Dragonlike beings with butterfly wings are a common fancy among artists; the
dragonmoth, hybridizing moth and dragon features, is an independent invention of
the Bright Dreamer, based on her own imagination. Resemblance to other
insect/dragon hybrids is coincidental.
Origins
Dragonmoths are related to fairy dragonflies, and probably originated in the
same world. Wherever it was, it wasn't Tirialle, and it wasn't, as
their alternate name indicates, the Faelands (the parallel-universe home of
faeries; the "fairy" spelling is a local fancy, applied to anything
unusually ephemeral or wondrous in appearance, while "fae" or
"faerie" is reserved for actual natives of the Faelands.) They have been
living, breeding, and dying in Tirialle for a few thousand years, and thus are
considered naturalized residents, if not natives. Dragonmoths typically
measure under a foot
long from snout to tailtip, averaging eight to ten inches. Males and
females look similar.
Habitat
Inhabitants of tropical to subtropical regions, they usually inhabit denser forests than
their relatives, preferring dim conditions. Younger or more adventurous
dragonmoths venture far afield, and have turned up in mountains, marshes, and
even gardens.
Feeding
Dragonmoths are vegetarians and live mostly on fruits, nuts, and nectar, requiring
access to at least one food source year-round. Magic enables them to
encourage flowers to bloom and fruits to ripen out of season if need be, but
they don't resort to such means if they can help it, believing it harms plants
in the long run to trick them so. Dragonmoths tend to be crepuscular
(active at dawn and dusk) or completely nocturnal,
hiding in the bright noonday hours when the sun hurts their eyes.
Life Cycle
Dragonmoths lay egg clusters in the high forest canopy in late spring, with
several dragonmoths often choosing the same space; they watch over the young in
rotating shifts, and the more parents are involved means the more extra eyes
about. "Solar energies", both
magical and thermal, harden and hatch them, a process that usually takes only
three weeks but sometimes lasts for two months, depending on ambient weather
conditions. The young emerge in a larval, or grub, form, and save their
bright eyes are almost indistinguishable
from area moth caterpillars (an adaptive defense mechanism;
dragonmoth grubs take on the appearance of whatever caterpillar is most
common in their area of hatching.) At this time,
dragonmoths, unlike fairy dragonflies, are subsentient, essentially a clever
animal dedicated to eating. Larval dragonmoths eat nearly three times
their weight in leaves a day for two months, growing up to four inches long by
the time they spin their coccoons in late fall. Adults watch out for
youngsters, regardless of familial relation; a mother almost never raises her
own young, and unlike most fairy dragonflies dragonmoths do not mate for
life. Dragonmoth coccoons are drab, roughly oval constructions, usually camoflaged with bits
of bark and lichen stuck to the dull gray silk by adult dragonmoths as the
coccoon hardens. In spring, triggered by unknown forces (some claim
planetary alignments), the coccoon turns brittle; a few taps and shakes of the
dragonmoth inside, and it falls away, revealing a young adult dragonmoth with
damp, crumpled wings and a fresh-woken sentient mind. The young are
welcomed into the local dragonmoth community en masse during the last full moon
of the season; having evidently gleaned a great deal from genetic memory, the
young at this time choose their names and offer a small demonstration of power,
such as making a flower bloom or a seed take root. Failure to do so
results in a dragonmoth being cast out, where they invariably refuse food or
water until they die; lack of magic is the only capital offense in dragonmoth
society, for without magic they are nothing. The young are not fully
mature for another three years. They only rarely mate for life, usually
changing partners every few years as they travel to different regions. No one is sure quite how long dragonmoths live, but fairy dragonflies usually don't reach their 50th
birthday, so it can be assumed that dragonmoths have a similar lifespan.
Culture
The least conversational of all fairy dragonflies, dragonmoth culture is still
largely unknown. A group of dragonmoths is referred to as a shimmer, but
recent studies indicate that these are mere transitory gatherings; most dragonmoths spend their lives
traveling, usually as loners but occasionally with a favored mate or friends. Every full moon,
dragonmoths congregate at select locations (again, possibly dictated by
planetary alignments, ley lines, or other invisible forces) to commune with
others, share news, and honor "the Ethereal Power," the root source of
all dragonmoth life and magic. Other fairy dragonflies usually think of
them as a bit peculiar and backwards, impossibly reserved, while dragonmoths
consider most fairy dragonflies inexplicably gregarious and flashy with their
magic. The relationship is amical, though somewhat distant on both parts.
Temperament
These beings tend to be more reclusive than fairy dragonflies, preferring not to
draw attention to themselves until they've had a chance to assess a being's
intentions. Once they've determined there's no threat, they reveal
themselves. Under threat, they prefer retreat to
confrontation, though when pushed too hard they will come back, and come back
hard, to fend off aggressors. Like most fairy dragonflies, their magic is
not in itself lethal, geared toward natural energies and healing, but can create dangerous situations
(raising roots underfoot, dropping a volley of suddenly leaden
and razor-sharp leaves on a pursuer, stirring up wildlife to create a cover for
escape, coaxing thorns to seek enemy flesh, and so forth.) Aside from magic,
dragonmoth claws and teeth can do serious damage; they are, after all, designed
to get through tough tropical fruit skins and crack open rock-hard nut
hulls. Dragonmoths tend to take a casual view of friendship, generally
taking or leaving company as they choose; most fairy dragonflies require some
sort of companionship lest they go insane, but dragonmoths actually enjoy
stretches of solitude and become quite surly if they can't get a few
moments' peace now and again.
Magical Traits
Like fairy dragonflies, dragonmoths are gifted mages, but unlike their relatives
they rarely show off their magic for the sake of their own amusement.
Mostly, they conserve it for survival; promoting healthy trees and plants to
ensure a food source, magical camoflage to evade predators and such. Most
researchers believe that dragonmoths are the weakest mages of their kind, which
would explain their overall reserve even among their own relatives.
Dragonmoth antennae, in addition to being sensitive to air currents and scents
(especially those produced by ripe food, blooming flowers, and their own kind),
can home in on the smallest magical vibrations, such as that produced by
cloaking magics or other concealment charms. Their antennae also enable
them to locate and navigate by ley lines, invisible lines of natural energy that
crisscross Tirialle (and, it is said, other worlds.) Other fairy dragonflies
lack this acuity, so it is a puzzle why they evolved this sensitivity; some
believe that dragonmoths absorb ley line energy to power their magic, while
others note that dragonmoth shimmers usually gather at ley line crossings.
Other Notes
Though not originating in Tirialle, several local nocturnal flowers have come to rely
on dragonmoths for pollination. Perhaps the most dramatic of these is the
rare dragonstar vine; giant lace-leaved vines that climb from base to canopy of
some of the tallest tropical trees in Tirialle, their six-inch-long dark green
buds burst open at dusk to reveal a faintly luminescent double-layered cluster
of tiny starry blossoms on long stalks, nearly a full foot in diameter, with
several central cuplike tubules recessed among the stiff stalks. While
moths are unable to penetrate the thick starry blossoms and bats ignore them
altogether, dragonmoths, drawn by the light and the sweet, nutritious nectar,
push their way through to the nectar-bearing tubules, picking up pollen from the
outermost stars and depositing it at the next flower on the deeper, dimmer layer
of blossoms. The golden-tinged pale fruit of the dragonstar vine, looking
like a speckle-skinned miniature apple, is said to have curative magical
properties, perhaps picked up from its unique pollinators, but only so long as
the seed-bearing core is buried in good forest loam near a suitable tree;
failing to do so, to give back to the earth in payment for plucking the vine's
fruit, is said to turn the dragonstar apple to poison in the stomachs of whoever
tasted it.
The Skyhaven Adoption Hunt and related text and
images were created by TBW 2007
Only the awards and the adoptable creatures/beings are to be taken
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brightdreamer (dot) com
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