Jianyu has a minion!

Yucca the Zodiac Snake Spirit

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Adopted from Feraligatr!
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| NOTES |

One of the Sacred Beasts of the West.
Giant snake that lives underneath the desert as the guardian of Joshua Tree National Park!
Maybe a special compass holds his soul????
Or maybe a special Joshua Tree is his heart????
"Leave only footprints."
Lots of solar power (yet he lives underground???? Right??? How can these things connect and work??)

"Two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in Joshua Tree National Park. A fascinating variety of plants and animals make their homes in a land sculpted by strong winds and occasional torrents of rain."
Should there be two snakes??? Jianyu and X ??? One is wind-based the other is rain/water based reflecting these two distinct ecosystems?

"... the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and the lower Colorado Desert."

"...The Colorado Desert in the eastern portion of the park features natural gardens of creosote bush, ocotillo and cholla cactus. The higher, slightly cooler Mojave Desert offers dazzling vistas of Joshua trees and yucca. The vast park also contains spectacularly sculpted formations of a type of rock known as monzogranite and is a mecca for rock climbers around the world."

"Arid low desert and vegetated high desert meet..."

Jianyu and Yucca once upon a time battled and clashed in the area causing volcanic activity. They ended up settling their differences and both decided to share their influences on the area. When there is seismic activity, the two snakes are once again quarrelling.


When conditions are unfavourable (maybe like when people started chopping down Joshua Trees? Or maybe there's something in the soil? Or some kind of dark magic?) Jianyu will end up going dormant for a time period. Or maybe they take turns cycling???

Joshua Trees basically play the long con LMAO
The Yucca Moth has a symbiotic relationship to Joshua Trees. They both need one another or else they both suffer.
The moth's natural predators are: climate change, bats, and birds. So many a bird or bat creature of an element is devouring them all???

Animals that are there:
* Kangaroo rats
* Jackrabbits
* Coyotes
* Owls (great-horned)
* Bobcat
* Snakes

There were once miners there!! See: Mastodon Peak (could there be ghosts???)

ch.1 //

Once upon a time, humans worshipped the Beasts (working name) and relied on them for their blessings, protection, and guidance. Humans created National Parks as a way to honour and respect the Beasts vowing to keep these spaces wild and free of development as humans became more industrialised and relied less and less on the Beasts.

Jianyu is one of these creatures now believed to be a mere fairytale, and oversees/protects the land that has been named by the humans: Joshua Tree National Park.
The park is home to two distinct desert ecosystems that were created through a conflict between Jianyu and Yucca — two legendary snakes that once upon a time fought against one another over who should rule that territory in the West. And the two came to a compromise and decided to share the land.

But the Joshua Trees have started to die and no one knows why. The death of the iconic trees spell disaster for the ecosystem of the land. One human, Neeka the rookie park ranger, decided to go back to her roots, and tries to call upon Jianyu and Yucca to help save the trees.

Yucca is ok with the trees dying because he is bitter that humans no longer praise or need him. He feels that they are ungrateful and do not deserve his help anymore.
But Jianyu wants to help save the iconic trees. He believes that this land is their responsibility - it was their's even well before the humans were around.

ch. 2 //

Neeka arrived at the entrance of a long abandoned gold mine found at the base of Mastodon Peak. After exhaustive research, she found that Mastodon Mine was the last known place where one had a chance to find Jianyu - one of the Sacred Beasts of Joshua Tree.


Seeking the help of these Beasts was farfetched and her colleagues mocked her endlessly. "They're only fairy-tales and myths," they said to her, "stories and gods people made up to help comfort them during the Old Times." But they were running out of options, and running out of time. The Joshua Trees were dying and they still couldn't figure out why.

The blockade to the entrance was easy to bypass. However, there had been rumours of ghost sightings - possibly the spirits of gold miners who were killed. A shiver went down Neeka's spine as she thought of coming across a ghost. She stood at the entrance trying to muster the courage to face any possible ghosts when she felt a raindrop hit her forehead.
She looked up at the sky, "Huh, I don't remember there being rain in the forecast." She muttered crinkling her nose. She stood there for another minute contemplating the idea of running into a ghost and how to deal with one when suddenly the sky darkened and lightning flashed against the dark and angry clouds a few miles away.
Neeka yelped, and bolted headlong into the mine - ghosts be damned.

ch. 3 //

It had been many moons since Jianyu experienced a thunderstorm that rattled him to the core, and scared the shed skin off of his scales. Thunderstorms brought bad news for this guardian in the desert. The bright forks of red lightning, the booming rumble that followed, and the electricity crackling in the air meant trouble — Tuyakae the Three-Legged Thunderbird was coming.

Joshua Trees collect and absorb the prayers of humans. They're vessels storing the powerful energy of hope — and one thing that feeds off of that energy is Tuyakae. The last time Tuyakae showed their face half the trees were destroyed. With all of the hope sucked out of them, bad luck had cursed the surrounding lands for three centuries until the trees were restored.

Suffering from major wounds himself, Jianyu hoped he had injured Tuyakae enough that it would keep him away for forever. But that may have just been wishful thinking.Can prayer even work coming from a god themselves?

Jianyu felt the earth surrounding him tremble. The tree roots whispered his thoughts — Tuyakae the Three-Legged Thunderbird was back. He felt incredibly disturbed. The trees had been dying over the past decade and with Tuyakae returning, that meant possible extinction for the trees if Tuyakae managed to devour what little was left.

The sound of falling rocks began to echo in the caverns. Jianyu peered into the dark and Yucca appeared from the Tunnel of the North.Jianyu was slightly shocked, "I wasn't expecting to see you. Did you change your mind?"
Yucca snorted, "I didn't come back to help. I could care less about what happens to the trees, the land, or even you for that matter. No, I came back to watch fate decide once and for all."
Jianyu was hurt and couldn't hide the pain from his face. In the Beginning, He and Yucca had fought over this land to decide who would get to rule. After a century, the two came to a truce and agreed to share which resulted in the land having two distinct desert ecosystems —the Mojave and the Colorado.

Jianyu fiercely blinked away the tears and put on his brave face. He no longer had the time or energy to convince Yucca that they should continue caring for this place regardless if humans worshipped them or not.
"Stay behind and continue nursing your wounded ego. I'm going to go do something that matters with my life." And with that, Jianyu took off to the surface.

ch. 4 //

Neeka scrambles her way through the maze of the mines. She's about to be cursed by the ghosts of miners when Yucca steps in and saves her (how unselfish of him!!!!)
Neeka is the one who reminds, and inspires Yucca to go help after showing him that humans still remember them.

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