Kuzazu
Overview
Kuzazu come from all varieties of Itharan wasps: tarantula hawks, mud daubers, paper wasps, and emerald wasps, to name a few. Despite their reputation, kuzazu are not inherently quick to anger or violence; indeed, while many kuzazu choose to be solitary as a relic of their original heritage, kuzazu have integrated very well with other communities across Ithara. In fact, many kuzazu are quick to take up an agricultural role, particularly in raising hives of giant bees. Apiaries employing kuzazu have been much more successful than those which do not, which most kuzazu attribute to the instinctual familiarities they share with bees.Beyond apiaries, kuzazu communities are also known to tend sprawling orchards of figs, persimmons, loquats, mulberries, dates, and sour cherries. These orchards are often attached to breweries also run by kuzazu, where they produce wines, meads, candies, and jellies from the orchard’s produce. Even when not connected to a full brewery, kuzazu communities hold particular reverence for a drink called tej, a fermented honey wine. The qualities and flavors of tej vary depending on the region the honey comes from and any additions to the recipe: some add sado wood bark, ginger root, or buckthorn leaves to the process, and sometimes even smoke the fermenting jar. No two kuzazu families make exactly the same kind of tej.
