RainWings

File:Typical RainWing.png

RainWings are dragons that live in the Rainforest Kingdom that are capable of spitting a deadly venom and shifting the color of their scales. The tribe was originally ruled by the RainWing royal line, but since Queen Grandeur had three heirs that she deemed "useless", she merged her eggs with the rest of the tribes' eggs. Eventually, Queen Grandeur let other RainWings sit on her throne in hopes of finding a queen who was one in spirit, if not in blood. Six dragon queens were then sharing the throne; Queen Grandeur, Queen Dazzling, Queen Fruit Bat, Queen Magnificent, Queen Splendor, and Queen Exquisite, who each took one month turns at being queen (Grandeur being the only one of royal blood). However, the tribe is now ruled by Queen Glory, who is a distant relative of Queen Grandeur. This was discovered during the challenge for the throne, when Grandeur accidentally spat venom on Kinkajou's wings. Glory performed a very quick venom test, which surprisingly showed that she was a relative of Grandeur. RainWings tend to be pacifistic and do not like to rush into fights, as shown when the NightWings attacked them, though there is evidence that they might have not always been this way. Instead of having a palace like most tribes, the queen resides in an ordinary-sized hut which other dragons can visit her in. They will line up and wait when they wanted to talk to the queen about something. Although RainWings are peaceful dragons (for now), there could have been a time where RainWings were at war with another tribe, due to Grandeur hinting to Glory that she remembers when they used their camouflage to hide from enemies as well as Queen Lagoon quoting that “If we find another animus in the tribe, that would make us twice as powerful, which would be quite useful given how the MudWings and RainWings have been behaving lately".

Description

RainWings can change the color of their scales at any time. They are never left remaining monochromatic. Their scales usually shift between colors, depending on their mood. However, a RainWing can stamp out all emotion before it "splatters out all over their scales", as said by Queen Glory. Sometimes they can't do this, as shown in Moon Rising by Kinkajou. Any RainWing can change their scales to match the colors of their choosing with a bit of concentration and practice.

The sun is needed to make a RainWing's scales beautiful and vivid, so sometime around noon each day every RainWing takes a nap, or "sun time". In addition to making them better at camouflage and color changing, sun time also makes a RainWing less grumpy and feeds them to a certain extent.

RainWings are long and graceful, with a ruff around their necks and prehensile tails that are used primarily for climbing trees, and hanging in the forest they inhabit. When afraid or insulted, RainWings flare their ruffs, possibly as a defense tactic, to seem bigger or to scare away others. Similar to that of the frilled lizard.

Dragonets develop their color-shifting scales while they're still in their eggs, which are pale white in color.

Abilities

RainWings can alter the color of their scales to mimic objects, their surroundings, other dragons, or simply to suit their preference. A RainWing's colors may also change if they feel a particularly strong emotion, such as pale green or white for fear or pain, purple for guilt, yellow for amusement, pink for happiness, emerald for displeasure etc.

RainWings also have prehensile tails much like chameleons to grip onto trees. They swing from tree to tree, called "tree gliding" to move about over long distances, as vines and branches would make normal flying difficult. RainWing dragonets take tree gliding lessons.

RainWings have an acidic venom, which can be shot from their two longest fangs. Their venom melts away at dragon scales easily, and unless nullified with flame, the venom will kill the victim with alarming speed, even faster if the droplets land in the eyes or bloodstream. However, RainWing venom only affects living things such as leaves or flowers.

As each dragon's heritage is somewhat fuzzy, before mating, two RainWings will spray their venom on leaves or other plant matter to see if they are related. A RainWing's venom will neutralize their relative's venom, whereas an unrelated dragon's venom will cause the target to dissolve faster.

RainWing venom is black. When it hits hard ground, it will, after some time, dry into hard glossy droplets, similar to obsidian. While spitting their venom, RainWings fully open (unhinge) their mouth, much like a snake.

Society

RainWings are seen as lazy and unintelligent due to their tendency to lay around in the sun, although the sun's rays have a positive effect on their bodies, making them prettier, smarter, less grumpy, and even less hungry. They appear to have a carefree society with almost no conflict; there is plenty of food, so they have no reason to fight. The adults don't even bother to watch the eggs, as demonstrated when Webs stole one to become the fifth dragonet of the prophecy. The RainWings all care for the dragonets together and drop by the hatcheries once every few days to pick up any new dragonets.

File:Pyrrhia map-1.jpg

RainWings have had several different ways of becoming queen over time. In older times, RainWings fought for the throne like any other tribe, and later, they developed a nonviolent competition. Finally, the RainWings decided to take turns being queen— and any female in the Tribe who wished to become queen could for a period of one month. After Glory became queen via the nonviolent competition, this recent tradition appears to have vanished from the RainWing society.

RainWings rarely leave the Rainforest. They have no scrolls, can't read, can barely count, and knew very little about the other dragon tribes or of the rest of Pyrrhia until Queen Glory began a dragonet school there. However it can be implied that it wasn't always that way since according to a quote from Queen Lagoon, It can be assumed that Rainwings weren't always clueless about what happend outside their kingdom or the other dragon tribes since they posed a threat to the Seawings along with the MudWings at the time. They Rainwings and Mudwings may have been allies at that time since they had a common goal.

They have crude blowguns, loaded with darts coated in tree-frog poison. They are used for playing games or when strange dragons wander into the forest. During the attack on the Night Kingdom, Queen Glory had the RainWings use them as weapons for knocking out opponents, as most of the RainWings would have been opposed to using their venom to kill another dragon. They later made an agreement with the NightWings and allowed them to live in the forest.

RainWings also keep and take great care of pet sloths, while the pets from other tribes are usually eaten or lost by mistake. This shows RainWings can be both caring and soft, and further highlighting their peaceful nature. When sloths climb on the back of a sleeping RainWings, that means they have been "chosen" and can then keep that sloth as a loving, loyal pet forever. Even Glory was "chosen" by a sloth which she at first refused to love, but then gave up and named it Silver.

In Winter Turning, it was revealed that NightWing dragonets play with RainWing dragonets in the hatchery. This might prove useful to the future of those kingdoms as also in that book it is shown that older NightWings hate the RainWings, this contrast is probably the result of not being raised among RainWings.

It is hinted that they were once militaristic in Darkstalker (Legends).

Names

For names, RainWings tend to name their dragonets after rainforest animals, such as Kinkajou, plants, such as Jambu, virtues, such as Magnificent, and physical descriptions, such as Exquisite. It was mentioned before that they cycle through a list that they had to name dragonets, and when they finished the list they'd start over again, revealing that some dragonets have the same names as each other.

RainWing Royal Challenge

The RainWings have developed a custom of challenging their queen for the throne that does not end in death, unlike the other dragon tribes. This method requires the current queen to pick a contest, or multiple contests, and she and the challenger compete for the throne. The winner becomes the queen.

Known RainWings

• Queen Anaconda
• Banana
• Boto
• Bright
• Bromeliad
• Bullfrog
• Coconut
• Chameleon
• Dazzling
• Exquisite
• Fruit Bat
• Gibbon
• Queen Glory
• Grandeur
• Handsome
• Heliconia
• Prince Jambu
• Kinkajou
• Liana
• Loris
• Magnificent
• Mango
• Mangrove
• Orangutan
• Orchid
• Siamang
• Splendor
• Tamarin
• Tapir
• Tualang

Colors

Colors to Moods

• Red/Black = Angry/Upset
• Orange = Irritated
• Emerald = Displeasure/Annoyance
• Gold/Yellow = Excited/Amused
• Pink/Rose = Joy/Happiness
• Pale Green/Lily Green/Acid Green = Fearful/Terrified
• Green = Worried/Displeased/Annoyed
• Blue = Calm/Curiosity
• Indigo = Pride
• Dark Purple = Shame/Guilt
• Purple/Orange = Confused
• White = Pain/Extreme Fear/Sick
• Dark Gray/Blue-Gray = Sorrow/depressed
• Pale Blue = Worried
• Pale green/White = Pain/Can show hunger

Trivia

• RainWing venom can be counteracted/cancelled out by the venom of a blood relative.
• If a dragon is targeted and is hit in the eyes, or the venom enters the bloodstream, the dragon would be killed quickly and painfully. However, if it only hits the scales, the dragon may live, but will be left horribly disfigured, some examples of this being Vengeance and Ex-Queen Scarlet.
• RainWing venom only affects living things, as proved in The Dark Secret.
• The RainWings ability to spit venom was believed to be based on that of the Spitting Cobra.
• RainWings cannot change their eye color. A quote from Tui T. Sutherland says that they cannot change them, but the scales around reflect, causing them to be nearly invisible. This is shown in The Dragonet Prophecy, when Glory changes her scales in the presence of the other dragonets for the first time--her green eyes still show up until she closes them.
• The oldest known RainWing in the series is Tapir, who lived to be one hundred and ten years old before starving himself in captivity of the NightWings.
• RainWings that are deprived of sunlight are grumpier, ruder, and have duller scales, as seen with Glory.
• A RainWing named Chameleon has a snout deformity, which prevents him from sleeping for more than an hour at a time. Because of this, he can't change the color of his scales, so his scales constantly stay lime-green. It is unknown if any other RainWings have suffered from this.
• When Prince Albatross and Queen Lagoon were alive, RainWings were taken seriously, seen when Lagoon says “If we find another animus in the tribe, that would make us twice as powerful, which would be quite useful given how the MudWings and RainWings have been behaving lately," implying that the RainWings were a threat to SeaWings around that time.
• This also implies that Rainwings were once aware of the other dragon tribes and had contact with them before the Reign of Queen Glory.
• RainWings used to have a royal family, but when Queen Grandeur didn't have any useful heirs she mixed her eggs with the tribes, saying that she hoped to find RainWings who were "Queens in spirit, if not in blood."
• There are no known animus RainWings.
• It is shown in The Hidden Kingdom that some RainWings can perfectly imitate bird calls.
• RainWings used to sell fruit for "high prices" (as described by most NightWings).
• In Runaway, RainWings apparently are implied to have once made potions as well. Snowflake buys a sleeping potion from a RainWing to use on Queen Diamond.

Gallery

(Click here to see gallery)File:Bouncing Glory.gif