Where are the Skywing Elves?
Here’s something that caught my eye: when we are introduced to the Moon Nexus, we get the sense that this was once an important cultural center to the Moonshadow elves.
It may be ruins now, but once it was home to the Moonhenge, where fantastic rituals were performed by the Moon Druids, perhaps even opening portals to a world between life and death.
The Sun Nexus is located in the Sun Forge. There, the Sunfire elves constructed an entire city around it, making the Forge the center of their civilization. Lux Aurea was built at the place where Sun Primal Energy is at its most pure.
But when we see the Sky Nexus, we find…nothing.
It’s bare. Just a modest antechamber for the Dragon Queen. Besides Ibis (who’s only there temporarily), there are no other elves.
The land below is similarly empty. Untouched by elves.
So, where are the Skywing elves?
That got me thinking about the lifestyle that Skywing elves likely have. Sunfire elves congregate in opulent cities to take full advantage of the sun’s power. Moonshadow elves congregate in little villages, enjoying both the Moon’s light and the forests’ shadow.
But Skywing elves don’t congregate anywhere. They can’t. Sky Magic is strongest in a storm, but unlike the Sun and Moon, storms don’t follow a preordained, consistent cycle.
So instead they migrate–much like birds do–to follow the changes in cold fronts, jet streams, and storms. They’ll never stay in any one place for too long, and though they might have some temples and monuments–and other stable locations–throughout the world, they will literally go where the wind takes them.
Skywing elves, as it may turn out, are nomads.
We get a bit of a sense of what that’s like through Nyx.
She lives mostly atop an Amble, and we see that she keeps most of her things on its mount. Ocassionally, she (and possibly other Skywing elves) might stop at the magically-protected oasis in the middle of the Midnight Desert. Nyx sleeps in nothing more than a sleeping bag, and is always on the move.
Other Skywing elves are probably less solitary, but even so, I imagine they would form temporary communities. Likely on mountaintops, wind exposed islands, the shores, and elsewhere.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Let me know what you all think!
