Editing Moon-Misers

{{Major spoiler}}

{{Character|image1 = glim.png|caption1 = A shard of glim. Art from FL.|location = The roof of the Neath|allegiance = Independent

|alias = The False-stars|relationships = [[Flukes]] (creators)

[[Rubbery Men]]|notable_members = The Moon-Mother}}''"You open the box, and something climbs out. Something has a glistening carapace the colour of smoked sapphires. Something is made almost entirely of legs. Too many legs."''<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Open_up|Open up|Fallen London|}}</ref>

'''Moon-misers''' are mysterious, insectoid creatures that reside on the roof of the Neath. Their colossal size and bioluminescence makes them visible from London, which has led Londoners to call them '''"false-stars."'''

''"A moon-miser! They live on the roof – you know, the false-stars. Shed their carapaces and glim falls. And on the roof they stay. Even the Masters understand that. Their exudations – well, the informal name is 'moon-milk'. Horribly dangerous substance. Powerful, though."''<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/An_authority_on_the_matter|An authority on the matter|Fallen London|}}</ref>

Moon-misers appear to be insects with many pairs of legs, many eyes, and hard chitinous exoskeletons.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Talk_your_way_in|Talk your way in|Fallen London|}}</ref> They use their powerful legs to walk along the cavern's roof.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Light_Fingers:_Lonely_as_a_Cloud|Light Fingers: Lonely as a Cloud|Fallen London|}} ''"A moon-miser crawls ahead, all gleaming glim, its powerful legs splitting into the roof to keep it from falling."''</ref> Much like the [[Rubbery Men]] and the [[Flukes]], the moon-misers hail from the planet Axile, where they were used as mounts.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/A_fellow_spirit_recognised|A fellow spirit recognised|Fallen London|}} ''"You mount the glistening carapace of your miser and ride forth."''</ref> They were likely brought to the Neath by [[the Bazaar]] long before the time of [[the First City]], along with other Axiles, and have since colonized its roof. Their blueish glow is known as '''moonish light''', and it turns [[The Neathbow#Apocyan|apocyan]] when reflected off the crests of the waves of the Unterzee.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://www.facebook.com/fallenlondon/posts/apocyanic-the-tint-the-moonish-light-gives-the-unterzee-wave-caps/663677883661694/|Echo Bazaar Facebook|Facebook|}}</ref>__forcetoc__

Moon-misers are a source of a few particular substances. Their shed chitinous exoskeletons fall to the Unterzee, and the pieces are called '''glim'''.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Glim-fall!|Glim-fall!|Fallen London|}}</ref> Glim is used in jewelry, or burned as a light source, which makes it emit noxious fumes.<ref name="sidebar">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets|Fallen London|}}</ref> But the most valuable product from these creatures is '''moon-milk''', a substance which causes the imbiber to fall madly in love with the first thing they see, be it a person, an object, or even a color.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Eminently_respectable%3F|Eminently respectable?|Fallen London|}} ''"Anyway, the moon-misers exude this stuff. Moon-milk. Acts like one of those love potions out of a silly romance tale."''</ref> This obsession fades over years, though, and is shallow in comparison to real love. Perhaps a hybrid between a moon-miser and a human could produce a variant more amenable to human digestion, creating an effect indistinguishable from true love... <ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Draw_out_as_many_answers_as_you_can|Draw out as many answers as you can|Fallen London|}} ''"[Moon-milk] is not a convincing forgery; it creates only a shallow obsession that fades after a few years [...] [The Hybrid's] milk is more suited to human ingestion. It will be be able to create something indistinguishable in all meaningful ways from true love..."''</ref>

The matriarch of the moon-misers is the '''Moon-Mother'''.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/The_list|The list|Fallen London|}} ''"You have to get up there somehow, and find a moon-miser brood mother. They're easy enough to spot, twice the size of the others and more legs."''</ref> She is so large as to be confused for a great stalactite, and her glim carapace is notably darker than usual.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Light_Fingers:_The_Citadel|Light Fingers: The Citadel|Fallen London|}}''"The Static Star is not a natural formation of stone, but of a darker, mirror-like glim. Indeed, it is not stone at all: it is the Moon-Mother."''</ref> [[Godfall|Starved Men]] have hollowed out her insides, and practice their Shapeling Arts within her using her amber secretions.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Peer_in_the_Amber_Chamber|Peer in the Amber Chamber|Fallen London|}}</ref> The servants of the Moon-Mother have retained more sanity than most of their kind, and tend to her well-being.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Bring_the_Starved_Men_what_they_need|Bring the Starved Men what they need|Fallen London|}}</ref>

These beings' reproductive cycle is as strange as everything else about them. One is born each decade or so, and for this to happen, the false-stars must align into a particular arrangement known as the '''Counterfeit Constellation'''.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/What_does_she_mean_about_the_stars_aligning%3F|What does she mean about the stars aligning?|Fallen London|}}</ref> The child is coerced from the womb using the '''Song of Birthing''', customarily sung by the Moon-Mother.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Ask_about_the_Song_of_Birthing|Ask about the Song of Birthing|Fallen London|}} ''"The Moon-Mother sings the Song of Birthing to induce the larva to emerge. An otherworldly sound. I doubt a human throat could ever reproduce it."''</ref> The infant feeds on nectar extracted from stalactites by its father (the jellied remains of some burrowing ceiling creature, perhaps),<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Something_to_feed_it%3F|Something to feed it?|Fallen London|}}</ref> and must be swaddled in its mother's silk while its carapace develops.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Something_to_wrap_it_in%3F|Something to wrap it in?|Fallen London|}}</ref>

== The Masters and The Misers ==

The value of Moon-misers and their myriad secretions has not escaped the attention of powerful parties in the Neath, including the [[The Masters of the Bazaar|Masters of the Bazaar]]. There are those among them who would use the power of moon-milk to further their own goals for London, and those who would work to oppose them.

Among them, the Master [[The Masters of the Bazaar#Mr Fires|Mr. Fires]] has a particular use in mind for the moon-misers. As part of its many schemes to ensure that London remains in the Neath indefinitely, it plans to use moon-milk to taint London’s supplies of love stories with artificial love, so that [[The Echo Bazaar|the Bazaar]] cannot extract any more usable stories from it or future cities.<ref name="Ultimatum">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Light_Fingers:_Mr_Fires%27_Ultimatum_2|Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 2|Fallen London|}}</ref> This behavior has frequently put it at odds with [[The Masters of the Bazaar#Mr Wines|Mr. Winess]] and [[The Masters of the Bazaar#Mr Spices|Mr. Spices]], who largely take up the responsibility of collecting love stories of all sorts for the Bazaar, and they take their job very seriously.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Fires%27_next_move|Fires' next move|Fallen London|}}</ref>

Nevertheless, its plan is doomed to failure, as the effect of moon-milk is more akin to a shallow obsession than to real love. For its plans to work, it requires a more potent version, so it has set up [[the Orphanage|the Orphanage]] as a testing ground for the effects of the milk, and has attempted to breed a human with the moon-miser it has locked up in the basement.<ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Room_122|Room 122|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Room_547|Room 547|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Ambition:_Light_Fingers!_-_Meeting_Doctor_Vaughan|Ambition: Light Fingers! - Meeting Doctor Vaughan|Fallen London|}}</ref> Hopefully, the resulting hybrid will produce a more potent milk, with an effect indistinguishable from true love.<ref name="Ultimatum">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Light_Fingers:_Mr_Fires%27_Ultimatum_2|Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 2|Fallen London|}}</ref>  

Another Master, however, has seen a different potential use for the substance. An Exiled Captain of [[Devils|Hell’s Aristocracy]] is willing to trade use of their army in exchange for a sample.<ref name="devils">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/The_devil_you_don%27t_know|The devil you don't know|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Fires%27_next_move|Fires' next move|Fallen London|}}</ref> So [[The Masters of the Bazaar#Mr Stones|Mr. Stones]] has abducted a small moon-miser from the roof and locked it inside a heavy iron box, along with a collection of [[The Fallen Cities#The Fourth City, 1254 CE|Fourth City]] [[The Gracious Widow|love letters]] it stole from Mr. Fires.<ref name="devils">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/The_devil_you_don%27t_know|The devil you don't know|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Open_up|Open up|Fallen London|}}</ref><ref>{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Fires%27_next_move|Fires' next move|Fallen London|}}</ref> If this scheme comes to fruition, London will be razed to the ground by devils, forcing the Bazaar to steal a sixth city ahead of time, and leaving Stones one step closer to its ultimate objective: returning to the [[The High Wilderness|High Wilderness]].

== Astrology? ==

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[[Category:Unfinished]]