Mothfolk
The mothfolk are a race of plains- and hill-dwelling insectile humanoids who form extended communities based on colonies bound by family ties. Reclusive in groups but gregarious as individuals, the mothfolk are prepetual neophytes to the surface world who, nevertheless, also preserve the ancient lore of ectokinesis amongst themselves.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Albeit vaguely hominid in body plan, the mothfolk are more closely related to actual moths than humans. Whether their shape is the result of long-progressing convergent evolution, a relation to the mystical Hengeyokai, or the end product of experimentation by ancient mage-kings of the pre-New Generica Period empires remains a matter of much scholarly debate. Whatever the case, mothfolk have developed many mamalian traits which distinguish them from their insectile ancestors, such as warm blood, body hair, a complex and centralized nervous system, the ability to nurse young, and internal chitin structures forming the rudiments of an endoskeletal system (including vertebrae). Despite their name, mothfolk lack functional wings.
A mothfolk is bipedal, possessing two arms terminating in dexterous, sharp-fingered hands, two legs terminating in semi-dexterous feet, and a head crowend with a pair of feathery antennae in the manner of true moths. Mothfolk are endoskeletal, but the outer cuticle features a layer of soft tissue that allows for a delicate sense of touch and the ability to produce complex facial expressions. Thick, fluffy fur comprised of fine chitin fibers adorns the torso, upper arms, upper legs, and the top of the head, though a thin layer of fur also covers the rest of the body. This fur may be paper white, ligtht yellow, light purple-blue, or dark reddish-brown, with stripes or mottled patterns also being possible.
Mothfolk faces have an almost human appearance, but their front-facing eyes are large, multifaceted, and lack eyelids. Two larger eyes emerge at either side of the skull directly across from one another, granting the mothfolk excellent peripheral vision in keeping with its prey animal ancestry. The eyes of a mothfolk may be almost any single color, reflect light in dark conditions due to the presence of tapeta lucida at the base of each retinula, and tend to emulate the appearance of a 'pupil' (in the manner of mantis eyes) due to the alignment of the retinula with the perspective of the observer.
by Hero Forge
Genetics and Reproduction
Mothfolk are monogamous and mate for life. A mated female is usually referred to as a 'queen,' while a mated male is usually referred to as a 'king.' Upon first mating, biochemical changes occur by which each partner becomes physiologically incapable of living a full life without the other. Short-term separation is not sufficient to cause illness, as partners with the right mental conditioning can visualize the other to stave off the effects of withdrawal for some time, but the yearning of a mothfolk to return to their mate grows exponentially with time and can eventually overcome all reason. Should one partner perish, the remaining partner begins to suffer acute withdrawal symptoms. Beyond the expected grief, the survivor experiences nausea, weakness, lethargy, body aches, and a total lack of appetite. In three quarters of cases, the survivor eventually slips into a coma and subsequently perishes as their psyche collapses.
Mothfolk are oviparous. After mating, the female lays between three and eight eggs. Whether viable or not, the process of egg-laying causes a mothfolk queen to become infertile for around a decade thereafter, an adaptation to prevent colony overpopulation and to ensure that previous offspring can render aid in the care of subsequent clutches (see Social Structure). The timing between clutches ensures that a clutch one generation removed can help care for the one before it and a clutch two generations removed is mature enough to take mates of their own.
Growth Rate & Stages
Mothfolk eggs eventually hatch into larvae with undeveloped limbs and mouthparts; often, the only features visible on these grub-like creatures is a set of huge eyes and copious amounts of fluff. For the first year or so of life, these larvae are nursed by the female. After their first molt at about one year of age, these larvae take on their more humanoid form and can walk and eat on their own, but, like the young of all sentient species, must still be reared and educated by the parents until they reach maturity. Each annual molt is accompanied by an increase in height and the lengthening of limbs until, around the twentieth molt, the individual stops growing and is considered a fully developed adult.
Even after reaching maturity, mothfolk do not exhibit strong sexual dimorphism or acquire fertility until they find a sufficiently histocompatible mate. The exact process by which the mothfolk's body chemistry makes this determination remains unknown, but it is believed to have something to do with pheremones and the subsonic qualities of a potential mate's voice. Once a suitable mate is found, the female mothfolk's hip and chest regions both expand, giving her what other humanoids would recognize as a more stereotypically feminine body structure, while the male's shoulders and limbs expand and become more muscular, giving him what other humanoids would recognize as a more stereotypically masculine body structure. These morphological changes are permanent.
A mothfolk in good health may expect to live up to a hundred years, though a few notable individuals have pushed 120. Mothfolk typically age gracefully and, for the most part, only begin showing signs of being worse for the wear around 60 or so. Aging mothfolk start to exhibit thicker, more yellowed cuticles that take longer to fully molt, and their bodies may start to take on a more pudgy or hunched appearance. Excluding violence, disease, or the death of a mate, the most common cause of natural death among mothfolk is a gradual decline in organ function and resistance to pathogens.
Ecology and Habitats
Mothfolk hive-towns are constructed along plains and hills where loose soil and clay provide for prime construction materials. Natural hollows and depressions in the earth are preferred for the construction of hive-towns, as mothfolk colonies thrive best in cool, beshadowed conditions. A hive-town is a tightly-packed complex of subterranean vaults, circular pit houses on the surface, and small keep-like structures, all of which are interconnected by a network of tunnels and surrounded by low perimeter walls. Comprised primarily of mud bricks, hewn stone slabs, and adobe, these settlements look to distant observers like a version of a giant termite mound or wasp nest as designed by medieval architects.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Mothfolk who are no longer larvae are omnivorous, though they prefer root vegetables and fungi due to their semi-substerranean lifestyle. They have a fully developed agricultural industry and are capable of growing or trading for most foodstuffs. The strong digestive enzymes of the mothfolk allow them to even get some sustenance from cellulose-rich parts of plants not normally considered edible, though it is considered somewhat offensive to imply that a mothfolk eats textiles like cotton or linen.
Behaviour
Mothfolk are sentient creatures with intellects to rival humans and surpassing that of hengeyokai, though they are not as well-developed in this regard as the august race of Lunarss. They possess spoken language, writing, tool use, and even scientific acumen. The most developed field of mothfolk study is that of arcana, specifically the ancient subset of arcana known as ectokinesis. Indeed, mothfolk sometimes dig up precious ectolith samples during their many excavations and, for the right price, may even be willing to trade them to outsiders.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Mothfolk culture emphasizes a family-based hierarchy, with the founding parents of a colony accorded the authority of hereditary monarchs and their oldest surviving offspring serving as the administrative state. Up to a hundred or so related individuals make up a hive, each generation having developed under the supplemental care and tutelage of the ones that came before. Younger members of the colony carry out more menial labor in accordance with their youthful vitality, but will eventually be accorded more responsibilities and more flexibility with their choice of profession as they grow in seniority within the colony. When the founding king and queen die, the colony separates, each immediate offspring establishing a new colony with their own children and beginning the cycle anew. Alternatively, colonies which grow too large or with a surplus of unwed members will send more scions out into the world to adventure, seek out mates, and stake claims on new territory (see Common Customs & Observed Traditions). In these ways, so long as he or she survives and finds a mate, every individual mothfolk will one day get to enjoy the benefits of royal status within the social structure of their own hive.
In terms of geopolitics, colonies related by blood or mating form a bloc in the region they inhabit. In this way, the 'nations' of mothfolk lack centralized authority except in the conferrence of heads of colonies to face threats larger than any one colony and its allies can handle on their own. Mothfolk seldom start wars, being content to hunker down in their burrows and pit-houses until hostilities cool, but they are always keen to finish them if the opportunity presents itself.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Mothfolk have keen senses, including excellent peripheral vision and a sensitivity to minute scents in the air which, with practice, can be used for communication or hunting across long distances.
Civilization and Culture
Courtship Ideals
Mothfolk marriages are unusually stable and affectionate among sentients, as the couple is not only drawn together over time by personality but are, quite literally, rendered dependant on one another for their very survival. Mothfolk wives move into and settle in the colonies of their husbands, but wind up wielding slightly more power within the sociopolitical structure of of that colony as they grow in seniority therein.
Mothfolk courtship is swift, driven primarily by biological realities, and difficult to predict with certainty. If two mothfolk are biologically incompatible, then they will not join in a mate-bond even if they completely match one another in philosophy, goals, and temperament; in contrast, if two mothfolk are compatible enough to become dimorphic as a result of their mutual presence, then they will stay together forever even if they might otherwise be considered polar opposites. The flush of hormones that accompanies the development of dimorphism is accompanied by an accute opening of the mind, causing even the most disparate of mates to gradually find the bits of their personalities that mesh together to build a relationship around. Nevertheless, savvy mothfolk will make an effort to associate closely with other individuals of their own kind who are known to share similar values in the hopes that among those individuals will be someone whose presence will be just right to cause the start of the bonding process.
A mothfolk whose mate dies will, rarely, survive the resulting withdrawal. Seeking a new spouse is difficult for these individuals but may also prove necessary to ensure their continued survival. The pain of loss can merely be suspended, never fully abated, without the comfort of another compatible mothfolk. Finding suitable partners for widows and widowers takes on a political dimension among mothfolk communities, as, on top of the fact that finding biocompatible partners in a similar age range is difficult due to the rarity of such a survival, partnerships also imply a comingling of resources and a consolidation of interests between colonies. It is important to remember that every mothfolk with offspring is culturally considered part of an extended royal family which, by and by, will call upon that parent to rule over a new colony some day as a king or queen in their own right; for this reason, the choice of a replacement spouse must be considered with utmost care even if the mate-bonding process is otherwise difficult to predict..
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Though every colony is unique in some way, all mothfolk colonies send their youths on a journey into the outside world as a rite of passage into adulthood. This journey, variously referred to as a 'pilgrimage' or 'apprenticeship,' sees mothfolk of around 18 years of age leave their home colonies in search of real-world experience and, eventually, spouses from other nearby colonies.
These newly free mothfolk seek out important personages and experts in their respective fields - rulers, generals, adventurers, artists, inventors, scholars, and so forth - among other sapient species in the hopes of learning from their example. A given mothfolk pilgrim will observe a prospective 'master' or group of masters for a time from a distance, gauging their skills, their receptiveness to the apprentice's mission, and their overall agreeableness as people. If, after this time, the person or group in question looks like a good fit, then the mothfolk will approach them and offer to serve as a squire, scribe, apprentice, or so forth in exchange for the oppportunity to learn from such esteemed individuals. Such a mothfolk is not averse to leaving the service of a master should they prove to have a heavy hand or low motivations, but will otherwise serve with great loyalty and vigilance in the hopes of garnering useful new knowledge. Whether the mothfolk has the opportunity to find a mate during this sojourn or, less commonly, if five or six years elapses in service without such opportunity, then the mothfolk may return to their colony and be welcomed as an adult member of the community.
by Hero Forge
Genetic Descendants
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