Whisper Moths

One is a blessing, five are a curse, a hundred are you're certain Death.

— Saying in Nebrick, probably by Luthgrid the priest

Dear Maximilian, the town becomes emptier every day but more and more moths seam to appear. Where prior occasionally one or two flew around at the graveyard now there are fifteen on every single grave and some in the town. I heard terrible stories about those moths killing people. You surly know those beasts and can help me. You're old friend Dimitri.

— Letter from Dimitri Lukset to the Zoologist Maximilian Leaflow regarding whisper moths in Kintap

Dear Dimitri, you have a problem

— First part of Maximilians response

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

Whisper moths are found where people die, usually graveyards, but being a possible cause of death themselves they could be found everywhere.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Hundreds crashed through the window, Ben was completely covered in black and white butterflies. I ran for my life. When i came back a few hours later, they where still there but this time they talked.

— Julia Glass

Whisper moths come one by one, following a person and warning who knows them well enough, until there are about thirty of them. This is known as the "Phase of Gathering" and takes between a week and a month. At the end of this "Gathering" a big swarm of them arrives, (the exact number is hard to determine but estimates range from 300 to 1000 individuals) covering the targets body (resistance ceases after roughly 20 to 30 seconds). After a few hours (due to the fleeing of witnesses there are no exact numbers but reports indicate about two or three hours), if a person is nearby, the corps will rise and walk up to said person. The style of speech is a ringing, high pitched voice, it's hard to imitate for humans. Notable across all reports is the "You have thirty days", if the demands are not meet at this point the cycle repeats itself, and that every time a person is mentioned the full name is used (no "he" or such) the only exception is the formerly mentioned "you" which implies that the Moths don't know who the are talking to but every case can be connected to some wrongdoing of the target that is mentioned by name. Because of their unique behavior and their sense of morality it is unreasonable to assume that Whisper moths are a natural appearance.

— The Fauna of Nebrick by Maximilian Leaflow, chapter 4: Whisper moths

Ben Glas stole a commission from Sean Eger and claimed that it was his work. In the aftermath, Sean Eger lost his workshop. Make sure that Sean Eger gets his workshop back. You have thirty days.

— A case of Whisper moths reported by Julia Glass

Biological Cycle

Researchers assume that Whisper moths, like other moths, are born as caterpillars and transform into a moth later on but there are no caterpillars or cocoons that reportedly became a Whisper moth.

Genetics & Reproduktion

After delivering the message the moths will fly away in a group counting two to three times more individuals than the one originally arriving and leaving only the skeleton of their pray. This is accepted by experts as their way of reproducing but maybe its not the only one. So if they have caterpillars or cocoons either the adults carry them in their body or they evolve extremely fast.

They never target cats because they like cats

picture source: http://www.naturspaziergang.de/Nachtfalter/An_gro/An_gro_Fotos/Zeuzera_pyrina_05_29-07-2016.jpg

Average Length

15cm