MudWings

MudWings are burly, strong, thick-scaled, muscular dragons who live in the Mud Kingdom, the Diamond Spray Delta, the marshes near the The Kingdom of the Sea, and up to the border near the north of the Rainforest Kingdom. They are currently ruled by Queen Moorhen.

The MudWings were allied with Princess Burn and the SkyWings in the War of The SandWing Succession and fought against Blister and Blaze. They were originally allied with Princess Blister, but Burn forced them into the alliance, threatening to destroy the tribe if they didn’t help her win, and also offered 100 years of peace between their tribes and protection to the MudWings if she became queen.

Description
MudWings have thick brown, armor-like scales, sometimes with hints of amber or gold in their under scales (which are usually the most obvious in bright sunlight). They have been shown to be dark green like the marsh, a purple-ish color, and even a red color. Their nostrils are located on the top of the snout on a large, flat head so that they can lay submerged in mud for long periods of time. Their eyes have been described as brown, golden-amber, pale amber, or brown with yellow rings around the pupils. They have strong, sturdy, muscular bodies, and closely resemble alligators, crocodiles, and other prehistoric reptiles.

Abilities
If they are warm enough, MudWings are able to breathe fire, though not as well as SandWings, NightWings, and SkyWings. Mudwings are also known to be quite strong due to their muscular bodies. They are most comfortable in muddy or swampy areas and can blend into marshy areas quite well. Mud is often used to treat and ease the pain of wounds and heal this type of dragon. In addition to these, they can hold their breath for up to an hour.

MudWings that hatch from blood-red eggs, laid every few years or so, are described to be resistant to heat and fire, but according to Sunny, it is simply that their scales heal very fast from burns or damage from fire. It is currently unknown if there are causes for eggs to be blood-red, or if it's just random chance, although it is said that NightWings have learned the patterns and statistics for when blood-eggs occur. Though fire will still hurt them, any injuries caused by fire will instantly heal over. Clay demonstrated this when he fought Peril, a SkyWing with firescales, who can incinerate a dragon just by touching them, without dying. This fire immunity works faster once the MudWing has been exposed to mud, as dragons draw strength from their natural habitats. Clay was once shown burning his claws in hot coals, though he healed quickly. If a burn is too deep or large, however, it will not heal, as demonstrated when Peril plunges her claws into Clay to burn out dragonbite viper poison and it heals only partially, leaving him with a scar and a permanent limp. It also heals only on the surface scales, not internal organs.

There has never been a known animus dragon in the MudWing tribe, and there might never be unless a hybrid line with the animus gene is introduced.

Society
MudWings lay their eggs in bunk houses that are well protected with warm rocks and covered in mud walls, in a way similar to the real-world crocodilians. This environment is so protected that the mother only has to check on them once in a while; she is often not there during the hatching. The first dragonet to hatch out is often the largest and is known as the bigwings. The bigwings have a natural instinct to help their siblings break open their eggs, and eventually become the leader of the siblings. After the mother covers the eggs, she will never check on them again, or even need to, as it is quite rare for MudWing parents to care about their dragonets, and the eggs are very safe even if they did. As a result, the bigwings of the group usually becomes the caretaker and parental figure.

MudWings live and work in loyal units with their siblings. They grow up together, learning to hunt and survive and form very close bonds. These groups are often called "sibs" by MudWings, but the term is seldom known or used in any of the other tribes. During wars, the army of MudWings is made up of troops that are formed by these sibling groups, which allows them to fight very effectively as one unit. If enough siblings are lost in battle, the other members of the troop will look for other dragons to form a new group with and are called unsibs. Unsibs are MudWings who have lost most or all their siblings having the same blood as them. Sometimes, unsibs will make a group and stay together like real siblings, who stick with each other through just about anything. Some MudWings will not accept unsibs in their troops, preferring only their true siblings.

Pairings are not formal, with a breeding night once a month. Parents do not raise their children, and usually do not know the names of their offspring. Males have no part in caring for their offspring, and neither do the mothers. Often nobody would even know who the father was. A family is comprised of only the siblings.

Less wealthy and lowborn MudWings usually live on the outskirts of MudWing territory, near the Diamond Spray Delta (known as the place where the lowest-born MudWings dwell, according to Kestrel), while the rest live closer to the center of the kingdom.

Since MudWings are so loyal to their siblings, no queen has ever been challenged by any of her sisters. This might also be because the bigwings is the strongest, (queens are usually the bigwings of a group) and the others know that they couldn't defeat her in a challenge.

MudWings live in large mud-and-plant-made sleephouses that house several dragons (usually siblings). MudWings tend to lay around and nap in large mud puddles and seem to not care how other tribes think of them, as their habitat expresses more of comfort than the need for decoration. MudWings, unlike NightWings, are not particularly known for their intelligence, shown when Queen Scarlet stated that it was unusual to see a MudWing using his head. However, this is just a stereotype, since MudWings like Mayfly have been shown to be successful in intellectual careers.

Names
MudWing names generally relate to the earth, swamps and the things that reside there such as Reed, Crane, Pheasant, Sora, and Cattail, or shades of brown, such as Umber, Sepia, and Ochre. Sometimes they can also be named after types of diamonds or minerals, such as Asha, possibly because they form in areas with mud or because of the Diamond Spray Delta, or synonyms of swamps or swampy areas such as Marsh, Swamp, and Bog.

Known MudWings

 * Alligator (also half SkyWing)
 * Bog (Chameleon's MudWing form)
 * Cattail
 * Clay
 * Fawn
 * Flare (also half SkyWing)
 * Heron
 * King Dash (also mostly has SkyWing and SeaWing blood)
 * Marsh
 * Moose
 * Ochre
 * Pheasant
 * Prince Jetstream (also mostly has SeaWing blood and some SkyWing blood)
 * Prince Siren (also mostly has SeaWing and SkyWing blood)
 * Princess Phoenix (also mostly has SkyWing blood and some SeaWing blood)
 * Quail
 * Queen Mist
 * Queen Moorhen
 * Reed
 * Salamander
 * Sepia
 * Sora
 * Thrush
 * Torch (also half SkyWing)
 * Umber
 * Woodpecker (also partially SkyWing)

Trivia

 * In the first two books, Clay, a MudWing hatched from a blood-red egg, only felt the heat when he touched fire, but throughout the rest of the series, it gave him burns that healed over within only a short amount of time. After experiencing the feel of mud, his scales got more fire resistant.
 * At the beginning of the War of SandWing Succession, the MudWings were allied with Blister. The SeaWings accused the MudWings of killing Commander Tempest, and the MudWings denied it. Presumably, Blister chose the SeaWings over the MudWings and lost their alliance. Burn later threatened them into siding with her.
 * When Chameleon is trying to persuade Peril to let him change her during Ruby's and Scarlet's battle, he says, "Scarlet wanted her out of the way but not dead. She couldn't get rid of all her heirs. A kingdom without any heirs is in perpetual danger… I think all the queens learned that from what happened to the MudWings a couple of centuries ago." Hinting that the MudWings may have caused chaos in Pyrrhia when the tribe had no female heirs when a queen may have died. This could also imply that Queen Moorhen isn't related to the original line of MudWing queens (i.e. Queen Crane).
 * In the lineart by Joy Ang, MudWings are the only Pyrrhian tribe pictured with their mouth closed.
 * The scales on the MudWing heads resemble the large bone on the Pachyrhinosaurus.
 * It is implied that the MudWings used to be a hostile, aggressive tribe, as Queen Lagoon states that she didn’t like how "the MudWings and RainWings have been behaving lately".
 * According to the guide, MudWings are usually very strong. This is shown several times as Crocodile knocked out several dragons at once with her tail and Clay is mentioned to be powerful more than once.
 * It was hinted that being hatched from a blood red egg is not uncommon, but the only known MudWings to have hatched from a blood egg is Clay and Flare.
 * There are eighteen known pure MudWings so far in the series.
 * MudWings resemble alligators and crocodiles due to their scales and ability to hold their breath for up to one hour.
 * They also share some similarities with turtles, for once they lay their eggs, they leave the nest and go on about their usual lives.
 * They don't seem to care about the MudWing they mate with, as they only mate to have offspring, unlike the other tribes for the most part.
 * Tui has once stated that she imagines that MudWings sleep in a pile together in their sleephouse.
 * MudWings and RainWings are the only known tribes that are known to not care for their offspring.