Pyrrhia

Pyrrhia, also known as the Distant Kingdoms by the dragons of Pantala, is the sole setting of the Wings of Fire series during the first ten books, as well as the main setting of the "Legends" and "Winglets" books. It is one of the two known continents, with the other being Pantala. Pyrrhia has highly varied geographical regions, listed as The Ice Kingdom, The Kingdom of Sand, The Sky Kingdom, The Mud Kingdom, The Rainforest Kingdom, The Kingdom of The Sea, and the Night Kingdom, which had been located on an unknown volcanic island north of the Sky Kingdom. The island is now uninhabited after the volcano erupted, forcing the NightWing tribe to relocate to the Rainforest Kingdom. There is also the old Night Kingdom, also known as the lost city of night, located on a peninsula southeast of the Kingdom of Sand. During the time of Darkstalker, this peninsula used to be larger, forming the "claw" of Pyrrhia. The scavengers who live on Pyrrhia have their villages, or to dragons, dens, including Valor, Talisman, and the Indestructible City.

The mainland is shaped like a dragon, and it is similar to Canada and the United States of America when it comes to climate and geographical shape.

GeographyEdit
A large mountain range runs roughly down the center of the entire continent, which is called the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, where the dragonets of destiny were hatched and raised. This is part of the SkyWings' territory and separates the eastern and western halves of Pyrrhia - and which is presumably also responsible for the drastic weather differences on the continent. The tallest mountain in this range is known as Jade Mountain.

The Ice Kingdom is dominated by the tundra's ice lands, snow shelves, and glaciers. To its south is the Kingdom of Sand. Because of the sub-zero temperatures and Great Ice Cliff, no dragons other than IceWings can live there, unless visitors wear the Gift of Diplomacy, which allow the wearer perfect body temperature and safe passage into the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Sand is made of rolling dunes and cacti. The heat and lack of humidity are almost unbearable to dragons other than SandWings, except RainWings, who enjoy the sunlight.

The Mud Kingdom is populated with swamplands, reeds, and tends to be very humid. Along the Mud Kingdoms' northern border is the Diamond Spray River which meets up with the ocean at the Diamond Spray Delta.

The Rainforest Kingdom is comprised of several creatures and an endless tangle of vines and trees. Most tribes other than RainWings find the jungle plants and insects annoying and difficult to navigate through.

At the extreme east of the continent where chains of islands form the dragon's tail is the Kingdom of the Sea, also known as the Bay of a Thousand Scales.

Pyrrhia appears to be placed in two hemispheres, as rainforests form solely near the equator of a planet where the climate is warm and humid, with the Ice Kingdom and the northern Sky Kingdom being in the colder northern hemisphere.

There are three rivers with known names: the Diamond Spray Delta, the Great Five-Tail River (the Great River), and the Winding Tail River.

Two thousand years ago, the bottom "talon" peninsula was the old Night Kingdom. The final queen there (Vigilance)  abandoned it due to urging from Clearsight and Listener. Over time, it significantly shrinks, due to natural terrain erosion, tsunamis battering the peninsula, and/or earthquakes.

Flora and Fauna Layout of Pyrrhia Edit
The flora layout of Pyrrhia is quite similar to that of Earth, according to geographical regions. For example, in the Rainforest Kingdom, there are jungle plants that resemble those that grow in areas such as the Congo or Amazon.

Additionally, marine life is present in the oceans, and animals adapted to arctic climates can be found in the Ice Kingdom.

Dragons make up the dominant life form on Pyrrhia, of which seven dragon tribes have formed with each tribe ideally suited to the climate they reside in. A step down are the scavengers, or as we would call them, humans. They show intellect through their ability to build structures and craft basic tools and weapons, small works of art such as pots, baskets, statues, and charcoal drawings have also been found. Scavengers were once the dominant life form on Pyrrhia before the dragons rose against them in the event called the Scorching.

Many terrestrial animals, including those that are domesticated such as cows and pigs, also appear to inhabit the land and serve as prey for the dragons.

Both the plants and animals are larger than those in the real world, being about the same size as dragons as they are to humans.[citation needed]

Geographic Features Edit
The western half of Pyrrhia is in the rain shadow of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. There is a fault line running directly under the Claws of the Clouds Mountains and is likely the same fault line the NightWing volcano is located on.

Tribes Edit
The dragons are separated into seven tribes. MudWings, SandWings, SkyWings, SeaWings, RainWings, IceWings, and NightWings.

All tribes inhabit a place that suits their needs and have adapted into the tribes of Pyrrhia today. In The Hidden Kingdom, it is revealed that the NightWings have lived on a volcanic island north of Pyrrhia for two thousand years. The volcano erupts in The Dark Secret, forcing the tribe to flee their home and move to the Rainforest Kingdom alongside the RainWings.

Morrowseer mentions that the NightWing island used to be covered in trees until the volcano erupted. What wasn't burned up by lava flows was left covered in ash.

BeetleWings and LeafWings are also native to Pyrrhia, but long before the series, they had fled to Pantala for unknown reasons.

Celestial Bodies Edit
Throughout the series, it has been shown that three different sized moons orbit the planet where the series takes place. When all three of the moons are full, the dragons refer to it as "the brightest night", which only occurs once a century. None of the moons have known names.

In The Brightest Night, a fourth celestial body appeared while the SandWing queen was chosen. Sunny described it as "another brightest night", although such shouldn't have occurred for another ninety-four years. Starflight believed it was a comet given its increasing size as time passed, and Fatespeaker claimed to have a vision where it would crush them all. After some discussion, it would later be known as the "Orb in the Sky" with several indirect impacts on the story.


 * The Orb in the Sky would soon disappear from the sky proving Fatespeaker's vision false.
 * Following the Orb in the Sky, meteorites were spotted in the sky.
 * Darkstalker was awakened from his eternal sleep by the earthquake caused by meteorite impacts.
 * Pieces of the Orb in the Sky have fallen on Pyrrhia before. These meteorites were dubbed "Skyfire" by Onyx, and holding or carrying one will block the mind-reading of a NightWing with telepathic powers.

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Moon Rising Edit
Moon Rising saw the end of the War of SandWing Succession. This brought about several changes to the map of Pyrrhia, they are as follows:


 * With the death of Burn in The Brightest Night, Sunny's mother Thorn was made the queen of the SandWings and was given possession of Burn's stronghold. It has been renamed "Queen Thorn's Stronghold".
 * "Under the Mountain" has been removed, and the "Claws of the Clouds Mountains" are labeled instead.
 * "Queen Scarlet's Palace" is now "Queen Ruby's Palace".
 * "Queen Moorhen's palace" is now located on the map.
 * With the orchestrated attack on the SeaWing Summer Palace by the SkyWings and assisted by the MudWings as seen in The Lost Heir, its formerly hidden location was made known to the NightWings and has been labeled as "Ruins of the Summer Palace" on the maps of Pyrrhia.
 * "Bay of a Thousand Scales" is now located on the map.

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Darkstalker Edit
Around 2,000 years ago, when Darkstalker hatched, the map of Pyrrhia was quite different. Some of the differences between the Darkstalker map and the other maps are as follows:


 * The peninsula that is located beneath the Kingdom of Sand on the rest of the maps is bigger, possibly due to tidal changes in the past two millennia.
 * The Night Kingdom is labeled on the map, on the enlarged peninsula, and Queen Vigilance's Palace is also shown.
 * Queen Lagoon's Island Palace is labeled in the Kingdom of the Sea.
 * The island in which Queen Lagoon's palace rests on is present.
 * The Summer Palace is not shown, as no dragon except for SeaWings knew where it was located at that time and it wasn't completed.
 * Queen Thorn's Stronghold is labeled as Queen Scorpion's Stronghold.
 * Queen Scorpion’s Stronghold has no extra walls.
 * The Scorpion Den is removed, as it did not exist at the time of Darkstalker.
 * Queen Glacier's Palace is labeled Queen Diamond's Palace.
 * Queen Ruby's Palace is labeled Queen Carmine's Palace.
 * Queen Moorhen's Palace is labeled Queen Crane's Palace.
 * The Scavenger Dens are not labeled, as they were kept secret or not known at that time.
 * The Bay of a Thousand Scales is labeled (as opposed to the first arc's map, which didn't have it labeled)

Changes to the map of Pyrrhia - Dragonslayer Edit
The change in species perspective shows differences in naming. The changes are as follows:


 * The Mud Kingdom is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
 * Queen Moorhen's Palace is removed, likely due to scavengers not knowing of its existence.
 * The Kingdom of Sand is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
 * The SandWing Stronghold is labeled as the "Desert Dragon Palace".
 * The Scorpion Den's image of a scorpion is replaced with an image of dragons rising out of a hole, and is labeled as "Terrifying Viper Pit of Dragons".
 * The Sky Kingdom is marked as "Here Be Dragons".
 * The Sky Palace is labeled as "Mountain Dragon Palace".
 * The Sea Kingdom is labeled as "Here Be Underwater Dragons".
 * The Rainforest Kingdom is labeled as "Here be Dragons, Probably?"
 * The Ice Kingdom is labeled as "Here be Dragons?"
 * The IceWing Palace is removed due to scavengers not knowing of its existence.
 * Valor is labeled on the left of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains.
 * Jade Mountain is not labeled.
 * The Claws of the Clouds Mountains are not labeled.
 * Talisman is labeled to the south of the Sky Palace.
 * The leftmost scavenger den's image is replaced with an image of a different building, and is labeled as "The Indestructible City".
 * The rightmost scavenger den is labeled as "Safe Harbor".

Ice Kingdom Edit
The current queen of the IceWings is Snowfall, as Queen Glacier died from the plague caused by Darkstalker as revenge against the IceWings. Queen Snowfall was shown to be smug and sarcastic in Winter Turning, but ever since she has become queen, she appears to be more mature.

The kingdom is located on the northern peninsula of Pyrrhia and is the "head" of the "dragon". It is extremely cold and barren, so Blaze stayed on the southern end of the kingdom to remain near a warmer region. The Ice Kingdom's dungeon is said to be so cold that other tribes would freeze to death, so they could never keep long-term prisoners from other tribes. Icebergs and ice floes are not uncommon in the nearby ocean.

Kingdom of Sand Edit
The Kingdom of Sand was once ruled by Queen Oasis, but when she was defeated by three scavengers, there was an 18-year long war between the rival sisters, Burn, Blister, and Blaze, which became known as the War of SandWing Succession.

They are no longer disputing over who will be the next ruler of the SandWings as Thorn, Sunny's mother and former leader of the Outclaws, is now queen. Out of the three rival sisters, only Blaze is left alive since the events of The Brightest Night. This kingdom is comprised of the desert in the west and tundra on the borders of IceWing territory. To Darkstalker's voiced dismay, the SandWings had the most treasure before the scavengers robbed them of the majority of it.

Rainforest Kingdom Edit
The rainforest was once ruled by several different queens, though according to A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia, the queen was Queen Dazzling (who was queen when the NightWing researcher visited). Glory became queen in The Hidden Kingdom, and does not share the throne. After the volcano at the old NightWing island erupted, and Battlewinner had died, the only NightWing heir left was Princess Greatness, who didn't want to be queen, so she agreed to let Queen Glory rule her tribe so that the NightWings could live in the rainforest. The rainforest is located in the lower portion of the continent, just southwest of the Mud Kingdom, and south of the Kingdom of the Sea. The Rainforest Kingdom has doesn't have a huge palace like most tribes do, instead, they have a Royal Pavilion that is in between where the NightWings and the RainWings live which is their equivalent of a palace. The Rainforest Kingdom has one prison (created by Darkstalker in Talons of Power), and use tranquilizers, or once even quicksand, to contain their prisoners.

Kingdom of the Sea Edit
Composed of a tight spiral of islands (known as the Bay of a Thousand Scales), this kingdom is primarily underwater. The current queen is Coral, the mother of Tsunami. The Summer Palace, constructed by Albatross, was located on one of the kingdom's many islands. The Deep Palace is constructed far underwater, some miles away from the surface. As of The Lost Heir, though, the Summer Palace was attacked and destroyed. All the SeaWings fled to the Deep Palace, breaking their alliance with Blister. The current heirs are Tsunami, Auklet, and Anemone. Moray could have been an heir if the queen's daughters couldn't because she is Queen Coral's niece. In Darkstalker, it is shown that there used to be an Island Palace, which is where the SeaWings used to gather above water before they abandoned it due to the Royal SeaWing Massacre.

Mud Kingdom Edit
This kingdom is the southeasternmost kingdom, next to the Kingdom of the Sea. It extends all the way from the Diamond Spray Delta in the north, to the Claws of the Clouds Mountains to the west, the Rainforest towards the south, and the ocean in the east. Moorhen resides by the shore of the largest lake in the southern swamps of the Mud Kingdom. The lower born MudWings live on the outskirts, closer to the Diamond Spray Delta. They also live near the scavenger den. The closer to the center of the kingdom, the higher the status is of the rankings.

Sky Kingdom Edit
The Sky Kingdom is in political upheaval at the time of The Hidden Kingdom. Its queen, Scarlet, was hit by Glory's venom in the face, and she used to be held captive by Burn. Scarlet's daughter, Queen Ruby, holds the throne. For a while, Scarlet resided in one of the mountains, near a lake before eventually trying to take back the throne, being challenged to a duel for the throne by Queen Ruby, and killed by Tourmaline. The kingdom is located in the northern peaks of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains and stretches down to the south of Pyrrhia. Its current ruler is Queen Ruby. The Sky Kingdom is the largest of the seven kingdoms.

NightWing island Edit
The NightWing island is located in north Pyrrhia; it was described as a volcanic island in the middle of the ocean. There is but one large building on this island, a stone fortress where Battlewinner lived before she froze to death. The NightWings had moved to the volcano because they were afraid someone like Darkstalker was going to hatch, so they moved somewhere without moonlight. The NightWings had access to the mainland by a special "tunnel" leading to the rainforest. However, it is in ruins after the eruption of the volcano. The NightWings are now under the reign of Queen Glory, living in the rainforest.

Lost city of night Edit
In Darkstalker, the Night Kingdom is on the Talon Peninsula, which is connected to the Kingdom of Sand with the queen's palace located in the northern part of the peninsula. Even in Darkstalker's era, it was the smallest kingdom, but since then it has grown even smaller from erosion.

Trivia Edit

 * Pyrrhia is a genus of moth, which implies flight, and the prefix pyro-implies fire.
 * Pyrrhia has several animal rights movements, including:
 * The Camels' Rights Movement
 * Iguanas are Dragons, Too
 * Save the Scavengers
 * World Walrus Fund
 * Just as Pyrrhians refer to Pantala as the lost continent, Pantalans refer to Pyrrhia as the Distant Kingdoms.
 * Pyrrhia has appeared in every book in the mainstream, winglets, and legends series.
 * Tui confirmed in an interview that Pyrrhia and Pantala cover 2/3 of the world. [citation needed]
 * In Dragonslayer, scavengers refer to the continent as Pyrrhia the same way dragons do.

Gallery Edit
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References Edit

 * 1) ↑ Darkness of Dragons, page