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This is not the best website to view this entry, I have a PDF of this file on my primary account on furaffinity that goes by the same name. But if you are persistent in saying and reading here then I will still post it below, though it might not make as much sense, because I call direct reference to pictures that I cannot display here.

If you have a furaffinity account just follow the link below to gain access to the PDF

Adestrian Anatomy, Accessories and Attire by Mincridarn -- Fur Affinity [dot] net

Adestrian Anatomy, Accessories, and Attire

I have spent a long time fawning over Dragons as a kid, but it was only recently that something in my head finally clicked, and made me realize that many Anthro/Furry artists might be drawing them wrong. Many might consider my explanations to be minute and unnecessary. However, for artists working on creating more realistic art, it might help create muscle definition and a better understanding of an Anthro dragon's form. First and foremost, I am not a doctor nor have I studied how muscle interacts and works with one another to create movement, but this is something I have put several hours of thought into; which is how I came up with the muscle structure for Adestrians, my books draconic race.

The first thing that set me on this path of examination was more of an epiphany as I was pacing and thinking about how the wings might be used for flight. I am a realistic writer, so I understand the basic idea that the idea of a dragon flying is wholly impossible and would break most conventional science if it were possible; unless you were to dynamically change the chemical composition of their scales, bone, and muscle structure, if not there would be no legitimate way for a Dragon to fly unless it had help. I am not going to say magic is a cure-all, nor do I like to use magic as a band-aid for plot holes and lore; even how a dragon flies in my books is scientifically accurate, or at least scientifically probable. However, magic is the only way to explain a dragon's actual ability to fly. However, I digress; I will explain how specific elemental dragons fly by using their elemental magic. I now want to transition back to the primary topic and explain the first topic of dragon anatomy.

After wondering how a dragon in my book could fly, it made me think how the muscles work in their body because it didn't make sense for such massive wings to be controlled by a tiny mass of muscles only in the back. So, I looked at pictures of birds and found this:

This muscle (Pectoral) is the breast of the bird, and from what I can understand, it controls the upward and downward movement of the wing through muscle relaxation and contraction. When I examine Anthro dragon art, I wonder where this muscle is?

In most Anthro art, we represent the body with a human's anatomical anatomy, which doesn't compensate for wing movements. If the human body is to be the only representation, then the Anthro dragon would have no ability to move their wings, let alone fly. In fact, unless the chemical structure of the muscle was changed to compensate for the small amount of space required for ariel movement. Then a Dragon would most likely struggle with even gliding from one place to another, because their lack of muscles would prevent them from holding the gliding position for long periods of time.

My explanation of Adestrian anatomy corrects this erroneous logic, and though I've not studied anatomy as well as many medical students with a vet or medical degrees, I hope my crude explanation is enough at least to be considered. First, though distinctly simple, I wrap the human's anatomical body with an Avian pectoral muscle, as my basic drawing below depicts.

This is what I refer to as the Primary Pectoral Muscle; it wraps around the back and up under the arms and connects to a rigid bone plate or cartilage (I don't know which would make more sense in the area that would be between a human's Pectoral muscles) (A1)

It was only after drawing this that I realized a secondary problem caused by my own preliminary anatomical design. Because after examining my art, I thought about one thing, "A bird doesn't bend over like a human" If my depiction of the pectoral muscle was all that there was, then an Anthropomorphic dragon would never be able to bend over, even though they have the necessary submuscular structures to do so. This is why I add these secondary muscular structures, which broke up the pectoral muscles, in the hopes this might be sufficient to give them the ability to bend their upper torso. (A2) These secondary muscles would act as a continuation of the Primary Pectoral Muscle and work in tandem in much the same way, but would be considerably weaker than the Primary Pectoral Muscle to allow freedom of movement. These secondary muscles would connect to the Abdominal muscles just beneath the Primary Pectoral muscle.

Those that might wonder how the arms would work should know that the Primary Pectoral Muscle only wraps around the chest underneath the arms, allowing the arms to be raised with no issues, and that the shoulder blade would be around half its size to compensate for bone structure of the wings. But other than that, I saw nothing else necessary to change.

However, after examining everything I created, I started to realize how illogical most European folklore would be if this were remotely correct, because this design could be warped to compensate for a more feral representation. So the idea of a weak underbelly or soft scales doesn't make sense, as even if there were weak scales there would be at least four layers of anatomy that would need to be bypassed before internal organs could be injured/accessed: the primary scale layer, the Primary Pectoral Muscle, the Posterior Pectoral Muscle, or primary muscular anatomy, and the rib cage/bone structure.

All of this muscle, scale, and bone would make the chest one of the strongest, hardest places on the body, especially the underbelly, which is commonly referred to as a weak spot in their organic defenses. So if my explanation of anatomy is even remotely correct and or logical, then the only weak points on a dragon would be connective joints on the limbs and the back, but even the area between the wings would be distinctly difficult to bypass because of the bone structure of the wings, shoulder blades, spinal column, and the tough pectoral muscle. But if one is desperate in a fight, the groin, especially the genital slit and anus, which is where the scales are distinctly more pliable for defecation, and urinary purposes, would be easier to bypass than most other areas on a dragon's body.

Now with the muscular structure of the wings explained, I'll now explain how dragons "fly" regardless of their extreme weight. The only way I can explain this, as I said before, is with magic, but even more specifically, the magic of my book, which I write to be as scientifically probable as possible, if not for some extreme fluctuations in physics. First, I will start with the four primary elements, Wind/Fire/Water/Stone as Black/Gray/White dragons have special flight styles.

Wind/Yellow dragons are a little redundant; they manipulate air currents around their body, giving them a greater variety of lift that wouldn't be normal for their size, which helps them be extremely agile flyers.

Fire/Red dragons use their magic in part to create thrust beneath their wings; some fire dragons create high power thrusters comparable to jet engines at the fringes of their wings, which they can control with great precision, allowing them to propel themselves at tremendous speeds. Some Red dragons are known for wrapping their wings/body in fire, giving them the ability to create thrust at any point on their body, allowing them to make otherwise impossible maneuvers for their size.

Water/Blue Dragons manipulate the moisture around them to create platforms that they can push off constantly to create lift, so it's more like they are gliding across the sky rather than flying. This is also why Blue Dragons tend to flock around Cloud formations or make their own as it's easier to fly in high moisture environments. Out of all Dragons, Blue Dragons tend to be the slowest flyers.

Stone/Green Dragons, unlike the rest of the dragons, use magic to affect themselves physically, instead of the environment around them, as they actually use their magic to lower the weight of their body, giving themselves a bumblebee likeability to fly. Earth Dragons tend to be the most balanced flyers, neither fast nor slow, nor distinctly agile but capable of fast maneuvers when necessary.

Now for the distinctly more illogical flying types,

Gray Dragons are Dragons capable of using all four primary elements to fly, allowing them to be versatile flyers, which makes them some of the deadliest dragons in aerial combat.

Black Dragons/Shadow Dragons use a form of magical magnetism to fly; instead of flying, they repel themselves away from their shadow on the ground in much the same way as inverted magnets resist one another and push back against each other. They can extend Anti-magnetism to great lengths depending on their magical ability, but this also makes them stagnant flyers as they can't really perform aerial maneuvers or shift directions as well as most dragons normally can, since they have to repel off their shadow; which makes them prime targets for hunts, except at night... Black Dragons are neigh untouchable during the night.

White Dragons/Light Dragons are distinctly special because they don't fly; instead, they project their soul forward in whatever direction they choose. They do this by shedding their mortal body for a period of time and fly with their soul, as a means of soul projection. These dragons can revert to normal forms at any time, even in flight. Their physical body is more like something they can summon or reject at any time. This doesn't mean that they leave their mortal body behind; the best way to explain how they shed and summon their body is with the rebirth of a phoenix. Their mortal body disintegrates, leaving only the soul, and when the soul wants to interact with the mortal realm, it will reconstitute its mortal form. This is also why White dragons are seen as divine beings amongst lesser beings, as they can appear like colossal angels. White Dragons also tend to be very passive flyers as nothing physical can really hurt them while they don't have their mortal body, which is why they are some of the hardest dragons to hunt.

Adestrians though Anthropomorphic dragons, fly in much the same way and with the same limitations unless enchantments are used to shift the standards. Like a Black Dragon with Jet propulsion, for instance.

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This next section has less to do with dragon physiology, so if you want to stop reading here, you can; if you're interested in Adestrian accessories and attire, then just continue following along.

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Adestrians are noble beings, ancient living sentinels with scales; their astounding five-hundred-year life span, their power, magical and physical, has left them solitary giants that lounge about and do little to nothing as nothing truly scares them. This has thus allowed Adestrians to wean away from the social norms of the weaker Mincridarn kingdoms and thus wear what Mincridarins would normally consider impractical, like billowing robes and flowing ornate jewelry.

So Adestrian accessories and attire will focus on primarily three things, first family lineage. Though Adestrians are more powerful than even some of the strongest Mincridarins, they still share similar family ideals, mainly that blood doesn't make one family, but the title given by the ancestors does. These Titles and or Family names are normally adorned somewhere on a piece of clothing or are represented by an emblem that is the sole focus or main design pattern for their attire. Secondly, Adestrians focus on power, physical and or magical, and their clothing will reflex their combat styles; close combat fighters will wear tighter garments with far less flashy accessories, while mages and the magically gifted will adorn themselves with charms, jewelry, and flowing clothes that sometimes hold terrifying secrets. There are few select cases where this difference will hardly matter, such as royal events such as balls, noble games and events, and so on; essentially, the more wealthy/powerful an Adestrian is, the more they will display their wealth for everyone to see, as a way to make others envious of their "hoard" or ability. This secondary feat is especially important for attracting mates amongst Adestrians; it's one of the few things Mortal legends have right about dragons.

Finally, the third most important about an Adestrian's clothes is their wings; the very fact an Adestrian wing is what makes an Adestrian an Adestrian. Adestrian's are Dragons first and foremost, so those that are born without them are considered lesser beings, weaklings, insignificant second-class citizens. Adestrians refer to these wingless dragons as Kobolds, which is a title akin to slave or servant in their culture; even Adestrian nobles will refer to Mincridarn slaves as Kobolds. So, when an Adestrian's wings aren't in use, they are normally on full display and wrapped around the body like a cloak, with the talons locking together behind the neck, or in front of the neck. The Adestrian (off-duty) soldier is drawn below to demonstrate a very rough idea of what I'm talking about.But for right now, that is a summary of everything; if you have any questions, feel free to send me a note/message, I'll do what I can, and it might be worth elaborating more publicly, with an extension of this document.