether energy, he hatched to no real world at all to connect with. He knows full well where his brood comes from and what stigma they may face. He mourned (and feared) when much of the brood was consumed by Malygos for attempting to take over the Nexus just to have a place of their own. He grew fond of Azeroth very quickly and was already calling the planet his home when Deathwing ravaged it. Vythaku knows what his purer cousins have done and the pain of destruction. He knows the folly of trying to claim a power not granted.
As a young, crafty, friendly drake who is fond of mortals, he’s devoted himself to the small aspects of wild places – not the growth of the Green or the powers of the Elemental Lords, but the rocks of streams and cliffs, the way water vapors rise into the sky at dawn. The surface tumble and comfort of the land is what he’s chosen for himself to protect. He’s one small drake with a talent for arcane magic and a tendency to phase into nether at inopportune moments, but if he can guard one glade, one stream, one hidden grotto of natural treasures…he can defy his origins and claim a belonging that doesn’t infringe on others.
Long story short, why are there so many pictures of streams and surface natural places on a netherwing inspiration blog? Because Vy’thanis Felbane is in love with the land.
My head canon about the netherdrake I write.