The Mothkeeper

Guardian of Memory, Weaver of Dreams, Watcher of the Gloaming

General Overview

The Mothkeeper is a mysterious Fey entity belonging to the Gloaming Fey, a faction associated with transitions, illusions, and the protection of hidden truths. Unlike the capricious and often malevolent lords of the Feywild, the Mothkeeper is a neutral force. Its motives are inscrutable, and its presence brings both revelation and disruption. Where it walks, dreams bend, memories drift, and the boundaries between past and present fray.

It is not a hunter, nor a conqueror. It is a guardian.

Appearance

The Mothkeeper appears as a tall, robed figure cloaked in ever-shifting silk that resembles the wings of great moths. Its face is often obscured by a massive, luminous moth with multifaceted eyes that glow faintly in the dark. Its hair drifts like antennae, pale and weightless. It is never truly still, and never entirely seen.

A fine dust glows around it in darkness, giving it the appearance of trailing stars.

Abilities

  • Memory Extraction & Storage – Sends magical moths to steal memories, which are then sealed in silken cocoons.

  • Dreamwalking – Enters and alters mortal dreams, sowing ideas, fears, or transformations.

  • Veil of Moths – Surrounds itself with illusion-creating moths that grant invisibility or create distractions.

  • Cocoon Creation – Preserves people or objects within cocoons as stasis, protection, or imprisonment.

  • Magical Moth Types:

    • Gloomwings: Spread magical darkness and sap vitality.
    • Dreambinders: Tether to dreams, allowing the Mothkeeper to manipulate them.
    • Silken Shadows: Lay entangling threads of silk.
    • Cocoonmoths: Create cocoons that trap or preserve.

Lore and Interpretations

  • Arcane Theories suggest its cocoons are akin to memory-phylacteries, preserving pieces of a soul's essence.
  • Druidic Belief sees it as a harbinger of change and a symbol of the world’s subtle balance.
  • Historical Accounts place it at the site of several ancient transformations, but never as an aggressor.
  • Religious Views (Dreaming Grove) revere it as a divine agent of transformation.

Its presence is often recorded in dreams, visions, or moments of great personal change. Witnesses report feeling as though they’ve been judged or measured, yet never harmed.

Known Encounters

  • Ciaranna Lyndis was encased in a silken cocoon during a vision. She emerged feeling as though part of her had changed, though she could not say how.
  • Baron Jornan Eastward saw the Mothkeeper in a dream where it offered him a choice: rebuild his family's legacy or let it fade.
  • Eldrous Pith encountered a half-changed undead creature surrounded by moths in Elderhearth. The being seemed self-aware and partially alive, whispering "Not yet" before collapsing. A single white moth remained.

Symbolism & Themes

  • Transition: It appears in moments of great change, representing rebirth, loss, or metamorphosis.
  • Memory: Its cocoons preserve what is forgotten or what should be hidden.
  • Dreams: It shapes thoughts and desires, not to control, but to reveal.
  • Balance: Though it does not serve any Fey Court, it maintains the harmony of the Gloaming—the space between extremes.

Cultural Echoes

"Hush, my child, don’t make a sound,
The Mothkeeper’s near, and dreams come unbound..."

A common lullaby among the Dreaming Grove faithful warns children not of terror, but of transformation.

Final Notes

The Mothkeeper is not an enemy. Nor is it a savior. It is something older, quieter, more essential. It does not demand allegiance nor grant power, but it remembers, and it waits. Those who cross paths with the Mothkeeper are changed, though not always in ways they understand.

Some say its cocoon holds the future.
Some say it holds the past.

Both may be true.

Compiled by Eldrous Pith, Agent of the Ghoul Lord

Safe Share Link