NightWings

Art by Joy Ang

NightWings, also known as night dragons to humans, are a Pyrrhian dragon tribe who currently reside in the Rainforest Kingdom, alongside the RainWings, within the tropical rainforest in the lower southeast of Pyrrhia. They are currently ruled by Queen Glory.

The NightWing tribe previously lived on the Talon Peninsula, also known as the lost city of night or the old Night Kingdom. After Darkstalker murdered Prince Arctic, the NightWings feared that his ghost haunted the peninsula and fled to the NightWing island off the northern coast of the Sky Kingdom where they remained until the NightWing Exodus. They were secretly allied with Blister towards the end of the War of SandWing Succession.

A large portion of the tribe was briefly ruled by Darkstalker in the second arc. There were only fifty or so NightWings who stayed in the rainforest during this time.

Twenty-seven NightWings separated from Queen Glory and currently live in an encampment in the lost city of night known as Renewal.

Description

Starflight's star scales on the underside of one of his wings from The Dark Secret (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

A typical NightWing egg from The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

NightWings are based on monitor lizards. They have been described to have forked, pitch-black tongues, as well as dark scales which are usually black or in shades of dark green, blue, purple, or dull gray. They also may have purple or dark green underbellies, and dapples of silver scales running along their necks. Their wings have silver scales scattered across them like the stars of a night sky, forming different patterns. These patterns are genetic. NightWings have been described with black, dark blue, purple, or dark green eyes. They have straight horns.

NightWings can melt into shadows and blend into the night sky due to their colors and wing patterns. Mind readers have silver teardrop scales by the corners of their eyes, and empaths such as Fatespeaker will also have these teardrop scales; however, it is possible that NightWings with teardrop scales may not have this ability. Seers have no physical indications of their power.

Diet

Morrowseer eating the carrion of a giant albatross on the NightWing island from The Dark Secret (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

On the volcanic island, NightWings ate mostly carrion. They would bite their prey, poisoning it with bacteria from inside their mouths, and leave it to decease. After it was dead, they would return to eat it. On the island, seafaring birds could be found. They would also hunt in the rainforest, for prey such as sloths, and may have gathered some fruit. While living on this island, most NightWings ate once per week, which contributed to their malnutrition.

After relocating to the rainforest, NightWings began to incorporate fruits and vegetables into their diet, though they continue to eat meat, with the exception of sloths.

In the time of Darkstalker, hunting was very similar to other tribes. They ate hawks, fish, bears, squirrels, rattlesnakes, and wolves. They cooked their food, including roasted nuts and baked bear, and had access to cheese. They would also purchase fruits from RainWing merchants.

Abilities

NightWings are a nocturnal tribe that can blend into the night sky and shadows. They can also breathe fire, and most modern NightWings have harmful bacteria in their mouths which can poison animals with a single bite. However, it is noted that after searching through the corpses of dead NightWings, there was no venom found in their teeth. They have a strong sense of smell and powerful night vision. NightWings hatched under one full moon have the power of mind-reading or prophecy, and those hatched under two have both. Dragonets hatched under three full moons will have both of these powers, which have been made stronger by the third moon. NightWings once thought that the third full moon gave animus powers, though this was later disconfirmed, as animus powers are passed on genetically. The power of the gifts varies, such as Clearsight having strong foresight. When the NightWings moved to the volcanic island, knowledge of these powers was forgotten, possibly on purpose. NightWing eggs touched by the moonlight of a full moon will turn an eerie polished silver color, while untouched eggs remain an ebony black.

Moon reading the minds of Jade Mountain Academy Students from Moon Rising (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

Mind-reading NightWings can observe the thoughts of those around them. They cannot 'rummage around' in another dragon's head, but hear thoughts as the dragon thinks them, often only picking up on jumbled words, pictures, and emotions; thoughts are louder and stronger to the mind reader when they are touching the former. In the time of Darkstalker, dragonets were taught ways to block out the minds of others, though this practice was lost over time without powers. Mind readers can project their thoughts to one another to have mental conversations, and powerful mind readers may be able to block the visions of prophets. Dragons with this power hatched under a blood moon can project their thoughts to any dragon, not just other mind readers.

Moonwatcher delivering the Jade Mountain Prophecy from Moon Rising (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

Prophetic NightWings can see flashes and visions of the future. On occasion, they will have a true prophecy, which will manifest as words rather than a vision in the dragon's head. In the time of Darkstalker, prophets would sometimes take regular visions and translate them to sound like real prophecies. Very powerful prophets may be able to look into the future and follow individual timelines. Futures have been described as 'webs', as they overlap and are easily mixed up. Prophets hatched beneath a blood moon can see terrible events and natural disasters with particular clarity. When NightWings deliver prophecies, their eyes glow and their voices become low and shivery.

Click here for a list of all empowered NightWings.

Animus magic

NightWings have animus dragons, with the earliest known powers tracing back to the NightWing-IceWing hybrid Darkstalker. All known animus NightWing dragons are descended from Whiteout, as she carried animus genetics while Darkstalker did not have dragonets. They may have had animus magic before Darkstalker, as they once believed that the third full moon gave animus magic. In modern times, they are likely expected or forced to use their powers for the good of their tribe.

Society

Modern era

NightWing society is undergoing a great deal of change as they adjust to life in the rainforest. Many of them were bitter due to their queen being a RainWing, and although some have become more accepting of the idea, Glory's queenship is quite controversial among them, but they still contain a tribal aura of mystery and spookiness.

NightWing Island Era

While living on the volcanic island, NightWings poured a great deal of effort into making their tribe seem mysterious and powerful to hide their real weakened state. They trained their dragonets to lie about their 'powers,' and kept them confined to the island until at least age ten to prevent any breaches of information.

They were exceptionally skilled at keeping secrets, and NightWing information was given to dragonets as they grow older. They were not allowed to leave the island until the age of ten, and most NightWings would try to counter sarcasm with more sarcasm, as though every conversation was a competition to see whose wit was more biting. Usually, no one stopped to acknowledge that someone else was funny. In general, sentimental sincerity was not a NightWing trait. Loyalty, secrecy, and obedience to NightWing elders were the most important lessons for dragonets within the tribe, and young NightWings were kept away from other tribes, as older dragons did not trust them to keep NightWing secrets. When Battlewinner disappeared from public view, enforcement of guard and patrol duties was considerably weakened, and many citizens believed that guarding and patrolling an island that no one was able to locate was ultimately pointless. Leaving the island and traveling to the mainland was every young dragonet's dream. NightWings were not supposed to be seen within the mainland, and Deathbringer's main objective as an assassin was to ensure that the NightWing involvement in the War of SandWing Succession was kept under heavy secrecy.

A game involving bones and tiny skulls were played by a pair of two adult NightWings.

Darkstalker era

In the time of Darkstalker, NightWing mothers typically named their dragonets. The tribe also functioned nocturnally, usually waking after midday and sleeping at sunrise. NightWings of higher status lived in higher homes in the cliffs, while lower ones lived closer to the bottom, where less desirable homes were. They also appeared to value knowledge and reading, as they had an extensive library and honored the first librarians of the kingdom. In Clearsight's time, the NightWings were famous for their intertribal relations, open trade partnerships, literature, and artwork, which had been sold across the continent. Dragons from all over Pyrrhia brought them new ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Most dragonets started school when they were one year old.

NightWings had a centuries-old feud with the IceWings due to the legend of Foeslayer and Arctic, known as the NightWing-IceWing War. The feud is at least on pause as of Darkness of Dragons.

Ancient NightWing nests were depicted as bowls of carved stone that are lined with black fur, and eggs were typically hatched atop high mountain peaks.

Pre-Darkstalker era

NightWings were the first tribe to develop a written Dragon language. They taught it to the other tribes and traveling NightWing teachers would fly across Pyrrhia to bring scrolls to the tribes. They had scrolls from other tribes including architecture plans and records from NightWing scriptoriums. They also took medicine seriously and would discover healing techniques that they would share with the other tribes. They would use their powers to protect the other tribes.

Names

NightWing names may be descriptive of the dragon's personality (such as Thoughtful, Greatness, Wisdom, and Listener), relate to an aptitude or job (such as Mastermind, Deathbringer, or Quickstrike), describe or relate to their physical appearance (such as Bigtail and Strongwings), or be night-themed (such as Starflight, Eclipse, and Moonwatcher). Their names may also be inspired by the NightWing powers (names such as Fatespeaker, Mindreader, and Morrowseer.) Most NightWing names are meant to give a sense of strength or mightiness.

Click here for a list of known NightWings.

Animus dragons

• Darkstalker (half IceWing)
• Stonemover
• Unnamed granddaughter and great-great-great-grandson of Whiteout

Students at Jade Mountain

• Bigtail (formerly; deceased)
• Fearless
• Mightyclaws (formerly; currently making new homes for the NightWings in the rainforest)
• Mindreader
• Moonwatcher

Trivia

• NightWings appear to have excellent night vision but still cannot see in total darkness as well as SeaWings can.
• It is mentioned by Hope that NightWings are trying to readjust to their natural (nocturnal) schedule in Darkness of Dragons.
• NightWings are shown to be very loyal to their tribe and have an arrogance similar to the IceWings. Morrowseer once explained to Starflight: "We assumed NightWing superiority was something all NightWings hatched with."
• Tui considered the mention of the Darkest Night, a night where all three moons are new, to be present somewhere in the NightWings' stories.
• In the audiobooks read by Shannon McManus, all NightWings speak with a British accent, except for Starflight, Fatespeaker, and Moonwatcher, who were raised away from the NightWings and did not develop this accent. However, Tui does not consider audiobook accents canon.
• NightWings are able to hang from the ceiling like bats. This is depicted in the graphic novel.
• In Darkstalker's era, all NightWing dragonets owned these scrolls: Geography of Pyrrhia, Myths of the Lost Continent, Ten Little Scavengers (Recipes included!), and Goodnight, Moons.
• Humans described NightWings as the least dangerous type of dragon tribe, due to very few of them being seen.

Gallery

• 
  A typical NightWing (colored), by Joy Ang
• 
  A typical NightWing (lineart), by Joy Ang
• 
  A typical NightWing (transparent), by Joy Ang
• 
  A typical NightWing from the German publication, by Max Meinzold

References

cs:Nocileti de:Nachtflügler fr:Ailes de Nuit fi:Yösiivet nl:NachtVleugels pl:Nocoskrzydłe ru:Ночные драконы uk:Темнокрили