Moth-kinden

Moth Kinden

Moth-kinden are an Inapt and magically inclined race who ruled the Lowlands during the Days of Lore and were once the greatest magicians of their age. They are generally thin, with blank white eyes, dark hair, and grey skin. They are nocturnal.

Culture

Moth society is ruled by Skryres, powerful sorcerers and seers who interpret visions and make decisions of behalf of their cities. Individual Skyres may often disagree on the best of action each one pursues their own goals. The Arcanum is the Moth-kinden's secret service, an old and highly capable secret organisation which recruits from various kinden but generally favours the Inapt. Moths hate technology and attempt to sabotage it where they can, but their power has waned significantly since the Days of Lore and the Apt races consider them nothing more than than an anachronistic nuisance.

Moths are a notoriously secretive people. Moth-kinden place extremely high value on names, believing they hold power. Because of this Moths generally give their names only to friends and social superiors. Moths also do not sure readily share their histories or magical lore even amongst themselves. Moth-kinden do not hold to Mantis or Dragonfly-kinden notions of honor. They will lie, break promises, or let insults pass as it suits their purposes. The Moths of Tharn have been known to take on magically inclined individuals of other races as students. In this alone they share values with their former slaves the Beetle-kinden who founded the Great College. When a Moth is accused of wrong doing, an advocate announces the charges against them and argues their guilt at a public gathering in front of the Skryes. Their guilt and if necessary punishment is decided by the Skryes. Exile is sometimes given as an option for the guilty instead of execution.

Most Moth-kinden despair at the state of the world, where the Apt kinden grow stronger while magic has dwindled. Moths also hate machinery and will often seek to destroy or sabotage it when they can. In the modern day many feel hopeless and jaded. While the Moth-kinden hold grievances against the Beetles and Ants for their rebellion their deepest hatred is reserved for their distant cousins the Butterfly-kinden for their passive and ineffectual nature.

History

Moth-kinden were one among several major Inapt powers in the early Days of Lore, but after the War of the Worm their rivals were weakened and the Moths rose to prominence, becoming the undisputed masters of the Lowlands. A Moth-kinden warlord named Argastos was key to the victory over the Worm and the Seal which trapped them in their nightmarish subterranean kingdom, but afterwards the remaining Inapt leaders turned on him and used him as a scapegoat for the terrible actions they had been forced to take, trapping his undying spirit within his hall, Argax, to guard the prime Seal for eternity. 

During their long reign the Moth-kinden defeated such powerful rivals as the Mosquito and Assassin-bug kinden, keeping many histories which reflected their triumphs but making only rare and vague allusions to the Worm, whom they all but wiped from history. They kept kinden such as the Ants, Beetles and Flies enslaved, using the feared Mantis-kinden as their enforcers, and founded the city of Pathis as a coastal retreat. However, after 500 years of rule they were eventually overthrown during the Apt Revolution, when the technological ability of their slave-races gave them a strong enough edge to succesfully revolt. The Moths were driven back to their mountaintop holds in Dorax and Tharn, and a last, desperate attempt to drive the Apt races back into fear and servitude through magic went horribly wrong. Since then, with the Apt races inheriting the world and magic withering away, the Moth-kinden have sunk into obscurity and irrelevance.          

Prior to the First Lowlands War the Moth-kinden barely registered in the world-view of the dominant Apt races, with raiders from Tharn occasionally attacking mine-workings on the outskirts of Helleron but rarely inflicting much damage as they did not understand the machinery they were trying to sabotage. The Moth-kinden of Dorax were if anything even more obscure, maintaining the respect of the Netheryen Mantis-kinden and keeping a few Arcanum agents in Sarn but doing little else.

However, when agents of the Wasp Empire began making incursions into the Lowlands agents of Stenwold Maker began courting Moth-kinden support. Agents of the Tharen Arcanum fought alongside Stenwold and his people in the skirmish at the Helleron rail-yard, while the Moths of Dorax united with the Netheryen Mantis-kinden to form the Ancient League, which fought alongside the Sarnesh at the Battle of the Rails. Unfortunately, Tharn's involvement in the war was cut short when it was annexed by the Wasps, but thanks to the machinations of the Skryres their new governor was a secret sympathiser. As the armies of the Wasps tore across the Lowlands, the Tharen Skryres united to perform a sorcerous ritual which banished the Wasp-kinden garrison from their city through pure fear, though the infection of the ritual by shades from the Darakyon had unforeseen consequences for some. 

By the time of the Second Lowlands War Tharn had established itself as an independent ally of the Wasp Empire, carefully renogotiating the relationship on their own terms. However, the Tharen Skryres and their Arcanum agents were divided into pro and anti-Imperial factions. The anti-Imperial faction succeeded in despatching the assassin Esmail to kill Empress Seda, and later attempted to convince the Nethyen to do the same. Both plans failed, but Seda's ultimate disappearance freed the Moths from the threat of the Empire for good. With the Seal of the Worm broken, magic returned to world and the Moths found their powers increasing once more. In this new age businesses in the Lowlands were known to hire Moth-kinden seers as "oracular consultants" and it is considered money well spent.

Settlements

The Moth-kinden live almost exclusively in the mountaintop strongholds of Dorax and Tharn. These were also the earliest homes of their race. During the Days of Lore they were spread across the Lowlands, and their slaves built the cities of Myna and Pathis according to their whims. After the Apt Revolution, the latter was renamed Collegium. 

Tharn

Tharn is the eastern of the two major Moth cities, located in the mountains next to Helleron. Raiders from Tharn frequently attack mines and other industry outside the city. Other than that Tharn is mostly insular and does not have relations with the other settlements of the Lowlands. Tharn is eventually visited by a Wasp army, however the leader of the expedition and man slated to be governor Tegric reveals himself as Inapt and asks the Moths for instruction in exchange for as minimal an occupation as possible. When the throne of the empire is seized by Seda, recently become Inapt and a magician, the Moths of Tharn offer to teach her how to use her newfound power, but mainly hope to manipulate her. Tharn openly allies itself with empire during the Second Lowlands War, though there is internal dissention over this.

Dorax

Compared to Tharn, Dorax is on far better terms with it's neighbors. This could be because they do not have Apt industry right on their doorsteps as their fellows in Tharn do. Dorax regularly sends emissaries to Sarn and maintains an Arcanum presence in that city. They also keep in contact with the Mantids of Etheryon and Nethyon. During the First Lowlands War, Dorax eventually joins with two aforementioned Mantids holds in forming a new alliance known as the Ancient League to oppose the Wasp armies, with Moths as the senior partners in the alliance as it was between their two kinden in the Days of Lore. While Dorax is not as insular as Tharn, they still have no great love of the Apt races.

Elsewhere

A few Moth-kinden, estranged from the rest of their race, live in the now Beetle ruled city of Collegium where some even teach at the Great College. There is a sizeable population of Moths in the Underworld, where they are slaves of the Worm.  

Abilities

Moth-kinden can see in the dark better than any other type of kinden.

Ancestor Art

Flight - All moths possess the ability to create Art wings and fly.

Trance - Some moths have the ability to impose their will over another, forcing the target to obey the user's commands. However a target with a strong will can shrug off the effects. Powerful Moth-kinden magicians can combine this Art with their magic to break a targets will and then pry secrets from their mind.

Magic

Moth-kinden commonly have the potential to become powerful magicians. In the era following the War of the Worm, Moth-kinden were the preeminent magicians in the known world, the Masters of Khanaphes already having begun their long decline and the Woodlouse-kinden having been greatly reduced by the war. Moth-kinden magicians tend to be particularly adept at divining the future and reading minds. One common method of divining the future is casting runes. When Moth magicians take knowledge from a victim who is actively resisting them, the process can leave the victim permanently catatonic. Moth-kinden frequently work in huge groups to perform larger scale rituals. Several of these rituals have had lasting impacts on the world. Prominent rituals carried out by Moth-kinden include:

• The Seal of the Worm
• The Ritual of the Darakyon
• The Ritual to Liberate Tharn