Nqurt Ants

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Nqurt are the fastest and one of the most durable ants in all of Emynea! While most other species residing in Shamsi Desert rest in the shade or underground amid the hottest hours of the day, Nqurt will only emerge to seaerch for food amidst this crushing heat! Taking advantage of their incredible speed and high heat tolerance, Nqurt ants dash about the desert, scavenging for the bodies of other invertebrates which have succumb to the heat. But they are not invulnerable, only capable of withstanding the mid-day desert sun for ten minutes! This small window lets them roam in an environment too hot for their predators but just cool enough for them to persist!

Scavenger

Prey

Diurnal

Fast

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Kaithur

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Rithaldis' Movement

By using Rithaldis' Movement are able to walk, step or move on or through radiant energy (sunlight, solar plasma or ionizing radiation) as a solid foothold. They are immune to damage from radiant energy and can briefly transform into sunlight and travel at the speed of light in a given direction before reforming, though this quickly eats up what little energy these tiny organisms have. But most importantly, this ability renders them immune to damage from radiant energy, particularly the radiation laced throughout their habitat.

Fliris' Agility

Thanks to Fliris' Agility, the caster is able to move with increased agility and speed, fueled by their magic. Combined with their natural speed, they are astonishingly fast! As a small organism, they have little energy so must use this ability selectively.

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Anatomy

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Original Ancestor
Cataglyphis bombycina Saharan Silver Ant
Size
3/8 inch 10 mm
Coloration
Red to black with distinct silver hair. In their magic form they gain blue-green and white patterns, especially along their legs.

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Adaptions

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Only capable of leaving their colony for ten minutes a day, Nqurt have many adaptions allowing them to survive with so little time to scavenge in such a harsh habitat. Even before making use of their Kaithur, Nqurt are capable of running 855 mm/second (1.9 mph/3.1 km/h) which is 108 times the length of their body per second. Despite this being the walking speed of a human, because of their size the equvalent speed for a human would be running at 447 mph (720 km/h)! And when using their kaithur, they can move at the speed of light however briefly, their tiny bodies only capable of short bursts of magic. Nqurt depart from the colony around midday when temperatures reach 117 F (47 C), scattering all at once and without hesitation. First, scouts alert the colony when their predators have sheltered inside their burrows, hundreds of ants disppersing simultaneously and dashing wildly into the desert. They must return before temperatures climb over 117 F (53 C), anything higher than this lethal.

You might wonder, how do these tiny invertebrates survive such high heat where most other species hide away? For one, the characteristic silver hairs covering their bodies actually help cool their body. They are extremely reflective of sunlight and expel heat into the hair even in full sunlight. Nqurt can also track the positon of the sun as they wander the desert, saving them precious time when they need to return to their nest as they always know the route back. But perhaps their greatest adaption is how their bodies pre-emptively produce heat shock protiens before leaving the nest rather than in response to teh heat -as most animals do- so that they won't receive damage from rapid increases in body temperature. Thanks to this adaption, the cells of their body continue to function normally even at hazardously high temperatures, allowing their brief foraging frenzy and making them the most-heat resistant animals in Emynea without the use of their Kaithur!

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Habitat

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Desert

Semi-Desert

Montane

Nqurt ants make their home amid the erg (sand dunes) of Alkelbulan, found throughout Shamsi Desert and Arabiyyan Desert, Kemet and Kna'an. Smaller populations may even live along the fringes of Kasar Wuta or in the mountains of Gaarreen Ho'aa. Their nests are large and widespread winding beneath erg dunes, several meters deep. Alternately, they might burrow in old wadis. These are large colonies usually containing thousands of ants!

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Diet

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Carnivore

Carrion

These ants are purely scavengers, surviving off of the corpses of other insects and arthropods--particularly those who have died from overheating. An important decomposer of their habitat, they pick apart and transport carrion to their nest. Yet they themselves have many predators in Shamsi which is why they only depart from their nest during the hottest part of the day. Their biggest predator is Mul'ataa Agama but others include Agru Frog, Hangkok Lizard, Impangele Hen, Mefkaht Ostritch, Ramil Lark, Wuta Finch, Qafz Jerboa, Hadu Hedgehog and al-Mawt Scorpion.

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Life Cycle

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Eusocial

Oviparous

Asexual Cloning

Polyandrous

Alloparental

The queen and her soldiers are found within the deepest parts of the colony, only 1-2% of their work force comprised of soldiers. Soldiers are responsible for defending the nest entrances, protecting the queen and managing food storage, making use of large and saber-shaped mandibles. Soldiers are drastically larger than workers. Worker ants are responsible for foraging for food and removing their queen's waste from the colony. Nqurt ants go through four phases of metamorphosis which are egg, larvae, pupa and adult. As pupa they are fed and cared for by the colony, their diet determining their later caste. When resources are scarce, nearly all larvae will develop into workers. Yet when they have ample food stored away, a new queen may develop, sometimes called a princess ant.

The singular queen of an Nqurt colony is the only one with wings and she mates with anywhere from 6-14 males at a time. She will lay thousands to millions of eggs in her lifetime as she continually gives birth, some fertilized while others are a product of asexual cloning. Much like a queen of a Void Bee hive, there can only be one actively reproducing female. When a new queen pupates into an adult, either the old queen or the new queen will disperse to create a new colony which is called colony fission. An old queen departs with a retinue of workers whearas a new queen departs alone to find mates, making use of her wings to travel.