MoonWings (L1quidMarbl3)

MoonWings are a species of dragon created by L1quid primarily for their These Alien Dragons trilogy, although they also appear in the WoF adaptations of their books - Pern and Polycarpa.
They are a closed species, meaning that users cannot create any MoonWing characters.
==Appearance==
MoonWings have black scales like the night, curved horns like crescent moons, and small thin spikes on running down their backs that resemble slivers of a forming crescent moon. Like most dragons, they have five joints on their wings.
They have two distinctive features - their two tails and their transparent wing membranes.L1quid's notes and outlines for These Alien Dragons
===Double Tails ===
MoonWings have two tails. These tails are of great mystery to xenobiologists, dragonologists, scientists in general, and other dragons.
MoonWings can twist these tails together into a "braid" when flying to give themselves better support in the air. If a MoonWing were to fly with their tails not twisted together, they can still fly but they would have no stable support if they were attacked or if one of their tails was suddenly injured.
===Wing Membranes===
The wing membranes of MoonWings are transparent. How this came about has befuddled xenobiologists, dragonologists, scientists in general, and other dragons for years since discovering them.
==Species Adaptations==
MoonWing adaptations are mainly based in their ability to camouflage into dark spaces and telepathy.
===Telepathy===
MoonWing telepathy is not like normal telepathy.
In normal telepathy, an individual's brain picks up the signals emitted by firing neurons from another individual's brain and reads it as their thoughts or vital life signs. In MoonWings, this process is still the same; however these dragons have the ability to project their thoughts onto non-telepathic dragon and humanoid species as a way to communicate with others in lieu of speaking Dragon (the language of dragons).
==Naming==
MoonWings are named after lunar phases, like Crescent. They can also be named after words that originate from other words for "moon", like Lunula or Meniscus, or how the moon is perceived by others, like Shift or Phase. They can also be named after the moon's associations in ancient religions or in fantasy media, like Requiem.
==Government==
The government of the MoonWings is unknown.
===Leaders===
The current leader of the MoonWings is Shift, a female MoonWing who became their de facto leader after the species' homeworld was destroyed.
==Homeworld==
The MoonWings are native to the planet Yir, a planet located somewhere in universe, alongside the Yir humanoids.
The planet was recently destroyed by an unknown cause. Luckily, a handful of dragons and humanoids were saved by the A.R.K. (Artificial Refuge for Kinds) before the planet succumbed to its doom.
The MoonWings now live on the planet Haven alongside the Yir humanoids, the descendants of the human colonists of Haven, and the humans and dragons of Eukarya and Pern.
==History==
===Pre-Series===
MoonWings existed on planet Yir years before humanity initiated spaceflight.
The species have lived with the planet's native humanoids (called the "Yir") in peace until the planet was destroyed by an unknown cause. A.R.K. (Artificial Refuge for Kinds) sensed this and who beamed the planet's wildlife into itself, saving what it could before nothing was left.
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===Pern===
====Shifting Stars====
The MoonWings interact with the survivors of Pern throughout the novel (instead of the Eukaryan dragons as seen in the original source content).
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===Polycarpa===
In Polycarpa, the MoonWings are dragons connected to the Moon, replacing the Moon Dragons seen in Archai. They are also native to Polycarpa instead of Yir.
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===Field Guides===
====A Guide to the Fanon World====
MoonWings were featured in A Guide to the Fanon World, making first contact with the Pernese (dragons and humans). Although their first letter was for a general audience, their official letter was for Starflight and Starflight only.
They then described their homeworld and culture to their alien audience.
==Trivia== 
*The MoonWings were primarily created to expand the world of These Alien Dragons. 
**Two other dragons - the SunWings and the StarWings - were created for the same purpose when L1quid was outlining book 3 of their series (which is also the series' final novel). However, these dragons were scrapped from the final outline and it was decided for them to be native to a different planet than the one seen in the final outline (and novel).
*The inspirations for the MoonWings were the Xadian Moon Primal in The Dragon Prince and Earth's moon, alongside the dragons of Wings of Fire and Dragonriders of Pern like the rest of These Alien Dragons' dragons.
**The "double tails" feature was inspired by the MoonWing fan-species by a dragon artist on Instagram, whose MoonWings have three tails. L1quid originally had four tails for their MoonWings to represent the phases Earth's moon goes through every month (waxing and waning phases), but cut it down to two tails to represent the light and dark sides of Earth's moon.
**The design of the MoonWings was loosely inspired by the Crescent Moon Dragon, a dragon species L1quid originally created as a Dragon Prince "what if?": "What if Azymondias was a Moon Dragon instead of a Sky Dragon?" The Crescent Moon Dragon will be primarily featured in L1quid's fantasy series Archai, which will be written after These Alien Dragons is completed.
**The telepathy aspect of the MoonWings was based on telepathic creatures in the science-fiction and fantasy genre.
**The transparent wing membranes came about when L1quid was finalizing the design of the MoonWings. Originally, they had white wing membranes, but it was removed since it wouldn't be realistic. It was then changed to semitransparent grey wing membranes before being finalized to transparent wing membranes.
==Gallery==
File:NightWingBase.png|Wings of Fire's NightWings were the model for the MoonWings, although they do not resemble them entirely.
==References==
Category:Content (L1quidMarbl3)
Category:Tribes (Fanon)