Warning: this post contains mild non-essential spoilers for This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and a discussion of insects.
A swarm of glowing golden butterflies flowed out of the entrance, as if the
building had exhaled light and beauty into the night. The butterflies bounced
on the draft, trailing tiny gold sparks, swirled toward me, and melted into the
night air. Like magic.
No, not like. It was magic, not distant like the Mage Tower zapping the lorsses, but right there in front of me. A wonder. It was impossible back home, but here it was real. It existed and it was beautiful.
I caught my breath, swallowed, and walked unsteadily into the Garden of Soft Blossoms.
A man strode to the stage and halted by the red moat. He wore a light gray doublet and dark gray trousers tucked into tall boots. A teal cloak hung off his left shoulder, more of a fashion statement than a protective garment. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see his face, only his curly dark hair, cut short, and the color of his skin, a russet brown.
He pondered the empty stage as if puzzled and waved his hand. A globe of red water shot up from the moat fifteen feet into the air and snapped into a monstrous fish.
Oh!
The creature swam above the stage, circling it. Its long eel-like body kept going and going, long and slightly translucent, the sharp ridged fin along its back bristling with red spikes. It was big enough to swallow a human in one gulp.
Goosebumps crawled up my arms.
The fish’s grotesque jaws snapped, catching its tail. It exploded into a dozen stelkas. They rained onto the center of the stage and dashed into the dining room, darting between the tables. To the side a waiter gripped his tray and jerked it up over his head as a beast shot by his legs. People chuckled.
The stelkas burst into geysers of crimson flower petals. They swirled, flashed with light, and turned into golden butterflies.
Oh wow.
The glowing swarms floated over the dining floor, bouncing on the draft, spreading in all directions. It was too much. Too bright, too colorful, too everything . . .
The nearest group of butterflies changed its course, drifting close to each other instead of fanning out. They were heading right for me.
No time to react. A second, and they swirled around my body, clinging to my cloak. One landed on my shoulder, one tried to wedge itself in my hood, and the third rammed my right cheek . . .
People were looking at me.
I didn’t belong here. I was wearing a cloak that smelled like a corpse. There was river muck in my hair. My bare feet had probably left muddy footprints in the hallway. I couldn’t have been more out of place if I had set myself on fire.
The butterflies exploded in a puff of soft sparks. Something zinged my skin, like a weak rubber band slapping against my face.
“What about gold butterflies?” I asked.
“Ah. You’ve met Ciste. Is he still hanging out at the Garden?”
I nodded.
“His mother sold her body,” she said. “He grew up in a place a lot like the Garden.”
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing good,” she said. “Damaes tolerates his moonlighting, because Ciste is a gifted summoner. Did you see a swarm of glowing butterflies?”
“Yes. He summoned a sea monster and stelkas, too.”
She smiled. “Was it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“Ciste doesn’t summon illusions, only weapons. Everything he conjures is
created for violence.”
Oh.
“Those beautiful golden butterflies feed on your blood. The more magic you have, the richer their feast. A larger swarm can turn a living being into a husk in moments.”
The golden butterflies of Ciste. So lovely, so deadly, and surprisingly rooted in reality.
This is Calyptra thalictri, otherwise known as vampire moth. It is thought that they originated in Asia or Siberian region, and then spread through Russia and Southern Europe. Most of the time, these moths nibble on fruit. They drill into it with a barbed proboscis and drink the juice. They really like raspberries and grapes.
However, during the mating season, the males will use pierce the skin of animals and human and feed on blood instead. They are also known to drink tears.
This happens because of a very interesting adaptation called mud-puddling. Under certain circumstances, some insects use unusual sources to obtain salts and amino acids which they can’t get from their normal diet. Butterflies will often crawl on wet soil after the rain, looking for those nutrients, and some species highly prize human sweat. It contains a lot of salt and sugar.
Calyptra thalictri, however, take it a step further. Once the males acquire the blood, they then pass it to female moths during mating as a kind of wedding gift to provide a boost to future larvae. It is the butterfly equivalent of “Honey, I am craving a hamburger with extra pickles. Could you please pick up one for me? I’m going to eat it with a strawberry yogurt.”
So far the vampire moths are the only species of moths or butterflies known to actually pierce the skin to obtain the blood. Although you can find several scary videos online, these guys are only about 40-45mm in size, so about an inch and a half, and the volume of blood they take is pretty small. A swarm of them is unlikely to turn you into a desiccated husk.
However, they do feed for 10-50 minutes and their bite does hurt. Mosquitoes, which are the predominantly insect blood suckers, have anesthetics in their saliva and only feed for about a minute. On the plus side, moth bites do not transmit bloodborne diseases.
If you would like to know more, there is a video below.
If you are reading this in your inbox, here is a direct link.
And now you know the origin of the magic swarm.
Yay
Every time IA puts a new location or fact in their books—I wonder what weird world they got this from?
Reality. It’s usually based on reality.
I love how the fantasy is rooted in reality/possibility. And honestly, sometimes it’s a bit unnerving to realize, “Oh, that’s real.”
Files this away as interesting things my brain will bring up at night to torture me with 😨 🤣.
I still love the amount of research that IA put into their books.
Wow that is so cool!
Beautiful and terrifying, just like our HA overlords.
+ 10
Thank you! It did not even occur to me, since these creatures were produced by a magician, that there might be an “our world” analog serving as inspiration. So I didn’t even look. My librarian self is torn between shaking her head at me or hanging it in shame. But I thank you also for the reminder that these pretties have some considerable lethality.
Oh I love that these butterflies were based on reality! I feel like this is what sets out Author Lords apart. Even the littlest detail, like golden butter and what they do are so well researched!
top tier cute!
Fascinating, Ilona. Thank you!
I read an article about how news reporters using AI to write their reports would homogenize our language over time due to overuse of the same words. Thank goodness we still have writers who go far afield in language and knowledge still teaching, still stretching our imaginations, and still broadening out horizons.
+100
+1
very cool! I love that y’all love science, and it shows up in your writing. thanks for sharing. and also cool reminder on how much magic Maggie has and why the masked man noticed her..
Thank you! I am continually amazed at the depth of knowledge you have and obtain in order to write your books. I think it’s part of what makes you such unique authors and why I have such a hard time finding other similar authors.
+1
I am always so impressed at the breadth of your knowledge, that feeds your books. It’s impressive.
I actually knew what it was from sine the DH is an entomologist (study of insects).
It’s always fun to learn new things! Thank you for the research you do for every book.
well that just unlocked a new fear
+1000!
love it! thank you!!
shudder…i did some horrible discovery googling when i finished reading Wolf Worm from T. Kingfisher….so I know not to open these links….but thank you
You just had to bring up botflies, I had intentionally forgotten about them. Yikes 😂
My daughter is a Vet and told me a story about a kitten brought into the office that was infested with/botflies🤢.
Thank you, Ilona, for the ‘based on actual events’ detail. Your creativity is truly amazing! Hope the writing/editing continues to go well!
Sending peace, health and safety to all!
I was quite happy thinking these were the creation of imagination not real world blood tuckers! Yikes!
So I will add these butterflies on my list of insects “I will scream bloody murder and run” if they approach me 😅. Nonetheless this is why I looooove IA: the lore, the research, the details!
Wow! I learn new stuff all the time from Mod R and HA!
Wdm TEN TO FIFTY MINUTES?!
I think I can safely guarantee that any moth that thinks it is going to drink my blood *painfully* for 10 to 50 seconds is going to be squashed by the halfway mark – just like the horse/deer flies around here that have painful bites. Drinking for 10 to 50 MINUTES??? Not a chance….
I really like these bits of information on where things come from!
Interesting! Thanks
I cannot believe I’m considered some creatures pickle! 😂
I know I’ve been in a jam, had some sour grapes, and have a time or two been sweet as honey😂
Love the wonderful and weird stuff HA makes me think about right before bedtime🤨
Sigh… Beauty and Gore, Wonder and Horror all in one creature…. sooo Kair Toren!!
Wow, just wow! I have always enjoyed your books because you incorporate research, everyday life and culture into your stories. I get these moments of ‘aha! That sounds like…’ when I was reading the Kate Daniels series. You have a lifelong fan in me. Thank you for letting me into all the alternate universes you create.
Thank you for sharing one of the secrets! I’m listening to it now as my second read and enjoying it so much
We had the good fortune of talking to Dr Lees several years back in the summer butterfly tent, he is just as amazing and knowledgeable in real life and he got so enthusiastic, he made it so memorable.
at least they’re pretty. In northern New England we have black flies, which look like goth fruit flies. They remove a visible chunk of skin almost as big as they are and also come in clouds. Vermont takes overflow prisoners from NY state, and back in the late 1980s this guy from NY City ran off from his roadside trash crew and was going to head to Canada through the woods. He turned himself in two days later because he said jail was better than the bugs.
As a Canadian I must assure you that we do survive up here with the bugs – but yes, the woods would be more prone to insects. Fascinating backstory on the real-world inspiration for Maggie. If I can’t have the second book yet, I will take these moments and savor them. I hope to survive until the next IA book is released. Wishing you writing successes in finishing last chapters -warm regards from a devoted book minion of the horde
Yeah, no, I do NOT want to know more. Curiosity may b what kills me someday, but I’ve learned the hard lesson that I really don’t need to help it. Ugh, it’s much better to read this stuff in the winter when I can console myself with knowing that there’s a hard freeze outside that would surely kill those things. Shudder. Very Kair Toren.
Thanks for another glimpse at what goes into making the complex worlds y’all create!
Um … should I unlock additional fears? Nah.
Insects are really cool. I have half an entomology degree, and I took that first class just to get over my fear of roaches.
Insects have colonized most of the world (beetles alone cover aquatic and terrestrial habitats), solved a variety of biological and environmental problems, and we couldn’t survive without them!
Once I began learning, I fell in fascination with all chitinous creepy, crawly, and/or jumpy things.
(Not to mention how the latin helps my spanish!)
thank you, this is a very cool fact, I knew about the mud puddling, it’s fun seeing beautiful butterflies doing the same in animal poo and droppings, but I never knew about the blood drinking. Very cool
Oh eew, yuck. I’ll stick to bird watching!
Wow that’s really fascinating and also very disturbing all at the same time😮. Thanks so much for sharing this info – I really admire the level of research you do, and reading about and how things in real life like this moth inspire your imagination. This is the kind of thing I love in a book!! details!!! 🥰📖
Having watched the video, regardless of how beautiful they are, I really reeeeaally do not wanna meet one of these in real life! aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! 😱thankfully I doubt I’m likely to encounter Vampire Moths in the UK. However, I can say for sure that *any* moth (or other creature) that thinks it’s a good idea to drink my blood for 10-50 mins will be dead long before then lol 😂🦋
Most of our British blood drinkers are stealth attackers and have various numbing agents to assist them so we don’t even get to see them coming or feel them doing it! Ticks are flipping devils to spot, you have to do a whole body search after a ramble and they can be teeny to start with too (I can’t stand them). Our medicinal leeches used to be so sought after they are now endangered and protected by law. And we’ve got various mozzie species including an ancient Egyptian one that’s specific to the London tube! Then there’s midges and horseflies – at least the moths are noticeable and pretty to look at 😉
I cannot thank you enough for sharing this tidbit!!!
EW, ICK…..but also very cool!
I love how much research you put into your books. I think that’s why they always seem so real, why it’s so easy as a reader to lose ourselves in your books.
Thank you for showing us the view from behind the scenes, and also for giving us such wonderful books!
the new information about moths was incredible. ah the blend of fact and fantasy. 💓
We live in a fantasy realm that inspires fantasy realms
Absolutely wild.
The swarm of butterflies made me think about the webcomic Roxana, and her poisonous butterflies that feed on her blood 😍
O. M. G!!!!!!!! These were for REAL??????
I cannot get over how you even know HOW to look/ research for this….stuff! Does the thought come first- oh hey golden butterflies would be really good- oh boy ones that suck blood even BETTER!!!!!!!
OR!!!! You know somewhere I’ve read about a moth that sucks a little bit of blood so it’s a bit like a vampire butterfly. We could use that in a book. See if there’s anything on YouTube we could use.
Your research is mind boggling & your ideas also for which we thank you.
wow!
Very cool. I didn’t know this. Thank you!
Cheers!
Although part of an award winning author team with many world-building series in the arsenal, Ilona will always, at her heart, be “a scientist” …
… and this is why the world-building works.
Great imagery. I was thinking more glittery gold than dull yellow. Nice to hear about the real thing.