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HiveWing tribe sheet!

i know i dont talk about silkwings a whole lot in this one, but they're next so you'll hear plenty about them. have fun with my hivewing ideas!

Physical Appearance + Traits:

-HiveWings are the smallest and lightest tribe across the continents, with a distinct appearance resembling insects - specifically bees and wasps, but with some characteristics reminiscent of others. Their colors can range across the whole yellow-to-red spectrum, occasionally even crossing into green. They also can have a wide variety of black markings across their faces and bodies.

-HiveWings are said to be descended directly from Clearsight, crossbred between her and the ancient BeetleWings. It is possible that her foreign genes made some effect - some NightWing traits are visible in their faces, for example - but likely the majority of their adaptations, like the black scales, were caused by natural evolution and not by Clearsight. 

-Some HiveWings are born with an extra ability; this can be any out of a list of options. Some have a stinger, which can be located on their wrist or tail, or beside their claws. Their venom can sometimes just be painful, sometimes induce paralysis, and sometimes cause nausea and lightheadedness. Generally, black stripes across the body indicate the presence of stingers. Some also have fangs that can deliver any of the above forms of venom. A few also have other miscellaneous abilities, like an unpleasant and repelling scent.

-HiveWings have long, straight wings that resemble those of dragonflies or bees, with transparent and delicate membranes between them. Their wings are stiff and cannot be folded like other dragons; instead, they rest them horizontally on their backs. To fly, they vibrate them rapidly, creating a buzzing sound and lifting off the ground. They can fly quickly and with great maneuverability, but it takes a lot of energy.

-They have a generally slim and sharp appearance, with many spines across their bodies and a sharply narrowed underside. 

-The amount of black that HiveWings have across their bodies varies greatly, but the more there is the more desirable they’re considered. Nearly all-black HiveWings are seen as being the closest to Clearsight.

-Most HiveWings have black markings around their eyes, which, like SandWings and SkyWings, are used to mitigate the glaring sun across the flat, dry savanas they inhabit.

Life Cycle:

-HiveWings lay by far the largest clutches of eggs of any dragons, sometimes having more than twenty. However, the responsibility of raising dragonets is not on the parents; they are raised communally by each hive’s nursery. There are records of each family tree and what dragonets were hatched from what parents, but they don’t have any innate connection to their offspring, instead preferring loyalties for the entire hive. During Queen Wasp’s rule, close interpersonal bonds that might distract from the duties of the hives were actually discouraged.

-They develop very quickly, with incubation times of barely over 2 months; once hatched, their venom has not yet come in and they are unable to fly, but they can clumsily walk and understand basic gestures from other HiveWings. 

-Right away, they are extremely socially dependent dragons. HiveWings are hatched without the venom or repellents they might eventually obtain, and as generally small and defenseless dragonets that rely on their hive to protect them. This social dependence doesn’t go away, though. They live their entire lives as a unit with the rest of their tribe. They rarely hold grudges against each other, unless they feel that one of their own is in some way a danger to the rest.

-The education system is very structured and well-regulated; all dragonets are taught the basics of literacy and tribe life, and there are multiple branches of career education they can pursue, from arts to sciences to food preparation to construction and manufacturing. 

-HiveWings grow quickly after hatching, and then so slowly as to be unnoticeable once they’re adults. Their lifespans can vary wildly; depending on genetics, sometimes they can live 100 years or even more, and sometimes they die naturally at 50 or less (shorter than any other dragons). 

Society and Culture:

-HiveWings live in hives, massive structures made from wood-pulp like the nests of paper wasps. These are complex and beautifully designed, with each vertical level designating a different part of the hive. They are built and maintained by construction crews made up largely of SilkWings.

-The hives have a strict sense of authority; the queen has the ultimate power over the tribe, and the heads of each hive make the decisions about their hives. There are other dragons with positions of authority: guards, enforcers, teachers, etc. It is in the nature of HiveWings to act according to their position and not cause disruptions.

-There are varying levels of punishments for different misdemeanors, but because of HiveWings’ extremely social nature, the most severe is solitary confinement. It is considered by some an extremely cruel punishment, and it quickly alters and deteriorates the minds and behaviors of the dragons submitted to it. Usually it is utilized in small amounts; a few days, a few weeks, as a warning. (Sometimes teachers will use a mild version, where a misbehaving student will have to spend some time in an empty room.) It has only been a lifelong sentence in a few rare cases.

-The hive operates in a way completely unique to any other tribe: necessities, like food, shelter and education are provided simply by virtue of being a HiveWing. They are not paid for. The only thing that they need to spend money on is luxuries like sweets, decorations and accessories. (This does not usually apply to SilkWings, who need to pay to build their webs and for any level of higher education. Food is provided in theory, but it is usually not sufficient as it is not prepared with a SilkWing diet in mind. They often have to buy food of their own.)

-HiveWing technology, all-around, is the most advanced of any tribe, from their intricate glass and metalwork to their beautiful and efficient construction work. (Much of it would be impossible without flamesilks, and it is likely that they stole some of their technology, and credit for it, from the SilkWings during the tree wars.)

-Beauty standards for HiveWings tend to vary from hive to hive, and they’re often based on the head of the hive. Jewel hive residents, for instance, love jewelry and bright colors and over-the-top accessories, because that’s how Jewel chooses to look. Other hives like certain colors or body shapes. The only constant is that black scales are desirable.

-HiveWings worship Clearsight, their NightWing ancestor, much like a god; they pray to her, they leave letters and offerings for her, and they look to her as their guiding light. They see the times after she arrived as the only part of history worth telling. Though Pantalan dragons speak their own language, separate from Pyrrhian, they see and use Pyrrhian as a holy language, the language of Clearsight.

-They pride themselves on being non-superstitious, but rumors and hyperbole spread so quickly through the hives that they might as well be.

Diet: Omnivorous. HiveWings eat meat and insects, but also a number of plants. A good amount of their diet, alongside SilkWings, consists of sugar, which they can make into a wide variety of things (including honey). It helps give them enough energy to fly long distances.

#love love looooove #wings of fire #wof headcanons #wof art #hivewings

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WOF tribe Merchant/Trading booth concepts:

Hey folks! This one was the recent winner of this WOF poll, so here’s my concept art that headcannons trading in Pyyria.

Read below cut for close-ups of the individual booths + the thought process / headcannons behind the design choices: 👇

Skywings: The Sky Kingdom’s mountain ranges provide plenty of pasture for raising sheep. As such, Skywing shepherds benefit from traveling to sell their wool, dyes, fabric, and woven tapestries. Many of these merchant tables also include herbs grown exclusively in the mountains, or ibex drinking horns that can be strapped on a dragon’s shoulder & carried in flight.

Along with goods, Skywing merchants may offer sewing services to fix tears, burn marks, or other fabric damage. They are sought out for their quality clothing, and most fabric across Pyyria originated from a Skywing’s talons.

Mudwings: Mudwings’ abundant food & cooking skills are envied almost anywhere in Pyrria. Their swamps have fertile soil, responsible for hosting diverse crops which can be purchased as produce at merchant stalls. For those lucky enough to find a traveling Mudwing merchant, the promise of a delicious dish can be whipped up and served at the stall in no time. Along with produce goods, Mudwings sell weaved baskets, spices, and cooking ware.

Sandwings: Sandwing booths offer luxuries of the desert: It’s most common to find accessories such as gold carved jewelry or musical instruments such as drums, lyres, & mandolins for sale. Though, even more sought out across Pyrria is Sandwing tattoos/piercings, which are done within the merchant areas. Ink etchings on papyrus paper are stationed outside their tents to showcase designs. All which can be selected, and poked into the skin with a tapping stick and plant dye ink by a trained talon.

Seawings: SeaWings sell a variety of ocean related goods; taking a share in the fish market with Icewings. Outside of food, there are den decorations like driftwood carvings, accessories such as seashell & pearl jewelry, and rope nets weaved by expert Seawing sailors. Some Seawings even sell fishing equipment, canoes, or offer sailor knot tying instructions to curious dragon buyers.

Nightwings: During the war, it was near impossible to find a Nightwing merchant. Most refused to participate in merchant territory, mostly as a way to keep up with their tribe’s mysterious nature.

Though in the more shady, unground parts of the market you can buy from a huge selection of obsidian weaponry, the sharpest in Pyyria. No one knew initially how Nightwings smithed so many weapons, or why, until their secret volcano kingdom and the intention to invade the rainforest was discovered. Then forging armor & weapons became clear. Along with a vast armory, for the right price, some Nightwing merchants offer Prophecies & Nightwing Literature (not always guaranteed to always be reliable) and assassin services as well (very reliable).

Rainwings: Though Rainwings haven’t been part of Pyyria’s trading for years, they have a vast hold on dragon medicine. An apothecary of herbs, salves, and remedies are all offered for various ailments due to the rainforest’s abundant resources. Along with medicinal goods, many Rainwings are fruit vendors, promising to any hesitant meat-eating dragons that such an array of flavors isn’t to be missed. Though, their fruit selling pitches often fall flat to most other predominantly meat-eating tribes.

Icewings: Icewings have everything a dragon could need to brace the cold, with a selection of goods only found in the most frigid regions of Pyyria. Furs, bone jewelry, and fresh fish (thanks to frost breath) are served on ice. Though Icewings themselves don’t require fur to withstand the cold, it’s considered fashionable and common in upper ranks to wear fur as a status symbol. Since metal is hard to smith without fire & in cold temperatures, fur and bone are more accessible to Icewings for clothing statements.

#art #illustration #wings of fire #wof

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creachure

#dragons #art

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My continent for my WOF au, Serpens Stellara, or the Serpent of the Stars.

#wof #broooooooo #this #is so good #like actually

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#ducks

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Round two of funky dragons! (1) This time featuring a whole lot more bugs.

#bug dragons #otiksimr

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For a hot minute I thought there was new official art. You're super talented!!

sketches and wips raaaaaaaaghh

#wof #wings of fire #silkwings #mudwings #skywings #nightwings #sandwings #wof art

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Anemone Sketch Page- 2023.

Please ignore the spelling error, thanks

#wings of fire #wof #wof art

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I am insane... But look, climate-accurate Pyrrhia, all because I hated the transition from the ice kingdom to the sand kingdom-

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Queen Snowfall- 2021.

#wings of fire #wof #wof art #wings of fire art #snowfall #icewing

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#Poll #Wings of Fire #WoF #MudWing #SandWing #SkyWing #SeaWing #RainWing #IceWing #NightWing #SilkWing #HiveWing #LeafWing

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Queen Scarlet- 2022.

#wings of fire #wof art #wof #skywing

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私设

#mlp art #mlp fim #mlp #changeling

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Moonwatcher

I wanted her to look like a rainforest at night.

#wings of fire #wof #wings of fire art #moonwatcher #nightwings

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and there was no border between sky and sea | print

#dragons

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ugh icicle and scarlet ❤️

#wof #wings of fire #wof icewing #wof icicle

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I love you for this!

Albatross, Animus Dragons and Preventable Tragedies

(Also Known as: This tragedy was not inevitable, let's talk about responsibility)

(CWs: Murder, Abuse)

So, Legends Darkstalker as a book has a lot of thoughts about fate and inevitability. Clearsight and Darkstalker try and fail to create an ideal future for the both of them, Fathom is scared that he can't prevent his animus magic from destroying is soul, and the readers know how all of this is going to end since Legends Darkstalker is a prequel to Arc 2.

In the midst of all this talk about inevitability and fate we have...Albatross. Someone who we've known about since Arc 1 and know how his story ends. He causes the Royal Seawing Massacre, his magic allegedly "driving him insane." What's interesting about Albatross is that when you really look at his life, this historical version of it falls short in many ways. The retelling of his life leave out important context, and notably, scrub any idea that someone or multiple someones might have caused him to act like this.

It's Albatross' fault in the end, it's his fault for losing control, his fault for being "insane."

But if we take an actual look at the story in Legends Darkstalker you find that this really isn't the case.

Albatross found out he was an animus in a very...unpleasant way. He enchanted a shell to bite the claws off his sister, Sapphire. This event was deeply traumatic and would stick with Albatross for his entire life. You might be wondering why Albatross didn't fix Sapphire's claws considering his powers and I'll get to one of the reasons in a bit since it's very important to what I'm trying to say, but @/kinkajouwof breaks it down over here.

In short, most likely the reason why Albatross didn't fix it at the start is due to uncertainty if he really Could do it and because Albatross and Sapphire were terrified.

The reason more important to my point though is that Lagoon Actively Benefited from this fear. When Lagoon became Queen she would hold this action over Albatross whenever he was unwilling to do things to guilt him into following what she wanted him to do.

"This is a waste of time, Lagoon," he said. "Nobody ever tested me, but we figured out quickly enough what I could do. If any of them have a shred of power, surely they would of known by now. Or it will become obvious, sooner or later." "I'd prefer sooner," the queen said silkily. "If we find another animus in the tribe, that would make us twice as powerful, which would be quite useful given how the Mudwings and Rainwings have been behaving lately. And the earlier we find her, the sooner you can start to train her, and the sooner I can start to use her." "Besides," she added in a lower voice, so Fathom had to strain to hear her, "I think we would all prefer to discover our next animus in a less...dramatic fashion than you were discovered. Don't you?" Albatross flinched, just slightly. He cast a skeptical eye across the young. "My power is more than enough for whatever you need. I've given you everything you've asked for, haven't I? And I don't want an apprentice."

Afterwards Lagoon commands Albatross to start the test but you can see what I mean. Lagoon actively threatens Albatross and Exploits Him, and wants to find Other Animus Dragons to Exploit. He is not just a Subject to Lagoon, he is an Object to Lagoon. Non-sexual objectification.

She plans to do the same thing to another animus, Lagoon's rule was built on Exploiting the powers of the people she could Control. She wants to find them young so she could mold them into the tools she wanted them to be earlier. She wants to condition them to treat themselves as objects Now.

This treatment comes to a head during the banquet. Where Lagoon once again holds what happened to Sapphire over his head, while also threatening to Replace Him.

"Here is our first animus," Queen Lagoon said to the Skywings, who seemed to have figured that out themselves, judging by the looks of terror on their faces. "My brother, Albatross. We were just talking this morning about what his next project should be. I'm thinking big this time. Something that makes me invulnerable, perhaps. Or something that kills any dragon who might be a threat to me." Beyond Albatross, over the couches, Splash stiffened, and Fathom saw her crush one of the hibiscus blossoms between her claws. He glanced around and saw his father put a wing around Manta, who had gone pale. "Yes," Albatross said. "Although you recall I wasn't exactly enthused about any of those ideas." "Then it's lucky you're not my only animus dragon," Queen Lagoon said coldly. Fathom felt a shiver all the way down to the tip of his tail. If she asked him to do a spell like that, would he? Would he obey his queen and put his own mother in danger? Or disobey her, and perhaps put everyone he cared about in even worse danger? What would she do to Indigo If I ever said no to her? Albatross stopped right in front of the queen, snout-to-snout with her. Fathom couldn't read his face. He looked as though he'd been carved from stone, any emotions chipped away. "Do you think you're done?" Queen Lagoon said to him softly. "Do you think you'll ever be done atoning for what you did to Sapphire? It's not going to end Albatross. You'll always be mine."

This is a bit of a blunder on Lagoon's part since Albatross Kills her! She's revealed that she is Never going to let him go, that no matter how hard he works he's never going to escape. No matter what he does he will be an Object to her. Fight, Flight or Freeze, stay here and be worked to death killing hundreds of people or Escape Now.

And Albatross...chose Fight.

Note that Albatross literally says right here that he doesn't Want to make Lagoon Invulnerable, he doesn't Want to give her the power to kill people.

When he starts killing other people it's not because he became ax-crazy. He killed the Queen, no matter how horrible and cruel she was their all going to defend her...and they've never thought about him. They've never cared for him. To them he was also an Object.

So...he kills them too.

Now I'm not saying He should of killed all those people, murder is bad actually. But this is a Consequence of Lagoon and the rest of Seawing society's actions. This is the direct, real, bloody consequence of treating a person like an object designed to serve their every whim.

This wasn't something he was doomed to be, this is something that has a tangible cause and effect. The system and the way it treated him is What Caused This.

Except, none of the Seawings who survived Want to face that. They don't Want to accept responsibility for that. Why should they accept the responsibility and guilt of having lead one of their own to believe that murder was the only way to escape a truly horrific and abusive situation...when they have a perfectly convenient scapegoat. Remember...Albatross is an object. Lagoon died, not because she perpetuating a horrible abusive situation that her society allowed her to do due to the absolute power she was given, but because she handled Albatross Improperly. Animus magic is just a dangerous thing, and the people who can use it are dangerous tools. This isn't Their Fault for treating a person like an object, it's the fault of improper usage of a tool.

It's a more convenient story for everyone...except for Fathom who proceeds to be treated horribly and drown himself in guilt and shame for being Dangerous.

Seawing Society caused something horrible and instead of trying to fix it, turned their backs and pretended they did nothing wrong. When we see Anemone their doing the Exact Same Thing to her. She is an object, a weapon of war, and she will be treated as such. Anemone believes she's doomed to become evil and almost Kills her family out of the belief that she is doomed to become a mass murderer.

Albatross' Massacre was preventable, and that's what makes it tragic.

#wof #wings of fire #wof albatross