Great Shryke Slave Market
The Great Shryke Slave Market was an enormous market run by the shrykes during the First Age of Flight. Just about anything imaginable could be purchased there, but the focus of the market was slaves. The market was located in the Deepwoods, but it moved around from time to time when it exhausted the forest around it.
General Information
The Great Shryke Slave Market was constructed far above the forest floor and comprised a series of log bridges and platforms built in trees. It was critical for anyone planning to visit the Great Shryke Slave Market to first purchase a white cockade, and wear it in plain view for as long as they stay. The cockade would last for three days, over the course of which it would slowly wilt and rot to nothing, at which point a new cockade had to be purchased. Anyone not wearing a cockade could be captured by Shryke guards and sold as slaves, but those wearing the cockades would be safe. Despite the importance of the white cockades, time passed quickly in the Great Shryke Slave Market due to the frenzy and pace, and many visitors forgot about their cockades until it was too late. Wig-wigs were a common sight on the forest floor below the Great Shryke Slave market, as they were attracted by the commotion and the waste dropped from the market.
Areas of the Great Shryke Slave Market
Role in the Quint Trilogy
Quint and Wind Jackal briefly visited the Great Shryke Slave Market in Clash of the Sky Galleons to deliver a shipment of tallow candles. While they were there they were reunited with Thaw Daggerslash and Hubble.
Role in the Twig Trilogy
During the events of Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Twig, Cowlquape, and Spooler entered the Great Shryke Slave Market in search of the missing crew members of the Edgedancer. They saved Goom from the Wig-Wig Arena and killed Mother Muleclaw the First by sending her plummeting into the arena to be devoured.
End of the Great Shryke Slave Market
After Twig's time, the shrykes' involvement with the Great Mire Road forced them to give up their existence as nomadic slavers and establish a permanent city, the Eastern Roost. Although the Great Shryke Slave Market ceased to exist from that time on, some elements of it remained present in the Eastern Roost. For example, the Eastern Roost had a Wig-Wig Arena.