NightWings

NightWings are a tribe of dragons that live in a secret kingdom above the Sky Kingdom, (but is not shown on any known map of Pyrrhia) They have portals to the mainland. The name of their queen was Queen Battlewinner, until it became Queen Glory of the RainWings, when they were driven from their home by a volcano and escaped to the rainforest under her permission. In addition, they were secretly allied with Blister, although it was most likely broken when they surrendered to the RainWings. NightWings tend to be arrogant, mysterious, full of themselves, highly intelligent, and unpredictable, with heightened senses.

Click here for a list of NightWings.

History

Template:Spoiler The Dragonet Prophecy was written by Queen Battlewinner and a NightWing prophet named Morrowseer, who had also delivered Starflight's and Fatespeaker's eggs to the Talons of Peace. They consider themselves high above all other tribes and too mysterious and powerful to take part in the war, though they are secretly working with Blister, in exchange for rainforest land.

IceWings and NightWings have had animosity towards each other going way back to a war they once fought against each other. Morrowseer even ordered the death of all of the IceWing prisoners in the rescue of Starflight, showing that NightWings do not care much about the IceWing tribe. This is also shown in the prophecy, when the prophecy does not include an IceWing dragonet.

They had kidnapped several RainWings for their experimentation. They were trying to make venom-proof armor for when they waged war with the RainWings, but all experiments were lost when the NightWings fled their home. Additionally, they seem to have some kind of portal, perhaps a wormhole, possibly created by an animus dragon, which they use to visit their kingdom, the Kingdom of Sand, the Mud Kingdom, and the Rainforest Kingdom. It is possible that there could be other unknown portals.

In The Dark Secret, it is shown that the NightWings are being threatened by the volcano they live in, which is slowly building up to an eruption and also killing off their main source of food. Although Greatness claimed that scientific estimates had placed the eruption at least two years in the future, at the end of the book, the volcano explodes. Shortly before this, the NightWings surrendered to the RainWings in exchange for a safe place to live, and most of them escaped through the rainforest portal unharmed (although Morrowseer is likely dead, and the events in the ending of The Dark Secret and the preview of The Brightest Night indicate that Starflight is critically injured).

Society

NightWings form lifelong partnerships, similar to SeaWings. Their dragonets live in dormitories located in caves on the sides of the volcano. They are not allowed to go to the mainland until they are 10 years old. These dragonets are usually named according to their talents; for example, Morrowseer got his name for "seeing" the "morrow." Morrow is short for tomorrow, meaning the future. Deathbringer's name refers to his job as an assassin. Queen Battlewinner presumably got hers for military strategy, or perhaps a future battle which was predicted to be won by her. In the stories about them, that is usually how they are named. Exactly how they know what a dragon's talent will be when it hatches is unknown (they might wait and see for it to appear, or have another NightWing predict it). Glory mentions in The Hidden Kingdom that in scrolls, NightWings always had 'mouthful names'.

Description

NightWings have purplish-black scales, with white or sometimes dark blue undersides. In The Dragonet Prophecy when Morrowseer dropped off Starflight, it said that the sun picked up glints of purple and deep blue on his body. The underside of their wings are speckled with silver scales, giving it the appearance of a night sky filled with twinkling stars(This allows them to blend into shadows and the night sky) Starflight's father, Mastermind, has done studies about genetic wing patterns, although this remains unproved (except that both he and Starflight have star patterns that spay upwards, but Morrowseer's curls up, like a snail shell). They also have forked black tongues.

Abilities

They are described as the night sky coming down on you. They slink unseen in shadows and blend into the night, which gives them a fearful reputation. They can also be described as being able to melt into the shadows.

NightWings possess mystical abilities. They have the ability of mind-reading and telepathy, as well as being able to prognosticate and tell prophecies. In addition, these dragons are also able to breathe fire at any time, like SkyWings and SandWings. However, the wormhole used by the NightWings to spy on other dragons may be what spawned the myth of appearing out of nowhere. It should be known that the NightWing Starflight, is only able to breathe fire, not read minds and use telepathy like most NightWings (but his and possibly Mastermind's high intelligence may be a special power)

In addition, they seem to have some kind of bacteria living in their saliva that does not affect them (similar to Komodo dragons). They use this to incapacitate their prey, ensuring it can't go anywhere, then come back later for it when its wound has become infected or it has died. Eating decayed food doesn't affect them to a noticeable extent either.

Trivia

The undersides of the NightWings' wings are colored like the night sky so they can fly at night without detection.
Their undersides are white with stripes (as shown on the cover of The Dark Secert)
NightWings are said to have purplish-black scales (very dark purple), however, in books is says that they have black scales.
Not all NightWings could have both mind-reading or fortelling powers. Starflight doesn't have any of those powers. Morrowseer has shown that he could read minds. And Fatespeaker can fortell the furture, but it never says anything about her reading minds.