Lera

Knowledge itself has value, and none know this better than the lera. Seekers of the forbidden and the forgotten, lera search after mysteries others fear, drawn inexorably by the lure of personal enlightenment.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Ever-elusive, the lera are a race created from the giant moths in ancient times by Archmage Urtho. They are silent wanderers, always looking for mysteries both mystical and mundane. Imposing yet profoundly soft-spoken, the average lera is anywhere from 6-8 feet tall, and talks only in faint whispers.
A lera is covered in a strange, soft, dusty fur that can be a wide variety of colorations, from dusky white, black and grey to vibrant orange, red, yellow, purple, blue, or pink. Lera have delicate wings, and sometimes carry striking patterns across their wings and back evoking snowfall, a sunset, enormous eyes, a death’s head, or similar. Lera also have multifaceted, insectoid eyes that come in many different hues, such as purple, black, white, green, red, or grey. Atop a lera’s head are a pair of long, lightly-tasseled antennae, which range from 1 foot to 3 feet long and waver in response to stimuli. A lera has a distinctly non-humanoid mouth, consisting of mandibles and a curled, hidden proboscis, used to pull in solid food and consume liquids respectively. Lera have no nose to speak of, and instead have scent receptors distributed throughout their antennae and mouthparts, allowing them to feel smells, rather than taste them.
The strange facial anatomy of the lera makes understanding their emotions difficult for those not accustomed to their presence, complicated by the lack of intonation in a lera’s speaking voice. Among those they trust, the lera will often state the emotional content of their communications outright: “This makes me feel uncomfortable,” or “I am overjoyed at your presence,” as examples. Among those they don’t know, however, the lera are satisfied to leave them guessing.

Growth Rate & Stages

All lera hatch from eggs as larvae about a foot long, and undergo metamorphosis into adolescent lera at age 5. Lera reach adulthood at the age of 10. Truly ancient lera reach the age of 50, but most do not live to be 40.

Behaviour

In lera society, the secrets one collects are the truest currency, holding far more value than coin ever could. Lera meet in moonlit forests or in darkened caves to broker with one another, and occasionally outsiders. Lera usually take great pains to be truthful with their words, as their secrets only have value if they can be believed. Though they meet often, lera seldom form large cities, but occasionally live in the cities of other races, or create small cloisters of their own.
Before death, it is traditional for a lera to give all of its accumulated secrets freely to another that it trusts. Some lera keep a hidden tome full of their knowledge, locked or with instructions for it to be opened only after their demise. Still, some secrets a lera will take to the grave, especially those that would harm others the lera cares about.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Lera are instinctively drawn towards knowledge, secrets, and power with a compulsion that is hard to articulate to members of other races. Many lera hunger after complex matters of arcana and artifice, while others comb the hidden dogma of forgotten gods for insights lost to time. Some lera take this compulsion as a reason to perpetually acquire that which is not theirs, though most respect the rules of ownership.
Light and flame carry a great symbolic importance in lera culture, representing the brilliance of enlightenment that all lera seek. It is usual for lera to be captivated by a great and beautiful source of radiant light, though putting this captivation into words that others will understand is next to impossible for any lera.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

All lera have a true name and a use-name, the first of which is the most guarded of secrets, the second of which is handed out as if it were the lera’s true identity. In lera courtship, the exchange of true names is equivalent to a marriage vow, the trusting of another lera to hold and keep hidden something known to no other. Neither lera use-names or true names are gendered, as lera society has few cultural distinctions along gender lines, though sometimes they pick up such distinctions from other cultures they come into contact with.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The Lera language is equal parts sound and motion, and the position and direction of one’s wings, feelers, head, and arms are just as important as the words that are spoken. In written form, Lera is a series of vaguely runic spirals and curls that are traditionally scribed with a lightly-glowing ink, made in part from a lera’s own dust.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Urtho developed five distinct sub-species of Lera with the intent for them to live beyond the Mage Wars and integrate with society or create their own colonies in time.
Chrysir

Covered in ruffs of black, orange, and brilliant yellow fur, the chrysir have beautiful and ostentatious wings with stripes similar to a tiger’s, lit with yellows, oranges, and deep purples reminiscent of a sunset. While other lera carry an obsession with light and fire, none feel this more strongly than the chrysir, who have forsaken the night to study luminous arcana in all its forms. These lera are brash and adventurous, prone to taking risks and ignoring consequences.
Reveling in daylight, the chrysir have gained much of its magical power as their own, capable of bending illumination to their own ends. Some lera believe the chrysir to be too far gone from their roots, but the chrysir strive to embrace what is new, and to discover things other lera would be blind to.



Mori

The mori lera are best distinguished by their immense ruffs of fur, like a thick coat, and have their wings and bodies colored in a multitude of hues, such as white, black, red, brown, forest green, or yellow. Mori have, at most, only one color of fur on their bodies, and three colors on their wings, which often carry a pattern of spots or crescent markings.
Mori style themselves as the craftsfolk of the lera, preferring to spin elegant robes and dresses out of silk to wear. In the time of the Mage Wars, the Mori assisted in outfitting the soldiers of the army as well as clothing for refugees that arrived at the Tower. The mori are savvy, clever, and more social than most other lera aside from the ornatri, often joking or engaging in banter in ways unheard of for the rest of their kind.





Oculo

Though every lera wishes to learn whatever is hidden, the oculo experience this as a deep obsession even beyond what other lera feel, a craving they can never truly satisfy. Marked with large, glaring yellow and black eyespots on the back of their autumn-colored wings, oculo lera are covered with ruffs of red or wood-brown fur throughout their bodies.
Oculo consider themselves the spymasters of the lera, which other lera bristle at, given that every lera has a general inclination for spycraft. The oculo are often seen as single-minded, driven, prying, or occasionally paranoid or pompous by their peers, but the oculo believe this to be jealousy at the quality of their secrets.



Ornatri

Culture is at the heart of lore, and is the clothing worn by all manner of secrets. The ornatri often style themselves as anthropologists or storytellers, delving excitedly into the practices and customs of other societies, collecting their stories and songs, and sharing them with others.
The ornatri are considered among the most beautiful of lera by their kin, and have large flowing wings decorated with colorful stripes and black dots. Ornatri wings are usually yellow, red, orange, white, and black, while the white fur on their bodies is interspersed with small black patches.



Tysani

Stark white or ebony black with dramatic contrasting monochrome ribbons winding across their wings, the tysani have cultivated an ominous reputation as the witches of the lera. Somehow even more reclusive than others of their kind, few tysani live among other races, but those that do travel endlessly, always searching for magical understanding in the world around them.
Tysani are sometimes considered cold and pitiless, even amongst other lera. It isn’t that tysani don’t experience emotion, for they have the same breadth of feeling as most creatures, but the tysani often believe in keeping their sentiments hidden amongst their greatest secrets. As the last of the lera created by Urtho, the Tysani were bred specifically for enchanced magical aptitude as the Mage Wars continued on and Urtho sought ways to further bolster the decimated ranks of mages lost to Ma'ar's forces. While all the sub-species, as with many of Urtho's creations, had the ability to wield magical forces, the tysani were all predisposed to potential adept level of power.

Common Taboos

Not long after Urtho welcomed the lera into his ranks, Archmage Ma'ar sought to corrupt his designs as he had done prior to other species. By the end of the Mage Wars, he had successfully created three twisted variants of the lera.
Achrae

Shrouded with long, dark brown-black wings interwoven with subtle patterns and lines of gold-orange, achrae lera are especially furtive, even amongst their kin. Legend tells that achrae are lera resulting from a deal with some dark force, possibly something extraplanar, charging their bloodline with an arcane control of whispers and an enhanced ability to find what others would keep hidden. As a sign of this bargain, each achrae has a pale skull pattern on the fur just behind its head, up against the back of its neck.
They have an innate ability to sense the presence of tomes, scrolls, writings, art, or similar items that contain knowledge or secrets. Ma'ar sought to make use of the achrae to further infiltrate his enemies and garner hidden information that could be turned against them.




Curin

Clad in dusky brown or grey fur, curin at first appear unassuming, before rapidly becoming terrifying. Curin have ruddy wings the color of peeling rust or dried blood, often patterned with whorls reminiscent of bestial eyes.
Unlike other lera, curin have powerful teeth hidden behind their mouthparts in place of their proboscis, and a ravenous hunger for meat. This unnatural state of being came to pass due to Ma'ar's consorting with demonic entities as he did with forming the tieflings. Due to this influence, curin feel an irrepressible rage that often overwhelms their interest for knowledge. Some curin struggle against this influence, seeing themselves as scholars attempting to understand it, while others give into it fully, becoming nearly demonic in their own right.

Goblera

Ma'ar, always desiring minions for his nefarious ends, which commonly involved the pilfering of spells and magical artifacts from the denizens of the neighboring kingdoms. Goblins were an obvious choice, found in abundance, but the archmage believed them to be flawed and attempted to improve on their design.
These efforts culminated in the creation of the goblera, a strange race that blends goblin and lera seamlessly into miniature, long-limbed moth-like creatures with glowing red eyes and ruffs of fur in any coloration found on lera. Goblera ambush unsuspecting creatures under cover of darkness, and are driven by the worst aspects of both lera and goblin nature to collect and hoard what is not theirs in large hidden treasure troves. The greater something’s perceived worth, the more a goblera must have it, throwing personal safety to the winds for the chance to acquire treasure.
Goblins and lera both view goblera as abominations and slay them on sight. Goblera occasionally live in clusterings of their own, mirroring a goblin warren or a lera cloister. In these societies, the goblera with the most material wealth is a nominal ruler, and usually acts as a tyrant with no motive other than continuing to increase its treasure trove.