Howdy ho folks!

So.... since I'm a bit late on the whole uploading thingy, these pride chapters will be fairly short, apologies QwQ

But yeah. Since it's June and that means pride month, I decided to draw some of my lesser known or at least less popular, queer OCs!!!
I'm all there for representation in my novels, so I try to fit as much diversity in them as I can >w<

Let's just kick it right off then, with my baby Bothanar!

The only other time I drew them before, was in february, as part of my small paladin trainee series. If you're more curious about their backstory, def go check out that chapter!

Either way, back during their trainee years, they were very conflicted and struggling internally quite a bit, especially when that second puberty hit in. (Harath have two of those btw, so that's completely normal >w<)

BUTT as soon as they left the more competitive environment and got to relax a bit more, they made some really good and genuine friends for the first time in their life, and came more to terms with their gender and sexuality. Before that, being agender was a pain, and they only really felt validated, when the people around them accepted them as who they are, since opinions of others mattered more than how they felt inside.

So then they discovered the beauty of being genderless and experimented more with different styles, quite often wearing traditionally feminine and colourful clothing or bras with silicone breasts in their free time, whilst their job as a paladin forces them to wear more simple and traditionally masculine clothing, just for the practicality of them.
They also discovered make up for themself and whilst they totally rock a full face and every single shade of lipgloss, they usually settle for different red eyeliner variations, to get ready faster in the morning and keep things more practical for their job.

So yeah! Here's my pansexual and agender darling:

NEXT UP WE HAVE GRAND MASTER CERTHADAN!!

Well... as I already said in Halons chapter, he is about as nerdy-gay as can be and I love him for that ^-^

So yeah... can't find as much to say about him as about Bothanar, so just... enjoy this old man and his awkward smile >w<

And.... i mean, how couldn't I include Blackberry in this mix?

I don't know if I said it anywhere before, but he is indeed transgender ^-^
From a very young age he always was around his elder brothers and always felt a part of them, never actively noticing that their gender was different, until he developed enough to look more feminine.
Since he's from a noble family, his parents tried to raise him to be the typical noblewoman, which caused huge dysphoria for him, quite often throwing tantrums and running off, to spend time alone, with his dragon, or in the nearby city.

At some point he had a mental breakdown in the forest and was missing for longer than usual, since his parents planned a larger party, where he'd need to be wearing a dress, which just stressed him out beyond measure.
His eldest brother found him and they talked for a long time, his brother trying to convince him, how it would probably not be that bad, and that he'd just need to get used to it and all that, until Iabonnen quite frankly told him
"No, you don't understand. I'm not nervous because of the dress or the people. I just... I just wish to be a boy like you."
.... and yeah that's when his bro understood what was going on (since he presumed something similar for quite some time already), and told him how that's totally okay, how transgenders are a thing and that even though Iabonnen may be stuck in a female body at the moment, they can definetely exchange that with a prosthetic male one, through modern technology and all that.

So yeah.... that's when Blackberry started to realise that he is, in fact, a man. He came out pretty quickly to his other brother, then testing out different, male versions of his name, the new pronouns and quite often borrowing their clothes when the parents weren't around too much.
The morning before said party he then came out to his parents, who were a bit reluctant to the entire idea at first, but allowed him to wear a suit for the evening, if that's what made him happy.

So yeah.... his parents got used to the idea pretty quickly, after seeing how much happier Bonny was as a boy, and after he was out for a year and very sure of his decision, they financed a body exchange, so he got himself a complete, mechanical, male version of his appearance ^-^

Yeah.... he's lived happily ever since, deciding to join the paladins one day, constantly thinking that he's asexual for the longest time, until he started to feel attracted to his best friend Cloudspear >w<
So yeah... that's when he figured that he may also be demisexual and just stuck with the label, even though he never really felt any attraction after that short phase ^-^

So yeah! That's all I got for now. Hope ya like these little portraits and more introspectives on the development of some of my characters, in terms of gender and sexuality ^-^
If you have any questions left, concerning what any of the flags or terms mean, don't be afrais to comment or dm me!

Overall it was hella fun to just draw some more simple portraits again, especially since I dug out some characters I didn't draw in literall ages! Blackberry and Runeblade look so different in my more curent style argh *pats them all*

Either way, hope yall liked them too and had some fun along the way :D

*cuddles you guys and gives you some ice cream*

Kinda don't know what else to say anymore, so I hope to see you in the next chapters and stick around for another while.