Mothmen

MOTHS
File:Mothman.PNG Mothman	Genus: Lepidoptera Maiorem Central Authority: The Grand Nomad Fleet Quote: "You can't be lost if you don't know where to go. So follow the wind, for it knows the way." -Old Mothic Proverb

Mothman

File:Mothman.PNG

Basic Information

Homeworld:	Formerly Lumla, tentatively Moffenelle
Language:	Mothic, Galactic Common, various spacer tongues
System:	Space

Physiology

Average Height:	100-200 cm
Lifespan:	X years
Breathes:	Oxygen

Basic Description

The Moths are a people without a home world, cast from their paradise world of Lumla by a calamity that has escaped record in the calamity. What exists of their people now is the generations that have persisted aboard the starships they have come to call home.

Some Moth parents name their children after virtues they hope their children will live up to. Others have taken up more traditional name-surname conventions, emphasizing family cohesion.

Family is essential in regular social interaction, referencing family at the beginning of conversation with a superior or someone you are greeting for the first time is customary. A moth may greet another at the market as “Gildo, son of Palmiro, Captain of the Xenomorph’s Blight.”

Biology

Moths are a non-human species with features similar to moths from Earth, of all types. They have delicate wings that allow them to fly in pressurized, zero-gravity environments, and can use them to safely land a short fall at best. Their wings are fragile and so are their eyes, with a decent exoskeleton, their soupy insides are held together by pressure and shape alone. Moths are generally one to two meters tall, and the pigmentation of their wings and bodies range widely into different races of moth, more commonly found on certain vessels. They breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, like humans, but are especially vulnerable to heat. Their digestive system is geared towards dairy and vegetables, but can also eat textiles although it is commonly reserved for those who can’t afford real food. Fruit is edible, but they are not meant to digest it due to the high sugar content. They entirely reject digesting meat; red meat, white meat, space carp are even worse due to their toxin count. They do not lactate, so they feed their young directly with small cuts of vegetables or cloth, mixed with dairy. The home world is nothing but an asteroid belt in an abandoned system now, so the true environment the moths evolved in is unknown to the greater galactic community. But they have adapted to sterile ships and stations, slow and discomforted when they feel planetary gravity. They lay eggs which are fertilized externally, but most do not survive to hatch, thought to be a consequence of raising the eggs in space, despite medical technology. Hatchlings are dumb as most babies of most species are, easily corralled by their parents towards food and bed.

Communication and Language

Moths communicate via a mixture of Sign Language and Mothic, their native tongue. While they lack in ways to facially express emotion, the moths instead adapted to use body language in regular conversation to indicate emotion, intensity, even accent for the ship they grew up on. Position and movement of the antenna are especially important, with fluttering of one’s wings reserved for especially positive or negative emotions, such as frustration or explicit gratitude.

Sign language is also commonly taught among children, as it is essential when dealing with a low-atmosphere environment or any situation where one needs to silently communicate in very crowded or hostile situations. Mothic sign language is known to have more “expression” in it.

The Moths have a complicated history with language, possibly because their language is quite complex in itself. This naturally creates problems for interspecies communication, and as such the admiralty board recommends the use of a standardized form of Mothic omitting body language. This is frequently called "Phrasebook Mothic" and contains over twice the number of words that Traditional Mothic does- mostly to convey emotion, intent, and anything else which would ordinarily be handled by body language.

Language amongst the moths is as diverse as the fleet is large, with almost every ship having its own variance from Traditional Mothic. The standards set forward by the fleet authorities are not frequently used on the ships of the fleet. Most moths instead will learn the local dialect of the ships they frequently visit, and attempt to wing it should they need to travel beyond that. The only real exception to this is when moths travel beyond the fleet itself, as the trade tongue is the only one that most non-moths are familiar with. As a result, moths off of the fleet tend to use Phrasebook Mothic such that they can actually be understood by non-moths (via the aid of translation equipment).

In order to further integrate with the galactic community, Moths have also commonly taken to learning Galactic Common (in order to operate within the Federation) and human or lizard-derived spacer tongues. While these languages require Moths to be a lot more vocal compared to their native linguistics, the benefits have been significant.