IvyTails

Description: Green or brown scales with fauna patterns, squared horns, feathered tail, ruff around neck, curled talons

Abilities: Sometimes able to manipulate earth, flaring ruff to appear bigger, curled talons for climbing

Location: Opal Canyons, Birchwood Labyrinth

Queen (Canon): N/A

Diet: various fauna, berries, and wild foods such as carrot, and various game including elk and sparrows

Alliances: SkyWings, MudWings

Description
Virgultatails, well known as FernWings are most commonly green, in a number of different shades, with different patterns of fauna. Uncommonly, FernWings can be born brown, with markings of animal tracks or fur patterns instead. All FernWings have ruffs, and sometimes have double ruffs, most times because they are more "in tune" with nature, and have deeper understanding. A double ruff is also reminiscent of the Royal bloodline from the days under rule of a queen. The build of a FernWing can range from heavily built, to a slender build. On the tails the ends are feathery, and more feathers grow as a dragon gets older. The horns at first go up diagonally, and then bend backward, making an almost squared shape.

FernWings' personalities are generally pacifists, and naturalists. They can, sometimes, be provoked to fight and are overall very considerate.

Abilities
The FernWings are well adapted to their environment, from camouflage to abilities. They have talons that are more curled than normal, allowing for an excellent grip when climbing trees or a cliff face. Additionally, as dragonets can be taken by wolves and other predators, they instinctively flare their ruffs to enlarge their appearance, which is also a useful tactic in fights.

In cases of a brown FernWing, they are able to control earth, allowing for grand cities and advanced modes of transportation. Should FernWings ever evacuate, they simply live in underground cities excavated by Gifteds, and adapt quickly to their environment. They have no breath weapons.

Government/Military
Unlike many other tribes that have monarchies, the FernWings instead have a council of elected members, and have a citywide election in the situation a councilman retires. Originally, they had a monarchy until a corrupt queen who nearly destroyed the nation, which then made others fear what would happen if there was another corrupt queen. In the case of a corrupt councilman, the other councilmen are allowed and advised to evict the corrupt councilmen. The councilmen are much like the congress of the United States, and vote on various topics such as military deployment, becoming involved in wars, and other things. Most commonly, double ruff FernWings are elected, because of how in tune they are with nature, and they are aware of what may negatively impact nature.

The military do not have ranks such as general, corporal, etc. They instead have quadrants with a quadrant leader, the legionnaire. A quadrant normally consists of 1-2 Gifteds, and 3-5 regular dragons, including the legionnaire.

Tribe Relations
SkyWings: Allies, from the War of SandWing Succession onward, and it is not uncommon to see Sky/Fern hybrids, as well as visiting traders both ways.

SeaWings: They are a curious tribe, and are accomodated, however, due to the distance between them, there are few traders and visitors.

MudWings: Great friends, and FernWings admire them for their close relations, and how Bigwings exist and play their role in the tribe, and many other aspects. Hybrids between these two are also not uncommon, and sometimes there are even set up MudWing villages within the various FernWing villages.

RainWings: Though RainWings themselves don't hate FernWings, FernWings dislike and hate them, some due to jealousy of their scales, and others because of their entire lifestyle. To dragonets, it seems odd, and often do not understand the heat until they fully comprehend many things. The real reason is unknown, it is believed to be a case of severe sibling rivalry, due to the rumour RainWings are the distant cousins of FernWings.

SandWings: There is no real contact, but FernWings are confused even in the modern day why the War of SandWing Succession happened. They treat them as acquaintances and nothing more, until they have further contact.

NightWings: They are in awe of moonborn abilities, but question why they are so mysterious. They know very little due to the distance between them.

IceWings: FernWings have a small fear of them, because of how they are able to freeze and destroy at will by breathing, respect them for their circle concept, and judge them slightly for their harshness.

LightWings: Great friends, there are often hybrids between these two tribes, as well as an established trade route, and in some Tunnel stops, even LightWing specific cars.

StarWings: They trade often, but actually know very little, other than they are nomads, and very spiritual.

FlameWings:

FrostWings:

Legends Festival
The Legends Festival is the most widely celebrated near holiday, as the entire nation gathers in the capital city, Redwood Forest, to hear storytellers, most often Gifteds who illustrate the legends they are telling using rock, tell favorite legends like The Lost Tribe, Queen Bushel's Reign, or The Spirit Walker. Storytellers light an open flame using rocks, and light it in a large circle around them, in a storytelling space known as a Karka. Dragons must fly instead of walk into the circle.

The Lost Tribe illustrates a legendary tribe of dragons with their own unique powers, and the same ability is never present within two dragons alive at the same time.

Queen Bushel's Reign is a true story of how Queen Bushel nearly destroyed all FernWings in her quest to rule the continent.

The Spirit Walker is an entity that is able to shapeshift and reveal your future, and if you meet the spirit walker, you will be able to shift into your sign.

Signs
Signs are what define a FernWing. It is their mark, their calling card. A sign is given to you at birth, by a parent or guardian, and defines your role in the community. You can have a certain sign mostly for your look, i.e, a slender dragon may have a viper as their sign.

Plants are centered around healing, defensive, and other natures similar. You would work as a healer, be a guard for the Court, and similar roles. Rare exclusions in which a FernWing with a plant sign is more offensive is a case like a Sundew or Venus Flytrap, because of their carnivorous diet, and method of attack.

Animals are normally more offensive, working in the military, as a weaponsmith, and the like. Exceptions where an animal sign is passive may be a sign such as a termite, or spitbug.

Sometimes, a sign can be neutral, such as a bee, who build to protect their queen but are aggressive as well to protect, leaving it up to the dragon to decide their path.

Deities
The FernWings are not very religious, but have 3 deities to worship. The first is Fawnstep, the goddess of the animals. She drew out their migration paths according to lore, and designed them from clay. She normally appears in the form of an albino or melanistic animal, albino for luck and melanistic for bad luck.

The second is Birchroot, the god of the fauna, or plants, fruits, vegetables, and other of the like. In lore, he appears in the form of a rare plant, such as a sundew or rafflesia, for the forthcoming hatching of a Gifted.

The third most powerful is Starcatcher. He is able to control the skies, decide fates. He is said to come at the time of a disaster, and stop it, and no-one sees him because he takes the body of another FernWing.

Tattooing
When a dragonet comes of age, normally when they have four feathers on each side of the tail, they receive tattoos of their sign, underneath their wing. It is further identification, in case a dragon is unidentified/unable to identify themselves. I.e, they are unconscious or have amnesia.

Names
A FernWing is named after their sign in many occasions, though when becoming a legionnaire, they take on their quadrant name as an additional part of their name, such as the leader of the quadrant Redwood would be Mamba Redwood.

Though traditionally names are just one word, sometimes with hyphens, FernWings also have two part names in some situations, like Tree Frog, or Weeping Willow, and those with two names may be shortened by friends.

Gifteds
Gifteds are a special subtype of FernWings, who are only born brown, and markings that make their scales appear like fur or an animal coat. They are able to manipulate earth, creating many of the landmarks, cities, and underground bunkers in the FernWing's kingdom. In tradition, Gifteds undergo a trial before they receive their tattoos, the Crown of Thorns Trial. After the Crown of Thorns Trial, they must be apprenticed to a FernWing in the profession they choose, due to the fact they are mainly Gifted specific tasks, and Gifteds are dangerous, in the original council's eyes.

The Crown of Thorns Trial
The Crown of Thorns Trial, aforementioned above, is the trial to test whether or not a Gifted FernWing is ready for their tattoos. The dragonet must first defend themselves against an older regular FernWing, and trap them in a prison of rocks without injuring them.

Next the dragonet must escape a cave-in by digging to the surface, however every five minutes there is another cave-in caused by an adult accompanying them for safety. If the time reaches over an hour, the dragonet fails that part of the trial.

Finally, the dragonet has to work a temporary mock shift in the tunnels, and safely transport adults to a stop five miles away. If they injure, crash, or take too long, then the dragonet fails that part.

If a dragonet fails two of the three trial segments, they do not receive their tattoos and must try again in a year.

History
There is not much to the history of the FernWings to be remembered, but there are several points in history that are taught to all, listed bellow chronologically.

The Gifted Rebellion
In the early days, about a decade or so after they established their tribe, the Gifted rebelled in an underground group known as the Badgers, to symbolize how badgers were underestimated, how they had dens underground, and the ferocity shown when defending their den.

The Badgers believed that the queen at the time, Queen Cougar, was an inadequate leader, and lead several attempts to assassinate her and other important dragons such as heirs to the throne. They wished that the nation was ruled by not a lone queen, but a council to rule fairly. They also destroyed several would-be landmarks that were later rebuilt. So although they had the right idea, but the wrong method to achieve it, they ultimately played a role in causing the FernWing Council to be formed.

Queen Bushel's Reign
Queen Bushel was the queen who singlehandedly destroyed two-thirds of the FernWing tribe, and was the final straw that caused the Council. She challenged her mother early on, and defeated her due to being a Gifted. In her reign, as well as ignoring the needs of her kingdom, she ordered all heirs killed, and never had any dragonets. In her later years of ruling, she became paranoid, and receded to the limits of the castle, allowing more underground rebellions similar to the Badgers to surface in the wake of the destruction. Bushel was finally assassinated by a member of the most widely supported group, the Black Mambas, who established the council rule.

The Great Plague/The Red Ruff Outbreak
The Great Plague, also known as the Red Ruff Outbreak, was an outbreak of a disease known as red ruff that has a high fatality because of it being airborne, causing it to be highly contagious. The plague caused hallucinations, mild at first to make it seem as if it was just a trick of the light.

The second stage is when the hallucinations worsen exponentially, and the ruff begins to turn red. The virus sets up camp in the lungs, and the muscles are targeted, starting at the ruff downward, eventually causing paralysis, and starting in stage three, organ failure as the organs are targeted. The victims breathe rapidly, as the virus begins stopping air from getting to the lungs, further spreading the virus.

The kingdom went into quarantine, under order of the council who panicked, and one by one succumbed to illness, though Red Ruff seemed to only affect FernWings fatally, other tribes experienced mild coughing when exposed. When the cure and a defense was found, the kingdom had been destroyed, three-quarters of the population dead or diseased.

Marmot, Mamba, and Puma, the three who discovered the cure, worked quickly, offering the cure in return for the certainty they would not be attacked or betrayed by the dragon, because while it could cure, as well as provide resistance to a non-infected dragon, it only cured at stage two and below. However, they were successful, and saved the kingdom from destruction.

The Continental Massacre
Along with the other tribes on Listoria, the FernWings experienced a mass killing by scavengers, sent by Dreamchaser. The attack took place around what would have been the Legends Festival, if not for the attack.

The first wave, was an extremely well coordinated attack across the entire kingdom, where large concentrations of dragons were; the main city, and the Tunnels. Bombs thought to be preset by scavengers went of at vital parts of the city and tunnel system, crippling the Tunnels, dragons, and any calm there may have been if the attack had been straightforward.

Many a dragon was killed in the first wave, crippled, our fatally wounded. The second wave was with scavengers, flushing out stragglers. Nothing else is known, as the only surviving witness, Hawthorne, fled to Pyrrhia.

Queens
Queen Bushel (deceased) -Almost destroyed the FernWings

Queen Cougar (deceased)- First queen of the tribe

Councilmen
Whitetail (deceased)- Assassin of Bushel, established council

Carpenter (deceased)- Gifted who built many landmarks and considered to be the "architect" of the FernWing nation

Marmot (deceased)- Double ruff who discovered Red Ruff cure

Puma (deceased)- Discovered Red Ruff Cure

Gecko- Established quadrants and legionnaires in military, replacing generals, etc.

Other
Mamba (deceased)- Discovered Red Ruff cure

Honey Badger (deceased) Ringleader of the Badgers