Amaris

Amaris are type of deep purplish red moth, found only in specific places along the Bezantheram Range: especially around the Vijk in the northern part of Faraketh Forest.

Anatomy

The amaris moth have a wide, hairy body. Their wings are dark red with a purplish tinge. The markings are very faint. The females are recognisably larger. The males can be identified by their plumose, feather-like antennae. It has no mandibles but a coiled tube used for sucking nectar. As caterpillars they look terribly naked when compared to the lush thick 'hair' of their winged forms. They are pale pink in colour and about the length of a man's little finger.

Habitat/Distribution

It feeds almost solely on imemi orchids. As adults they drink the nectar while they eat the leaves in their larvae form. They are only found where the orchid grows in rocky areas near sources of freshwater. Amaris moths lay their eggs in the shaded base of the imemi orchid, sometimes inside the stone crack where it grows. Their cocoon is made with a strong, ductile silk. The discarded cocoon is later left to disintegrate, thus proving nutrients for the orchid.

Use

The House of Sonoderi have their own specialized silk-pickers, chosen from the children of the servants. As they must climb on the cliffs above the Vijk to reach the plants where the cocoons are laid, it is easier if they are small and light. They are lowered down the cliff side on ropes, held by an older generation of pickers. The cocoons are collected in lidded baskets strapped to their hips. To harvest the silk, the cocoons are boiled to make them easier to unravel and keep the moth from damaging the threads as it emerges. The silk is spun onto spools to later be dyed and woven into fabric. Each cocoon produces roughly 350 yards of raw silk. To make a shirt of pure silk would require over 3,000 cocoons, therefore amemi silk is restricted to the higher nobility of Fedhera. Even then, the silk is often combined with the threads of another material, such as wool or flax.

Geographic Distribution

Amaris caterpillars on a thread of silk: