"Hey bug-eyes I think you got the wrong door, the outfitters is two blocks down."
-Anonymous Moth recounting their experience being the first of his kind to walk into a formerly humans only restaurant after the species equality act was signed
The year is 2556. A nanotrasen inspection ship has arrived at one of their corporate space stations. Inspection is going smoother than projected, "The big shots will be glad to hear - as well as you- that your inspection has gone without a hitch! I will notif- Dear God, what the fuck is that?!" The inspector quickly points at a bipedal humanoid creature chewing on a pair of formerly freeze dried machine vended panties. Without hesitation the inspector's guards begin the wild hunt as the creature runs into maintenance. Stranger even, the crew has begun to intervene and began purposely antagonizing the inspector and his guards in defence of the moth, their "crewmate". It fails, and eventually the moth man is caught.
He spoke english well enough, and the crew had already become familiar with him. When pressed on the matter the heads of staff commonly reported, "I thought he was just another crew member." Indeed the inspector had found the creature's supposed name on the crew manifest.
After the incident the flustered and confused inspector was unable to find any information regarding these "moth men" and found absolutely no mention of these creatures. The closest mention was of the fly people, and the moth man assured the inspector that he wasn't previously a human.
Soon after, he left the station with the moth man and began a press conference with Nanotrasen's Central Command to announce the discovery of a new creature.
Most peculiarly however, when the moth man was presented to the higher ups the inspector was met with familiarity and indifference. Apparently moth folk were already a common sight around stations and colonies. At that historical moment the Dumbfounded inspector asked why there has been no documentation or intel collection about this undocumented species.
At that moment, the CEO straightened up in his chair and looked around and asked, "Wait, they aren't documented... Actually... thinking back on it, I don't ever remember where they came from. Arnold, why aren't they documented?" He pointed at Arnold who quickly responded, "I-I don't know, I thought they were already documented, they've been around for so long I didn't bother checking, some of them are on my staff, some of the-"
And just then, Arnold trailed off and the CEO had realized something. He looked over to one of his long time friends and admiral. Admiral Abraflap Linton was sitting in his chair slowly clicking his mandibles and staring down at his lap.
The Moth folk. A recent addition to the Nanotrasen list of Xeno crew. Contrary to popular belief, these moth folk weren't really acknowledged until they bled into crew manifests. Their origin is unknown, even they're a little fuzzy on the details, they remember being a part of Nanotrasen's crew for as long as they can remember really.
Part of this phenomenon is their seamless assimilation to their mostly human neighbors and their reclusive nature. They've blended in so well, they don't even remember their exact origin.
How it is that moths came to forget their own home planet is beyond comprehension. At most, some of the more elderly ones say they just saw a station or a colony and decided to just "hang out."
Common interactions between moths and humans often involve clothes related scandals as moths often crave clothing for easy Keratine to aid in the maintenance and sheen of their scales.
That is not to say they often do this, this is an intimate interaction they acknowledge and understand, since they also (surprisingly) wear clothing. This smell hunt is usually a part of a behavior they call "infatuation". Because of this, some moths have been able to capitalize on this instinct.
In 2500 a clothes retailing company arose in response to high demand from distant less noticeable colonies, Cottonball Core. They specialized in comfortable clothing with a lot of breathability, but that was not what they became known for.
Recently, there have been new vending machines popping up regularly around colonies, and even in a few stations. Vending machines that sell used undergarments from popular idols and celebrities from around the Galaxies. Strangest of all is their variety.
Nanotrasen has recently been displeased and has even led disgust campaigns against such sales (partly because they're not profiting from it). When they pressed the owner of Cottonball Core with a sexual indecency lawsuit they were astounded to find that the Mothball Core CEO was none other than Claurice Woolery who assured Nanotrasen that the vending machines were a catering business.
The lawsuit was later dropped due to more evidence pointing to the CEO of Mothball Core's claim (to Nanotrasen's horror).
The CEO of Nanotrasen had this to say in a statement:
"So we just found a new species of space dwelling creatures and we just now stumble upon the information that they own one of the most coveted and illustrious clothing retailers in the known galaxy? How did this slip past you? I thought the media was supposed to have some of the most well informed investigative individuals and you dumbasses didn't even know that a moth was running that shit? Did you all think they were just space Japanese? How did they slip past us? Can somebody please tell me where they even came from? What do we pay you for?!"
A recent study was conducted on moths to study their culture and behavior. These are some of the results (note: These results were a selected random sample of moths and may not encompass all moth behavior. Just the general ones):
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Shame is not something Moths readily feel. Especially not from other species.
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Moths have shown little interest in forming moth only groups, instead, observations have pointed to the conclusion that moths are more reclusive than most other xeno species.
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The antennas of a moth serve as a receptor for their sense of smell. Their wings become less functional in areas where the gravitational pull is stronger.
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Moths are very keen to smell, it is a preferable sense and they often use a variety of smells to coat themselves in.
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Moths are very cute and fluffy. They know this and often they tend to use it to their advantage.
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Their "fluff" is more akin to scales than human hair. It is used for sensory input and will glimmer upon falling off. As a show of dramatism Moths will throw around their scales in a similar way humans toy with glitter.
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Moth wings are useless outside of low gravity environments but Moths will often pride themselves on their wings and flaunt them around.
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Moth wings are very precious to moths and they will often preserve them with their lives.
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Most Moths are not very combat able. They shock easily, they're susceptible to bright flashes, and so on. Most moths take the peaceful route.
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In conflict situations they instinctively scratch at their foe rather than punch.
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Some more isolated moths have their own religion which is based around space moth deities. These deities appear to represent positive ideals that shine through the darkness of existence and the moths frequently call themselves lightseekers.
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Their religion usually calls for isolative self exploration. This usually leads to isolated lives of solitude.
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Moths by nature are very considerate of others and this distends to other species. They often think about their companions before they think about themselves.
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Moths tend to be very deceptive with their language. If they have something negative to say to someone they will often not say it at all, this leads to resentment among their peers.
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Moths often form monogamous relationships and choose their mate primarily by smell rather than looks.
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By no means do moths believe they can physically intimidate other creatures and instead opt for underhanded tactics.
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Mothra is a very popular hero among the Moth community and most conflicts in Kaiju conventions are usually caused by uppity Moths.
Through multiple surveys it was found that humans are more positively inclined towards moths than most other xenohumanoid lifeforms. This feeling is strangely mutual. That is to say, moths have reportedly accepted humans as their own and have claimed to have even "accepted humans into their community" despite it being quite obvious that they are the ones that have interloped into human infrastructures. This strange behavior recently turned controversial when significant moth pop artists have taken ancient renaissance era paintings of human interactions with angels and redrew the angels as holy moth folk.
These controversial acts have turned some human superiority groups against moths with claims that humanity is being silently invaded by this "bug menace". This has led to many biological attacks where human extremists will attack moths and use biotechnology to mutate moths into humans or other creatures. As a result, a group known as the Cottonmouth Coalition has had a rise in popularity amongst the moth community.
To address the racial tension buildup, CEO of Cottonball Core had this to say:
"Wait, you guys didn't know I was a moth?"
There has been an uprise in reports regarding attacks on a station situated on a classified frigid location. These reports all mention the same thing: There are native moths out there besetting the station in an attempt to pull victims into the icy madness below.
Due to the nature of the attacks, Nanotrasen has decided to keep these attacks on the down low in order to prevent traffic to the area for fear they might scare away signs of what could be the origin of the moth influx. The price they pay is that many unknown staff members may themselves be victim to the strange ire of the angry natives.
The strange part however is the different manner of encounters provided by moths and the rest of the crew.
All non moth personnel that have witnessed the attacks say the same thing. They're dead silent and drag off their crew mates into the dark blizzards, never to be seen again. They say that the most notable thing about them is their presence. When one of those moths is around, they know. A sense of fear and dread washes over you, followed by the quick ending struggle of their crew members. Never to be seen again.
When moths tell the story however, there's a minor change. They hear them. They claim that the natives somehow echo their voice in a more primitive form of moffic. It rings through their minds, yet that's as far as they go. No moth has been able to establish a manner to communicate with these natives, let alone find them. All they say is that the echoing grows louder as they come nearer, and when they're closeby they can hear the echoes of their victims screaming in agony.
The rest of the crewmembers claim not to hear the echoing madness. Instead they claim that the most paralyzing aspect of the natives is the smell.