SandWing stronghold

Template:Infobox Location The SandWing stronghold, known as Burn's stronghold during the time of the War of SandWing Succession, was originally the SandWing Palace and was used as a military base during the war by Burn after the death of Oasis. It is also known as the desert dragon palace by scavengers. As the SandWing queen is now Thorn, the stronghold is also known as Queen Thorn's Stronghold. It was damaged in Darkness of Dragons when Qibli used Anemone's weather bracelets to protect Thorn during her royal challenge versus Onyx. A volunteer party was then set up by Thorn and Six-Claws to clear away the sand, which had buried nearly the entire stronghold.

Appearance

When Burn seized the palace, she added thick walls for extra defense and stationed SandWing soldiers as guards. The foul stench from the decapitated dragon heads mounted on the outer walls discouraged enemies from attacking; it was also shown in The Dark Secret that Burn liked the decaying smell. The stronghold also contains a courtyard and a great hall decorated with statues from when it was the palace of the SandWings. A monument to Oasis was built where she died, and Burn had the walls of the stronghold extended to surround it.

Sunny gathered Blister, Burn, and Blaze around the monument to decide who should be the next SandWing Queen. After Burn and Blister died and Thorn was announced the queen, it can only be assumed that the palace is still in a similar state, but at the end of The Brightest Night, it is said that the heads were removed by the observing dragons.

In Darkness of Dragons, it is revealed that Thorn added a white tent over the largest oasis to remind her of the Outclaws' old base. It is also revealed that there is an observatory. Another part of the stronghold is an arena where Thorn hosts Full Moon Festivals, though it is also used for royal challenges, and there is a place for the Eye of Onyx to sit until it chooses the next queen.

In Dragonslayer, it was described as a giant palace that "loomed out of the sand like a dark mountain." There is a small slit of a window near the treasure room that is too small for dragons to go through, which Rose used to get inside and steal treasure from Oasis.

Weirdling Tower

The Weirdling Tower was a tower that was part of the stronghold when Burn ruled over it during the War of SandWing Succession. It contained her collection of "weirdlings," such as stuffed scavengers, three-legged lizards, and dead hybrids. It was mentioned that Burn would be interested in Six-Claws's talons. The tower was also the former prison for Scarlet after she was attacked by Glory and lost her throne. When the war ended and Thorn took over, she destroyed the tower, saying that "it belonged to a darker time."

Known Items, Dragons, and Creatures of the Weirdling Tower

• Stuffed scavengers
• Webbed SeaWing talons
• Seven-toed dragon talons
• Two-headed lizards
• A MudWing, hatched with no claws or teeth, that was said to be animus-cursed
• A stuffed IceWing-SandWing hybrid, or potentially a SilkWing dragonet (This dragon only had wingbuds and was white.)
• A fish tank with 'snails that ooze purple ichor, seahorses with fangs, fish with extra flippers, and a weird octopus with twenty arms'
• A stuffed NightWing thought to be Farsight or Quickstrike (destroyed)
• A tank with strange insects: "bulging caterpillars," "nine-legged spiders," "a bright blue dragonfly with bristles on its back," etc. (destroyed)
• Half of a purple and grey speckled wing, that Tui confirmed belonged to a SilkWing
• Sky (escaped)
• Sunny (escaped)
• Scarlet (escaped)

Palace Stadium

The Palace Stadium is located on the back corner of the palace grounds and has been used by the SandWing tribe as the area where royal challenges happen. The queen and her challenger would fight in the stadium and whoever won was queen. The design of the stadium resembles Scarlet's arena, making it possible that SandWings also once had arena battles. Now, however, it is mostly used for festivals.

Dungeon

The SandWing Dungeon is where the tribe keeps its prisoners. It is the primary setting for the short e-book story Prisoners, where Fierceteeth tries to convince a SandWing guard Saguaro to help her escape. After the war, Thorn let almost all the prisoners of war in the dungeon free, except for Prickle, who became mentally unstable and too dangerous to release. Prickle is likely the dragon to be imprisoned in the dungeon the longest since she was captured before the war and is still in the dungeon to this day. The dungeon has a hallway that leads into the palace stadium, confirming more of the theory that SandWings had arena fights with their prisoners.

The Wingery

Most dragonets in the palace played in the shelter of its walls until they were two years old, under the watchful eye of a pair of ancient SandWings who taught Oasis to fly. The wingery was open to anyone who lived in the palace, so the dragonets of servants and nobles all grew up together. The courtyard for the dragonets featured a sunken pool in the middle, where they could splash and cool off in the midday heat. This was overlooked by a shaded pavilion with long white curtains on the three open sides. The rest of the courtyard was set up to help the dragonets learn to fly: ledges at different heights, soft piles of sand to land in, claw holds, and perches everywhere. And of course, in one corner, a first aid station stocked with lots of brightsting cactus, which is the only antidote to the venom in a SandWing's tail. The venom didn't come in until a dragonet was closer to three years old — luckily for everyone — but at this age, they had a tendency to crash into everything or leap onto their parents without looking first, so there was a lot of bandaging and antidote-administering required. The young dragons also spend a lot of time practicing how to be aware of their tails and everyone else's, so they could eventually be safely released into the rest of the palace.

Grave

Oasis's Grave is a tall, black obelisk surrounded by a circle of sand wider than a large dragon's wingspan, written by Burn. It is located in the center of the main courtyard of Burn's Stronghold, or the former SandWing palace. On the surface of the monument, the words are painted and carved in gold:

HERE LIES
QUEEN OASIS
MOTHER OF QUEEN BURN
HER BONES NOW BELONG TO THE SANDS OF TIME

History

Prior to the war, the stronghold was referred to as Queen Oasis's Palace. When she was killed by Heath, Stone, and Rose, her three daughters began to argue about who would inherit the SandWing throne. Burn either drove out Blister and Blaze, seizing the stronghold for herself, or the other two sisters fled before Burn could kill them and take the throne for herself. She added many things to the palace, including the mounted heads of decapitated prisoners and her "weirdling collection" in a large red sandstone tower that housed a variety of odd or mutilated creatures. Additionally, she ordered the building of the large walls surrounding the stronghold to keep out scavengers, like the three who killed her mother. Since taking the throne, Thorn has removed the dragon heads and destroyed the Weirdling Tower, and she plans to destroy the surrounding walls once other projects are complete.

Trivia

• Tui states in her blog that the stronghold was based on her impressions of Amber Fort in Jaipur, India.
• The purple-and-gray wing in Burn's collection is confirmed by Tui to have been a SilkWing's.
• Tui remarks on how the walls that Burn erected wouldn't stop any dragon from flying over them, and that they were instead meant to keep out scavengers like the ones that killed her mother.
• Burn's weirdling tower was based on a Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium in Hollywood.
• On the cover of Dragonslayer, there are multiple heads on spikes, the tribes being two SkyWings, four MudWings, two SeaWings, two RainWings, one SandWing, one IceWing, and possibly two HiveWings.

References

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