Editing Mothfolk (section)

=Society=

Despite the presence of a mostly patriarchal Daimyo, mothkin society is, in the whole, highly egalitarian, with women being high positions as readily as men. The two highest social positions within mothkin society are that of Matriarch and Daimyo.

As the mothkin have a solitary society, each individual generally operates without reliance upon others. They share knowledge about sources of water and local growth patterns, but seek out water sources on their own. The largest shared things among their culture are nectar first, and knowledge a close second. There are centralized living areas, which are focused around areas that grow essential plants, are near water sources, and have plenty of natural lighting. 

Each mothkin “settlement” is clearly marked by a single distinct feature: The Agiari, sometimes referred to by halflings and other outsiders as a “Sky Hive.” This will be the single tallest structure in a mothkin settlement, signified by a large magical pyre atop it. This serves many purposes, such as being a watchtower and a homing beacon for traveling mothkin, a place of worship for the Church of the Flame, as well as being something each individual merely finds beautiful to look at. This structure will hold a majority of the “living spaces,” which are closer to communal sleeping areas where each one comes and goes as they please and belong to no one specifically. These communal spaces are always close to a source of light for sustenance during the mothkins' rest. Each individual has no single, centralized home, but might keep their things in a single area in order to keep things easier in pursuit of their hobbies and profession, and these spaces are respected by other mothkin. This is the closest thing that mothkin keep to a “domicile”, but they still have a very clear sense of territory as a species, and will defend that territory against others.

The mothkin spend a lot of time collecting and distilling nectar into a liquor that seems fairly mild to the mothkin, but is seen as quite potent by outsiders. Perhaps even to dwarves, if they were ever to get a chance to taste it, but, due to cultural hatred, this is unlikely. The predominant professions within the mothkin society are astrologers, scholars, alchemists, carpenters & craftsmen, artisans of rare and intriguing forms, and relatively few merchants or tradesmen. The alchemists are most highly regarded outside of mothkin society. In fact, the dust of their wings is frequently used by the alchemists for various products which are then traded to halflings as alchemical components, usually in exchange for rare reagents not found in the mothkin native woods. Even the astrologers are thought to know the heavens better than most, if not all of the civilized races.

==Mothkin Art==

The mothkin very meticulously preserve the wings of every Daimyo and Matriarch who has lived and ruled, and these are all displayed in the Agiari of any grouping. These wings are hung in a spiral pattern along the interior of the Sky Hive and serve as a guide for their oral history, using portions of each wing to represent events in a continuous timeline. More modern rulers still carry the vestiges of previous rulers’ patterns on their own wings as a visual reinforcement of their right to rule, while carrying a living record of their people.

Mothkin also enthusiastically engage in calligraphy as a pastime as well as an extension of their oral history. Many mothkin artisans are known to create long, flowing scrolls telling stories of greatness and mothkin pride. They also use calligraphy in the recordings of their alchemical formulae and descriptions of plants, the flowing scripts becoming as educational as they are beautiful. Frequently, the alchemists will synthesize a glowing ink from candleflies for calligraphers, as further embellishment to their writing. This ink glows permanently and is often used in their sacred texts for emphasis as well as embellishment. The results are scrolls, breathtaking to behold, that are illuminated technically as well as literally.

==Daimyo==

The Daimyo acts primarily as a monarchic figurehead of the Church of the Flame. The Daimyo also acts as part of a scholar gentry, an organization of philosopher-mages who hold much of the society's knowledge and act as patrons to its businesses and civilians. The Daimyo is not elected by vote or by heredity alone, but rather appointed by the Church of the Flame from within a select group of the higher echelons of society. A Daimyo may not choose their successor directly, but there are certain actions a Daimyo may take to ensure those they favor will likely succeed them. The Daimyo is widely considered the most centralizing figure of mothkin society, apart from the Church of the Flame itself, although the Daimyo will often be seen as the more accessible and more identifiable of the two.

The Matriarch has the duty of overseeing the welfare of the mothkin society as a whole and taking care of most internal affairs, acting as adjudicator of laws and a voice of guidance for those seeking her counsel, whether moral, legal, natural, or astrological. The Daimyo is responsible primarily for interactions with outside groups, acting as a diplomat as well as leader of military forces, and enforcer of the will of the Matriarch. The Daimyo also adds his counsel to the Matriarchs when available while deferring to her judgment. In practice, this means the Matriarch decides what must be done while the Daimyo decides how to do it. The same is true of military preparations, although the Daimyo is given leave to respond without the Matriarch’s counsel in times of great need. As mothkin are a highly solitary and intrinsically spread-out society, these positions are often unnecessary, and the offices hold far more pomp and circumstance than actual power despite being universally respected. The Daimyo and Matriarch are always from few select familial lines which are very carefully traced and often mate for political and hereditary reasons.

One odd practice seen by the mothkin is when an individual reaches a new village of mothkin, or an area where he has not met the local Daimyo, or even individuals returning after a journey of several days or more, the mothkin will seek an audience with the Daimyo for a brief welcoming ceremony. This ceremony is partially a mode of reinforcing tribal connectivity as well as respect and submission to the Daimyo in the form of a ritualistic antennae-cleaning that is otherwise stigmatized in mothkin society. The mothkin bows before the Daimyo, presenting their antennae (or “wreath,” as they call it) and reciting an old quotation from the Church of the Flame.

"It is the daimyo's choice should I carry my wreath. Should I be unfit, he may pluck them from my head, and my wreath is lost to be blind without sightlessness."

If the mothkin individual is respected or has done no wrong, the Daimyo will clean their wreath whether needed or not, as a symbol of encouragement and providence. On rare occasions if the mothkin has dishonored themselves or their tribe, or is an outcast and has attempted to return, then the Daimyo will tear one or both antennae from the head of the mothkin, rendering them without the anatomy to smell and removing their natural proficiency in alchemy. A mothkin who loses their antennae in such a way is no longer considered a mothkin by other members of their society.

===Beginning of the Daimyos===

The position of Leader within mothkin society was, prior to this, a tenuous one. There existed a position simply called Emissary, after the tradition of Farapid the Traveler, who was the first Emissary, and this position was primarily one of diplomat. However, after the first contact with the dwarves, this was changed with the formation of the Church of the Flame.

Scarred by the unprecedented and wholly alien act of violence against them by Baloth Ironchin, the mothkin resolved firstly to rebuild. Houses were reconstructed, the forest healed, and new generations of mothkin were raised into a different life than their forefathers. 

Around this time of reconstruction did the Church of the Flame develop. To its first practitioners, the fire would cleanse them of their past naivete, and reforge their connection to the fey that had guided them. Among their ranks came one known simply as Tanji. He preached words of revitalization and hope to the mothkin, and was claimed to be an emissary of Cimre herself. The mothkin finally had a true leader, and they named him Daimyo.

With their city rebuilt (with walls and palisades, for better defense), Tanji gave a new goal to the mothkin, an order issued at the end of the twilight days that is still followed today: Discover. They were told to spread out, fly beyond their ancestral forest and explore the world beyond, whatever good or bad lied within it. Settlements rose up from the Benayan mountains to the frosted steppes of Kharas, and new generations of mothkin grew up far from their old forest.

Tanji requested that the temple of the Flame, the first Agiari, be built as high as possible. The peaks of a great tree were hollowed out, spiraling steps carved within, and a great altar of flame raised in its canopy, tended eternally by devoted monks. The light of the flame, he said, would always lead the children of Cimre back home in dark times, and thus the first beacon temple was made.

==Necrosavants==

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Candleflies were a gift to the mothkin from the fey queen Cimre, a simple insect species that produced light to reflect the light of the moon. They were quickly discovered to have many applications, from decoration to illumination to chemical powders. However, this boon came with a cost: candleflies fed exclusively on dead flesh. Because mothfolk were born from Cimre and to her they must return.

Tanji asked of Cimre how they would sustain them, and she delivered the Death-Head mark, a white skull found on the back of some mothkin upon their rebirth. Cimre named them the Necrosavants, and they were tasked with collecting the bodies of the dead and harvesting them for the candleflies. 

Three years later, a Necrosavant named Tashigo found a new use for the candleflies: when their larvae infested a dead corpse, the glow they produced was charged with Necromantic energies. Tashigo channeled this power, and the infested corpses rose, undead husks illuminated by the haunting light of the candleflies from within. A host of the creatures ran through Tanjian, but they were finally repelled and Tashigo was slain.

Since then, the mark of the Death-Head condemns a mothkin to a life as a Necrosavant, respected for their invaluable service but avoided and feared for the prospect of the dark energies that they encounter. Many live as recluses, tending the candleflies and then delivering them once they reach maturity, to return again to their den of death and growth.

Necrosavants are few in numbers; even in the biggest cities one can hardly find a dozen of them. Even the most ambitious rulers stave off using them, because, while being able to raise an impressive undead army, Necrosavants’ control over the risen is unstable, and that army can easily turn on you.

The Death-Head mark is also known to the Farapidaan, but it is rarer and does not hold as much significance in their culture. When Anenzi left with his flock to the desert, most of their candleflies died during the exodus, and they eventually adopted a tradition of cremation instead. Most of the time, when a Death-Head is born, which is quite rare, they would tend to find themselves taught in the priesthood in order to perform proper funeral rites.

In recent days, however, there are those who speak of training and utilizing them to hunt down and identify Moondrinkers. However, this thesis hasn't been fully tested yet.