Cottonmouth's empire
Cottonmouth's empire, along with the Diamond and Jaguar empires, was a major human settlement that existed pre-Scorching.
Description
Cottonmouth's empire included clearings,[1] boulders,[2] mountain slopes, and pine trees that swayed gently in the breeze.[3] The empire also included southern villages.[4]
Notable features
Emperor's City
An overlook upon one mountain, through the trees, displayed the Emperor's City. It was organized and partitioned into squares, rectangles, and ovals, with long, flat lines running between all of them. Many of the sections contained cubic structures, giant boxes with ornate roofs, or taller, tower-like structures. There was an arrangement of roofs around an open square that Luna suspected might be a market;[5] in addition, all of the empire's layers were spread out next to one another instead of being stacked. Some of the areas were for growing food plants, and these were large and open to the air; they were also arranged around the city's outer edges, while the inner sections were crammed with cubes, towers, stepped temples, and stone-paved courtyards. The small shapes of humans could be seen moving along the long, flat lines.[6] The structures covered everything, and every spot of land seemed to be cordoned off, built on, growing something in straight lines, or swarming with humans.[7]
Society
The humans within Cottonmouth's empire were loud and wore clean, fancy, elegant clothing that was decorated with small swirls of silver thread along the edges in delicate filigree patterns.[8] They played a kind of ball game,[7] and were ruled by an emperor[9] with advisors that were implied to be structured in a hierarchical system. Before the events of the Scorching, they were at war with the Diamond Empire and Jaguar Empire in order to gain new territory.[9]
History
The Lost Continent Prophecy
| The Flames of Hope |
|---|
|
While Dusky and Luna were trapped within the mindspace, they began to relive Cottonmouth's memories. Argyll, Cottonmouth, and Coyote were searching for dragons along one of the mountains surrounding the empire, but they soon gave up. In a later memory, Cottonmouth and Coyote were on a snowy mountaintop alongside several other members of the empire. Luna soon realized that a dragon was residing in a nearby cave, and as soon as the dragon left her home, Coyote and several others raced inside to steal one of her eggs. Cottonmouth then ordered them to steal the other eggs as well, and when one guard protested, Cottonmouth stabbed him through the stomach. In the next memory, Cottonmouth and Coyote were seen arguing about Cottonmouth's plan to capture and control dragonets during another mission to steal dragon eggs. Cottonmouth vowed that he would eventually be successful in making them weapons. As soon as the eggs were brought to Cottonmouth, he ordered everyone to return home, despite several humans still being trapped with the dragon. They were quickly killed. In the memory after that, Cottonmouth was seen to be probing a dragonet during its hatching, immediately clamping an iron ring onto its neck after it had broken free of the egg. In the next memory, Luna glimpsed a room with at least thirty cages for young dragons. Cottonmouth then stormed through the room, arguing with one of his fellow citizens. |
Trivia
- Cottonmouth's empire was the first among the three empires to begin stealing dragon eggs.[10]
References
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 173
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 170
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 167
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 192
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 168
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 169
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Flames of Hope, page 172
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 171
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Flames of Hope, page 174
- ↑ The Flames of Hope, page 181
