SandWing stronghold

Template:SpoilerDragonslayer Template:Infobox Location Queen Thorn's Stronghold, originally known as Burn's Stronghold during the War of SandWing Succession, was originally the SandWing Palace, but Burn used it as her military base during the war. It is also known as the Desert Dragon Palace by scavengers. As the SandWing queen is now Thorn, the stronghold was renamed to Queen Thorn's Stronghold. The stronghold was eventually damaged when Qibli used Anemone's weather bracelets to protect Queen Thorn during her royal challenge versus Onyx. A volunteer party was then set up by Thorn and Six-Claws to uncover 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 scent. 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 Queen Oasis was built where she died, and Burn had the walls of the stronghold extended to surround it. After Burn died and Thorn was announced 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 that Queen Thorn hosts Full Moon Festivals at, 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 once part of the Stronghold when Burn ruled over it in the War of SandWing Succession. The tower contained her collection of weirdlings, such as stuffed scavengers, three legged lizards, and dead dragon hybrids. The tower was also the former prison for Ex-Queen Scarlet, after she was attacked by Glory and lost her throne to the SkyWings. When the war ended and Thorn took over, however, she destroyed the tower with the argument that "It belonged to a darker time."

Known Oddities of the Weirdling Tower

• Stuffed scavengers
• Webbed SeaWing talons
• Seven-toed dragon talons
• Two-headed lizards
• A MudWing born with no claws or teeth that was said to be animus-cursed
• A stuffed IceWing-SandWing hybrid or an albino SilkWing dragonet, considering this dragon had no wings 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)
• Tank with strange insects: 'bulging caterpillars', 'nine-legged spiders', 'a bright blue dragonfly with bristles on it's back', etc. (destroyed)
• Half of a purple and grey speckled wing that likely belonged to a Pantalan dragon, probably a SilkWing
• Sunny (escaped)
• Ex-Queen 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 daughter would fight in the stadium and whoever won was Queen. The design of the stadium resembles Queen Scarlet's Arena, making it possible that SandWings also once had arena battles.

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 Queen 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 was 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.

History

The stronghold was originally Queen Oasis' Palace. When she was attacked and killed by three scavengers (who cut off her tail barb, as revealed by Smolder) known as The Dragonslayer, Stone, and Flower, her three daughters began to argue about who would inherit the SandWing throne. Burn either (depending on the source of information) drove out Blister and Blaze and seized it for herself, or the other two sisters fled before Burn could kill them and take the throne for herself. She had 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 rather than dragons. 

Trivia

• Tui states in her blog that the stronghold was based off of her impressions of Amber Fort in Jaipur, India.
• The purple-and-gray wing in Burn's collection is likely the first mention of a Pantalan dragon, most likely a SilkWing.
• 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.

Gallery

• A typical SandWing
  A typical SandWing
• Concept of the stronghold while under the control of Burn, by Battlewinner of EidolonEntropy
  Concept of the stronghold while under the control of Burn, by Battlewinner of EidolonEntropy
• Queen Thorn's stronghold on minecraft
  Queen Thorn's stronghold on minecraft
• Queen Thorn's Stronghold on the updated map of Pyrrhia
  Queen Thorn's Stronghold on the updated map of Pyrrhia
• The basis of the stronghold
  The basis of the stronghold
• Two actual thorns on a rose have been circled
  Two actual thorns on a rose have been circled
• Burn's stronghold on the cover of Dragonslayer
  Burn's stronghold on the cover of Dragonslayer

References

fr:Bastion d'Épine pl:Forteca Pożogi