in the Serpentine Mountains, which stretch from the far north where they veer east and trail into the ocean til their peaks barely rise from the waves as islands, down to the southwest where they shelter a rich and fertile land of rice and beans and maize from endless western stretches of scrub and grassland, there are monks. this comes as no surprise, for the world over it is hard to find some mountainside that has boasted a monastery, cloister, shrine or temple at some point in its life. specifically for the Serpentine Mountains, there are an unusual number of aspirants to the dragongirl state, perhaps drawn to the mountain range by its name, which some say comes from the green and glossy stone found there, others from the winding path it traces. regardless of the origin of the name, a number of dragon-schools can be found in those peaks and valleys:
the Sophists seek to assume the dragon mantle by contemplation of Sophie the First and Final Dragon, the broken ouroboros that uncoiled to swallow her own (non)existence, the origination and embodiment of all disparities the synthesis and resolution of which, it is said, are the fundament of our universe.
the Aggregationists emulate dragons in their meditations on and indulgences of greed and lust and hunger, what they call the inward-gathering desires, which they aim to synthesise into a single Want that they believe is the key to their apotheosis.
the Panthalassics use incredible amounts of drugs to attain draconicity and have a great deal of exchange of prospectives with other schools, especially the Aggregationists. they have the best music by far, also.
the Sunbathers occupy a single compound with catacombs sunk deep into the mountains’ foundations, where lead-bearded goatgirls and blue-basking alligatorgirls seek to transform themselves body and soul with nuclear alchemy.
all these esoteric schools and sects and others make their homes on the slopes of the Serpentine Mountains, where quiet dark pine forests stand tall, where pilgrims climb the same paths that goatgirl llamaherds descend, to trade their wares with llamagirl goatherds in the northern foothills or coyotegirl spice merchants of the southern vales