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peregrinethegryphon · 2 months ago

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Scorching Era Dragon Species

(Headcanon, until canon confirms or disputes)

🔴 Mountain Dragons

Based on dragons described in The Flames of Hope, pages 186-187.

The Mountain Dragons were the most common species of dragon on Pyrrhia. They inhabited the entirety of the central mountain range. Their scales tended towards warm colors like red and orange, but it was common to see other colors on them. Dragons at this time were far more likely to hybridize with other species as a result of their overlapping ranges and lack of formal society. They were one of only two species that possessed firebreath. Their diets consisted primarily of large ungulates, but they were opportunistic and would eat anything.

Mountain Dragons could be classified into two populations. The Northern Mountain Dragons were distinguished by their brighter colors and diurnal lifestyle. The Southern Mountain Dragons by contrast were darker, with more black scales as an adaptation for a more nocturnal or crepuscular lifestyle.

The Scorching was led by one large Northern Mountain Dragon (The Flames of Hope, page 186, see above image) who would become the first queen of the first dragon tribe, which would be known as the Skywings. Mountain Dragons made up the majority of the early Skywing tribe, but Forest Dragons were also common within their ranks.

The Southern Mountain Dragons, however, would not stay in the Skywing tribe for long, instead forming their own tribe, the Nightwings, and keeping their nocturnal lifestyles and building their own society around it.

Hundreds of years after The Scorching, the Skywings, under the rule on an ambitious queen, would start a conflict with neighboring tribes over territory. This would be known as the War of Skywing Expansion. The war would see the Nightwings pushed out of their mountain territory and the tribe would find a new territory on the southwest peninsula.

🟡 Stone Dragons

Based on an obvious Sandwing ancestor in The Flames of Hope, page 183.

Stone Dragons lived around rocky areas and caves at the base of cliffs and mountains. They were an offshoot of the Mountain Dragons, distinct only in their much paler coloration, back sail, and venomous tail barb. They usually possessed flecks of black scales. Their venom evolved independently of other species. Diets consisted of anything they could catch.

After The Scorching they were the first to colonize the newly formed desert that once housed a large human civilization. Other species would try to colonize the area, but as temperatures got more extreme, only the Stone Dragons would be able to adapt. Their descendants became known as the Sandwings. This species has remained virtually unchanged since The Scorching.

🔵 Sea Dragons

Sea Dragons are mentioned in The Flames of Hope page 181. Page 185 states they couldn't breathe fire.

Sea Dragons were semiaquatic, coming mostly in shades of blue and green. They lived on the eastern coast, on islands and beneath the ocean. They had specialized gills and kidneys that allowed them to tolerate a wide range of salinity levels. They had bioluminescent spots along their body used for communication. This species did not possess firebreath. Their diet consisted of fish and pinnipeds.

While a majority of Sea Dragons lived in the ocean, there was a small population living in freshwater rivers and lakes on the southeast coast, sometimes referred to as Swamp Dragons by local humans. They were more on the greener side than their marine cousins. They ate fish and whatever animals they could ambush from the water.

During the War of Skywing Expansion, some Skywing defectors would flee their kingdom and find refuge in the southeast with the Swamp Dragons. After the war they would eventually form a new tribe together, calling themselves the Mudwings.

The Seawings would be one of the earliest tribes to form. They’ve remained virtually unchanged since The Scorching.

🟣 Ice Dragons

Ice dragons were the most isolated species of dragon. They were fully adapted to Pyrrhia’s northern tundra and possessed frostbreath in place of firebreath. Their diets consisted primarily of fish and pinnipeds, but would hunt anything if the opportunity presented itself.

After The Scorching the Icewings would be one of the earliest tribes to form. They’ve remained unchanged since The Scorching. This is, of course, a point of pride for the Icewings. It is unknown if Animus Magic had appeared yet.

🟢 Forest Dragons

Based on Freedom, with the caveat that Freedom is a Mountain/Forest hybrid. The dragon described in The Flames of Hope, page 186 is heavily implied to be her mother.

Forest Dragons were a species adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. They were brightly colored and came in all color combinations, and had rounded wings. They possessed venomous fangs in place of firebreath. They made their nests in the trees. Those living in the southern rainforests were primarily frugivores and were much more colorful, while those in more temperate forests were more omnivorous, eating anything they could find, and had greener scales. They would often take naps in the middle of the day to gain energy from the sun. Leafspeak was a rare ability possessed by some individuals.

The Forest Dragons would give rise to three tribes after The Scorching. Those already adapted to the rainforest would form their own tribe, the Rainwings. The Rainwings would independently evolve their color changing ability over time.

Those best adapted to temperate forests formed their own tribe, the Leafwings. The Leafwing tribe happened to have the most Leafspeakers within their population, which they enthusiastically integrated into their agricultural practices.

During the War of Skywing Expansion, the Leafwing tribe would be forced out of their territory and would eventually make their way across the ocean to a new continent, Pantala.

One isolated population of Forest Dragons had already been evolving some odd traits by the time of The Scorching, such as a second set of wings and silk glands. This population evolved on the southwest peninsula, and would form their own tribe, the Beetlewings.

During the War of Skywing Expansion, the Beetlewings would be forced out of their territory by the Nightwings, who would then take over the peninsula as the Beetlewings joined the Leafwings in their exodus from Pyrrhia into Pantala.

Pre-Scorching Range Map

Original Bases Free to Use

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simplegeneral · 11 days ago

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What if Oasis had survived (as in, not died stupidly)?

The death of Oasis have led to the entire events of Wings of Fire to begin, and even be possible. Without it, wof would not be the story we know, and what if she had survived such a pathetic death?

4993 AS:

- POD: Oasis goes out to hunt some scavengers and comes back with some nice meals for dinner!

4994 AS:

Sky Palace Conference;

Queens Oasis and Scarlet meet at the Sky Palace to discuss the matter of Possibility, the flashpoint of the highest tensions in Pyrrhia in the last months. The city, a merge of SkyWings and SandWings had no clear authority from either, and have much strategic significance that either refused to leave it.

For Oasis, Possibility lies on the delta of the Five-tails river, the breadbasket of her queendom, to give up to it would massively strengthen Scarlet while severely weakening the SandWings. For Scarlet, the town is an important trading outpost and taking control over it would keep the SandWings in check.

Both queens have had a recent history of clashes. While Oasis and Firestorm had kept a relatively stable diplomacy after decades of skirmishes, with the very treaty that founded Possibility, her death and the ascension of Scarlet did much to disturb the very fragile peace. The jumpstarted SkyWing queen was distant, unpredictable and downright, most would say, insane. Oasis had none of her threats and quite often “all bark, but no bite” diplomacy she conducted.

As SandWing and SkyWing soldiers threat and sometimes openly fight in the city, Oasis and Scarlet have threw around proposals that could benefit either of them, while their emissaries proposed an independent and equal-partner trade city to both of them, to which both refused.

Neither side backs down and both leave, the stormy clouds are gathering in Pyrrhia.

4995 AS:

Battle of Possibility;

After weeks of tension and uncertainty, Queen Oasis had made the first move. Under princess Burn, the SandWings launch a sweeping attack against the SkyWing side of Possibility, taking the SkyWings completely unprepared. The battle was a decisive SandWing victory and they took all of Possibility.

Queen Scarlet reacted poorly to the news, to say the least. She had her commander-in-chief, princess Burgundy, executed publicly for her embarrassing failure, despite obeying Scarlet’s very orders to not mobilize, nor provoke a SandWing aggression.

Truth was, Scarlet was not ready for a war yet. Caught amidst a massive economical shift and military organization, the SkyWings suffered a huge blow, having yet to recover from the infamous Burning Fields event, when Queen Scarlet made her move to destroy the so long and hard-fought autonomy of the Sky Queendom’s provinces in favor of an absolutist control of all the land, from nobles or commoners alike, the resulting war led to the burning of countless fields and crops as retaliation acts from Scarlet, resulting in a famine.

Queen Oasis had exactly hoped for this. She had to defeat the SkyWing war machine while it was broken, otherwise its full mobilization could indeed threaten her. While they were defeated, their loss merely strengthened Scarlet and the SkyWings’ resolve to fight, through whatever means they could.

Scarlet would return.

4996 AS:

The Mountains’ Campaign;

The nightmare of any military commander in Pyrrhia was to fight the SkyWings at their preferred terrain, the mountains. With low air density and incredibly tall mountains, it was a nightmare to think the SandWings, so used to plains and sea level atmosphere could ever fight in such conditions, but such a thing was not a concern of general Burn, who pressed her initial victory in Possibility with a daring strike at the heart of the Claws of the Clouds mountains.

While none could ever doubt princess Burn’s will in her pursuit of victory, clear doubts about her logistics and management could be noted. The Sandstorm, as its the nickname of the sand queendom’s main force, made out of four armies, with 2500 soldiers had fought battle after battle in the mountains, as the SkyWings ambushed and caused attrition to wherever they flew towards, wherever they rested. Scarlet’s army was disorganized and underequipped, but none could doubt their fanaticism for their queen.

By the end of 4996 AS, The Sandstorm had been reduced to 1600 dragons, with large casualties, Oasis had recalled Burn to the palace and ransacked her from commanding, Burn would now be general of the Sand Palace’s garrison, a tragic contrast of her military commanding during OTL’s Great War. While demoting Burn seemed unthinkable, there was no dragon in this world that could take such action other than Oasis, who had taken the military affairs in her own talons and she does not falter.

4997 AS:

The Silent War;

The SandWings were known for their underground empires of crime and lawlessness, one such as the Talons of Power, led by Vulture, which have been the archnemesis of Oasis for decades. While the iron queen had kept them under check and near constant threat of extermination, no doubt the war had opened doors that Vulture never misses.

For one, Queen Scarlet, hoping to take every advantage she could against the SandWings, had opened her communication with the crime lord, offering him to expand his business dealings openly through the Sky Queendom, acquiring some much needed dragonflame cactus, which would be useful later.

For another, princess Blister had gone rogue as her mother departed from the palace. While not outright denouncing her mother, Blister has been an unusual notable voice of peace during the war so far. Considering Oasis’ aggression as unprovoked and Queen Scarlet as merely doing her barking without bite, she did managed to convince many SandWings that the war was completely pointless.

The shadowy princess have been long known for having her secret dealings with the underground world, such as Vulture, and now had been thrown in a promising position of potentially overthrowing Oasis and declaring herself as new queen, ending the war, but one very big problem was in her way, Burn.

Princess Burn is the most loyal follower of her mother, and an even bigger voice for war against Scarlet. While Blister convinced the SandWings with sweet words and reasoning, Burn convinced them through her strength and fanatical warmongery in defense of Oasis. And there was Blaze too, but quite often, she supported the side of her mother, who bribed her the most.

4998 AS:

The Sky is Red;

Queen Scarlet, reorganizing her army and subjects following the defeats, but decisive halting of Burn’s campaign in the mountains, organized a massive counter-attack across the entire front, mobilizing thousands of dragons to her cause, the SkyWing queen outnumbered the SandWings nearly 3 to 1, the most decisive advantage to strike, and so she did.

Through a series of quick battles in the beginning, the SandWings were pushed out the mountains swiftly, with dozens captured, whom would fight to the death at Scarlet’s arena, while the rest retreated.

As the SkyWings approached the five-tails and the sand queendom’s border, Oasis had manage to hold the line and clashed against the SkyWings once again at Possibility, but their overwhelming force had made she retreat from the town to its outskirts, but the SkyWings pursued them faster than they could retreat.

Soon after reconquering Possibility, Scarlet had her armies at the gates of the Sand Palace, in her final humiliation of Oasis for all of Pyrrhia to see, the old SandWing queen was on her last legs, or so she thought.

The Battle of the Sand Palace was an epic clash of the two larges armies Pyrrhia had ever seem in history, in a bloodbath of apocalyptic proportions. The SandWings, under Oasis, Burn and Sandstorm however, won the battle of will, crushing the SkyWings in a decisive if not pyrrhic victory for the SandWings.

4999 AS:

Truce of Possibility;

In the awake of the battle for the sand palace, the SandWings pushed against Scarlet’s forces and soon both forces clashed again in the third battle for Possibility, reaching an inconclusive end.

Both states were now weakened from the war, and a truce was called at Possibility, the city where it all begun, Oasis and Scarlet met and signed a truce which ended the bloodiest war Pyrrhia has seen in several decades.

The terms of the truce were ridiculous to say the least, status quo. Possibility remained divided between both queendoms, but now turned into a very militarized zone, increasing the tension it once had already high enough, the war was a pointless waste of lives.

Even with that, both sides knew the rematch would happen, not when it would, but it was inevitable.

Together with Burn, Oasis saw a refit of the palace, pierced by Scarlet’s kinetic projectiles which could penetrate several meters of solid concrete, necessary changes were made, and the outer layers were thickened by nearly 10 meters, and field tests had showed virtually no damage to the structure.

On Scarlet’s side, the stalemate was upsetting, but not exactly the worst outcome for a completely unprepared state, in her due time, Scarlet would refit her queendom, gear up to war and destroy Oasis and the Sand Queendom once for all.

5000 AS:

Night Island Eruption;

In the distant northern islands of Pyrrhia, far off the shores of the Sky Queendom, lied the Night Queendom, in exile, to be more exact, and its volcano had erupted that year, causing chaos and destruction in the island and in the world.

Temperatures dropped, crops failed, cattle died in mass and starvation followed most of Pyrrhia, especially the Sand Queendom, which had suffered particularly bad from the war against Scarlet, which destroyed mostly their side of the fertiles of the Great Five-tails river.

Although still relying on food imports from the Diamond Spray, Scarlet’s agriculture fared no better, despite being in better shape than the SandWing’s, as mobilizing a large mass of peasants had diverted much of the labor from the fields, causing the understaffed farms to not manage to harvest things in time and losing precious food and cattle.

5001 AS:

Without the Great War from OTL and with peace restored through the queendoms, Morrowseer’s prophecy idea is rejected by queen Battlewinner, since there was no follow up to convincing the queendoms to accept the NightWing takeover of the Rainforest.

A plan was made instead for the possible negotiation with either queen Scarlet or queen Coral for the safe passage of the NightWings, or even the settlement of one of the SeaWing islands, but the danger to reveal the sorry state of the NightWings would bring years of political intrigue and stalemate to come.

5002 AS:

Queen Battlewinner decides to move to the Rainforest, but not as a hostile takeover, she sends Stonemover to the continent to open a tunnel between their island and the rainforest, and Morrowseer is to become her emissary in the quest to negotiate with the RainWings.

5003 AS:

Second Sky Palace Conference;

At another conference at the Sky Palace, Queens Coral and Scarlet meet for what become a historic compromise. Since Darkstalker’s times, in the aftermath of Albatross’ murder rampage of the royal SeaWing family, including one SkyWing princess, the damage to their diplomacy was never truly recovered, despite large sums of pearls sent to the Sky Queendom by the then recently crowned Queen Pearl.

Queen Coral sought to reestablish the once thriving SeaWing villages in the shores of the Sky Queendom, once upon a time an important and prosperous trade hub between both queendoms, and while Queen Scarlet seemed uninterested at first, she saw opportunity in the proposal. The Sky Queendom, despite being the defenders, not aggressors, in the recent war between her and Oasis, still ended it being seem as the villain by other tribes, for Scarlet’s insane approach to diplomacy led no favors to her against the much more popular and respected Queen Oasis.

If Scarlet was to wage war again, the other queendoms would not stand and watch she go at it again. She needed an ally, or at least, the promise of neutrality, which Coral was more than willing to give it. The SeaWing villages would be reestablished under SkyWing authority, but enjoy their local autonomy for the time being.

The new conference was a success in its intent, and Queen Scarlet finally had something to boost about her diplomatic skills, though she had given much, her territory, her control and her economy, and actually only successfully got a trade deal and a neutrality pact from Coral. Of course, she would manage to spin this around through her propaganda machine to look like a glorious achievement of a peace-seeking queen.

5004 AS:

A Good Ol’ Royal Drama;

Royal drama spreads through the Sand Queendom once again, for Oasis’ shock, it was her eldest daughter, hanging up with another general, Sandstorm, have declared their romantic interests.

The tale is recent, yet, unsurprising, for prince Smolder also used to hang up with a commoner, Palm, whom Oasis had chased away from the palace, and when she returned, had her supposedly imprisoned for life. Oasis was really committed to her three-heirs plan and thus the first clashes between she and her daughter had begun.

Despite Sandstorm being a high-ranking general, he had come from simple origins, was tough and burly, but gentle, a jockester and often lacked any sense of the royal addressing and education. For this, Oasis was unwilling to allow such marriage whatsoever, but Burn expressed her complete lack of interest in the weak minded and lazy nobility at the palace.

Despite her anger, Oasis still favored Burn over her other dragonets, she saw some compromise, for she truly intended to get rid of Blister as a potential heir anyways. But as both of them went to the palace in the aftermath of the discussion, Blister had disappeared again, this time never to return.

The SandWing princess saw it coming, always the most hated out of the three heirs, she went rogue once, and was fine in doing again, hiding in the Scorpion Den while reconnecting with some of her contacts within the Talons of Power.

5005 AS:

Brightest Night;

Celebrations had begun in the Sand Queendom, as the brightest night had come, every once a century or so, its marked by a week of celebrations and festivities, but this time, was also marked by the hunt of Blister. Oasis was determined to get rid of her daughter once for all, better yet if it would be by her own talons.

The night is also marked by the hatchings of Clay, Beetle, Starflight, Tsunami and Glory.

Tsunami’s egg was saved from an unknown assassin of princesses within the palace, by a young soldier named Webs, he reported that the statue was trying to murder the egg, and the first clashes between Coral and Orca begun, resulting in a challenge fight and the death of princess Orca.

In Scarlet’s realm, the brightest night is marked by the reveal of her new weapon, while secretly being saved from death by SkyWing law, Peril would become Scarlet’s new toy to use in a potential war to come.

5006 AS:

Another Royal Drama;

While the search for Blister was ongoing, Oasis had another terrible news, for after the disappearance of Blister and the marriage of Burn, Blaze started hanging up with a SandWing noble, feeling she was being left out of all the romance fun of life by Oasis’ tragically stupid three-heirs law.

While Oasis had allowed the marriage, she had forbidden them from having dragonets, should they have, Oasis would kill it, for Blaze was a far more useless and acceptable daughter than anything that could come from her.

5010 AS:

Turmoil in the Scorpion Den;

For years Oasis’ forces had searched through the queendom, especially at the den, for any traces of Blister, who was always super careful to never left any traces of her whereabouts, but as the search begun to take long years, Oasis had grew frustrated and more brutal in her methods, and the denizens of the Scorpion Den were to pay the price.

Among her soldiers, was Thorn and Beetle, who were searching for any traces of Blister, when they seemed to have mysteriously stumbled with her on the streets at night. It was dark and many cloaked figures used to walk that way in the den, but Beetle, without Thorn’s permission, decided to follow the cloaked figure and discovered a plot against queen Oasis led by no other than Blister, Cobra and Vulture.

Beetle tries to listen but is halted by one young dragonet, who despite being younger, was already at her size, Qibli. He intends to take her to the Talons, but is halted after she convinces him to let her go, and even come with her, for he could have a better life than how he was treated. Qibli’s loyalties to his mother were fragile at best, and the dragonet accepts.

In the next day, Thorn accepts to adopt Qibli as one of her own, and delivers the news to Oasis, that the Talons were secretly plotting against her. Oasis’ forces crash down against the den harshly, but Vulture and Blister had already escaped to one of their numerous hideouts through the desert, aware of their discovery the moment Qibli had been gone.

5011 AS:

Queendom in Mourning;

At one dinner at night in the Sand Palace, the most excellent meals prepared by the royal kitchen were delivered to the table filled with Oasis’ dragonets and guests. As traditionally, the queen was the first to eat in the feast, but this time things seemed odd.

After taking her first bites at the food, Oasis felt dizzy and collapsed into the ground convulsing while Burn immediately called the doctors and held her mother’s head in her talons.

Oasis’ last words were: “ Curse you, B-Blister! “ as she died right there not too long before the medics had arrived and vestiges of a strong poison were found in the food.

Her presumed heir, Burn had took control of the Sand Queendom and held it in martial law, she would avenge her mother, firstly by executing the chefs and guards that allowed this to happen, they were always so loyal to the queendom, but this event could only mean an infiltrator was among them, but Burn didn't care about finding exactly who, she just executed them. The search for Blister had intensified and became more brutal than ever, with anyone refusing to say a word about Blister’s whereabouts being immediately arrested and throw in the dungeon until further orders.

The death of queen Oasis was felt through Pyrrhia, with all queens, but Scarlet, sending their condolences for her death and offering a queens’ summit to discuss how they should proceed in finding the murderer of Oasis. While Burn had accepted the invitation, the SkyWing seat being empty had led her into rage and she believed not only Blister, but Scarlet was also involved in this plot, she declared war soon afterwards returning to the queendom, launching a massive strike to repeat her victory at Possibility, but the SkyWings this time were ready.

After several years of relative peace, war had begun anew in Pyrrhia. Between Scarlet’s madness and Burn’s rage, the continent this time seemed in a war that would not end like the last one, one of them would die this time, and both sides were very convinced it wouldn’t be them.

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