Pepper

Concept Art

> no freaking way...
>
> -Pepper in amazement upon seeing Wisp for the first time

Pepper is a young adult Peppered Moth, and is one of the two main protagonists of The Moth & The Firefly

## Personality:

Kind, brave, a little introverted, and full of tenacity

## Physical Appearance:

Pepper is a relatively slender-bodied *insularia* melanic morph of the Peppered Moth. He is mostly black and dark brown with dense white speckles, including 3 white speckles on both of his cheeks. His wings are also black and "peppered" with white. His antennae are long as well as strongly bipectinate. His eyes are black.

A notable feature is that he has a few tears in his wings; a small tear in his left forewing, and two smaller tears in his right hindwing, but it doesn't seem to hinder his flight in any way. The worn-down and damaged appearance of his wings have significance, indicating a rough and interesting history throughout his life.

He can sometimes be seen with a y-shaped twig with webs between the two points strapped onto his back via silk webbing; he uses this twig as a makeshift banjo.

## Abilities

### Natural Abilities

* **Flight:** Being a moth, he can fly
* **Insect Climb:** Pepper can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings
* **Night vision:** He can see in the dark
* **Ocular Illumination:** Pepper can project light from his eyes when in dimly lit areas.
* **Antennae:** Pepper uses his antennae to sense chemicals in his environment and navigate toward sources of food or other things of interest. He can also use them for long distance communication, mostly with conspecifics.
* **Camouflage:** his speckled patterning makes him well camouflaged against darker colored, lichen-covered trees.

### **Unique Abilities**

* **Stealth**: His darker colors make him harder to spot when flying through the night sky
* **Silk Generation:** Pepper can produce silk. Typically, peppered moths lose this ability once they complete metamorphosis, but Pepper has retained this ability from his caterpillar stage.
* **Active** **Camouflage:** pepper can mimic the color of his surroundings. He can sense the color of his environment and match his body color to the background to protect himself from predators. Like the silk generation, peppered moths typically lose this ability once they complete metamorphosis, but Pepper has retained this ability from his caterpillar stage as well.

### Skillset

* **Silk Spinning:** Pepper can spin silk which has many uses, he can create adhesive threads of webs that act as a barrier or shield, crude structures and defensive perimeters, or as traps or bindings such as nets or cocoons made of the silk he secretes.
* **Cocoon Generation:** Pepper can make cocoons for various uses, whether to wrap something up to keep it safe, or even slow down a predator pursuing him
* **Acrobatics:** Pepper is nimble and agile in terms of evading predators and fighting back, as he can swiftly dodge almost any attack
* **Prehensile Proboscis:** Pepper has a long tongue-like mouthpiece known as a proboscis which he uses to feed, but it can also be used to grasp objects out of his reach.
* **Musical Talent:** Pepper can play the banjo

## Trivia

* Peppers theme is BTS-Orchestra Version-'My Universe' Cover Coldplay X BTS
* Got the reference for Pepper's size here
* Pepper was based off of this peppered moth photograph
* Originally Pepper was going to be the female of the pair, and he was going to be a Luna Moth named Luna, but as you can see this has since been changed.

## Gallery

Pepper and Wisp new designs concept artPepper and Wisp new designs concept art (semi colored)The Moth & The Firefly Cover concept ArtPepper and Wisp cuddling concept artPepper and Wisp flying (Old concept art)Pepper and Wisp Kissing concept art color (Old concept art)Pepper and Wisp cuddling (Old concept art)Pepper and Wisp Kissing concept art (Old concept art)The Moth & The Firefly Cover Concept art (Old concept art)Funny The Moth & The Firework mini comic