Mothman

The mothman, referred to as the Bright One and God by cultists, is a cryptid creature found in Appalachia. It has a museum dedicated to its mythology and is worshiped by the Cult of the Mothman.

In actuality, the mothman is not a singular entity, and there are numerous mothmen with various eye colors. They appear as part of a random encounter. If approached but not attacked, a mothman will sometimes fly off and disappear. A unique entity is the purple-eyed Wise Mothman, known to have existed before the Great War.

Background
Prior to the Great War, the "Mothman" was a mythical creature in local Appalachian folklore that was described as a terrifying half-man, half-moth hybrid that stalked the area around the town of Point Pleasant. The story of the Mothman was sensational enough to create a wide following, ranging from cryptid hobbyists to aggressive conspiracy theorists hellbent on uncovering the deeper mystery of the creature. The Mothman's legend led to a number of tourist attractions, such as the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant. Stories and other popular fiction were sold as novelty holotape recordings.

Ultimately, the interest in the Mothman was generally unserious and not seen as worthy of genuine scientific inquiry by the scientific community. While the legend of the Mothman was seen as a simple folktale, a clandestine following of the creature emerged in secret. The mysterious Cult of the Mothman, its followers fervent in their worship of the Mothman as a divine being, practiced numerous rituals and established numerous hidden shrines that can still be found all over post-Great War Appalachia.

As the nuclear holocaust loomed on the horizon, the cult attempted to summon the creature to benefit from its cosmic wisdom and earn protection from the nuclear fire soon to rain from the skies. The summoning was complete on October 22, 2077, and visible to just one of their number, Brother Charles, who immediately shared the wisdom he received, speaking of floods to come on the following day. The faithful took it as a signal to gather on the rooftops to avoid the destruction and give praise to the Mothman.

The flood came, with the cult members heeding the warning and deciding to seek shelter in high elevations, but the flood happened not quite how they expected it, instead taking the form of nuclear fallout. The members also survived through the apocalypse by staying in the Lucky Hole Mine. Remnants of their cult activities littered Appalachia long after the followers perished, as did the Mothmen, and these giant mutated moths would continue to remain in the region for years to come.

The red-eyed mothman (the "stalking mothman", dubbed the Red-Eyed Pretender and Deceiver by its non-believers) is worshiped by a group called the "Dim Ones" by another rival group, The Enlightened. The Enlightened worship the purple-eyed mothman ("wise Mothman") who they claim is the true deity, with the "fire-eyed Lepidoptera" they claim to be a deceiver.

Characteristics
When idle, it typically remains perched with its wings shrouded around itself. Mothmen hatchlings emerge from mothman eggs as fully-formed, tiny Mothmen. They are skittish and quick to flee in certain encounters, but Cultists and mothmen are friendly to one another.

Gameplay attributes
Mothmen encountered in the wild may only spawn during the evening at specific random encounter locations, and never appear during the day. They may also appear at any of the "Travel" type random encounter locations. Mothmen have a large detection radius, and will typically observe the player character until they get too close. Depending on the variant, it will be passive or immediately aggressive. If a player does not engage the mothman in combat, it will flee by vanishing into thin air, briefly leaving a dark shadow behind.

In combat, Mothmen attack by aggressive vocalizations, which generate waves of sonic blasts that cause staggering and blurred vision. They will often launch into the sky and reappear at another position in order to evade and confuse opponents. Upon death, they disintegrate into a pile of ash similar to the ash piles resulting from laser weaponry kills. Because of this, challenges that involve taking a photograph of a mothman should be completed when they are still alive, as the ash pile that's left after its death cannot be photographed for challenge credit.

Mothman
A timid mothman that flees as soon as it enters combat. It is invulnerable.

Stalking mothman
The stalking mothman will follow any player in proximity. It isn't aggressive, but will defend itself if attacked. It may only appear as the red-eyed variant.

Vengeful mothman
The vengeful mothman may spawn with one of 3 colors. The black variant ranges between levels 20-50, the gray between levels 25-50 and the red between levels 30-75. This mothman is aggressive and will always be hostile.

Glowing mothman
The glowing mothman has been highly irradiated, and as a result, now glows. It has a mostly black body with glowing green features.

Scorched mothman
The Scorched mothman has been infected by the Scorched Plague. It is one of the rarest creatures in the game, only encountered after a mothman has been Scorched by a scorchbeast. Alternatively, one may be found in Enclave research facility.

Wise Mothman
A non-hostile, purple-eyed mothman seen after completing The Path to Enlightenment event quest at the Landview Lighthouse. If interacted with, the Wise Mothman will grant Wisdom of the Mothman, a +5% Experience Point boost, for the next hour. The creature also appears in Point Pleasant during the seasonal event The Mothman Equinox which is a ritual to help the mothman absorb planetary energy.

Mothman hatchling
A tiny mothman encountered only during Daily Ops.

Locations

 * Approaching any of the markers on this map at night will have a 2.5% chance to spawn a mothman:
 * Chance to appear at the southwestern point near the lower southwest or eastern guarded "checkpoint" of the Whitespring Resort near road 83A and may interact with the nearby Whitespring Assault random encounter.
 * A mothman may rarely spawn at Cult of the Mothman locations during the night:
 * Perched upon the belfry of the church in Kanawha County Cemetery
 * Perched atop the Moth-Home
 * Blake's Offering
 * Outside Lucky Hole Mine
 * Ingram Mansion
 * Johnson's Acre
 * Point Pleasant
 * Clancy Manor
 * Possible encounter during Daily: Queen of the Hunt at night.
 * A Scorched mothman is encountered within the Enclave research facility.
 * Mothman hatchlings may only be encountered during a Cultist Daily Ops.
 * A non-hostile, Wise mothman will always appear at Landview Lighthouse upon successfully completing The Path to Enlightenment event.
 * A Wise mothman previously appeared in the Wise Mothman! random encounter, which has been removed from the game. Interacting with it would not grant Wisdom of the Mothman.

Appearances
Mothman appears only

Behind the scenes
In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a winged creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area in the mid-1960s. The national press sensationalized the story across the United States, and the Mothman has since become a famous cryptid in pop culture.