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Yeah I get what all you’re saying. Tying into the culture thing, is that stuff like this has been done, but not very often from the approach I’ve been taking. I can’t remember ever reading a fantasy story or work similar to it that took strong cultures and ties to Africa of all places. (: All I know is that Wakanda (which I have not watched) does have that African tie, but other than that I don’t know of really anything else. Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key does have backstory tied to South Africa, but the main character, Jack, is a first generation American because his dad is from South Africa.
Creating a story with or without fantastical creatures but founded strongly on African cultures is really different then what most people are used to. What most people view as a dragon is from a more medieval or European perspective, unless it’s Asian based fantasy. I can’t think of a single African folk tale that involves dragons like that. I just want to make sure that what creatures I do use fit into those cultures correctly. Something that would easily be appropriate for these culture would be crocodiles or other beasts, but I would also have to carefully consider each creature I use. I don’t imagine any elephants in this world, but I can definitely see something similar to a springbok or predatory cats.
Yeah, once again though, this is the era of self publishing, so stories from indie writers from all over the planet are getting better and better access to the market, allowing a deep saturation of ideas, themes, and stories of all sorts of cultures, including African varieties. While I don’t know of many examples of African (though I might be able to point to some middle eastern) literature myself, I do know that they are out there, and aren’t hard to find, but that also doesn’t mean that we don’t need more, it is a growing movement that should be ridden I think. All good stories are worth telling, regardless of cultural origin.
I agree with your assessment on creating creatures that accurately tie to existing mythologies, and there are draconic creatures in lore like Ayida and Damballah, the twin serpents (I fully admit that I just looked them up), though they aren’t the traditional eastern dragon as you described. While many people when they hear ‘dragon’, they may think of the eastern dragon, the interpretation of dragon for many I’ve talked with has often been more liberal, where people will point out that there’s dragons of all shapes and sizes in mythologies all over the world, which is true, like Quetzalcoatl, but consensus doesn’t really matter when it comes to fantasy. Crocodiles are always cool, and are draconic themselves if you want them to, even predatory cats can be used in a similar way. There’s all sorts of creatures beyond the predatory to explore also, there’s the hostile, but also the peaceful, many possibilities, even if they aren’t fantastical.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
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