Mothman

Mothman is a creature found in Appalachia in 2102. It has a museum dedicated towards its mythology, and was worshipped by the Cult of the Mothman. It can be encountered in a random encounter in which it appears near the player character. If approached, it will fly off and disappear.

Background
A popular figure before the war, the Mothman had a following all over Appalachia which was focused in Point Pleasant with the town's Mothman Museum. According to local folklore - as well as a statue and museum in Point Pleasant - the Mothman is a terrifying half-man, half-moth hybrid. But outside of popular fiction and local flavor, the Mothman was routinely dismissed as a conspiracy theory at best and complete insanity at worst. People who devoted their careers to pursuing it and finding out the truth, like Angus Dykstra in Appalachia, were routinely denied admission or a platform. Of course, the devoted, especially the Point Pleasant cult believing it could commune with the Mothman (who was a prophet or harbinger of impending doom), took it for state persecution and attempts to suppress the truth.

The cult continued to believe in the mothman, their faith strengthened by the perceived persecution. 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. Remnants of their cult activities would litter Appalachia for decades to come. As for the mothmen? These giant mutated moths would continue to remain in the region for years to come.

Interestingly, a real flood occurred in 2082 when the raiders of Appalachia destroyed the Summersville Dam, which triggered a massive flood in Charleston. It is unknown if this was the flood prophecied by the mothman or just the interpretation of the Cult.

Characteristics
It is a man sized moth with multi-celled eyes, large insectoid wings and two large antenna sprouting out of the top of the head. It is skittish and quick to flee in certain encounters.

Biology
The mothman is described as being a "winged beast with piercing red eyes that prey on those in the Point Pleasant area." Its carapace sports a dark and furry texture, and its multifaceted eyes glow various colors; it also possesses a beak like mouth. Its wings are membranous and veined, akin to a real-life fly or moth.

On rare occasions, it can simply disappear into thin air, briefly leaving a dark shadow behind.

Gameplay attributes
The mothman has a large detection radius. It has three different eye colors, purple for passive, yellow for cautioned and red for attacking. In combat, mothmen attack via sonic attack, producing a sound similar to death's-head hawkmoths. They fly up and disappear, often landing in a new location to confuse opponents.

At The Whitespring Resort, the Whitespring robots will not attack the mothman if it appears. Conversely, the mothman will only attack player characters. This can occur during a 'Whitespring assault' random encounter along with a regular assault of randomized enemies that will attack the robots. The player character having to fend off two different types of enemies at once, including the mothman, compared to only one type of a hostile enemy for the Whitespring security detail.

Upon death they will disintegrate into a pile of ash as if killed by laser weaponry. Because of this, challenges that involve taking a photograph of the mothman should be completed when it is still alive as the ash pile that's left after its death cannot be photographed for challenge credit.

Mothman
A base variant of the creature, with most of the attributes described above.

Stalking mothman
The stalking mothman, as the name implies, stalks the player character in proximity. He may attack the player character and escape.

Wise mothman
The wise mothman can be seen after completing The Path to Enlightenment at the lighthouse where the player character needs to collect bioluminescent fluid from a firefly. If the event is completed, the wise mothman will appear and give the player character a 5% experience points boost for the next hour if interacted with. The wise mothman can be distinguished by its purple eyes instead of the normal red eyes. A wise mothman can also appear in a random encounter, without the option for an experience points boost.

Vengeful mothman
This variant is a chalky grey, in comparison to the dark grey/black of the standard mothman. Unlike the standard and stalking variants, the vengeful mothman will always be hostile.

Scorched mothman
The Scorched mothman is a mothman that is infected with the Scorched Plague. There are chances to see it, but they are usually spotted during the Scorched Earth event at Fissure site Prime when a player character drops a nuclear bomb at the site.

Glowing mothman
The glowing mothman is a variant of the mothman that has been highly irradiated, and as a result, now glows. Similar to the glowing wendigo, the glowing variant has a mostly black body with glowing features, such as the eyes.

Locations

 * One wise mothman will always appear at the Landview Lighthouse by successfully completing The Path to Enlightenment event.
 * A vengeful mothman can be encountered during the quest Queen of the Hunt.
 * Chance to appear at the southwestern point near the lower southwest or eastern guarded 'checkpoint' of The Whitespring Resort near road 83A on the map.
 * A wise mothman will appear in the Wise Mothman! random encounter.

Appearances
The mothman appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 12, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something." The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The sightings were also closely followed by other paranormal encounters in the region, including many reports of UFOs and Men in Black. On December 15th, the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River in Point Pleasant collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. Many have tied this event back to the Mothman itself, as following the tragedy, sightings of the Mothman and other related phenomena ceased in the area. The Mothman has since become a famous cryptid in pop culture.