Mothbeasts and domestication

**Mothbeasts and domestication**

Moth Beasts, are the western term for a variety of wild and domesticated species descended from Pyrotheres.

In South America, the Pyrotheria evolved into elephant analogues, even developing trunks and tusks. The Pyrothere's trunks were believed to have been true trunks, though shorter than elephants.

Oddly, trunks seem to have been a recurring feature among the fauna of South America. The semi-aquatic astropothere's also developed short trunks, and the liptotern's macrauchenia, a giraffe/camel analogue also developed a short trunk.

In Antarctica, environmental conditions pushed the Pyrothere line to evolve sophisticated trunks, comparatively even longer and more complex than elephant trunks. These radiated into a remarkable diversity of specialized organs for feeding, display, defense or attack, evolving often exotic modes. Among the more unusual types are the scorpionfaces, the brushnose filter feeders, the fan daggers, the spearfishers, trumpeteers, snotgun wonders, bullwhippers and others.

All pyrothere’s are active during the winter, they have, like the Shag, heavy coats but much finer fur, often gray or irridescent. They are characterized by short round heads, huge black eyes, and their trunks are carried beneath them curled up in a spiral, rather than dangling as in elephants.

Over time, the remarkable adaptability of these trunks has allowed the pyrotheres to largely supplant the ground sloths as the dominant herbivores. The largest moth beast species is even comparable in size to the Shaghut, though of course, far less aggressive.

A number of species of Mothbeast have been domesticated or semi-domesticated. While not as powerful or as durable as the Sloths, the Mothbeasts make faster riding mounts, and draft animals and are generally more flexible and tractable, and less aggressive. The different breeds mean that they can be more efficiently assigned to specialized tasks. They produce better wool, and their flesh is accorded as tastier, though they produce less meat. They breed more quickly, mature faster, and their diet, tough leaves and vegetable matter, has almost no overlap with humans. Indeed, the diet of many of the domesticated species is often the inedible by products of human agriculture.

Their chief limitation is a certain environmental delicacy. While the Shaghui endure just about any habitat and climate, the different breeds of Mothbeast tend to function best in favoured habitats and increasingly poorly away, they also do poorly in inclement weather.

Hence, Mothbeast domesticates tend to be highly regional, with different breeds occupying different regions and occupations.

Mothbeast domestication came relatively late in the middle era. Originally, Mothbeasts were treated as incompatible with agriculture, feeding on many of the plant species which were used in agriculture. Wild animals were essentially protein on the hoof, and mothbeasts were frequently hunted out in agricultural areas. The Mothbeasts disappeared almost entirely from Tsalmothua and became rare in agricultural areas of Azul and Yag.

It was only after the development of the plow and plow harness, circa 12,000 years ago, and the adaptation of plow harnesses to carts and sleds approximately 11,500, that Mothbeast domestication began. Domestication begins originally in the Wang Gash area, approximately 11,000 years ago where rough country made cultivation uneven and allowed extensive wild lands to flourish, with sustaining mothbeast populations, where the animals were substitutes for Shaghui.

Over the next two thousand years Mothbeast domestication spread steadily. By 9000 years ago several breeds of Mothbeasts were in regular use all over Tsalal lands in a variety of agricultural and urban settings. In particular, Mothbeasts were critical to emerging transportation networks and coal mining activities.