Nightwings

Description: NightWings have been described to have forked, pitch-black tongues, as well as dark scales which are usually black or in shades of dark green, blue, or purple. They have silver, dark red, purple, dark green, or blue underbellies, and dapples of silver scales running along their necks. Their wings have silver scales scattered across them like the stars of a night sky, forming different patterns. These patterns are genetic. NightWings have been described with black, dark blue, dark brown, purple, or dark green eyes. They have straight horns.

NightWings can melt into shadows and blend into the night sky due to their colors and wing patterns. Mind readers have silver teardrop scales by the corners of their eyes.

Abilities: NightWings can blend into the night sky and shadows. They can also breathe fire, and most modern NightWings have mouths stuffed with dirty bacteria which can poison animals with a single bite. However, because the Nightwings no longer eat carrion, the bacteria will eventually go away. They seem to have a strong sense of smell.

NightWings hatched under one full moon have the power of mind-reading or prophecy, and those hatched under two have both. Dragonets hatched under three full moons will have both of these powers, made stronger by the third moon. NightWings once thought that the third full moon gave animus powers, though this was later disproven. When the NightWings moved to the volcanic island, knowledge of these powers was forgotten, possibly on purpose. NightWing eggs touched by moonlight will turn an eerie polished silver color, while untouched eggs remain an ebony black.

Mind-reading NightWings can observe the thoughts of those around them. They cannot 'rummage around' in another dragon's head, but hear thoughts as the dragon thinks them, often only picking up on jumbled words, pictures, and emotions. In the time of Darkstalker, dragonets were taught ways to block out the minds of others, though this practice was lost over time without powers. Mind readers can project their thoughts to one another to have mental conversations, and powerful mind readers may be able to block the visions of prophets.

Prophetic NightWings can see flashes and visions of the future. On occasion, they will have a true prophecy, which will manifest as words rather than a vision in the dragon's head. In the time of Darkstalker, prophets would sometimes take regular visions and translate them to sound like real prophecies. Very powerful prophets may be able to look into the future and follow individual timelines. Futures have been described as 'webs', as they overlap and are easily mixed up.

Society: NightWing society is undergoing a great deal of change as they adjust to life in the Rainforest. Many of them were bitter due to their queen being a RainWing, although they have become more accepting of the idea.

While living on the volcanic island, NightWings poured a great deal of effort into making their tribe seem mysterious and powerful. They trained their dragonets in lying and prophecy and kept them confined to the island until at least age 10 to prevent any breaches of information. Their dragonets were raised in dormitories together, and loyalty and pride in their tribe were emphasized.

In the time of Darkstalker, NightWing mothers typically named their dragonets. The tribe also functioned nocturnally.

NightWings had a centuries-old feud with the IceWings due to the legend of Foeslayer and Arctic, known as the NightWing-IceWing War. The feud is at least on pause.

Names: NightWing names may be descriptive of the dragon's personality (such as Thoughtful, Greatness, Wisdom, and Listener), relate to an aptitude or job (such as Mastermind, Deathbringer, or Quickstrike), describe or relate to their physical appearance (such as Bigtail and Strongwings), or be night-themed (such as Starflight, Eclipse, and Moonwatcher.) Their names may also be inspired by the NightWing powers (names such as Fatespeaker, Mindreader, and Morrowseer.) Most NightWing names are meant to give a sense of strength or mightiness.
In the time of Darkstalker, NightWing mothers named their dragonets.