Wispwing

Description

Wispwings are a luminous type of Insect Arrackian. They’re as dazzling as they are delicate, with fragile wings prone to tearing under stress. Typically, Wispwings only flutter up to six (6) feet off the ground, as any higher runs the risk of severe injury from gales. This puts them in the striking range of many predators, but they fortunately possess means of preventing their consumption; a slurry of chemicals stirs in their abdomen to produce a stark blue-white glow. This light can illuminate dark spaces, and the slurry is toxic if consumed. Even the mighty Mistcroak won’t try eating them lest they risk a sore stomach. The Wispwings’ glowing gel can be harvested at the cost of the Wispwings’ lives. Often used as an alternative to candles and lanterns.

Beginning life as a caterpillar, they feed readily upon arcane mushrooms and mystical plants. After three months they pupate into their adult forms and become only able to feed on nectar. Without the magical potency of their previous diet their bodies slowly destroy themselves—giving them only a few short months to spawn the next generation. Their eggs are laid on the underside of the same plants they can no longer eat before they collectively perish—a short, but colorful life.

Behaviour

What little lives they have are spent in innumerable vastness, coming together in enormous flocks so great that at times they can even surpass the moon in brightness. Together they shine their tail-lights so as to advertise themselves and communicate silently in the night sky. Scholars record that their patterns of flashing lights vary when they happen across different objects or animals, suggesting that perhaps these lights have more intrinsic meanings.