ShiftWings

## Note

ShiftWings belong to **NyIaa** and are currently a work in progress. Due to the fact that information on this page is incomplete or out of date, no new ShiftWings will be allowed at this time.
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# |-|to do

* base (ask res?)
* redo desc (not too much)
* abilities ??
* society needs a crap ton of development
* personalities/relationships !!!!!!
* they literally have no history rn fix that

# |-|old

## Physical description

ShiftWings are tiny compared to other tribes, the head of a full grown ShiftWing would probably reach around the shoulder of a full grown SeaWing. They aren't considerably muscular compared to other tribes, and are usually thinner. Their wings are ~~large~~ huge however, but they aren't made to fly long distances. Instead, a powerful flap or two would bring a ShiftWing high enough into the air to glide to wherever they were going. The head of a ShiftWing is usually narrower, and they have straight horns. They do have noticeably larger ears compared to other tribes. Their legs and tails are relatively long for their size, and they are rather awkward looking. To help them fly, instead of spines a thin layer of a material very similar to the wing membranes acts like a sail, and it somewhat resembles a SandWing's sail, apart from being soft and translucent. Their claws are long and curved and sharp, built to cling to the tiniest claw holds on the flattest cliff and to hook the quickest fish from the coldest stream. Their teeth are sharp too, the ShiftWings are mainly carnivores. ShiftWings are commonly light shades of gray, and while darker or pure white ShiftWings are rare, they are not treated any differently.

## Abilities

ShiftWings might not be considered the strongest of dragons. In fact, due to their territory, more than half of ShiftWings are usually born blind. The rest either have horrible vision, or horrible vision that eventually becomes blindness. ShiftWings with good vision are ***extremely*** rare, the only cases of this taking place in ShiftWings who's parents lived somewhere else for a long while. (For example, Mountia) Due to their lack of vision, ShiftWings have adapted to using echolocation. Hence, the large ears. Instead of roars, ShiftWings can create clicking noises to help with their echolocation. Something else special about ShiftWings is their lightning quick strike. Their primary food source is fish and birds, and in order to catch these they must be quick. Due to their large wings, a single powerful flap of their wings would bring them up about as much as a SkyWing could get after five powerful flaps. But ShiftWing's wings tire quickly, and most can only manage one or two flaps at a time. Instead they rely mostly on gliding from mountain to cliff and so on. As for breath, ShiftWings can exhale harmless mist, which given enough could probably hide a dragon or two, but ShiftWings mostly use this to hide themselves from prey.

## Territory

ShiftWings do live in the Pyrrhian mainland. They reside in the most remote mountains, filled to the peaks with impenetrable mist, hence the blindness as sight would be useless anyway. They live in nothing more than caves in the cliff sides, and their food comes from the icy rivers below and the birds nests above. The royal family gets nothing more than a slightly larger cave, and the responsibility that comes with a tiny tribe. In fact, one of the main reasons they have not been discovered is the size of the tribe.

## Society

ShiftWings themselves aren't very social. They simply live near each other, sometimes making friends and sometimes deciding they want eggs. Most dragonessess only lay one egg, this is probably one reason the tribe is so small. Royalty doesn't act much differently from normal ShiftWings, and sometimes the line between them gets blurry. ShiftWing princesses very rarely take on their mothers, and more often than not they will simply want their turn. In fact, a queen retiring is actually quite common. While they are pretty peaceful, they prefer not to come into contact with the other tribes, and hybrids are unheard of unless the ShuftWing lives somewhere else (again, Mountia for example) simply because ShiftWings are normally pretty shy.

## Government

ShiftWing royalty is at most times, very hard to distinguish from commoners. It is rare that they have to make an important decision for the tribe, and when they do, they call the whole tribe together to help out with it. They have very few responsibilities that normal ShiftWings don't, because they all live together and fights amongst the tribe are practically unheard of. They do have to track all tribe members and important events in the history book, so they are taught to speak and write Pyrrhian, though how to read it has mostly become forgotten. This knowledge is not denied to any ShiftWing, but most of them don't bother with it. Royalty, however, is required to know it. Interestingly enough, this leads to most ShiftWings not being able to speak Pyrrhian, yet another reason they are so secluded. Instead, they communicate with their own language of clicks and whistles too high pitched for the ears of dragons from other tribes.

## Living

ShiftWings are very simple, and they only really use their homes for sleeping and caring for young dragonets. The rest of the time is spent hunting. Really, the mountains are their home, and each dragon has no one cave to theirself. There are more than enough caves for everyone, but it would be too much unnecessary work to keep track of whose cave is whose. Most caves are caves in the mountain, either shallow pockets or entrances to deep tunnels. Sleeping caves are large enough to fit two or three ShiftWings, even though ShiftWings usually sleep alone. They might gather moss and feathers to sleep on, but the caves are otherwise empty. Females with dragonets or eggs stay in a larger cave, lined with moss and feathers and other soft things from a long time being a nursery. The mother stays with her eggs and hatchlings until they have been taught to hunt on their own. The third type of cave is one larger than the sleeping caves, but smaller than the nursery cave. It is the sleeping cave for royalty, and it is no better than the other sleeping cave. It is still lined with a bit of moss and feathers, but not exceptionally more than other caves. The only reason it is bigger is so the tribe has a place to put the tiny bit of treasure it has, which consists mostly of the book of ShiftWing history, and an empty book for when the first is filled. The rest of the caves are too small to sleep in, so they are used as a quick escape from the occasional rain or a place to put extra prey caught while hunting.

## History

ShiftWings didn't begin recording their history until much later than the other tribes, so not much is known about the time before Queen Whisper's rule. However, it is likely ShiftWings branched off from the first SkyWings, then began adapting to their new territory. For as long as they know, ShiftWings have always been pretty quiet, and probably due to their small numbers and lack of ranged attacks, avoid wars and fights at all costs.

## Alliances

ShiftWings have never actually met any of the other tribes, except maybe a few SkyWings. Most of their “relationships” are really just what they think the tribes would be like based on their actions, and what few dragons can see their appearance. They think of the other tribes as almost god-like, and deeply respect and fear all of them. Another reason they stay secluded and stay out of conflict is because they don’t want to mess with the “god”’s business. They believe they would be punished. They think the IceWings, SeaWings and NightWings are the “good” ones, while the SandWings, MudWings and SkyWings are their “evil” counterparts.

### IceWings

All ShiftWings have seen of IceWings is their dead bodies, but even those sparkle like snow and ice. ShiftWings think IceWings must be some kind of powerful, magical creature that should be respected.

### SeaWings

ShiftWings again have only seen the bodies of SeaWings, and are completely confused by them. Why would you need gills and webbed talons? Stranger yet, ShiftWings who can see say that they glow, which means they must be just as powerful as the IceWings.

### SandWings

ShiftWings have seen SandWings flying alongside SkyWings. and believe they join in the SkyWing’s killing. They think they are “evil” as well.

### RainWings

ShiftWings have never actually seen, or heard of the RainWings.

### NightWings

Only one NightWing was ever seen by the ShiftWings, and they were described as “a piece of the night that had broken away and come alive”. ShiftWings look up to NightWings the most, believing that they are the most powerful.

### SkyWings

SkyWings are the closest to the ShiftWings, yet they still barely know anything about each other. ShiftWings think that SkyWings are fire-breathing, bloodthirsty soldiers who go around killing other dragons. After all, not many SkyWings would have reason to fly over the mountains unless they were soldiers. The ShiftWings fear the SkyWings, but still respect them. They believe the SkyWings are the most “evil” of all the tribes, since they fly by most often.

### MudWings

They believe the MudWings are just like the SandWings and SkyWings.