Altered Lore

Moyo Chibuye

10 min read

Moyo Chibuye

Overview

Moyo Chibuye, born 368 AC, is a Yzmir Exalt and exobiological researcher bonded with Silk, a Chimera larva discovered in The Nilam. Through The Musubi ceremony, Moyo and Silk share consciousness, allowing Moyo to perceive the world through his Alter Ego’s senses.

Appearance

Moyo carries a gnarled staff on his shoulder and a Moth lantern in his other hand to illuminate underground shadows. He wears a wide hat—a childhood possession given by his father—and on its brim and cloak lapel hang countless bluish cocoons: diaphanous, glowing moth chrysalids. Some hatch during travel, releasing moths that fly around him before disappearing in collisions of dust.

Background

Origins

Moyo was born to Abu and Tascha in a lumber village in the Nutsuwa Highlands, roughly halfway between Kestia and Amorgand in the heart of the blue forest. His Muna mother passed on her love of small creatures; Tascha often described Moyo as the forest itself made flesh—mysterious, with his head always in the clouds. As a child, Moyo spent hours watching insects, preferring their company to other children who bullied him for being odd and different. His parents gave him great freedom to roam the countryside, though after one evening spent searching for him past nightfall, his father Abu strapped an enormous straw hat onto his head for visibility. The hat became Moyo’s trademark and armor—the only thing he would fight to defend when other children trampled, tore, or smeared it with mud.

Path to Yzmir

Moyo’s early passion for entomology shifted when he observed the Nutsuwa Highlands’ unusual phenomena. The region’s porous Veil allowed strange occurrences—Aether singularities, ghostly apparitions, and altered species tinged by imagination. Many Yzmir settled there to study the boundary between worlds and its effects on nature. Moyo cataloged emerging species in notebooks with sketches and annotations, gradually shifting focus to exobiology: the study of foreign lifeforms and Aether’s influence on living things.

Moyo studied alchemy basics under Takao Cordisco, a meticulous Kadigiran alchemist. When Takao died in May 393 AC from apparent arsenic poisoning—officially ruled a handling error—Moyo harbored doubts given Takao’s careful nature.

As a child, Moyo brought altered insects in jars to Maris Chira, a Yzmir mage stationed in Tsunoo. Unlike others, Maris never judged or mocked him, telling Moyo that difference was wealth and standardization was impoverishment. This encouragement convinced Moyo to join Yzmir—not to become a mage, but to pursue exobiology. After the Rediscovery Endeavor launch and recapture of Caer Oorun, Moyo was recruited as a specialist in unknown lifeforms.

Timeline

393 AC, January-March - Storhvit Assignment and Mana Moths Research

When the Expeditionary Corps entered the Storhvit, Moyo was called to work on the snowy biome by letter from Saskia Averina, who sought his expertise on a species she had named Mana Moths. Initially as her assistant and later as colleague, Moyo uncovered nearly all the secrets of the ethereal moth: its properties, reproductive cycle, and role in the ecosystem. Saskia stressed the need for a holistic approach—understanding how the entire ecosystem functioned together, including the roles of Moths, Belisenki, and Winter Folk.

393 AC, February-March - Belisenki Pheromone Breakthrough

Working with Saskia Averina and Akesha Adhikari, Moyo helped discover that Belisenki protected all beings exuding moth pheromones. Akesha Adhikari tested the hypothesis by ingesting a chrysalis and exposing herself to a Belisenka. Following the trio’s success, an action plan took shape to end skirmishes with the Belisenki even as The Tumult loomed. With Yzmir support, countless chrysalises were distributed among the Expeditionary Corps, and Moyo became a household name overnight.

March 26, 393 AC - Theories Enable Belisenki Territory Passage

Temera Singh credited Moyo’s work in a log entry documenting establishment of makeshift camp at Cais Adarra foothills, where the Expeditionary Corps successfully traversed Belisenki territory without incident.

393 AC - Moth Reproductive Cycle Short-Circuit Technique

Working in the refrigerated greenhouse of The Ouroboros, Moyo demonstrated an ability to bypass the Mana Moths reproductive cycle entirely by placing a moth egg on fingertip, flooding it with ideas drawn from Aether currents beyond The Veil, then blowing the egg onto a manifested Eidolon—the egg consumed the Eidolon’s ideas to instantaneously form an adult moth, eliminating the normal caterpillar and cocoon stages.

393 AC, May onwards - Silk Discovery and Assignment

After Kuraokami’s liberation, fragments of The Nilam’s bark were recovered by Yzmir Initiates to study how an Oneiros could have remained trapped in the crystallized world-tree. The bark fragments were also used to construct an observatory at Nilam Spires whose walls could withstand The Tumult. Researchers discovered a frozen larva inside the bark, which emerged from hibernation when exposed to favorable temperatures. Because of its theoretical kinship with the Mana Moths, Moyo was tasked with overseeing the creature’s growth and studying it. Moyo named it Silk for its ability to secrete hardening fiber similar to a silkworm.

393 AC, June-September - Vivarium Supervision at The Screed

At The Screed outpost, Moyo jointly supervised The Vivarium with Saskia Averina, an artificial habitat within Nilam Spires where teams of entomologists raised swarms of Mana Moths. The habitat was crafted from Nilam bark and branches.

393 AC, June-September - City of Scholars Descent

Moyo left Nilam Spires to descend into City of Scholars to test connection with Mana Moths, continuing research into species behavior patterns.

393 AC - Undine Summoning Experiment

Moyo manifested a water elemental undine at a pool while Saskia Averina collected samples nearby, using Silk’s threads to bind an idea from Aether as Taima began her Kinemantic kata, planning to essencify the spirit and infuse it into a newly-hatched Moth.

393 AC - Moth-Water Hybridization Test

Moyo attempted to hybridize a Moth with water using Silk’s Mana-charged threads woven by Taima with Gephyromancy, but the hybridization lasted only 43 seconds before the Moth burst and its idea diffused into the pool.

393 AC - Moth-Water Hybridization Accident

Moyo’s Moth-water hybridization experiment failed catastrophically when the idea combined with water and began consuming reality, forcing emergency use of colliding Moths to rescue Saskia Averina before a Chimera emerged from the churning water.

393 AC - Moth Reality Threshold Experiment

Moyo experimented with shifting Moths from the imaginary into reality, drawing on the threshold nature of The Megalith observed during the Megalith Fragment collection ceremony.

393 AC - Tortoise Eidolon Summoning

Moyo summoned the Tortoise Eidolon during the Bravos hunt of Alelo to impose methodical patience and organize a tactical plan of action before intervening.

393 AC - Alelo Hunt Support

Moyo prepared to assist Afanas Korovinovich during the Bravos hunt of Alelo by using water element to force the Leviathan into physical form, preventing it from diluting into its intangible state—a tactic informed by his research into Mana Moths’ varying levels of reality, and necessary because the Bravos could not replicate what Nuur Tamrat had achieved with Annoba.

393 AC - Strategic Hunt Manipulation

Moyo used subtle mental manipulation—a forbidden Yzmir art—to adjust Bravos hunt tactics during the Alelo pursuit, creating tactical opportunities for Afanas Korovinovich while maintaining plausible deniability.

393 AC - Woollyback Flock Rescue

Moyo detected a hidden predator in the archipelago near Kauri’s Woollyback flock and used Moths’ nuptial dance to lure the flock away from danger.

393 AC - Baptiste Sanschagrin Treatment

Moyo treated Farm worker Baptiste Sanschagrin for Sap-induced invasive dreams and parasitic memories by using Silk to surgically remove intrusive memories, confirming Saskia Averina’s theory about Sap’s undesirable effects in some individuals.

393 AC - Hunger Nightmare

Following a nightmare featuring imagery from Dorothy’s story and an evil presence resembling The Hunger, Moyo recalled that Waru Toowoom had placed a Rhombus Glyph on the black stone to access the City of Scholars’ memories—a Glyph that could act as a door to The Gestalt.

393 AC - Musubi Consideration Meeting

Moyo attended a meeting at Nilam Spires observatory where Zaj Ke Va questioned him about Silk. Moyo reported that the larva was developing at an exponential rate, had reached the size of a farm pig, and fed on Mana as part of its daily diet—yet had not undergone the series of mutations typical of Chimerae. When questioned about a connection to Mana Moths, Moyo could only respond “perhaps.” Moyo’s colleagues reported that Silk showed particular attachment to him, seeking his touch and reacting differently in his presence. After the meeting, Sylas approached Moyo cryptically, implying that Moyo would soon understand what their bond with Silk meant.

393 AC - Storhvit Artificiality Observation

Through his research in the Storhvit, Moyo concluded that the region’s ecosystem appeared manufactured and synthetic, as though its natural laws had been imposed rather than having evolved organically—an observation he withheld from the Satrap assembly, intending to discuss it with Saskia Averina first.

393 AC - The Musubi with Silk

Moyo underwent The Musubi ceremony with Silk, becoming an Exalt. The bonding allows Moyo to share Silk’s perception—each one’s experience becoming the other’s. Through the bond, Moyo can curl within Silk’s folds to observe the world as a detached spectator, using meditation to shut out external noise.

Silk’s cognition developed from purely primal concerns—hunger, discomfort, thirst, fatigue—to more complex processes: attachment, distance, memory, projection.

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