Necromancer Bees
The Necromancer Bees (also known as Necrobees) have an unremarkable appearance: they resemble more ants than honeybees, they are small, stingless, black with a dark blue hue (no hint of the typical yellow), and the workers have mandibles. What makes them stand out is their scavenger diet and ability to animate corpses of small animals and use them as moving beehives (sometimes jokingly called zombeehive).
The life cycle of necrobees starts with a queen and her swarm nesting in a carcass. Usually, they choose small animals like dogs, cats, or foxes, but sometimes they try to settle in veals, foals, or even bigger dead animals. The bees feed for a day or two on the carrion, and then they make it move in an optimal spot, somewhere protected by rocks or in a hollow tree.
The bees build the typical wax cells and store honey in the animal’s torso, starting from the rib cage. They also clean their “home” of eggs and larvae of other insects, delaying the decomposition process. The necrobees use their corpse-hive as a food source when necessary, but they will try to find as much food as possible on the “outside”. When they find a dead animal, they cut their flesh with their mandibles, eat some, and then regurgitate it in the hive where it becomes honey and wax. These scavenger bees’ preferred spot is the edge of the woods, from where they can scout both the wilderness and the farms for all kinds of carrion (preferably mammals). They are most active in the twilight hours.
If there is an exceptional food resource nearby (like the carcass of a deer or a cow), they will move the hive, making it walk. The bees seem to calculate the optimal option between moving their home or continue with back and forth food runs. The animated corpse moves in a generally slow and uncoordinated way, with occasional bursts of speed and precision when needed.
Moving the hive can be necessary if the colony is spotted or attacked. Necromancer bees have no stings, and while their bite can hurt, they sometimes have to defend themselves using the whole zombeehive. Most predators run away at the first sign of a counterattack; others, like the Eclipse Badgers, will engage in full-on fights. Running away from threads is not an option: animating and controlling a corpse is quite taxing for the swarm and a couple of well-placed paw strikes will do the job more efficiently most of the time.
Necromancer bees are a not rare sight in Kalash, especially in small villages or towns in the country. They are universally despised across cultures and considered harbingers of misfortunes. A shambling dead dog surrounded by buzzing insects is not only a pitiful sight but also an ominous sign. Worst if it’s one of your animals: if one of your pets or livestock becomes a corpse-hive, death in the family will follow (but be reassured, it’s only a superstition).
In highly populated areas, the necrobees have moved to some cities, feeding on trash and vermins, an unusual but not inconceivable behavior. What is strange is that some hives control more corpses at once, such as swarms of rats moved by the same necrobee queen. These urban “hordes” seem more proactive and aggressive than their wild counterpart.
The honey of the necrobees is bitter and can induce dark and desperate thoughts. There is a rumor that the necro-honey is a poison used by the infamous (and possibly fictional) crime syndicate ______: allegedly, a little dose of honey every day, for two weeks, can drive anyone to suicide. Royal jelly does the work in three days. The wax is not of high quality, but it produces a purple flame, making the necro-candles a novelty, especially sought after by wizards who want some cheap light effects for their tower (and maybe hope in some still undiscovered applications).
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/codexinversus/comments/pksqjb/the_conjuring_ants/
The life cycle of necrobees starts with a queen and her swarm nesting in a carcass. Usually, they choose small animals like dogs, cats, or foxes, but sometimes they try to settle in veals, foals, or even bigger dead animals. The bees feed for a day or two on the carrion, and then they make it move in an optimal spot, somewhere protected by rocks or in a hollow tree.
The bees build the typical wax cells and store honey in the animal’s torso, starting from the rib cage. They also clean their “home” of eggs and larvae of other insects, delaying the decomposition process. The necrobees use their corpse-hive as a food source when necessary, but they will try to find as much food as possible on the “outside”. When they find a dead animal, they cut their flesh with their mandibles, eat some, and then regurgitate it in the hive where it becomes honey and wax. These scavenger bees’ preferred spot is the edge of the woods, from where they can scout both the wilderness and the farms for all kinds of carrion (preferably mammals). They are most active in the twilight hours.
If there is an exceptional food resource nearby (like the carcass of a deer or a cow), they will move the hive, making it walk. The bees seem to calculate the optimal option between moving their home or continue with back and forth food runs. The animated corpse moves in a generally slow and uncoordinated way, with occasional bursts of speed and precision when needed.
Moving the hive can be necessary if the colony is spotted or attacked. Necromancer bees have no stings, and while their bite can hurt, they sometimes have to defend themselves using the whole zombeehive. Most predators run away at the first sign of a counterattack; others, like the Eclipse Badgers, will engage in full-on fights. Running away from threads is not an option: animating and controlling a corpse is quite taxing for the swarm and a couple of well-placed paw strikes will do the job more efficiently most of the time.
Necromancer bees are a not rare sight in Kalash, especially in small villages or towns in the country. They are universally despised across cultures and considered harbingers of misfortunes. A shambling dead dog surrounded by buzzing insects is not only a pitiful sight but also an ominous sign. Worst if it’s one of your animals: if one of your pets or livestock becomes a corpse-hive, death in the family will follow (but be reassured, it’s only a superstition).
In highly populated areas, the necrobees have moved to some cities, feeding on trash and vermins, an unusual but not inconceivable behavior. What is strange is that some hives control more corpses at once, such as swarms of rats moved by the same necrobee queen. These urban “hordes” seem more proactive and aggressive than their wild counterpart.
The honey of the necrobees is bitter and can induce dark and desperate thoughts. There is a rumor that the necro-honey is a poison used by the infamous (and possibly fictional) crime syndicate ______: allegedly, a little dose of honey every day, for two weeks, can drive anyone to suicide. Royal jelly does the work in three days. The wax is not of high quality, but it produces a purple flame, making the necro-candles a novelty, especially sought after by wizards who want some cheap light effects for their tower (and maybe hope in some still undiscovered applications).
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/codexinversus/comments/pksqjb/the_conjuring_ants/