The World
Clinkscales is a world of dragons, uplifted and shaped from their naturally-evolved predecessors by the divine. They are highly social, balancing territorial tendencies with cooperative ones and running in tight-knit clans like packs of wolves. They form civilizations, build havens, and cultivate their environment, but are still deeply attuned to their fearsome animal nature.
Originally shaped and set on a path by a now-slumbering creator god, Clinkscales still hosts a pantheon of active gods--her children--who are variably invested in, but all known to, dragonkind. The afterlife is real, and so are reincarnation, magic, and miracles, and although draconic knowledge of these things isn't always perfect, the impact they have on society is immeasurable.
The modern era in Clinkscales is one of change and progress in almost every area. Science and technology are beginning to expand and combine with magic. Communication and trade are spreading across the continent after an era of divinely-enforced separation, and freedom and new knowledge fuel the fires of social upheaval.
Dragonkind itself is volatile and imperfect, and the gods are powerful but limited and innately conflicted. The world is certainly no utopia, and bad things will always happen both through malice and by chance, but Clinkscales' future is fundamentally one of hope.
The Comic
Clinkscales is also the title of my ongoing webcomic set within the world. It follows Kip, an outcast near the bottom of an oppressive society, and the dragons she gets to know as she unexpectedly falls into an important role in the repair of the world, broken both metaphorically and physically.
The comic itself is still in its infancy, but I've been developing the story for years. It has a heavy focus on how systems affect social dynamics and individuals, but on a basic level it's a character-driven fantasy adventure through the world of Clinkscales and the things that (I hope) make it unique and interesting. It's also full of lesbian dragons, if that appeals to you. (This is a trap: I'm having a lot of fun thinking about queerness in xenofiction and I want to inflict this on the world.)
Most of all, though, Clinkscales is intended to fulfill a thing that I've been looking for in media for a long time: a story that centers dragons and highlights what makes them so interesting and special, instead of making them props for human narratives or forcing them into fully human roles. It remains to be seen how well I achieve this, but that's my goal.
