Rainforest Kingdom

The Rainforest Kingdom is a vast jungle that covers most of the southeastern part of Pyrrhia. It is occupied by the RainWings and most of the NightWings, and is currently ruled by Queen Glory.

Description Edit
The Rainforest Kingdom is bordered by the Mud Kingdom to the north and a mountain range to west. It covers what would be the haunches of the dragon-shaped continent of Pyrrhia.

It consists of giant trees, tangles of vines, and a thick canopy of green leaves overhead. The sounds of howling, buzzing, and a waterfall can be heard in some areas. There are many strange smells, as well as heat that is damp and sticky. There are giant spiderwebs everywhere, as well as at least one river with oozing black mud, reeds, and a huge boulder along its banks. There is a damp layer of leaves and bracken on the forest floor, where it is cool and muddy.

At nighttime, the rainforest is filled with a cacophony of noises from birds, frogs, and insects.

RainWing Village Edit
The rainforest is populated with hundreds of RainWings. They live in a village full of treehouses, fruits, platforms, hammocks, and trees. The roofs of the houses are made of leaves, making it harder to see the houses while flying and looking down. The village is made up of treehouses, connected by vine walkways. The village has three hatcheries, each hatchery holding a third of the village's eggs. Each hatchery has a tightly woven floor and is shaped like a large green egg. The RainWings mix their eggs and raise them as a village, making it unknown who is related to who unless they do a venom test. However, Glory promises to make sure that RainWings know who their kin are.

There is a large treehouse that houses the queen, who until the end of The Hidden Kingdom takes turns with other queens each month. (Dazzling, Fruit Bat, Grandeur, Magnificent, Exquisite, and Splendor were the queens.) There is also a Royal Garden which Tamarin, one of the gardeners, takes care of.

Many platforms and hammocks are between trees for the RainWings' sun-time. The healer's hut, which is close to the sunning platforms, is described to have red berries growing on the balcony, with skylights shining through its leafy roofs. Their houses are made in the trees with leaves as windows and the trees as a natural wall.

At the center of the village is a structure called the Arboretum (which resembles a non-violent version of the SkyWing arena), a huge platform made from woven branches and surrounded by more treehouses, some of which have been set up as fruit stands. It seems to be a meeting place for the RainWings and where many public events take place, such as the competition between Glory and the existing queens for the throne.

The queen of the RainWings sleeps in a royal treehouse that is surrounded by eerie, glow-in-the-dark moths and pale night orchids.

NightWing Village Edit
The NightWing Village is occupied by most of the NightWing tribe living in the rainforest. Wingbeats, branches being ripped off trees, and hammering can be heard near the village, as well as the smell of meat cooking over a fire. At the entrance of the village, two NightWings stand guard on either side of a pathway that has been cleared through the trees.

When Winter visited the village, there were NightWings grappling with vines, bushes, and trees to try and expand the open space. Others were washing fruit in a nearby river, which is close to a set of cooking fires built close to the ground. Ramshackle huts dot the clearing with roofs of giant palm leaves. It is cool and muddy on the rainforest floor.

Royal Pavilion Edit
The Royal Pavilion is built halfway between the NightWing and RainWing villages, and is used for anything official. It is a vast platform built up in the air, upon a circle of branches from tall, overlapping trees. It sits about halfway between the forest floor and the treetops, and it has a roof made of translucent green leaves that sits atop wooden columns, so that the pavilion is open to the air but sheltered from the rain. Purple and blue morning glories hang like bells from the vines that wind around each column.

The pavilion has a clawmarked wooden floor and an interior that is nearly empty. Two scroll racks stand on either side of a simple raised dais that sits only a few inches higher than the rest of the platform.

Healer's Pavilion Edit
The Healer's Pavilion is large, and located near the RainWing Village. It is quiet and sunlit, with curtains of green vines shielding the interior from onlookers. The curtains shield each patient from view, and there are rafters as well as piles of medicinal leaves occupying the pavilion.

At night, the pavilion is dimly lit by a few beams of moonlight and several jars hanging from the ceiling that appear to contain fireflies. Bullfrog, one of the RainWing healers, has a hammock set up next to one patient's bed.

There is one curtained-off corner of the pavilion with the only window open to the sky.

Dragonet Wingery Edit
The Dragonet Wingery is a well-fortified area that is not far from the Royal Pavilion. The wingery's main play area consists of enormous trampoline made of springy vines and leaves and strung between several trees high above the ground. It is surrounded on all sides by tall, soft woven mats of branches that keep the baby dragons from falling over the edge of the wingery. Six full-grown dragons guard the perimete: three NightWings and three RainWings, all of whom look more tense and alert than the rest of their tribes. It has platforms surrounding the trampoline inside, and the space is full of peculiar toys. The wingery consists of at least nine dragonets all younger than one year old, with seven RainWings and two NightWings. The floor is dark green, and there is one corner is filled by a pile of curiously shaped branches and large seed pods.

Great Banyan Tree Edit
The Great Banyan Tree is a short flight away from the Royal Pavilion. It is an enormous, fat tree with bulging branches and knobbly roots sticking out from the undergrowth. Its roots, some as fat around as a dragon, extend far, all the way to a wall of bushes where the forest floor begins sloping up.

Gallery Edit
The Rainforest Kingdom on the cover of The Hidden Kingdom, by Joy Ang

The Rainforest Kingdom from The Hidden Kingdom (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes

The Rainforest Kingdom on the map of Pyrrhia, by Mike Schley

The Rainforest Kingdom up close, by Mike Schley

The Rainforest Kingdom on the full cover of The Hidden Kingdom, by Joy Ang

The Rainforest Kingdom from Scholastic HomeBase

The RainWing Village, by Mike Holmes

The Arboretum, by Mike Holmes Add a photo to this gallery

References Edit

 * 1) ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Winter Turning, page 27
 * 2) ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Winter Turning, page 28
 * 3) ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Winter Turning, page 29
 * 4) ↑ Winter Turning, page 40
 * 5) ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Winter Turning, page 63
 * 6) ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Winter Turning, page 44
 * 7) ↑ Winter Turning, page 118
 * 8) ↑ Winter Turning, page 49
 * 9) ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Winter Turning, page 113
 * 10) ↑ 10.0 10.1 Winter Turning, page 114
 * 11) ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Winter Turning, page 125
 * 12) ↑ 12.0 12.1 Winter Turning, page 117
 * 13) ↑ 13.0 13.1 Winter Turning, page 33
 * 14) ↑ Winter Turning, page 31
 * 15) ↑ 15.0 15.1 Winter Turning, page 62
 * 16) ↑ Winter Turning, page 61
 * 17) ↑ 17.0 17.1 Winter Turning, page 81
 * 18) ↑ Winter Turning, page 60
 * 19) ↑ 19.0 19.1 Winter Turning, page 30
 * 20) ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Winter Turning, page 56
 * 21) ↑ Winter Turning, page 115
 * 22) ↑ Winter Turning, page 42
 * 23) ↑ Winter Turning, page 55
 * 24) ↑ Winter Turning, page 107
 * 25) ↑ Winter Turning, page 68
 * 26) ↑ Winter Turning, page 70
 * 27) ↑ Winter Turning, page 71
 * 28) ↑ Winter Turning, page 72
 * 29) ↑ Winter Turning, page 75