Chickweed’s Guide
The Flights, listed from most to least tolerable
Wind
If you think its cheating to list my own flight as my favorite, you clearly underestimate the sheer perfection of the Windswept Plateau.
There are very few territorial disputes there, and with the exception to the Maren off the coast, the Beastclans are amicable and good trade partners. Larger industry exists at the borders, but most clans are semi-civilized, with most clans still hunting for most of their food.
It’s a lovely way to live, with enough modern conveniences to be comfortable, but not enough to overwhelm the landscape.
I only hope that the rest of dragonkind fails to realize this. I’d hate for my home to suddenly be sold off as prime real estate.(9/10)
Earth
I had a rather low opinion of the Earth Flight before I had to live there. The Crystal Court sounded entertaining, but the idea of royalty has always rubbed me the wrong way. It still does, actually, but after living there, I couldn’t help be charmed by the rich history of the royal bloodlines.
The architecture is quite impressive as well. I never knew that caves could be developed into such beautiful, open spaces, and everything is just so old. In my home flight, dragons tend to value the new and the original, and there’s little fuss over history. However, while I lived in Dragonhome, every Snapper I met seemed to be able to trace their genealogy back to King Meinhard, one of the last kings before Dragonhome split into princedoms. This always confused me. If he even existed, he couldn’t have fathered everyone’s great-great-great-great-great-etc grandmother. It doesn’t make sense.
History aside, the Flight appears to be doing quite well for itself economically. Between mining and glass production, Dragonhome has one of the most stable economies in the content.
It’s a pity that it might all be gone soon with the Dragonhome takeover. I wish them well and I’m glad I got out while I still could. (8/10)
Light
If I had to settle down in one place other than the Windswept Plateau, I would choose the Promenade. It has libraries. It has the most gorgeous cityscapes I’ve ever seen. It has the most reputable universities on the continent. And by the way, the sunsets are gorgeous.
I admit, city life is more stressful than the towns in the Windswept Plateau, but it almost makes up for it with the sheer amount of available resources. You can buy anything you want in Light cities, and while lair space is getting increasingly more expensive, work is relatively easy to come by.
Sure, there’s a concentration of pretentious, old-money art enthusiasts, but they stay in their own circles and are easily ignored. (8/10)
Arcane
I spent much of my youth at a University in the Starfall Isles, and it was decent enough. Arcane Flighters tend to favor cities over the wilderness like the Light Flight does, and it has a very high literacy rate. My education enabled me to make myself a career and support myself for most of my life, and my memories of the Starfall Isles are largely positive. The landscape is quite pretty, and it has a few delicious species of fish that I’ve never found anywhere else.
That said, Arcane Flighters have their fair share of eccentricities. There are religious fanatics in every corner of the continent, but there seems to be more in the Starfall Isles than anywhere else. The devoted take the Arcanist very seriously, and some have been actively trying to call him back to Sornieth. No harm has come of it yet, but apparently the vague rituals they do are getting more and more intense. (7/10)
Water
The Water Flight is the best at minding their own business than any other flight. I suppose it helps that the vast majority of the population live underwater. Few outflighters want to get themselves wet, and few Water Flighters want to get themselves dry, so the Flight is largely untouched by the rest of the content.
The Flight does host their Forum Holiday, but nothing newsworthy ever happens. As such, I never thought much of the Flight, until I lived right alongside the Sea of a Thousand Currents. Even then, I just stared at the surface of the Sea, wondering what kind of civilization thrived beneath the waves. I never found out. (5/10)
Ice
The Ice Flight is the second best at minding their own business. Recently, there’s been a strong movement within the Flight to close its borders for good. However, considering the landscape on the Icefields, I doubt that sentiment will last more than one harsh winter.
From my understanding, the Flight has some industry on the shoreline, but is largely comprised of wild clans who view any sort of technology with skepticism.
While I don’t think that Ice will actually close its boarders, I doubt many will notice if it does. (5/10)
Shadow
The only reason this Flight isn’t listed as less tolerable is the Trickmurk Circus. Everyone loves the Trickmurk Circus. Hatchlings love it, adults love it. Even I like parts of it.
There’s just something about the shadow shows everyone finds enchanting. That said, the high populations of Nocturnes is annoying at best, and the Umbral Guard makes traveling through the Tangled Wood nigh impossible for most of the year. There’s always some sort of Beastclan conflict, usually with Centaurs following the Night of the Nocturne.
This wouldn’t be a big deal of the Flight had a stronger central governing system, but the Flight is mainly made up of wild clans who like to do as they please.
As such, robbery is common place, and many clans like to fight out their problems as they please. Any Flight problems tend to fester and bleed out into neighboring Flights.
But then the Trickmurk Circus comes along, and everyone loves it, so I guess no one really cares. (5/10)
Nature
I might have thought better of the Nature Flight if I hadn’t been forced to live there. It’s hot. It’s sticky. It’s got these orange frogs that lick their own eyeballs. I’m sure it’s very lovely from a botanical standpoint, but if I ever have to go back there, I’ll tear my own feathers out. (3/10)
Lightning
There’s industry and then there’s industry. I keep reading in the newspaper that electrical power is the hot new technology, but I don’t trust it. I like my tools nice and mechanical, thank you very much.
Also, the Flight’s got quite the corruption problem. The cities in the Shifting Expanse technically has a central government as well as law enforcement, but anyone with enough gems on hand can bypass the law entirely. In some cities, the competing mafia groups appear to have more authority than the police do, and communities have even adapted to support them.
The rise of Returnism has also hit the Flight hard. In attempt to reach back to their wild draconic roots, a sizable amount of young dragons have left the cities to escape corruption and pursue their dreams of being free in the wilderness. Most crawl back to their mothers after a week or so. Even those who don’t have realized that they’re ill equipped to survive and compete with the clans who were actually raised in the wilds. These dragons from unruly gangs just off the outskirts of the cities and prey on travelers and traders. It’s not an area I’d like to visit any time soon.
All that said, I can’t deny that Lightning has output some impressive things. My pocketwatch, for example, was made in the Shifting Expanse, and it has kept the time perfectly for all the years I’ve had it. The printing press originated there, and typewriters have been all the rage for the past few years.
I’ve never liked typewriters, though. They’re heavy and all together too loud and metallic for my taste. (3/10)
Plague
Plague is another flight that I never payed much attention to until I had to walk through it. The landscape is painful to look at, and it even releases plumes of hissing yellow gas that smell horrible. I walked in with a healthy set of lungs and left with a chest cold that lingered for a month. Most of the clans here are wild and fierce, and many never even touch the land outside of the Wasteland.
I’m content to leave them that way. (1/10)
Fire
Every year, usually at the start of summer, I get hit with the urge to migrate to the Ashfall Waste. The power of it shocks me every year, and I usually spend a week or so inside with my wings tightly folded.
I’ve never once regretted it. The Ashfall Waste is full of my fellow Coatles, who I don’t particularly want to encounter, and besides, it’s gotten dangerous.
With the Blacksand Treasure Crisis still in full force, I doubt that I’ll be the only one resisting migration this year. The clan feud has swamped the entire flight, and I doubt industry will return to the vigor it once did.
In summary, I’ve never been to the Ashfall Waste, and I never will. The Flight can burn itself into oblivion for all I care. (0/10)
