Moth-Guarding Ward

You can't even trust your dreams now. What's the world coming to?

After the Plague of Dreams, there is not a soul within Patala who drifts off to sleep without first worrying what they will see in their slumber. Dreams and nightmares have become things of great importance to the people in Patala, bringing either ill and terrible omens or good luck. Most of all, people fear their slumber will bring the Shrikes again, and an entire cottage industry has sprung up practically overnight to sell a variety of wards, charms, and trinkets.
The most popular has been the Moth-Guarding Ward, a collection of caged moths and butterflies reputed to ward off the Shrikes. Exactly why varies, with as many reasons as there are merchants selling them.

Children are often employed to catch any and all moths they can find, either around the city or in the farms above, with some keeping their catches as pets.

by Unsplash (Nisarg Chaudhari)

The Moth-Guarding Ward keeps moths or butterflies near their homes or even above their beds, with the thought that their likeness will either cause the Shrikes to move on or even be frightened away. The more colorful (and expensive) specimen are said to be more effective, with bioluminescent insects being the most highly prized of all.
The practice has spread like wildfire after the devastation that followed the Plague of Dreams, to the point where there's a serious shortage of the material necessary to make cages.

At least one fatal knife-fight has broken out over buying the last moth from the stall of a merchant, with fears of a new plague still high.

As any merchant will tell their patrons, more moths is always better. Some even sell 'special' feed for their protector critters, said to imbue them with especially potent protective properties. For those who either can't afford or handle a living moth, any number of effiges and replicas are already being sold across Vicitra, their makers swearing on their honor that they're as effective as the living thing.

Patala, the Descent
A cavernous realm of canyon-like halls and abyssal descents, Patala is a recently discovered region of the Inner Shell. People from across Araea have flocked here to make their fortunes, hoping to carve a new life for themselves from the new land.
The Ward is a rite unique to Patala, sprung from the terrors of the Plague of Dreams by those desperate for any hope, no matter how false.
Read More About Patala

by http://www.tribalartasia.com/

Which may be inadvertedly accurate.