Nightwings

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## Description

Nightwings are said to all have black or dark-colored scales and eyes, with scattered star-like patterns running along the underside of their wings, of which these star patterns are genetic. The few remaining humans after the merging of the two continents formerly known as "Pyrrhia" and "Pantala" tend to refer these dragons "night dragons". They have forked, usually black tongues, and a stocky build commonly, with spines running along their backsides and curved or straight horns, though sometimes this will vary between dragon to dragon.

Nowadays more saturated colors have been seen on Nightwings, albeit still quite rare, whether that be colored stars under their wings, light blue eyes or purple horns, some with more recent heritage to other tribes sharing certain shades of browns, greens, and some rare whites, though pure black or near black colors are still exceptionally more common than the rest of these colors. They are often named with a prefix and suffix system, the prefix based around either the night sky they hatched under, or the wilderness around them.

## Diet

Before the two continents merged, the Nightwings had returned to their old home of the Night Kingdom. Post-merge, the Nightwings were swift to claim the entirety of the "hind leg" of what was formerly Pantala for themselves, to get more hunting grounds and claim territory before any of their neighbors got ideas on boxing them in. A couple of islands making up the tail of Pantala were claimed as well, leading to their diet expanding.

Their diet concludes of hawks, wolves, fish, black bears, and many small critters of the undergrowth like squirrels and snakes, along with new creatures they learned to hunt like zebras, gazelle, wildebeest, lions, vultures, and more. They also tend to eat fruits and vegetables they may find in their hunting grounds, and other edibles like nuts.

## Abilities

Nightwings are one of the many nocturnal dragon tribes, having very evolved night-vision. With their dark scales they are able to blend into the night sky and shadows, they are often thought of as being capable of becoming skilled assassins. Nightwings breathe fire as their main default ability, some have deadly amounts of bacteria in their jaws, enough to be poisonous to animals and cause infections in dragons, due to eating carrion regularly, a common practice amongst those of lower class.

### Tribal Abilities

Nightwings also have a special connection to the moon. Dragonets born underneath one moon are granted the ability of either mind-reading or future sight, while those born underneath two moons will have both. It is strongly believed that dragonets born underneath three moons have both powers mentioned before, but much stronger. It was once believed in the times of Darkstalker that dragons born under three moons were gifted with animus magic, but this has since been disproven as the magic of animus is passed genetically. Nightwing eggs hatching underneath moonlight will turn silver, while those not placed before a clear night sky one way or another will lack any power, and will stay a dark, ebony black until hatching.

It is a well known fact mind-reading dragons can only see your thoughts you are currently thinking, unable to rummage through a dragon's mind, though some have attempted to do this in more recent times, proving unsuccessful. A mind-reader usually will only pick up on jumbled words, memories and emotions, though if a mind-reader is close or touching another dragon they will be able to hear clearer. They can project their thoughts to other mind-readers, and may even be able to listen in on a dragonet gifted in future sight receiving a prophecy and pick up a few jumbled words, but nothing more. Dragonets are often taught how to block their thoughts from a mind-reader by taking a special class during school, and some who are naturally more guarded are able to subconsciously block their thoughts from being read. On the off-chance a dragonet is born before a full-moon, such as a quarter of half moon, there is a chance they could be an empath, described as a watered down version of mind-reading.[1]

Dragonets born with future sight are able to see moments of the future, it takes a mentally strong seer to be able to get a flash intentionally, even for a moment. Otherwise what they receive is random, leading to some seers giving false visions or prophecies on the occasion, leading to there being a need for another seer to back up the vision's truthfulness if possible. Prophecies are the rarest of visions to receive, instead of vague flashes or fully fledged moments the dragon has words put into their head, often paired with scenarios that will vaguely play out for them. Especially powerful seers may be able to dive into a dragon's past or future, and follow a timeline for as far as their limit allows them to.

#### Special Abilities

During the rare occurrence of one or more of the three moons turning red, a dragonet born a mind-reader is able to project their thoughts into the heads of any dragon, not limited to just other mind-readers. A seer born on a blood moon is able to predict natural disasters and horrible events relatively clearly.[1]

### Animus Magic

Like all other tribes this current age, animus-blood has recently become genetic, although only one or two animus have been identified recently. Any animi found are given high rankings and better homes, sometimes inside of the palace itself, to easily serve the queen.

## Society

Modern day Nightwings are still as traditionally seen, mysterious and spooky. They do not tend to take kindly to strangers and will go as far to discriminate against other tribes attempting to settle, temporarily or not, in their villages. Though this stigmatism is not shared by all Nightwings, they are notoriously known for this discrimination, especially towards Rainwings and Icewings. They function relatively nocturnally, awake from dusk till dawn, although some have altered their schedule slightly or entirely to fit their current lifestyle. Their life as a tribe is similar to how it was in the age of Darkstalker, but more advanced, having began to discover better tools for observing the stars like telescopes, pipe systems for the palace and high class homes, and books are now favored over scrolls, though both are used.

### Culture

The Nightwing's culture is heavily based around literature. They are known for their advanced education system, as they expanded on their old ways from the era of Darkstalker once more and reestablished grand libraries and schools. Taking from Jade Mountain's education system too, the Nightwings opted for a Winglet system for their school and to teach a much broader array of subjects. More depth into each tribe's habitats and culture, history outside of their own, and art classes are taught as well, along with other elective-type activities. They also re-adopted the system where the higher ranked the dragon is, the better and higher up the home. Their main city is located all around a mountain that looms into the sky, above the clouds, which they call "Star Peak". The castle is on the very top of this mountain, and covers a good chunk of it. Due to this and most homes being so high up, most of Nightwing society has advanced into being able to handle the lower oxygen levels, with the exception of the poor who live closer to the forests and sea below.

#### Naming System

The Nightwing naming system usually will at birth name a dragonet only their prefix, and once they mature enough they are allowed to choose a permanent suffix. Their names may be related to their personality, their occupation or their physical appears and/or traits. They can also be named after the night sky they hatched under, the wilderness around them, or their powers. Nightwing names are more so a proper identity now instead of just meant to give a sense of strength, might, or to strike fear.

#### Trade

Trades between other tribes are limited, as the past 10 years have been filled with off and on warfare, but in peace time they tend to be more open to letting traders come farther into the kingdom to sell and converse. They have an entire trading center located in the midst of the mountain range referred to as "Darkstalker's Teeth", and its the primary way into the Nightwing kingdom, as they have a supply of enchanted earrings there anyone can take to allow Icewings over the mountains. They've cleaned up the bones and corpses from the past thousands of years too, and planted trees in the memory of those Icewings lost to the teeth, even if not everyone's a huge fan of the Icewing tribe. During peacetime, their trading centers are constantly open.

#### Beliefs

The color black is believed to bring good luck, and that a murder of crows is a sign of fortune. Because of this, they do not hunt crows or blackbears. The color white is often associated with skulls and death, and during the wintertime if it is to snow, death is to be expected to run through Nightwing territory. They also believe that when you die, your body and soul are turned into stars, which is why they often cremate bodies if it is a clear night.

Every few hundred years, there is a night where all three moons go dark and the night is pitch-black. This is referred to as "The Darkest Night", and is greatly feared despite black being associated with good luck. It is believed that during this night you will fall asleep and wake up dead if you have done wrong within the last moon cycle. This has been proven false and simply a myth to convince dragonets to behave.

## Significant Members

### Other members

Click here for a list of all known Nightwings