Bloodbugs

Brightly-coloured carrion insects.

When I caught my first rabbit in a trap, I was afraid to touch it because it had been there for a little while. When I explained to Tasiir that my hesitation was about bloodbugs, he told me there was no such thing in the Orthlands. I am becoming fond of this place. Also, the rabbit was delicious, more on that in the chapter about food.

— Takalia, A Life of Wind and Song

The Color that Binds

The most well known form of the bloodbug is the larval state in which they are small maggot-like insects with a bright red colour. They are found on both carrion and rotting foodstuffs which they consume for nourishment. Many hundreds of these larvae can be found on a corpse of sufficient size. Once they have consumed enough food and become engorged, a small number of the larvae - which particular ones are impossible to predict - burrow into what remains of the remains and begin their transformation.
In about fifty hours, a new creature emerges. Unlike its namesake, this adult form of the bloodbug looks more like a winged black ant to the common viewer. The more perceptive people will notice that the body shape differs in some key ways. Half of these will become queens after consuming some of the remaining larval stage bloodbugs after which they will fly off to find a new foodsource where they will lay eggs and begin the process over again.

When the Snow Turns Red

Only the eggs of the bloodbug can survive the winter chill. However, it is still possible to find active ones in the winter on a fresh corpse. The heat from the corpse allows the eggs to hatch and take on their larval form even in the cold. Then the activity of the bugs produces enough warmth to keep them alive except in extreme conditions. In this situation the bugs remain active inside of the remains instead of on the surface.

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Disease Carriers

Because the bloodbugs are found on corpses, they are believed to be plaguebringers and their appearance within a village is a bad sign. Their appearance as the colour of fresh blood only serves to heighten their connection to danger and pain and death.
Despite the popular belief, entomologists of Jamaira have not found any evidence that any of the major plagues - such as the infamous crown-killing red lung - can be caught or carried by bloodbugs.

Bird Food

The bright colour of the bloodbug's vulnerable larval stage may serve to stave off some predators but is a huge liability in the case of certain species of birds which are easily able to find them due to their colour. The only defense that the bloodbug has against the hunger of these birds is their numbers. If the bird can't eat all of them, they can still continue.

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