Polycarpa (series)

Polycarpa is a series of novels by L1quid that is the Wings of Fire adaptation of their two series Archai and The Darkling Plain. The title is derived from the continent shown in the series.L1quid's notes and outlines for Polycarpa
Archai was inspired by The Dragon Prince, Wings of Fire, the Grishaverse, The Wingfeather Saga, and various human cultures.L1quid's notes and outlines for Archai
The Darkling Plain was inspired by Wings of Fire, Mortal Engines, the Grishaverse, The Dragon Prince, real-world events, and various human cultures.L1quid's notes and outlines for The Darkling Plain
==Premise==
Polycarpa takes place after L1quid's version of Wings of Fire's Lost Continent Arc, as they (and other fans) are dissatisfied with the final product.
In the overall plotline, the story diverges from The Hive Queen onward (The Lost Continent is canon in this storyline).
In The Hive Queen, Blue, Cricket, Swordtail, and Sundew head across Pantala’s eastern sea towards Pyrrhia (“the Distant Kingdoms”) to find Luna, after Blue goes through Metamorphosis and grows his wings. The four use the opportunity to find help and defeat Wasp, bringing the Hives to Pyrrhia. It is also revealed that Wasp’s ability is mind control, which is genetic and a symbol of HiveWing royalty on Pantala and is similar to how Bewilderbeast's control dragons in How to Train Your Dragon. After finding some allies, Sundew and Luna fly back to Pantala to find their allies.
In The Poison Jungle, Sundew reveals to Luna that the LeafWings are not extinct and have slowly rebooting the Tree Wars to wipe out the HiveWings. At the LeafWing village (which is like the RainWing arboretum), Sundew tells her tribe about Pyrrhia, which prompts a handful of them to go with her to Pyrrhia while the rest execute their plan to exterminate the Hives. Back on Pyrrhia, Cricket reports to Sundew that several Hive Mind-controlled dragons have seen on Pyrrhia; these dragons have been arrested and killed by the Pyrrhians. She also mentions that animus magic, a trait notable among the Pyrrhians, has suddenly been “deleted”.
In The Dangerous Gift, Wasp begins taking over Pyrrhia, starting with the Ice Kingdom and the Kingdom of Sand. Snowfall orders Ivory, her esteemed general, to defend the Kingdom as she learns about the existence of Pantala in Sanctuary. Blue, Luna, Cricket, and Swordtail find the ancient ruins of the old LeafWing kingdom within the heart of the Sky Kingdom. While the LeafWings rejoice at the ruins, the SkyWings oppose the discovery. The Pyrrhian queens learn about Pantala and the Hive Queen from the Pantalan Dragonets. Following this revelation, the monarchs decide to send their soldiers into battle to defend Pyrrhia from Wasp. The “dangerous gift”, as the title’s reference, are the Pantalan Dragonets.
In The Flames of Hope (or “The Land Across”), Pyrrhia and Pantala become embroiled in a global conflict, much more intense than the SandWing Succession War. Many lives are lost, including monarchs and heirs, until Wasp is defeated. The LeafWings return to Pantala, giving the ruins of their old kingdom back to the SkyWings. The Pyrrhian queens who died in the war are Moorhen, Coral, Thorn, and Snowfall; this forces one of Moorhen’s relatives to become the new MudWing queen, Tsunami to become the new SeaWing queen, Sunny to become the new SandWing queen, and one of Snowfall’s relatives to become the new IceWing queen. Pantala begins rebuilding, albeit into something seen at the end of dystopian science-fiction stories. The existing animus dragons find out that animus magic is not completely “deleted”, but that elemental magic can be performed (think the bending arts from Avatar Legends). As the dragon world rebuilds, a strange dragon washes up onto the shores of Pyrrhia - someone from a third continent - restarting The Lost Continent Prophecy all over again.
The strange dragon reveals themselves to be Coral, a dragon from Polycarpa, a continent located southwest of Pantala and southeast of Pantala. She is an OceanWing, one of the continent’s natives.
Polycarpa is divided into several species - OceanWings, StormWings, MoonWings, TreeWings, SphereWings, SunWings, and DarkWings - each connected to a different element. OceanWings are connected to the Ocean, StormWings are connected to the Sky, MoonWings are connected to the Moon, TreeWings are connected to the Earth, SphereWings are connected to the Stars, SunWings are connected to the Sun, and DarkWings are connected to the Darkness. Other flora and fauna are connected to said elements.
Coral tells the Pyrrhians about their form of magic, which is not “animus magic” but Primal magic, and how animi can potentially unlock it. With the permission of the monarchs, Coral takes Turtle, Jerboa III (Jerboa I’s second daughter), and Anemone to Polycarpa to learn Primal magic. (Stonemover stays behind because of his old age and “stonescales” enchantment.)
Once they reach the continent, Jerboa III is handed off to Maple, a TreeWing and an Earth Archdragon; Turtle and Anemone are handed off to Tide, an OceanWing and an Ocean Archdragon. Turtle and Anemone quickly master the Ocean, and the same applies for Jerboa III and the Earth. After mastering their respective elements, Coral sends the three back to Pyrrhia with Polycarpan literature on Primal magic to instruct future generations how to master it.
Turtle, Anemone, and Jerboa III’s ventures open up new possibilities for future animi and the world. Because of their journeys, many dragons visit Polycarpa to experience it for themselves.
However, the discovery goes awry when politicians find they can manipulate and exploit the third continent’s natives for their own gain. Horrified by it, Polycarpa’s natives close the continent off and the politicians take their enslaved back to Pyrrhia and Pantala. There, the enslaved are bred with each other, creating domesticated dragons to be used by civilized feral dragons.
For one thousand years, planet Pern has been at an uneasy peace. Wars break out every so often, but they are often ended by treaties or by force. Governments send prisoners to Polycarpa to die. New animi are taught Primal magic alongside the old ways.
But something is happening. War between the three continents has broken out, and there is no hope in sight - unless someone gives a damn about it.
==The Prophecy==
This is the prophecy of Polycarpa, which the first three books revolve around.
See the Sun split, see the Earth quake.
See the Sky whip, see the Ocean break.
See the Moon’s bane, see the Stars watch.
And Darkness will reign.
==Books==
===Day Trilogy===
File:The Breaking Ocean (full handdrawn cover (WoF version), Archai).jpg
File:Rex igneous (flashback (s4e4), the dragon prince).png
File:Sun poster (the dragon prince).png
====Wings of Sea====
Wings of Sea is the first book of Polycarpa, and is the WoF adaptation of The Breaking Ocean, the first book of Archai and the first book in the Original Trilogy ("Day Trilogy").
====Wings of Earth====
Wings of Earth is the second book of Polycarpa, and is the WoF adaptation of The Quaking Earth, the second book of Archai and the second book in the Original Trilogy ("Day Trilogy").
====Wings of Sun====
Wings of Sun is the third book of Polycarpa, and is the WoF adaptation of The Splitting Sun, the third book of Archai and the third/final book in the Original Trilogy ("Day Trilogy").
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===Night Quartet===
File:Moon poster (the dragon prince).png
File:Sky poster (the dragon prince).png
File:Star poster (the dragon prince).png
====Moon Wings====
Moon Wings is the fourth book of Polycarpa and is the WoF adaptation of The Moon's Bane, the fourth book of Archai and the first book in the Sequel Quartet ("Night Quartet").
====Sky Wings====
Sky Wings is the fifth book of Polycarpa and is the WoF adaptation of The Whipping Sky, the fifth book of Archai and the second book in the Sequel Quartet ("Night Quartet").
====Star Wings====
Star Wings is the sixth book of Polycarpa and is the WoF adaptation of Fallen Stars, the sixth book of Archai and the third book in the Sequel Quartet ("Night Quartet").
====Dark Wings====
Dark Wings is the seventh book of Polycarpa and is the WoF adaptation of Reigning Darkness, the seventh/final book of Archai and the fourth/final book in the Sequel Quartet ("Night Quartet").
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===Traction Era===
File:Star poster (the dragon prince).png
====The Darkling Plain====
The Darkling Plain is the eighth book of Wings of Fire: Polycarpa and the first book of the original titular series.
====Book Nine====
Book Nine is the ninth book of Wings of Fire: Polycarpa and the second book of The Darkling Plain.
====Book Ten====
Book Ten is the tenth/final book of Wings of Fire: Polycarpa and the third/final book of The Darkling Plain.
==Changes from Series==
*In Archai, the world consists of two continents - Archai and Moirai. In the adaptation, the three continents make up the two continents.
**Archai (the continent) is loosely based on Xadia from The Dragon Prince in the original source content.
*In Archai, the magic system is made up of the seven aspects of the natural world - the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Sky, the Ocean, and the Darkness. This system is present in Polycarpa, and is also seen as an extension of animus magic. 
**The magic system of Archai was loosely based on The Dragon Prince's magic system, albeit it draws more inspiration from nature itself than from what the element is associated with in human culture.
**L1quid added in elemental magic as an alternative to animus magic because humans (and animals) throughout history have worked around various problems with ingenious solutions or unexpected discoveries. They also did this as animus magic is not completely "broken" in their version of the final arc.
*Because this series does not follow nor take place in the main series timeline, where the dragons learn of humanity's sentience via Wren and Sky, the series guide is an expanded version of the one seen in Wings of Fire and includes dragons seen in Polycarpa.
**In Archai, the series guide is an overview of the magic system.
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*In The Darkling Plain, all life, save for humans, on (planet) Archai goes extinct in the apocalypse. In the Wings of Fire adaptation, only the dragons go extinct in the apocalypse.
**There is an alternate version of the adaptation where this is reversed - dragons survive the apocalypse, humans go extinct.
==Trivia==
*The rewrite of Wings of Fire arc 3 was initially conceived by L1quid in 2019 after the release of The Poison Jungle, as they were dissatisfied that the arc (during that period) did not have the "spirit" (energy) of the first ten books in them.L1quid's notes and outlines for their old Wings of Fire fan-concepts and/or fanfictions They later elaborated and expanded the concept when forming the adaption of their series Archai in July 2023.
*Polycarpa is the second WoF adaption of L1quid's series; Pern was the first.L1quid's notes and outlines for Pern
*Even though L1quid has a rule stating that no science-fiction or fantasy book (or series) should revolve around a prophecy (since they think the plot device is overused in modern fantasy media), they broke this rule specifically to "tie" this series (and its original source content) together.
*Like The Dragon Prince, each book title is an element in the series world. However, Archai's titles specifically ties into the plot and the said element's associations, while Dragon Prince's titles tie into the book's theme.
*Because Archai was inspired by The Dragon Prince, the filler covers for the original series and its WoF adaptions are artwork from the series, specifically the second saga. If this cannot be achieved due to any reason for a book, then art from the first saga will be used as a filler cover instead.
*This is the first fanfiction where the main dragons from L1quid's series appear, albeit modified from their original appearances. The second was The Shift.
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*The Darkling Plain was created because L1quid didn't want to haul themselves through Archai, whose ending (at the end of book seven) hinted at either a Dark Age or the rise of tractionism for the world after they got through an era of authoritarian leadership. They also didn't want to haul themselves through These Alien Dragons, whose plot was dragging them through the mud. They were also reading books in the steampunk subgenre to help them with the world of These Alien Dragons.
**The Darkling Plain occurs in the far future of (planet) Archai.
**Like their predecessors, the books have elemental associations that tie into their respective plot(s).
==Notes==
On July 18th, 2023, L1quid will work on Archai to beat writer's block as they write These Alien Dragons.
Three of the seven books in the series are in "pre-production" (in development); these three make up the original trilogy, also known as "the Day Trilogy".
----On October 6th, 2023, L1quid decided to put a hold on Archai (and its Wings of Fire adaptation) to focus on These Alien Dragons (and its Wings of Fire adaptation). (They are currently working on book 2 of the series and some side stories that will explore more of the series world.) They will work on the series from time to time, if they have writer's block.
----As of March 13th, 2024, L1quid is heavily working on Archai as they have writer's block for These Alien Dragons (and because Archai is grounded in modern (2020s) and futuristic events).
----As of March-April 2024, L1quid has merged Archai with their other series These Alien Dragons to create The Darkling Plain (because both series' plots were dragging them through the mud).This means that Polycarpa (as a series) is discontinued. However, because the series' lore is important to the world of Wings of Fire: Strangely Dim, all Polycarpa content will be kept on the wiki and the summary of adaptations' chapters will substitute for the actual plots.
----On July 21st, 2024, L1quid combined Wings of Fire: Strangely Dim with with Wings of Fire: Polycarpa, as The Darkling Plain is canon in Archai. As a result, the Wings of Fire adaptation of The Darkling Plain will be filed in with the content for the Wings of Fire adaptation of Archai.
==References ==
==External Links==
*Archai - L1quid's Wattpad page
**Archai
**The Darkling Plain
*Archai - The Dragon Prince fanon wiki
*Archai wiki - encyclopedia on the Archai series
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Content (L1quidMarbl3)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Alternate Universes
Category:Inspired by Fiction