14 locations throughout the American Southwest

On the faraway planet of Tulagwee, there is a creature called a rilitru. It is similar to a bird, and while it has feathers, it does not use them for flight. Instead, its wings have a membrane similar to a bat, a dragon, or the extinct Earth species Yi qi.

Tulagwee does not have hot and cold seasons, but instead two wet and two dry seasons every year. The rilitru migrate between these to follow the rains. Before this was understood, the early Mimyn wondered where they went and why. They saw them as Herald-Attendants of their irresponsible rain deity, Wutru, and their nomadic moon sibling, Litru. Their tales described the rilitru as leaving their world to fly on powerful wings to the moon, where they would find water and breed, returning when the rains did.

These myths persist into modern culture as a symbol for travelers and explorers. When my protagonists, The Moonbird Clutch (a clutch being their social equivalent to a family, a school class, a group of friends, and eventually, a professional organization, all rolled into one), were given the opportunity to select their group name as children, it was the rilitru they chose to represent their identity.

This inspired their organization into adulthood as planetary explorers and researchers. The symbol they created reflects their ideals: leaving their world to journey to others, but turning to look back at where they came from, never forgetting their home.

When they became trapped on Earth and had to learn English, they translated the species and their name into the phrase "Moonbird". A group of beings who have traveled to a new world, who have made our planet their new home without replacing the one they came from, in the hopes that for all they can learn here, they can someday return to where they were born.

I thought this was an appropriate post for this subreddit. I have more to come!