CaveWings

CaveWings belong to Malice the NightWing. Ask before making an Earthborn or royalty.

## Description

CaveWings are small, rocky-looking dragons that live in a huge network of caves deep underground, where they have a kingdom of their own. They almost never go up the hundreds of miles to the surface, and almost every CaveWing lives their entire life underground.

They live in, obviously, caves. Usually there will be certain networks of caves that belong to one "Province", or section, of their huge kingdom. Even smaller caves that are part of each province belong to groups of dragons or even individual dragons for living space.

Their society consists of one Queen, who rules in the capital Province. She has a council of dragons that help her rule, made up of one voted representative from each of the ten Provinces.

CaveWings are very musical, and have a wide variety of instruments that they use, mainly percussive instruments. They also sing, and have traditional songs that tell stories that are passed down from generation to generation. They have a great many festivals during the year, most of them consisting of wild tribal dances accompanied by flutes, harps, and song. The caves have good acoustics, too, so sometimes travelers to the CaveWing kingdom come just to hear their famous echoing cave music.

Since CaveWings are sheltered from all other tribes and they are relatively peaceable dragons, most don't know how to fight and hate the idea of war or bloodshed. As a whole they are much like the RainWings, but with a much stronger, safer, less primitive, and more complex society.

CaveWings are often musicians as a trade, and bards are popular. These bards will travel from province to province, playing music on a harp or a drum and singing for entertainment. CaveWings traditionally like to hold banquets and parties with their neighbors, and will often hire a bard to entertain the dinner party.

CaveWings have two-word names, usually based off of... You guessed it, cave things. Examples: Twisted Spire, Cave Crystal, Bat Flight, Grey Stalactite. They are often given nicknames. Sometimes they are named after mining-related things and gemstones.

CaveWings are fond of travelers from other tribes, and enjoy listening to stories about the other kingdoms above the caves. They even have a vault of special animus-touched necklaces for visitors that shed enough light for them to see by and shield them from poisonous gasses, since most don't have night vision.

## Appearance

Their scales range in shades of stony grey, black, and rarely white. Their eyes can be any color, but they don't have pupils or irises, and they are often two different colors. Other than that, the only color on them is the color of their claws, which can be any color. They have long, jagged spines and tapered snouts, and their tails are very long and end in a razor-sharp bundle of spines. They are very small, lithe, and athletic, with razor sharp claws and elongated tails for climbing in dark caves. Their wings are smaller than other tribes and are usually a lighter shade of their scales.

Royalty have pure black wing membranes, no matter what color their scales are. (This is different from normal black CaveWings, because of the slightly lighter wing membrane color.)

## Abilities

CaveWings can breathe fire and withstand poisonous underground gasses. They don't have night vision but have a mental radar that they use to "see" details of caves in pitch-black darkness. Their tails are super long and extremely strong, and they can use them to strangle their enemies. They can also slam their tails on the ground to cause earthquakes.

Sometimes, very rarely, a CaveWing will be white instead of black or grey. This is always accompanied with the ability to manipulate earth, (Think Earthbending), called Earthborn, although it is so rare there is almost never more than one per generation. Earthborns are usually killed because they are so dangerous, and could literally collapse their entire kingdom.

## Weaknesses

CaveWings, due to their education, are educated very well in the arts, but often never learn to read, write, or count. This by no means makes them unintelligent, but they do lack those skills. They tell stories, but do not write them down for this reason.

Although they are peace-loving, they ruthlessly kill Earthborns at birth. They feel no remorse for their actions and do not consider Earthborns "actual dragons".

Once, a mother CaveWing refused to kill her daughter who was an Earthborn and raised her in secrecy, but that is another story.

## Diet

CaveWings eat blind cave fish and bats. They have a surprising array of recipies that they derive from these two staples, along with a large variety of underground minerals as seasonings.

Recipies Include:

* Salt Bat Stew
* Cave Fish Bat Shish Ka Bob
* Cave Fish Sticks
* Tempura Bat
* Bat and Cave Fish Soufflee
* Cave Fish Casserole
* Rotisserie Bat

## Alliances

CaveWings have no alliances, but sometimes get visitors from other tribes, whom they allow into their kingdom but do not allow to stay. They are neutral towards the tribes and don't pay much attention to them.

They do, however, trade their jewels, metals, and precious materials that they mine to other tribes, making them a valuable ally. CaveWings see no use for selling jewels, since they live with them and have them in plenty, so they often will trade a fortune of wealth just for a night of storytelling or attending a dinner party to tell them about the outside world.

## Kingdom

Their kingdom lies in the underground caves hundreds of miles beneath all of Pyrrhia. The CaveWings built intricate roads, maps and tunnels of the kingdom, and countless organized tunnels so they could find their way across the kingdom. All the tunnels meet up at a huge "Station", which also has the only path to the outside world.

## Famous Places

**The Crystal Glow Cave-**The Crystal Glow Cave is the largest cave in the kingdom, where the Crystal Festival takes place. The walls are covered in glowing rainbow-colored crystals, making it the only cave with light in it besides the Palace of Earthquakes. In the center of the cave is a large blue crystal with the history of the CaveWings inscribed on it.

**The Mirror Pool Cave-**The Mirror Pool Cave is a huge underground lake, full of the purest waters in all of Pyrrhia. Tourists from other tribes often visit it, some believing that drinking its water will make you wiser. (This is a myth.)

**The Palace of Earthquakes-**The Palace of Earthquakes is the home of the queen and the only structure ever built in the CaveWing kingdom. It was made by an Earthborn thousands of years ago, and is a huge underground castle completely constructed of rock. It has gold and jewels inlaid in the walls and hallways, and many intricate works of art such as large paintings on the walls and statues made of solid gold inlaid with jewels in the halls. Lanterns made of micah, a translucent, thin stone and wrapped in swirling silver wire flood the palace with light, making it one of the only two places in the CaveWing kingdom with light in it. The lanterns are lit up with *sihismahake,*a rare glowing stone that CaveWings are famous for.

## Holidays and Festivals

CaveWings have a huge festival once every year called the Crystal Festival. This takes place in the Crystal Glow Cave, where they have all the best musicians and chanters come and chant the history of the CaveWings to the beat of complex drums.

## Royal Family

* **Queen Twisted Spire (the queen herself)**Twisted Spire is firm and somewhat cold, but a wise ruler.
* **King Bat Flight (queen's husband)**Bat Flight is somewhat ditzy and overly cheerful, kind of like a dragon Pinky Pie.
* **Princess Cave Crystal (queen's daughter)**Cave Crystal is slow and stupid, and overall very boring.
* **Prince Grey Stalactite (queen's son)**Grey Stalactite is intelligent and studious, and yearns for adventure in the outside world.
* **Prince Stone Talon (queen's brother)**Stone Talon is snotty and aristocratic, and considers himself superior to everyone else. He secretly yearns for his sister's throne and is very annoying to be around.

## Education

CaveWings view education highly and are taught at a very young age these subjects:

* etiquette and courtesy
* music
* art
* chanting and storytelling
* history
* politics
* foreign cultures

This is considered a well-rounded education, but some CaveWings prefer not to send their children to schools for various reasons. Those CaveWings are usually scorned or looked down on, even though homeschooled CaveWings are often very intelligent. (I am a homeschooler so don't take this wrong and think I'm insulting homeschoolers.)

CaveWings hold etiquette and music as their most important skills, and an average young CaveWing will have to master the complicated manners, rules, and rituals of hosting dinner parties, meeting dragons, or giving speeches.

Lots of schools will have huge orchestras, choirs, bands, and ensembles of all types for music, and study music intensely.

Having good etiquette and being talented and active musically is popular among CaveWings, and this is often how they will judge each other.

## History

Long ago, all the dragon tribes lived as one great tribe that shared all the attributes- The GemWings. They lived in peace with each other for many, many years. Then, at one point, there began to be a dispute between GemWings. These disputes turned into a war, and GemWings separated into the tribes of Pyrrhia.

CaveWings were one of those tribes, and they looked around for a kingdom to go to for twenty years, until their tribe leader stumbled across a cave. The cave turned out to be one of millions and millions of caves, all connected in cryptic tunnels that wound through each other like a labyrinth. Having nowhere else to go to, the CaveWings settled in those caves, weary and war-torn. They developed their radar sensing so they didn't have to see in the dark, and their other physical advantages for living in caves. They vowed never to have war again, seeing how horrible it was, and stayed in the caves, building a magnificent kingdom, ever since.