Great Diamond
The Great Diamond is what the NightWing tribe called the shape formed by the tribe's most important buildings. It existed during the era of Darkstalker and was located within the lost city of night.
Description
The palace and school were placed to the north, not far from each other, and the museum and library finished the shape toward the south. The palace was noted to be the largest of the four buildings. These four buildings formed a diamond-shaped plaza, hence its name. There was a temporary stage set up in the middle of the plaza for concerts.[1]
During the Glass Jubilee and other events, the entire plaza looked like it was swarming with fireflies due to the hundreds of lanterns.[2] There were food tents which sold roasting meat, sizzling onions, fried bananas,[3] and goats on sticks.[4] An intricate lacework of wires traced over the whole diamond, hung with paper lanterns painted bright colors by the kingdom's dragonets.[5] Near the central fire, there were game pavilions where NightWings can play games such as scales-and-squares and scroll towers.[6]
In modern Pyrrhia, it is full of stones, overgrown weeds, and toppled columns. There are statues missing heads, talons, tails, or all three, and once-elegant buildings whose roofs caved in.[7]
Notable features
The museum was one of the four sides of the Great Diamond.[8] It was one of the most important buildings in the lost city of night. Darkstalker described the museum to have had the most beautiful art in Pyrrhia during his time.[9]
The NightWing library takes up one of the four sides of the Great Diamond.[10] It was noted by Clearsight to have no access to the three moons and Clearsight had a study room of her own within the library, inhabited with five tables, partially blank scrolls,[11] and a blue ink puddle.[12] It had at least one doorway.[13]
In modern Pyrrhia, the vast NightWing library has tall columns, built to support the roof, across the front that are carved to look like scrolls. One of the columns has cracks all around the base and another is broken in half and toppled over, but for such an old building, it is more intact than most of the surrounding buildings. The doorway yawns emptily, lacking a door. More writing is carved into the intel, including passages about knowledge, flames, and darkness. It is shadowy, but a glow of firelight flickers from one of the rooms off of the central hall. It is likely one of the biggest libraries within Pyrrhia, and its walls are lined with slots for scrolls from floor to ceiling. The ceiling is far overhead, and a vast wooden table fills the center of the room, so large that it would have been impossible to fit through the doorways. Most of the slots for scrolls are empty, and there are holders for torches around the space. It includes a classification system, archives, collections within each room, and giant index scrolls that used to contain the entire catalogue of books within the library.
The palace was built into and wrapped around Borderland Mountain[10] with many towers.[14] The halls were made of black marble and had mirrors embedded in the walls every three steps.[15] The heart of the palace was a courtyard[16] dotted with black marble dragons with diamond eyes. The palace has many floors and rooms.
The school was designed to look very similar to the NightWing palace, with lots of gray and black marble terraces, hanging gardens, and long glittering waterfalls. It has three entrances, and the quietest and least crowded was located on a side facing away from the NightWing palace. Its floors were made of marble tiles.
It contained a library, as well as a vast hexagonal courtyard that was lined with classrooms on all six sides. The courtyard was described as an obstacle course for flying practice, full of trees, twisting vines, loops, mazes, and tricks. The courtyard contains vines with heart-shaped leaves, pine trees, outdoor tables, and puddles.
History
The Jade Mountain Prophecy
Darkstalker introduced Moonwatcher to the Great Diamond as they arrived in the lost city of night.
After learning of Snowfall's declaration to go to war with the NightWings, Darkstalker commanded Fierceteeth to gather all the NightWings that could fight at the Great Diamond.
Legends
The Great Diamond was first mentioned by Clearsight who noted the different buildings on all four sides while traveling to the NightWing school.
Later, the Great Diamond served as the location for Vigilance's Glass Jubilee and was populated by a majority of the NightWing tribe. Clearsight and Listener attended the festival together where they met up with Darkstalker, Fathom, Whiteout, and Lionfish in one of the game pavilions.
Darkstalker and Arctic, who had been enchanted to follow Darkstalker's every command, landed on a stage in the Great Diamond. It was there that Darkstalker ordered Arctic to disembowel himself in front of a large crowd of NightWings.
Gallery
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The Great Diamond from Darkstalker (graphic novel), by Jake Parker -
- Art by Jake Parker, from the Darkstalker (graphic novel)
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References
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 328
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 274
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 277
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 282
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 278
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 279
- ↑ Darkness of Dragons, page 245
- ↑ Talons of Power, page 217
- ↑ Talons of Power, page 64
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Darkstalker, page 74
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 38
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 40
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 39
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 181
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 204
- ↑ Darkstalker, page 221
