Crystal Butterflies

Crystal Butterflies are insects that are often praised for their beauty. While similar to ordinary butterflies in many aspects, this particular breed is able to grow crystalline structures into their wings, creating bright, vibrant colours that are prized by collectors.

Habitat
Due to overhunting in the past Crystal Butterflies are mostly found deep in cave networks. It is possible that they may once have existed above-ground, where their wings would have been able to catch the sunlight. As it is, they are most frequently found in areas where mineral-rich water can be found, alongside various cave-mosses and occasionally near fruit-bat nests.

Biology
The main body of a crystal butterfly is composed much like any normal butterfly, and has no special difference from their cousins aside from the presence of organs that allow the processing of mineral-rich water into crystalline structures, which they grow into their wings. The crystal of the wings is tougher than the wings of ordinary butterflies, though are still somewhat fragile, as they will snap when enough force is applied to them. This toughness does not appear to come at a cost of weight, as the butterflies are able to utilize these wings to stay airborne as their cousins do. The edges of these wings are however, very sharp. If one is not careful when handling a Crystal Butterfly, then a sliced finger is more than possible. Another property of the wings is that they glow in the dark. Since there is a significant difference between the vibrant coloration of any two Butterflies, a full swarm of them is a sight to see to a cave explorer, and journals of cave-divers occasionally note them as omens of good luck.

If a Crystal Butterfly breaks a wing, it will invariably be helpless for a long time. However, unlike their ordinary cousins, they can heal these wings. Given enough time and easy access to food and water, the broken wing can be repaired. Each successive time a butterfly regrows its wings, the colour is less vibrant, the regrowth is slower, and past fracture lines become visible on the surface. Because of this, it is possible for collectors to judge the value of the wings, with those that have never been broken being prized as they grow the largest, and remain both vibrant and unmarred by fracture lines.

Crystal Butterflies mate in seasons, wherein females will lay their eggs onto most if not all cave-mosses in an area. When the larvae hatch, the caterpillars will consume all the cave moss in an area, and most will progress to adulthood. Between then and the next season, the cave mosses will regrow from their roots, and the process will repeat. The butterflies themselves suffer from the short lifespan common to most insects, and unnatural deaths of butterflies in this time often prevents there being too many eggs laid for the mosses in an area.

A section of cave home to a swarm of Crystal Butterflies will likely contain tiny dessicated cadavers, and wings from dead insects long gone.

Sociology
Crystal Butterflies are surprisingly social, staying together in coherent swarms. This has been likened to a ‘safety in numbers’ approach to survival, which is particularly effective given that a predator attempting to consume a Crystal Butterfly may find themselves more than a little sliced up due to the necessity of diving into a swarm of sharp wings and biting down on one of them.

Trivia
There have been some few obscure mentions to the use of Crystal Butterfly wings in alchemy, though no conclusive recipes have been found as of yet.�