Vyrrtheen Moths

Biology

Life Cycle

While the species of Vyrrtheen Delta resemble insects, only the moths have three stages to their development. There are a wide number of tactics employed by the moths to ensure their offspring survive, but the species as a whole is very community based in its raising of offspring. Moths begin life as eggs that are laid in groups of four to eight. Because this leads to large families, productive breeding it limited by license with every year missed by a couple resulting in better odds the next year. Families rarely have more than eight children in their lifetime, and space-based moths have even less unless they are colonizing a new home.

After their hatching day, the first day celebrated by the families, the larvae develop rapidly in the first three years after which point their growth slows. At this time they begin schooling while it is believed the primitive ancestors would have used this time to train them on foraging and hunting. Larvae can sometimes be considered more dangerous than the adults given their tenacity and the toxicity of their spiny bodies to anyone other than their own kind. By the time larvae enter their teens, they are capable of protecting themselves and feeding themselves in the absence of their parents. Some groups in moth society leave their larvae to fend for themselves for at least a year or two before their pupal stage comes.

Larvae of all kinds come back to their families when they prepare for their pupal stage. Larvae that have lost their families are taken in by other families. The pupal stage is the most vulnerable point in the moth's lifetime, and it takes nearly a year before they emerge. The most common cause of death at this stage is not neglect but starvation due to poor preparation as larvae. Whole no one enjoys this, it is a means of selecting for those most responsible to carry on their society. During this time the cognitive abilities grow along with the body.

When the pupa finally emerge as adults, they spend their first days with their family where there is a feast to help them recover from the shock of their change. When enough young adults are collected together, their most important day arrives: first flight. First flight marks that the adult body is ready to go onward on its own and without any obligate care form the family. First flight is also the most important day in the life of a moth short of having their own family. While it is a bonding time for the family it is also a powerful bonding for all the young adults such that many of those in the same first flight will often come back together to make families. The mingling of many families during first flight guarantees a blending of genes.

After first flight, young adults continue to mature for another five to eight years before they are prepared to start families of their own.

Environmental Adaptations

Unlike the striders and fireflies, moths have to ensure extreme conditions including low temperatures, low oxygen at high altitude, and dangerous wind conditions. In order to mitigate these issues, the moths have evolved some elaborate means of holding onto their heat and oxygen.

Countercurrent Exchange for Heat and Oxygen

Respiratory Exchanger

Vyrrtheen moths have spiracles on their abdomen like earth insects, but their internal anatomy is greatly different. The abdomen is devoted mostly to respiration with large lungs and air sacs like a bird that only allow for airflow one direction through the lung. Because the air only moves one way, blood can flow counter to it to exchange gases and heat efficiently. Heat is exchanged first as blood coming form the core meets air coming in from the spiracles. This pre-heats the air so that it does not sap heat away from the moth's core. On the way back out on exhalation, this countercurrent occurs again with hot air meeting cool blood from the surface that allows it to reclaim some of that heat before it is lost.

Like heat, the unidirectional flow allows for optimized gas exchange including loss of carbon dioxide and gain of oxygen even at high altitude. Where fireflies would fizzle out for lack of air, the moths still soar.

Temperature adaptations

Countercurrent circulators are only one part of keeping the moths in the air on their mountainous realms. Most moths are easily described as fluffy. Light, airy fluff covers most limbs and many have impressive collars of downy soft chitin that help insulate them. Many also have dense fluff on their whole body, but there are some that are from warmer climates that have much less protection. While modern clothing has become a equalizer, there are plenty of fluffy folk that like to take a jab at their kin in asking, "Are you cold?"

Less obvious are the metabolic alterations present in moths and not striders or fireflies. Most moths have decoupler proteins which cause their body to burn calories just to create heat. This can be critical in ensuring they don't freeze up especially since the moths are exotherms. Their blood and interstitial fluid also contain a sort of natural antifreeze that helps protect their tissues from freezing longer than any other species on the planet.

Vocal Adaptation

Because moths do not have a set of lungs in their chest nor use a nose or mouth for breathing, they cannot make the same sounds as a vocal cord might. They do, however, have a vibrating membrane in their throat driven by muscles instead of air. They typically produce soft, humming or whisper like sounds. Vyrrtheen moths do not do yelling well at all.

Wing Mending

Given the size of their wings and their lifespan, the wings of a Vyrrtheen moth are more alive than one might guess, A thin, fleshy membrane exists between the network of structural veins in the wings, and it is possible for these membranes to replace lost scales. In addition, there is a slow flow of fluid in the wings such that if one breaks it will clot. If the break is now too bad and the ends are close enough, they will gel back together like a glue that can allow for some flight while damaged. The ends will eventually grow back together, but they will leave a kink or a mark if not set properly by a doctor. Injuries to the major structural veins on the leading edge can likewise mend with medical care. If not cared for, breaks in the primary structural veins can't align and heal on their own.

Diet

Moths prefer nectar or other high energy diets that don't need chewing. Lacking teeth, they depend almost entirely on a liquid diet extracted from plants. Because the space needed for nectar production is so large, most moths grow up on a plant extract diet. The notable deviation from this is larval moths who can chew and will tear through plant matter in short order.

Society

Vyrrtheeni moths are unique in terms of their society. Their life cycle has made them proponents of change with great aspirations to become something more than they are. Larvae listen and learn form their elders in preparation to their greatly anticipated day they begin their transformation. As a pupa, they are dependent on their own careful preparation and the protection of their family until they finally escape their chrysalis as an adult. The adults often look back on those days with measured terror, and that ensures they teach their young well unless they want to see their offspring starve to death during their pupal stage. These life stages give them a great deal of time to think and self-reflect, and they tend to be visionaries and inventors by trade. They make up for their delicate bodies with inventions and tools that protect them from harm. It was no surprise that the moths of Vyrrtheen would be the only ones bold enough to leave their homes behind and explore deep space.

The pupal stage of the moth's development is the weakest point where starvation or lack of protection can lead to loss of life. Some families provide only basic protection and leave the pupa to think on their own for the year it takes for them to change and emerge. Others keep their pupa close to the family as if they were an active part of the home. They read to them, keep them up to date on events, and feel that this stage is not a time when anyone should be alone. The result is a variety of mentalities in their adult forms, and these often follow family lines. The diversity is a boon that produced the star system's first space pilots, first great ship builders, and the only people who have left home. While the rest of the species and some moths remain behind to make the great ark needed to escape the fate of their star system, only moths have scattered among the stars to meet new life and forge new relationships. However, when needed and as the fireflies once learned, no one should underestimate a moth. They may seem fragile, but they make up in strength with technology and tactics. A moth should always be considered armed because it is hard to know they they may be carrying unless it is a long arm. Moths will not flock to the flame, they will ignite it to burn their foes if they are threatened even if they would rather more peaceful means.

Moth Races and Old Caste System

The High Born

High borns are generally the largest and / or the most exotic colored moths. They include unusual species like transparent moths, sunset moths, and those resembling luna, atlas, io, and other large and complex patterned moth. In total, there are about 30 species of high born moths depending on how you tally them. These moths, by virtue of their size and brilliant coloration deemed that they were meant to lead and command because of their god given beauty and size. They also backed this up with accumulated power and militias. While they could deal with Ornates, mostly because the Ornates controlled the flow of money and business, they would rather not have anything to do with drabs. The later upheaval of power during the revolution put them into a very awkward state when drabs seized power through control of technology and raw numbers.

The Ornate

While Ornates are not as wild in size and color as the High Born, they still bear complex patterns that are well in excess of the drab's solid or simple patterns. Traditionally educated and often in control of businesses, banks, and trade routes, they often had confortable lives with time to experiment and experience life outside of their work. Most early scientists among the moths were Ornates. Ornates also routinely employed Drabs, though how they were treated ranged from junior colleague to slave labor. While High Born were supposed to rule over all, even they knew not to upset the balance of labor and business that the Ornate maintained thus creating a delicate balance between merchants and rulers.

Drabs

The term was given to both note the mostly boring appearance of most of the species in this group, which outnumbered both Ornate and High Born in number of species and individuals. It would later become a power word for them in that it is used with pride to remind high born from where their new leaders came from as well as the fact that their roughly uniform appearance was often used in the revolution to hide individuals from seizure by High Born courts. Drabs are a clever people with a strong will that never gave up on looking upwards. They always had something to gain in any action, and so they became one of the driving forces for change later on. They were the unit of labor that commanded the industrial revolution, and when a young female Drab learned engineering from the Ornate she worked with, and then created supersonic flight, all Drabs eventually took up arms and stopped the vulnerable machine of industry.

The Revolution and End of the Castes

• Mappy's Account of The Beginning of the Revolution 2017-08-21 Mappy's Flight Story