CaveWings

## About

CaveWings are wingless, fearless warriors. They are relatively unknown, as they do not normally leave their underground homes. They are named after either cave animals or carnivorous animals, although some of the earlier CaveWings had more NightWing names.

## Location

CaveWings are scattered around the continent of Pyrrhia, and live in clans in massive cave systems underneath the surface. The largest known clan of CaveWings is underneath the ruins of the Night Kingdom volcano. A huge cave system was underneath it, and still is due to its depth under the ground. There are other, smaller bands of CaveWings living in caves mostly around the Sky Kingdom. The Ice Kingdom was thought to be too cold, although one clan has been living there for some time now. (See: CaveWing Variants, CavernWings) The Sand Kingdom is quite hard to live in as well, as the constantly shifting sand tends to bury the colonies, although there is a variant that lives there too. (See: CaveWing Variants, DuneWings)

## Appearance

CaveWings tend to be averagely sized, but well-muscled. A CaveWing's main scale color is almost always a dark shade of any color. They have a mane and a bit of fluff on their tail, which can be a shade of black/gray. Their horns are the same color of their main scales, and underbellies are a lighter shade of the main color. They have very sharp claws for climbing and sharp teeth as well, both of which are pure white. Eye color is usually dark blue, dark brown, or gray. In general, they are a very muted tribe. However, there are a few albino CaveWings, but they are incredibly rare. (As in, ask before making one of these, as they should be at a 1:500 ratio for the tribe. The number doesn't seem too big because the tribe itself is rather rare.)

## History

CaveWings are ancient descendants of two legends: Black Cobra and Silence. Silence was an animus NightWing, alive during the time of Darkstalker and Clearsight. He was a mute, as his name suggested, but a very powerful animus. However, he never really used his powers, as he did not want to accidentally turn himself evil. He was quite lonely as a dragonet, as he was that one weird kid who didn't talk and was very shy. He was also considered to be a bit of a nerd, as he was interested in history and scrolls. He didn't have a lot of friends as a result, so when he finished his education, he mysteriously disappeared, as far as his family knew. What really happened was that he ran away to an underground cavern under a volcano in the middle of what would later be the Night Kingdom. There were the remains of an ancient civilization, and he enjoyed slowly reviving bits and pieces of it by restoring the works of art. One of them was a life-size statue of a dragon, with many strange, glowing markings, the most prominent being a glowing snake tattoo. He loved this statue very much, and often sat near it when he found some ancient tablet with writing on it to read. Years passed, and he never left the cavern, living off of his magic. Eventually, he decided that he would give life to this statue, as it was his only companion. He enchanted the statue to come to life, and there was Black Cobra. She was grateful to have life, but had no idea what was going on. Silence realized that he had to give her memories and maturity in order for her to function properly, and so he did. He gave her memories of them being friends, then more than friends. They grew closer as time went on, and eventually had some children. Years passed, and these children bred closely with the NightWings until Darkstalker was subdued by Clearsight. Having pledged allegiance to him previously in exchange for necessary resources, the descendants fled back to the caves they had come from, and became largely independent. Further evolution took their wings, as they no longer had use for them, but enhanced them in other ways.

## Ruling Practices

CaveWings, unlike the other tribes, do not have a set king or queen. They are too spread out for something like that. Instead, they have clans, five of them. Each one is led by a leader, and each clan has a different method of deciding leadership. CaveWings value life, and most refuse to kill a member of their clan, due to an intense loyalty within the clan. A clan leader is in charge for life, and has the power of a king or queen within his jurisdiction. If they go to visit another clan, they will be treated with respect and honor, but will not have any real power there.

## Religious Practices

CaveWings worship Black Cobra and Silence as the creators of their species, and Silence especially. They consider mute dragonets as gifts from Silence, and those dragonets are treated with the utmost respect. They have several rules that every clan follows.

1. All CaveWings are to obey their clan leader unconditionally. Punishment is flogging.
2. No stealing. Punishment is flogging.
3. Lying to the clan leader is prohibited. Punishment is being marked as a Deceiver. (See: Punishments, Marked)

### Punishments

*Flogging*
Flogging is a public whipping, normally administered in the center of the clan base. Flogging is the most minor punishment, and consists of 10 lashes of a whip. As CaveWings are incredibly resistant to physical attacks, the most this does is remind the offender of who is in charge. After 5 offenses on the same clan leader, the amount of lashes rises by 5 each offense.

*Marked*
Being Marked means that you are a Deceiver, or someone who willingly lied to their clan leader on an important issue 3 or more times. A hissing viper head is tattooed on the Deceiver's forehead, visible to all. Marked means that you lose several key privileges, including visiting other Marked, leaving the clan base, and fighting for the clan leader position.

*Outcast*
Outcast means that you have offended the same clan leader 10 times, and are now expelled from the clan. No other clan will take an Outcast CaveWing, so the offender is either doomed to a life alone, or to join the roaming band of Outcast on the surface, if they can find them. (See: Clans, Outcast)

## The Clans

There are 5 official clans of CaveWings, plus the Outcasts, which are not recognized as a real clan by the other CaveWings.

Arctic Fox Clan

Axolotl Clan

Scorpion Clan

Snake Clan

Wyvern Clan

The OutCasts