Pyrrhia

Colored map of Pyrrhia by Mike Schley, from the graphic novel adaptation of The Dragonet Prophecy

Pyrrhia, also known as the Distant Kingdoms by Pantalans, is the sole setting of the Wings of Fire series during the first ten books. It is one of the two known continents, with the other being Pantala. Pyrrhia has highly varied geographical regions, listed as the Ice Kingdom, Kingdom of Sand, Sky Kingdom, Mud Kingdom, Rainforest Kingdom, Kingdom of the Sea, and the Night Kingdom, which had been located on an unknown volcanic island north of the Sky Kingdom. The latter is now uninhabited after the volcano erupted, forcing the NightWing tribe to relocate to the Rainforest Kingdom. There is also the old Night Kingdom, also known as the Lost City of Night, located on a peninsula southeast of the Kingdom of Sand. During the time of Darkstalker, this peninsula used to be larger, forming the "claw" of Pyrrhia.

The mainland is shaped like a dragon, and it is similar to Canada and the United States of America when it comes to climate and geographical shape.

Geography

This is the map in the first five books

A large mountain range runs roughly down the center of the entire continent, which called the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, where the Dragonets of Destiny were hatched and raised. This is part of the SkyWings' territory and separates the eastern and western halves of Pyrrhia - and which is presumably also responsible for the drastic weather differences on the continent. The tallest mountain in this range is known as Jade Mountain.

The Ice Kingdom is dominated by the tundra's ice lands, snow shelves, and glaciers. To its south is the Kingdom of Sand. Because of the sub-zero temperatures and Great Ice Cliff, no dragons other than IceWings can live there, unless visitors wear the Gift of Diplomacy, which allow the wearer perfect body temperature.

The Kingdom of Sand is made of rolling dunes and cacti. The heat and lack of humidity are almost unbearable to dragons other than SandWings, except RainWings, who enjoy the sunlight.

The Mud Kingdom is populated with swampland, reeds, and tends to be very humid. Along the Mud Kingdoms' northern border is the Diamond Spray River which meets up with the ocean at the Diamond Spray Delta.

The Rainforest Kingdom is comprised of several creatures and an endless tangle of vines and trees. Most tribes other than RainWings find the jungle plants and insects annoying and difficult to navigate through.

At the extreme east of the continent where chains of islands form the dragon's tail is the Kingdom of the Sea, also known as the Bay of a Thousand Scales.

Pyrrhia appears to be placed in two hemispheres, as rainforests form solely near the equator of a planet where the climate is warm and humid, with the Ice Kingdom and the northern Sky Kingdom being in the colder northern hemisphere.

There are three rivers with known names: the Diamond Spray River, the Great Five-Tail River (the Great River), and the Winding Tail River.

Two thousand years ago, the bottom "talon" peninsula was the old Night Kingdom. The final queen there ( Vigilance)  abandoned it due to urging from Clearsight and Listener. Over time, it significantly shrinks, due to natural terrain erosion, tsunamis battering the peninsula, and/or earthquakes.

Flora and Fauna Layout of Pyrrhia

The flora layout of Pyrrhia is quite similar to that of Earth, according to geographical regions. For example, in the Rainforest Kingdom, there are jungle plants that resemble those that grow in areas such as the Congo or Amazon.

Additionally, marine life is present in the oceans and animals adapted to arctic climates can be found in the Ice Kingdom.

Dragons make up the dominant life form on Pyrrhia, of which seven dragon tribes have formed out of with each tribe ideally suited to their climate they reside in. A step down are the scavengers, or as we would call them, humans. They show intellect through their ability to build structures and craft basic tools and weapons, small works of art such as pots, baskets, statues, and charcoal drawings have also been found. Scavengers were once the dominant life form on Pyrrhia before the dragons rose against them in the event called the Scorching.

Many terrestrial animals, including those that are domesticated such as cows and pigs, also appear to inhabit the land and serve as prey for the dragons.

Both the plants and animals are larger than those in the real world, being about the same size as dragons as they are to humans.^{[citation needed]}

Geographic Features

The western half of Pyrrhia is in the rain shadow of the Claws of the Clouds mountains. There is a fault line running directly under the Claws of the Clouds mountains and is likely the same fault line the NightWing Volcano is located on.

Known Wildlife

Mud Kingdom

• Bullfrogs 
• Cows
• Coyotes 
• Crocodiles
• Pigs
  • Warthogs 
• Rabbits
• Scavengers 
• Snakes 
• Waterbirds
  • Cranes
  • Ducks
  • Herons
  • Moorhens 
  • Soras

Kingdom Of Sand

• Antelopes 
  • Springboks
• Camels 
• Capybaras 
• Cats 
• Desert foxes 
• Hippos 
• Lizards
  • Frilled lizards 
• Mice
• Ostriches
• Pronghorns
• Scavengers 
• Scorpions
• Snakes 
  • Cobras
  • Dragonbite vipers
  • Vipers
• Tarantulas 

Sky Kingdom/Claws of the Clouds

• Bats
• Birds
  • Birds of prey
    • Eagles
    • Harriers
    • Hawks 
    • Kestrels
    • Various birds of prey
  • Chickens
  • Pheasants
  • Songbirds
    • Swifts
• Bobcats
• Cows
• Coyotes
• Crickets 
• Fish 
  • Flying fish
• Foxes
• Frogs 
• Grizzly bears
• Moose
• Mountain goats 
• Pigs
  • Warthogs 
• Porcupines
• Rabbits
• Scavengers 
• Squirrels
• Wolves

Kingdom of the Sea/Bay of a Thousand Scales

• Anemones
• Clams
  • Giant Clams
• Crabs 
  • Hermit crabs 
• Fish 
  • Eels
    • Electric eels 
    • Moray eels
  • Many unspecified fish
  • Minnows
  • Sardines
  • Sea Horses
    • Leafy Sea Dragon
  • Sharks
    • Great white sharks 
  • Stingrays
    • Mantas 
  • Tuna
  • Various tropical fish
    • Angelfish
    • Clownfish 
    • Humphead Wrasse
    • Moorish Idol
• Nautili 
• Octopi
  • Dumbo Octopus 
• Oysters
• Seabirds
  • Albatross
  • Auklets
  • Seagulls
• Monkeys* 
• Scavengers
• Seals
• Spiders*
• Squid 
• Starfish
• Tree frogs*
• Turtles 
  • Leatherback Sea Turtle
• Urchins
• Whales 

Rainforest Kingdom

• Armadillos
• Beetles
• Botos
• Centipedes 
• Fish
  • Siamese fighting fish***
• Frogs
  • Bullfrogs 
  • Tree frogs 
    • Hallucinogenic tree frogs 
    • Hallucinogenic toads
  • Poison dart frogs
• Great Apes
  • Baboons
  • Gibbons
  • Orangutans
• Loris 
• Monkeys
  • Howler monkeys
  • Tamarins
  • Spider monkeys
• Jaguars
• Siamangs
• Sloths 
• Snails
• Snakes
  • Constrictors
    • Anacondas 
• Spiders
• Tapirs 
• Tropical birds
  • Parrots
    • Macaws 
  • Quetzals

Ice Kingdom

• Ermines
• Foxes
• Hares
• Hawks 
• Penguins 
• Polar bears
• Rabbits 
• Pinnipeds 
  • Seals 
  • Walruses 
• Sardines
• Whales
  • Narwhals 

Old Night Kingdom/Talon Peninsula

• Anemones**
• Bats
• Bears 
• Fish
• Hawks 
• Pink Fairy Armadillos
• Rattlesnakes
• Thorny Devils
• Scavengers 
• Squirrels
• Starfishes**
• Wolves

Jade Mountain Area

• Axolotls
• Bats
• Black Bears
• Crocodilimorph***
• Crabs
• Fish
  • Salmon
• Lizards
• Mountain Goats

*Lives on the islands

**Lives in the tide pools 

***Debatable 

Tribes

The dragons are separated into seven tribes. MudWings, SandWings, SkyWings, SeaWings, RainWings, IceWings, and NightWings.

All tribes inhabit a place that suits their needs and have adapted into the tribes of Pyrrhia today. In The Hidden Kingdom, it is revealed that the NightWings have lived on a volcanic island north of Pyrrhia for two thousand years. The volcano erupts in The Dark Secret, forcing the tribe to flee their home and move to the Rainforest Kingdom alongside the RainWings.

Morrowseer mentions that the NightWing island used to be covered in trees until the volcano erupted. What wasn't burned up by lava flows was left covered in ash.

BeetleWings and LeafWings are also native to Pyrrhia, but long before the series, they had fled to Pantala for unknown reasons.

Celestial Bodies

Throughout the series, it has been shown that three different sized moons orbit the planet where the series takes place. When all three of the moons are full, the dragons refer to it as "the brightest night", which only occurs once a century. None of the moons have known names.

Two of the three moons and a comet, shown on the full cover of The Brightest Night.

File:Three moons.jpg

What the three moons might look like in Pyrrhia's night sky.

In The Brightest Night, a fourth celestial body appeared while the SandWing queen was chosen. Sunny described it as "another brightest night", although such shouldn't have occurred for another ninety-four years. Starflight believed it was a comet given its increasing size as time passed, and Fatespeaker claimed to have a vision where it would crush them all. After some discussion, it would later be known as the "Orb in the Sky" with several indirect impacts on the story.

• The Orb in the Sky would soon disappear from the sky proving Fatespeaker's vision false.
• Following the Orb in the Sky, meteorites were spotted in the sky.
• Darkstalker was awakened from his eternal sleep by the earthquake caused by meteorite impacts.
• Pieces of the Orb in the Sky have fallen on Pyrrhia before. These meteorites were dubbed "Skyfire" by Onyx, and holding or carrying one will block the mind-reading of a NightWing with telepathic powers.
• The smallest moon of the dragon planet seems to have a rotation of about a month (unconfirmed)

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Moon Rising

Moon Rising saw the end of the War of SandWing Succession. This brought about several changes to the map of Pyrrhia, they are as follows:

• With the death of Burn in The Brightest Night, Sunny's mother Thorn was made the queen of the SandWings and was given possession of Burn's Stronghold. It has been renamed "Queen Thorn's Stronghold".
• "Under the Mountain" has been removed, and the "Claws of the Clouds Mountains" are labelled instead.
• "Queen Scarlet's Palace" is now "Queen Ruby's Palace".
• "Queen Moorhen's Palace" is now located on the map.
• With the orchestrated attack on the SeaWing Summer Palace by the SkyWings and assisted by the MudWings as seen in The Lost Heir, it's formerly hidden location was made known to the NightWings and has been labelled as "Ruins of the Summer Palace" on the maps of Pyrrhia.
• "Bay of a Thousand Scales" is now located on the map.

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Darkstalker

File:Darkstalker Map.jpg

Old map of Pyrrhia from Darkstalker

Around 2,000 years ago, when Darkstalker hatched, the map of Pyrrhia was quite different. Some of the differences between the Darkstalker map and the other maps are as follows:

• The peninsula that is located beneath the Kingdom of Sand on the rest of the maps is bigger, possibly due to tidal changes in the past two millennia.
• The Night Kingdom is labelled on the map, on the enlarged peninsula, and Queen Vigilance's Palace is also shown.
• Queen Lagoon's Island Palace is labelled in the Kingdom of the Sea.
• The Summer Palace is not shown, as no dragon except for SeaWings knew where it was located at that time.
• Queen Thorn's Stronghold is labelled as Queen Scorpion's Stronghold.
• Queen Thorn's Stronghold has no extra walls.
• The Scorpion Den is removed, as it did not exist at the time of Darkstalker.
• Queen Glacier's Palace is labelled Queen Diamond's Palace.
• Queen Ruby's Palace is labelled Queen Carmine's Palace.
• Queen Moorhen's Palace is labelled Queen Crane's Palace.
• The Scavenger Dens are not labelled, as they were kept secret or not known at that time.
• The Bay of a Thousand Scales is labelled (as opposed to the first arc's map, which didn't have it labelled)

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Dragonslayer

The change in species perspective shows differences in naming. The changes are as follows:

• The Mud Kingdom is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
• The Kingdom of Sand is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
• The SandWing Stronghold is labelled as the "Desert Dragon Palace".
• The Scorpion Den's image of a scorpion is replaced with an image of dragons rising out of a hole, and is labelled as "Terrifying Viper Pit of Dragons".
• The Sky Kingdom is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
• The Sky Palace is labelled as "Mountain Dragon Palace".
• The Sea Kingdom is labelled as "Here Be Underwater Dragons".
• The Rainforest Kingdom is labelled as "Here be Dragons, Probably?"
• The Ice Kingdom is labelled as "Here be Dragons?"
• The IceWing Palace is missing due to scavengers not knowing of its existence.
• Valor is labelled on the left of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains.
• Talisman is labelled to the south of the Sky Palace.
• The leftmost scavenger den's image is replaced with an image of a different building, and is labelled as "The Indestructible City".
• The rightmost scavenger den is labelled as "Safe Harbor".

Trivia

• Pyrrhia is a genus of moth, which implies flight, and the prefix pyro- implies fire.
• Just as Pyrrhians refer to Pantala as The Lost Continent, Pantalans refer to Pyrrhia as The Distant Kingdoms.
• Pyrrhia has appeared in every book in the mainstream, winglets, and legends series.
• Tui confirmed in an interview that Pyrrhia and Pantala cover 2/3 of the world, which hints that there may be another continent with other dragon tribes.

Art Gallery

File:Bloodfrost Head.png

IceWing RainWing

• 
  Kingdoms of Pyrrhia, Arc 1 (map by Mike Schley, colored by Platypus)
• 
  Combined map of Pyrrhia and Pantala
• 
  Colored map of Pyrrhia in Darkstalker's time
• 
  Kingdoms of Pyrrhia, Arc 2 (map by Mike Schley, colored by Platypus)
• 
  Kingdoms of Pyrrhia, in Darkstalker (map by Mike Schley, colored by Platypus)
• The Kingdom of Sand
  The Kingdom of Sand
• 
  The Rainforest Kingdom
• The Mud Kingdom
  The Mud Kingdom
• The Ice Kingdom
  The Ice Kingdom
• The Sky Kingdom
  The Sky Kingdom
• The Kingdom of the Sea
  The Kingdom of the Sea
• The Former Night Kingdom
  The Former Night Kingdom
• 
  Orbital view of Pyrrhia
• An image of Pyrrhia on an Orthographic projection with the intent to place Pyrrhia on a three dimensional surface.
  An image of Pyrrhia on an Orthographic projection with the intent to place Pyrrhia on a three dimensional surface.
• The kingdoms of Pyrrhia
  The kingdoms of Pyrrhia
• 
  If Australia were Pyrrhia
• 
  by Crevasse the IceWing
• 
  by Crevasse the IceWing
• by: Crevasse the IceWing
  by: Crevasse the IceWing
• 
  by Crevasse the IceWing
• 
  By Crevasse the IceWing
• If Pangea Were Pyrrhia: by Crevasse the IceWing
  If Pangea Were Pyrrhia: by Crevasse the IceWing
• File:Pyrrhia.jpg
• Blank map of Pyrrhia
  Blank map of Pyrrhia
• Blank map of Pyrrhia (with no water) (Darkstalker ver.)
  Blank map of Pyrrhia (with no water) (Darkstalker ver.)
• 
  Map of Pyrrhia in Dragonslayer

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