Bieneren (bee-nee-ren)

Known History

Beginnings

Of all the peoples on Veltrona, the bieneren stand apart for one big reason: they're a superorganism. A gestalt intelligence born from the many bioforms that comprise their singular 'species', creating a harmonious hive mind. Like a house of buzzing mirrors, each mind interweaves with the next, seeing herself and being herself at the same time. As the bieneren grew in number and understanding, the more their collective mind awoke to the realm of sapience.
Beholding the vast world and all its strangeness, the bieneren carved a place out for themselves. They saw little reason to disturb the lands unduly, and so cultivated a mindset of peaceful integration and guidance over it. Though the occasional animal or monstrosity gave them trouble, their constant if measured expansion continued on nonetheless. The more they grew, the more distressed the bieneren became. They couldn't find anything like them; nothing that seemed like 'people'.
There was only the 'notus'; all other living things that were not part of the hive.
The bieneren pressed on, intrigued by life in its many forms and even more endless possibilities. As they did so, they encountered more and more of the strange life Veltrona had to offer. Beasts both mighty and small, all standing in their way. Those that couldn't be dissuaded were pushed out, and those that refused to leave were exterminated. Peaceful as they were, the bieneren had no tolerance to anything that threatened them, least of all mere animals.
Still, they eventually ran into beasts of a different sort. Person-like in shape, but strange in their noises and unusually crafty. The bieneren saw nothing worthy of regard and continued as they always did. In time, these strange beasts began to impede their hives; sabotaging and killing them. Anger and fear drove the bieneren to craft new weapons and destroy all that threatened their hive. They would prevail, no matter what.
Yet, such conflicts became different than any before.
The strange beasts changed; responded to the bieneren's attacks. They organized, learned, and took shape from new strategies that caught the hive mind off-guard. Different than all others, these strangers alarmed the bieneren in how terrifyingly effective their attacks were. The hives escalated, birthing new forms of zafa to combat these exotic threats. For the first time, the hive mind felt threatened with existential fear; one different from even confronting the Relentless Herds and Packs.
These early wars, as would be later described, became many civilizations first historical record of encountering the bieneren. The conflicts dragged on for centuries with primitive hives battling primitive tribes and proto-cities. In some parts of Veltrona, one achieved victory over the other, leading to a bloody demise. To the hive mind, such defeats only justified its increasing paranoia of the notus.
But, something unusual also caught the hive mind's notice. Something so impossible that no beast ever could've made it: music.
Music of a kind like the bieneren's: structured, instrumental, and artistic.
The hive mind, for the first time, regarded the beasts it warred against differently, then asked itself: are these notus a 'people' of some sort?
The question perplexed the hive mind as how to find out. They learned much of their enemies through warfare, recognized strange rituals and forms of communication, but all that had been through the lens of 'animals'. If these others were in fact people, then it recontextualized everything the bieneren had assumed. It required study; worse, comprehension. The bieneren knew such beings were not a shared mind like them. Yet, figuring out how such 'separate' beings communicated, understood each other, and worked with one another frustrated them.
Still, the hive mind deescalated from aggression. Punitive measures were rescinded, and until a suitable answer was achieved, they elected for defensive fighting instead. The bieneren would not let themselves be slaughtered, but they also would not kill people they did not fully understand, either. Such a decision cost them many hives, and despite the pain it caused them, they persisted.
They listened to the notus' senseless noises, watched their erratic and clumsy actions, studied their bizarre structures and 'artwork', and more. For as incomprehensible as it all was, the bieneren grew increasingly fascinated. Something that shouldn't work, worked, and created so many things in such unimaginable ways. These alien cultures captivated the hive mind, offering a glimpse into the wonders of life.
Thus, the trinary that composed the bieneren–cumulatively known as the umta, renyi, and zafa–collectively agreed for equitable resolution. The notus could learn and communicate, which meant a lasting peace could be created. The potential was there, at least. They began building the first proverbial bridges for social contact, but despite their good intentions, old wounds are difficult to heal. Worse, many notus considered the bieneren bloodsworn enemies.
The hive mind tried, all the same, even if it brought them greater pains doing so.

Civilizations

Finding middle-ground with other civilizations was one often made with blood and mountains of bodies from both sides. As collective knowledge increased, the remaining hives grasped comprehension and understanding of their foe. Communication improved, and gradually, diplomacy won out over armed conflict. With lines drawn and war laid to rest, the hives went about picking up the pieces and rebuilding. If a lasting peace could be achieved, the hive mind considered their losses as worthwhile.
Death, after all, frightened the bieneren. They couldn't imagine how horrible such a thing was for individuals. If a bieneren bioform died, its memories and existence continued on through the hive mind. What happened to an individual, whose mind was limited to just a single body? The very notion disturbed them, for it felt the same as if all the bieneren themselves died at once: empty nothingness.
In face of that, peace seemed all the more necessary.
To an extent, the bieneren turned isolationist. By guarding their borders, warding away notus, and making it clear trespassing wasn't allowed, it further cemented an end to most conflict. The hive mind continued their work while generations of the notus came and went, tales of the bieneren mutating all the while. Time, it seemed, healed the grievous wounds for the notus faster than it did the hive mind.
Surprisingly so, especially when the notus they once warred against came knocking for diplomacy. Older, wiser, and better able to communicate, the hives gradually opened up to learn how such 'cooperation' might work. A strange thing in itself, trying to learn to trust something they didn't know the exact thoughts of. Despite the great awkwardness that often ensued, it seemed the notus were as interested in peace as the bieneren were. Both had many common problems to focus on instead, after all, like the ever-present Relentless.
With such overtures and plentiful decades, the bieneren gradually relaxed from their deep-seated fear. Though wary of the notus, having gained insight to discern their thoughts and understand them, if only in part, lifted the fog of war greatly. The hives could better anticipate their neighbors and what might happen, leaving any potential conflicts isolated to such regions. The bieneren themselves gained a reputation as being standoffish and weird, but fine if left alone. Though it seemed not the best way to consider them, it nonetheless ensured peace, so the hive mind left it be.
Things became awkward when economics got involved.
The bieneren, who had no use for the concept of money, could produce vast goods to meet their neighbors' demands. They even found the prospect of enriching the notus to be a thrilling intellectual and logistical challenge. However, the quality and quantity of their goods crushed every notion of competition. The resulting economic ruin that followed destabilized entire nations, sometimes instigated wars, and soured relations for generations. They also grew to resent being exploited for their labor from emotional manipulation, a tactic hence unknown to the hive mind.
After weathering those storms, the bieneren were fed up and favored isolating themselves for good. The umta ultimately argued against it, if only because they knew that learning to share the world with the notus was important. If not, then a final war between the hive and everyone else would become inevitable. So long as the bieneren as a whole weren't completely threatened, the hardship would be worth enduring. Such pains were necessary for co-existence, or they would have to kill on a scale the hive mind didn't find appealing at all.
It can be said, then, that for the many ups and downs they since encountered, the bieneren have been a constant if guarded presence on Veltrona. Their selectiveness in business and reserved manners give them an aloof reputation, but they're stalwart allies in times of need. A fact that was put to the test during the age of the hated Imperium, in which Imperious threatened the world.

Age of the Imperium

Though they weren't strangers to dragons being problems, the bieneren hive mind never saw anything like Imperious. Her rapacious desire for destruction and unmatched might tore through everything in her path. A number of hives were eradicated single-handedly, alarming the hive mind to her destructive potential. When they saw Imperious bring even the greatest of dragons down, the bieneren knew a serious war would be necessary.
While it'd been rumored, speculated, and sometimes confirmed in part, the many peoples of Veltrona had never seen the bieneren hives move in complete unison. The emergence of the Imperium and the continued destruction of their hives spurred on the bieneren superorganism to respond in kind. Before anyone even knew the name Imperious, or met the budding Imperium, the bieneren moved millions of bioforms from all across Veltrona to wage war.
Some scholars attest it was the bieneren's actions that alerted most people to the impending calamity that was Imperious. If nothing else, it was impossible to ignore their massive armies moving through. While numerous civilizations, be they small tribes or mighty, multi-state nations, resisted the Imperium, draconic power is not so easily deterred. The timely arrival of a bieneren army, and their suicidal thoroughness, is believed to have saved countless lives for everyone else.
Total war followed with the bieneren pitting themselves against the ever-expanding Imperium. Carnage of an incomprehensible scale ensued, both of the hives and of imperial dragons. The more the hive mind fought, the more their skills grew, and the more they devised terrifying weapons to slay dragons. New bioform morphs, weapons to pierce dragon scale, magics capable of overpowering immortals, and many more horrific innovations ensued. Logistical breakthroughs followed redesigned resource harvesting methods, complimented by scavenged bounty from the corpses of so many powerful dragons.
It's hard to properly account for everything the bieneren did, as is often in cases where it was just them versus imperial dragons, only they know what ultimately happened. However, most historians consider the bieneren hives as a great, if not the greatest, reason as to the Imperium's overall containment. If they hadn't been there, Imperious' ferocious speed may have succeeded in conquering all of Veltrona. At the least, the vast majority of a lot of populations would've been enslaved or killed by imperial dragons without ever having a fighting chance.
The hive mind itself is, ultimately, unwilling to provide a detailed account. When Votyoger officially inquired about the matter, the bieneren simply called it, "A terrible time for all of us.".
Sadly, the immediate end of the Imperium and following Great Darkness from the World Gate explosion further complicated matters. Faced with a potential mass extinction event, the bieneren hives consolidated themselves quickly. As the skies darkened, they hurried to adjust their farms and develop countermeasures against the lack of sunlight. At the same time, they also worked on creating magical arts capable of undoing the horrific damage of the explosion. Though the war ended, the fight for survival raged on, just against a different problem.
The record keeping of such an era is understandably quite poor, and as ever, the bieneren hive mind doesn't care to talk about it. However, a lot of correlating records affirm of the bieneren's fervent activity. Already in a state of anxiety from the Imperium, the possibility of complete extinction drove the hive mind into a frenzy. All other considerations were pushed aside in favor of survival, no matter how it might be achieved.
Many peoples consider the bieneren critical allies as a result. The hive mind wasn't only concerned about itself, but all life that wilted and died from those sunless days. It's difficult for historians to really gauge how much of a difference the bieneren made, but most agree on their actions playing a key role in Veltrona's survival. That is something the bieneren themselves oddly reject: there were other powers, things not them or unlike any other, they found helped the most for saving the world.
Who, or what, those powers are remains a topic of intense debate.

Modern Era

When the skies cleared and life at large returned to normalcy on Veltrona, the bieneren hive mind gradually calmed down. With rampant ecological destruction still a concern, the bulk of its attention shifted toward land reclamation and restoration. The world seemed to take care of itself just as much, but the bieneren were still concerned over many things. As such, they gradually withdrew from dealing with other civilizations, focusing entirely on their own work.
The rise, life, and downfall of the Baarham Dominion largely passed them by. Sorcerer King Ghown recognized the bieneren's help during the age of the Imperium and Great Darkness. While mistrustful of everything that wasn't baarham, he paid due debts, and as the bieneren kept to themselves, the two largely ignored one another. Coincidentally, most of the bieneren hives in what would become the Dominion's territories had already been killed off by the Imperium or the Great Darkness. By the time the hive at large regrew back into Aerthen and Lophern, the Dominion had vanished.
Traumatized by such centuries of hardship, the hive mind grew wary of the notus peoples. Their rampancy led to destruction on a scale not even the bieneren dreamed of doing. Lone disasters like cultivators, while always an issue, grew increasingly bolder and deadlier. New technologies and machkinery from incredible minds like Khaaestra zahd Machkin threatened to amplify war to levels hereto unimaginable.
Even the umta weren't sure if they should argue for cohabitation anymore. Another Great Darkness might truly end the world and them along with it, but the bieneren would not let that happen. Still, between immortal powerhouses like dragons and the ever-forgetful mortal peoples like humanity, the hive mind had no idea how to prevent such future tragedy. Not without changing one or both in ways they would surely resist with violence.
Indecisive but needing to do something all the same, the bieneren focused on diplomacy and preventative measures. At the least, if they caught the worst ones before they became another Imperious or King Ghown, the world might handle the rest on its own. Still, their anxiety is hard to quiet sometimes, and the bieneren regarded the notus with wary eyes and centuries of trauma. More than anything, they yearned for peaceful days, even if such a thing seemed impossible to obtain.
To the outside world, the bieneren remain as they always have: mostly aloof, selective in their business, and content to be left alone. Their neighbors know otherwise, seeing the attentive and hardworking bieneren press on to build ever greater things. In stark contrast to ancient history, though, many civilizations regard the bieneren warmly. They're considered friends, if strange ones, and so both sides continue to mingle and live together, for whatever form that takes on.

Biology

Anatomy and Physiology

A polymorphic species, the bieneren bioforms are universally humanoid: head, torso, two-to-four arms with four-fingered hands, widened hips, and two plantigrade legs with hardy, rounded-nubs for feet.
A chitinous exoskeleton covers their body, forming long contiguous segments with flexible joint regions similar to other arthropod-based species. A fuzzy, dense hair (sometimes confused for fur) covers them, giving them a fluffy and bumbly appearance. A unisexual species, they emphasize humanoid female-expressing characteristics, such as enlarged breasts, bulkier mass, etc.
The bieneren head has two eyes, recessed ears, very fine hair, no nose, and a mouth in the distinctive w-shape that is shared among arthropod-based species. Their eyes are compound, with the center refraction (what others might call a 'pupil') being brighter than the rest. Two long, usually a foot in length, antennae emerge from the top of their foreheads, supported by thick stalks and ending in bulbous, fluffy ball tips.
A large, muscular 'hump' on their upper middle-back connects their four crystalline insect wings, which are often floor-reaching in length and size.
A secondary, smaller insect abdomen protrudes from just above the buttocks outward, where species with tails often have theirs emerge as well. Unlike regular bees, this secondary abdomen is entirely a specialized organ dedicated toward mana processing and serves no other purpose, not even having a stinger.

Appearance

The iconic fluffiness of the bieneren is often juxtaposed to their obviously arthropod features, such as underlying chitin and unique facial structure. Some cultures regard them with horror while others see them as icons of adorable cuteness.
Bieneren fur is usually a monotone color, such as dominantly yellow, gray, or blue, and then outlined/detailed in a secondary color, like black, red, or green. Different symmetrical patterns can emerge within the main fur, such as stripes, swirls, triangles, or other unusual but visually identifying markers. These patterns are usually indicative of their genetic lineage, as species with fur (like jiuweihu) readily share their unique patterns with bieneren offspring. To a lesser extent, it also 'visually fingerprints' every type of hive, as they all have their own slight variations. The fur itself usually stays within several inches, normally enough to be insulating without becoming obtrusive.
Bieneren head hair straddles the line between being longer fur and a different type of fiber entirely. It is generally smoother and naturally glossy, drawing attention to itself separately from the rest of their body fur. It usually follows the primary body fur color (e.g, if it is yellow, the hair is yellow), but sometimes it'll take on the secondary color instead (e.g, yellow and black, it will be black). The bieneren consider this a random thing and so pay little mind to it, but some mistake such a thing as increased individuality of some form.
The compound eyes of the bieneren do not actually have pupils of any kind. The so-called 'pupil' that most see 'move around' in their eyes is actually a faint mana trace that moves around their ocular cells. In short, it's an adaptation to make them seem less 'disturbing' to other species, and one the bieneren deliberately engineered into themselves. Perceived sociability of their species rose by magnitudes after its introduction, so it is a 'vestigial' trait they work on keeping around.
Their tongue, chitin, and internal flesh are more of a blue-black color, with the chitin being more black and the flesh being more blue.
The crystalline wings of the bieneren themselves are a form of naturally integrated crysium. Their structurally refined and beautiful wings are often compared to stained glass artwork, featuring stunning clarity and vivid coloration. Like their fur, their colors tend to inherit along set ranges, usually in sky blues or forest greens, but other hybrids can exhibit a greater variety.

Natural Abilities

The following abilities are considered universal to the bieneren species:
Herbivore – Bieneren principally subsist off of mana-rich plant matter and particular animal products like milk and cheese. Meat is nutritionally toxic to them.
Environmentally Non-Adaptive – Bieneren struggle to live outside their native environmental range and rely greatly on technology to overcome such barriers.
Mana Flyers – Bieneren wings are incapable of sustaining flight on their own, so the bieneren use a form of instinctual magic to fly and hover.
Mana Sensitivity – Bieneren are supremely adept at sensing where viable mana is.
Psionics: Gestalt Intelligence – Psychically connected, each bieneren is simply one node on a much vaster superorganism that forms a collective mind. Without this psychic connection, bieneren have no higher functions, lose memory, and degenerate into a form of catatonia where they eventually die from starvation.
Robust – Bieneren are physically durable beings, withstanding stress, hardship, and damage better than most would expect.
Unisexual – The bieneren species are unisexual, exhibiting traits others consider dominantly 'female'. Their primary reproductive strategy is done by the umta, who utilize oviposition-based parthenogenesis to intelligently direct their reproduction efforts as needed by the greater hive.
Honey! – A special organ in the bieneren physiology allows them to reprocess excess nutrient consumption into a golden liquid called honey. This nutritionally dense fluid is a principle foodstuff that forms the bedrock of their dietary needs. While the three variants produce their own unique versions of the honey, all dispense it out through their mouths. It, unfortunately, resembles a form of vomiting to most species.
Organic Wax – A secondary by-product created by the bieneren digestive system, they can spit up a viscous liquid that functions as a natural wax. In its liquid state, the wax itself is notably very easy to polarize with a mana aspect, making it an incredibly versatile material with tremendous application potential.

The following abilities are considered specific to each variant of the bieneren species:
Umta: Hyper Intelligence – Biological superminds, the umta process thought and memory at speeds thousands of times greater than a human mind ever naturally could. This enables their core role in the hive as the active 'mind' that coordinates the bieneren superorganism, as well as a central hub for the psionic network to flow through. This also makes their magical arts of a caliber so sophisticated and complex they almost seem goddess-like.
Zafa: Advanced Intelligence – Zafa bioforms have more complex neural designs than the renyi, but are far inferior to the umta. This allows them to handle incredibly difficult tasks on the spot, improving their efficiency as middle-managers of the greater hive. In combat, some people mistake their incredible reflexes as a form of precognition, when in reality the zafa can simply perceive and react with a neurological speed others simply do not have.
Renyi / Zafa: Infertile – Naturally infertile, the reproductive ability of the renyi and zafa are massively minimized. In rare circumstances, they can achieve viable reproduction, either through incredible accident or an emergency effort to repopulate a hive.

Diet

The bieneren are primarily herbivores, subsisting off mana and nutrient-rich plant matter. Where possible, they usually turn their excess consumption into liquid honey, which is then stored away for later eating. They're also fond of certain animal products, like milk, eggs, and cheese, but meat is toxic for them when consumed. As such, for most hives that bother to do ranching, they end up either selling off their acquired meat, or recycling it into fertilizer for their farming efforts.
Sugar tends to form a core ingredient to the bieneren diet, and so most of their cuisine incorporates it. Although they cannot suffer from diabetes, the sugar richness is problematic to most other species. The bieneren usually have to prepare 'different food' for the notus as a result, forcing them to maintain a greater cooking library in general. That said, their inventiveness with plant-based cooking has been inspirational to many cultures across Veltrona. Most vegetarian lifestyles usually have a great deal of cross-pollination with bieneren-derived methods.

Life Cycle

Every bieneren's role within the hive is determined at conception by an umta. From there, internal gestation within the umta (or suitable host) eventually produces a large, densely gelatinous egg. Once birthed, the egg is then secured within hive brood chambers or suitably hot, humid and enclosed areas. From there it remains in dormancy until special chemical signals trigger it to begin full growth. This allows for potentially massive quantities of infant bieneren to be 'stored' within hives for years or decades at a time.
Upon hatching, the infant bieneren is semi-mobile and capable, more than most other species. They're carefully guarded by caretakers who observe, feed, clean, and train them. Rarely, a bieneren in this stage may be taken care of directly by an umta or potentially foreign birth mother, but most are raised by specialist caretakers within the hive.
Renyi are the fastest maturing of the bieneren, achieving adulthood within 10 years. Zafa coincide with human time frames, achieving adulthood within 20 years. Umta are notably quite variable, and can take several decades depending on their genetic lineage. Dragon-hybrid umta, for example, take a full century similar to dragons themselves.
The closer to maturation they are, the more work the bieneren young take on. Only full adults are allowed to leave the hive's direct territory for many reasons, but it's mainly that the young do not fully utilize their gestalt intelligence properly. As such, many species never directly see bieneren young in almost any form, leading some to make some rather incorrect assumptions. If they do appear, it is because the bieneren consider such a place and its people extraordinarily safe.
Adult bieneren are fully functional bioforms of their hive, and so fulfill the needed work as their collective envisions must be done. There is a great deal of fungibility to what that entails, of course.
As age sets in, bieneren maintain peak physical performance throughout most of their lifetime. It's only in the last tenth of their life span do they begin to experience sharp and sudden physiological decline. Elderly bieneren are increasingly shuffled to less demanding work, and usually take up supporting roles for the stronger young ones instead. Those with particularly useful experience or knowledge will be tasked with recording it in a tangible form for future usage by the hive mind.
Final death is an unremarkable affair. Where possible, a special poison is ingested to bring about a peaceful slumber that the bieneren dies within. Otherwise, summary execution is utilized. Regardless of how death occurs, the bieneren's corpse is transported to the farmers to be recycled into fertilizer to help feed and continue the hive's eternal existence. To the bieneren, who live within each other as much as themselves, none of them are ever truly gone. So long as the hive remains, the memories and experiences of their lives does as well, subtly shaping the hive mind and the ship of civilization.
As an aside, while not naturally immortal, bieneren do genetically inherit immortality with remarkable ease. Bieneren with dragon or jiuweihu parents, for example, are highly likely to become immortal as well. The bieneren hive greatly values this trait, and so tries to secure as much of it as possible. The likes of immortal umta form a backbone of incredible power to the bieneren superorganism, and perhaps represent the greatest form of consistency it has ever possessed.

Anaxials, Hybrids, and Variants

Anaxials

An odd quirk to the bieneren is that their anaxials are only female, though males may possess some correlating vestigial traits. Most males, however, tend to take after only their human side. There are further oddities in that bieneren anaxials tend to inherit the human omnivore nature, as well as a much looser, ill-defined connection to the bieneren hive mind.
The actual neurological makeup of a bieneren anaxial varies between individualistic or gestalt. The former tends to be regarded as notus, while the latter is capable of becoming a functional part of the hive mind. An unfortunate reality for many bieneren anaxials is that their brains can suffer from two very different makeups, leaving them vulnerable to many types of neurological disorders.
However, the bieneren anaxials who cooperate with the hive mind act as a unique bridge between these two radically different types of life. Their ability to discern the thoughts of the hive mind, translate them into something close to an individual's perspective, and then communicate that make them effective ambassadors. The bieneren themselves also gain a glimpse into the workings of an individualistic mind, for as bizarre and alien as it is.
Generally, bieneren anaxials are a type of zafa, and so are given the appropriate responsibilities in that regard. However, the more individualistic anaxials are not quite as suited to the constant rigorous work of the bieneren hive itself. The self-centric 'ego' can conflict with the hive mind, creating contrary thoughts or impulses the bieneren at large do not agree with. At the same time, these odd differences intrigue the hive mind, and so are just as much followed through to 'find out' what would happen. Finding a suitable place in the hive can often be a daunting and difficult task as a result, but not impossible.

Hybrids

Bieneren hybrids tend to inherit much in regards to their sire's lineage. Coloration and patterns are the main examples, followed by natural abilities that don't directly conflict with the bieneren's. Such hybrids tend to be highly valued by the hive, particularly if their inherited abilities are useful. Immortal bieneren are the most prized of all and become keystone members of any given hive. Other abilities are filtered by potential, such as inclinations toward magic, physical durability, and the like.
Very rarely it will result in a bieneren moving out of their preconceived roles. A renyi that inherits a lot of combat-useful abilities will be moved into the zafa instead, for example. Umta, though highly valuable for a number of reasons, can redefine entire operational parameters when they embrace the opportunities their sire's abilities enable. It's easy to see then that the bieneren as a whole are more concerned with the functional capability of their hybrids, and deliberately desires such contributions to strengthen their hive.
Something that engendered horrific results very early on when the bieneren encountered other species.

Variants

The three principle bioforms of the bieneren–umta, renyi, and zafa–are closer to distinct adaptations of the bieneren than divergent variants per say. The semantics of it aside, most classifications do consider the trinary as being variants all the same.
Umta are the tallest of the bieneren, being both long and suitably sturdy. Their antennae are twice as long and more jagged in appearance, and their fluffy hair is similarly sharper and more angular than rounded. Their wings are distinctly longer, reaching the ground and flowing behind them like a natural cape. They're often construed as regally towering figures of authority within the hive by notus. Their moniker as a 'queen mother' isn't incorrect, but the bieneren do not use hierarchy, so such connotations are inappropriate.
The fewest in number, umta are rare existences and incredibly costly to birth. They demand years of gestation, unfathomable amounts of mana and nutrients, and are engineered with the greatest biological capabilities of any bieneren imaginable to the hive. As such, they're challenged with the most ephemeral tasks of guiding the hive and determining what course to take. Their nature as living superminds give them intellectual prowess even dragons find frightening. Though some mistake them as the most individualistic of bieneren, it's more proper to say they express the collective will more directly.
In other words, an umta is an embodiment of the entire hive mind in a very real, tangible way.

Renyi are the main body of the bieneren, and the bioform most associate with the species. They're normally half the size of whichever umta birthed them, which puts them around the same height or slightly shorter than most humans and other sapients. Sturdy, hard working, and reasonably intelligent, their buzzing wings and chittering conversations are the song of the bieneren.
The most populous by volume, the renyi farm, hunt, construct buildings, fashion crafts, and everything else the hive could ever possibly dream of needing. For them, the purpose they were born to live is a fulfilling and complete existence. They were not always adapted for higher functioning intelligence, but as the needs of the hive grew more complex, the renyi had to conceptualize increasingly difficult ideas. Even after achieving human-grade intelligence, they required more and more.
Though the umta and zafa are, to some extent, considered to be 'ruling powers' within the bieneren hive mind, that is a malformed way of looking at it. The renyi's decentralized neural processing forms the true backbone of the hive mind; the constant, ceaseless thinking that drives the superorganism. It'd be more proper to say the umta and zafa are simply specialists created by the renyi to handle specific problems the more numerous and decentralized renyi cannot.

Zafa vary between half and three-fourths the size of whichever umta birthed them. Complex bioforms of the hive, they're more angular than rounded, and their high-performance physiques are optimized toward physical concerns. Their principle purpose is to be the warrior-guardians of the hive, and to confront any threats the bieneren face. However, they also double as intermediary leaders, to which renyi centralize around. They're mistaken for a kind of nobility as a result, when in reality the zafa are middle-managers that coordinate renyi nodes with umta guidance.
Most forms of specialist bieneren are zafa by classification, usually more complex than renyi but not as sophisticated as umta. To-purpose bioforms, like long-range and quasi-independent scouts, are considered part of the zafa. While each of these additional variants can be deserving of scrutiny, they're often so limited in number they're not seen outside of their exact and specifically intended role.
There is some scholarly speculation about some of the zafa, however. The long-range scouts in particular have more capabilities than even their role would traditionally demand. Some even have the reproductive ability to begin new hives on their own. A few jiuweihu scholars postulate that these lone scouts may be what resulted in the first bieneren hives originating on Veltrona. However, a disturbing question remains that has yet to be answered:
If the scouts were the first progenitors of the hives, then were they scouts before doing so? If they were, what or who on Veltrona were they initially scouting for?

Sociology

Cultural Universals

A peaceful species, the bieneren enjoy working and relaxing in equal measure. Though they're purpose oriented, this includes things like entertainment, social bonding, artistry, and other ideas typical of most civilizations. They fully commit themselves to whatever they're involved in, absorbing every experience possible.
Perhaps, as a result, they can be a little too over-committed to some ideas, particularly when the hive mind fixates on a weird one. As a species they've outgrown the stranger impulses like 'what happens if we eat the same meal at the exact same time?', but newer innovations beget stranger desires sometimes. Because of such sentiments, the different bieneren hives can manifest their own eccentricities.
Orderliness is a key fixture of the bieneren way of life, and they're extremely neat, meticulous, and attentive. Their hives are often structured in such an efficient, yet artfully beautiful, manner they're quite eerie to most other species. Seamlessly interweaving traffic routes, handing off work from one to another, spectating artwork integrated into the very superstructure itself, and so on, form their iconic hallmarks.
They also love pranking each other.
Bieneren find all sorts of little ways to pull a fast one on their kin, create aggravations with a distinctive flair, and prioritize spur-of-the-moment slapstick comedy. The hive mind is thrilled by such aggravations, both as the one pranking and being pranked, and it endlessly entertains the bieneren. It's one of their main forms of comedy every hive participates in, much to the rampant confusion of notus.

Lingual Characteristics

Bieneren speak in a way often described as 'buzzy', as their vocal structure is capable of producing a wider range of concurrent sounds. It's also sometimes described as a 'dual' or 'triple' voice when they speak conversational language to other species. An incredibly unique sound, it's both ear catching and distinct to anyone who hears it. Their vocalization can reach deep and high ranges, even at the same time.
In a way, the natural language of the bieneren is physically impossible for other species to use. Its uniqueness means translation is extraordinarily difficult, if not outright incomprehensible. Many linguists, however, are constantly trying to figure it out if only for the prestige of cracking the proverbial code of the bieneren. The hive itself finds the idea amusing and likes to mess with translators sometimes.

Arts and Beauty

Lovers of symmetry, tessellating patterns, and complex shapes, the bieneren consider such things as the very manifestation of order, and thus beautiful. They're especially fond of triangles and hexagons, whose three and six points are simple to construct, physically sound, and fit nicely with their natural wax building. Most forms of architecture, clothing, and otherwise they make employ some guidance by numerical principles, typically in iterations of three.
In fact, the concept of 'three' is as close to holy as the bieneren conceive of. There are three bioform families, three divisions of labor, triangles have three points, logical thinking progresses in three steps, and so forth. It's unclear if their fascination by the 'rule of three' is some kind of longstanding quirk of the hive mind, or actually an insightful analysis on its own. Hence, where possible, they employ principles of three or concepts divisible by three (which makes six very popular).
Caring little for figurative pieces, bieneren hives focus greatly on creating harmonious architecture. They enjoy pushing the limits of physical materials to achieve simple, yet profound shapes. Unlike the mertakan who favor complexity for complexity's sake, the bieneren focus on practical purpose as much as style. In some breaths it can be called brutalist, in others elaborately recursive. Their building techniques make profound use of veltron magic in ways wholly unique to them. A lot of architects, engineers, and mages are rather interested in such secrets, but the umta enjoy dangling it as teasing bait before their eyes.
While the bieneren hive explores art in many ways, its collective attention usually centers on music itself. The infinite applications of sound in structured ways, conducted through an endless variety of instruments, lets all bieneren engage with it whenever they want. Whether singing, humming, vibrating their wings, banging their chitinous fingers on hard surfaces, reed whistles, pipe organs, drums, stringed instruments like harps, and more, the hive loves to explore musical application.
In fact, one of the first major clues to the bieneren that other species may be 'people' was when they first heard music. The once exotic and strange sounds drew their attention, pulling in zafa scouts and renyi workers from far away. While those encounters ended unfortunately, music played a key role in creating the wondrous question that changed the course of the bieneren superorganism.

Magic and Technology

Bieneren magical art forms are curious in that they're as much derived from individual members as much as inherited through the hive mind. Reinvention begets innovation, and circumstance dictates both form and function. These principles mean the bieneren do not meticulously keep their magic knowledge in a stagnant way. If they forget a form of magic, it is because it no longer serves any use to them at all. If they must reinvent that magic, it will be made in the context of the modern hive and its needs. A somewhat utilitarian view that aggravates scholars who obsessively wish to record all forms of magic.
Their magical arts mirror the bieneren's specialized ways. Renyi tend to have very low-performance forms of magic, usually the likes of homekeeping magic. Some among their number may specialize in more particular forms, especially veltron and water-based magics. These forms of magic serve the purposes of civilization's everyday needs for the most part. The zafa and umta conduct the much stronger, high-performance forms of magic, being war-grade or even divine-grade in scale.
Bieneren 'to-purpose' thinking tends to make their magic very mana efficient, simple to utilize, and fairly flexible in application. In fact, its so efficient it's actually problematic for other species to use. The hive mind does a lot of work when conducting magical arts, and that innate relationship is something notus just don't have. However, with some work, bieneren magic can be translated (albeit into more inefficient forms) that everyone else uses.
Their technology reflects the same ideas: efficiency, simplicity, and flexibility. Because the bieneren hive mind doesn't care for the concept of 'wealth', their technology is built with holistic purpose. 'Planned obsolesce' or 'designed inefficiency' are concepts they do not understand because of how utterly insane they sound. If the bieneren bother to make something, they make it well and maximize its effectiveness. Combined with their natural tendencies, bieneren creations not only last long, but their cost-benefit ratios are truly ridiculous.
They have, however, gone down a unique technological path. Thanks to their natural wax production, bieneren have spent literal ages refining its usage into myriad applications. Whether as a building material, armor, weapon, pot, pan, or otherwise, it is a core material to their methodologies. While this gave them a great advantage in ancient history, the advent of metallurgy has revealed long-standing flaws in the potential of beeswax. For better or worse, the bieneren insist on combining refined metals with their wax, trying to invent altogether new 'alloys' that can support their technological growth.
The advent of machkinery and puppets, however, has greatly interested the bieneren hive mind. The force-multiplier of such inventions is not lost on them, and they've been making aggressive moves into integrating such innovations. Machkinery in particular is of great promise, but the bieneren's lack of metallurgical proficiency has hampered them greatly. Still, their wax-based inventions are somewhat effective, and each new generation only improves upon the last.

Religion and Philosophy

Lacking any real concept of religion, the bieneren superorganism does not worship divine beings, and in fact sees them as something of a threat. Because divine beings operate on their own rules that physical reality cannot always answer, it leaves the bieneren with few options to protect themselves. As such, they're terribly suspicious of such entities and work toward finding solutions for dealing with them. Part of the reason the umta were created was to address this problem.
Philosophical notions, however, were what the bieneren created to give shape to their own existence. As the hive mind gained self-awareness, understanding its own very different nature from the rest of the ecosystem was a great hurdle. Though animals were not connected to each other the same as bieneren were, the hive recognized certain patterns: genetic lineages, ecological roles, natural ability, and so forth.
Hard-learned lessons furthered their own understanding. After unintentionally ravaging several regions, rendering them uninhabitable wastelands, the bieneren hive mind grasped the concept of 'balance'. With balance came 'order', and so a perception that all things exist within certain roles, to which they rely upon each other in both creative and destructive ways. Recognizing their own nature can change this relationship, the bieneren are careful when doing so. The hive mind is all-too-aware that failing to do so could destroy entire ecosystems and lead to its own demise.

Science and Spirituality

Bieneren do have a form of spirituality, something that bears some resemblance to Yonfao from Nerzin. Wishing to understand the mysterious ways of the universe, the hive mind grasped at ephemeral meaning, its intelligence feeling the unfeelable across the kosmos. What is gravity? How did the universe come to be? Why do we exist? Such questions formed the bieneren's first concept of wonder and self-awareness.
Existence itself proved to be ordered in ways that, even if they didn't know how it worked or why, was nonetheless self-evident. It is that very order that the bieneren try to emulate, hoping to embody and understand it. Though they recognize themselves on some kind of grand journey, they cannot conceptualize of what its end may yet be. Thus, they work, and work, and work, expanding and growing the hive, learning, and becoming more.
Scientific intrigue became one of the main tools by which the bieneren conceptualized the universe. Methodical testing, examination, experimentation, and more were the means by which the hive mind grasped 'greater understanding'. Before the creation of the umta and zafa, the renyi's natural curiosity encouraged all sorts of studies born from idle thoughts. There were no 'great persons' responsible for any one innovation, but thousands of little attempts by the hive in its entirety.
It brought the bieneren forward as much as stymied them. The lack of focused thought or long-term intrigue on certain topics prevented breakthroughs in more esoteric ideas. The renyi recognized this issue, and so it became one of many reasons for the creation of the umta and zafa. With these more complex bioforms developing fixations and intrigue, they committed more resources the hive otherwise might never have seen as necessary.

Psychology

Sleep and Rest

How does a gestalt intelligence 'rest'? What is sleep and dreaming to it?
The bieneren hive mind is at times mostly awake or mostly asleep, but it is always both in some capacity. Though principally diurnal, certain elements of the hive run on a nocturnal schedule instead. This allows for ongoing maintenance and guard to continue, even if main productivity and work has paused for a day. For the bulk of the hive, night is a time of sleep, which means many of the bieneren return to their resting alcoves.
For each member of the hive, sleep marks their body's processes slowing down to a crawl, allowing for autonomous functions to carry out maintenance and recovery not unlike all other species. However, every bieneren is always 'conscious' to some degree. Though slower and smothered in sensory veils, they remain aware of the hive mind and its going-ons. It is simply that by slowing down as much as they do, their biology can relax and recover much quicker. In such a passive, purely observational state, a bieneren is as close to sleep as most species conceptualize of.
There are those who become even more passive, to the point of falling partially or fully unconscious. These inert bieneren brains engender the unconscious side of the hive mind. Compared to the constant noise of thought, the persistent, even droning of unconsciousness helps soothe the still-awake minds. Similar to certain musical ranges, this effect cognitively settles the hive mind and allows it to de-stress much more.
Stress, after all, is the main reason for rest for the bieneren. Even if they're cognitively alert and capable, their bodies have biological processes that must be respected. Quite literally, their minds are willing even as their bodies breaks apart. While the hive mind may push itself on occasions, it also understands doing so regularly is too destructive to maintain. It, simply put, does not enjoy experiencing pain of that manner, no matter how minor it may be.
Thus, rest and work are intertwined with the bieneren way of things. When they are not working, members of the hive go off to do their own things for relaxation. These activities are normally a range of grooming, lounging, musical participation or observation, or minor activities the hive mind doesn't consider worthy of prioritization. That isn't to say it considers them valueless, only that with only so many hands and brain power, it has to pick and choose.
The bieneren are living organisms, after all, with all the trappings that entails. There are those whose entire job is to take care of other bieneren, monitor their health, and provide recreation to. The hive mind is everything; it does not treat itself poorly.

Consciousness and Thought

A common mistake when the bieneren are viewed is to think of them as completely homogeneous. Though they are a gestalt intelligence, they are not lockstep with each other like unthinking machkines or puppets. Each of them is a living organism with its own due considerations, but they are sculpted and fit into the view point of a much grander whole. Many try to point at individualistic behaviors as indications of true individuality, often seeking some sort of 'gotcha' to disprove their unified intelligence. Such people live to be disappointed, for they cannot grasp the true nature of the bieneren at all.
Each bieneren on her own is a purposeless existence, but as more come together, their cumulatively increased intelligence offers new understanding. Each one, thusly, sees Veltrona, takes in the world, then figures out how to navigate and work through it. Each one develops her own sensory input, conceptualization, and understanding; both of herself and her greater hive. The more this is done, the more the hive mind stares upon itself, reflecting countless perspectives that coalesce into unified understanding.
These fundamentals are how the different bieneren hives can exist as seemingly 'separate' or 'different' entities, but are nonetheless part of the same superorganism. The more local variables a specific hive encounters, the more it changes to answer such variables. The more curiosity or intrigue specific hives develop, the more divergent paths they head down. The hive mind wishes to know all, and to know all, it must explore them. Such divergent behavior is encouraged, to an extent, to satisfy its own natural curiosity.
In a sense, this is similar to other species who possess 'instinctual' aspects: humans with their empathy, nebusah with their pack mentality, dragons with their supreme confidence, and so on. Unlike them, the bieneren do not share such sentiments through mere genetic inheritance of instincts. They're conceptualized, integrated, and shared throughout the hive mind as a constant living will.
However, negative experiences must be moderated and contained. The bieneren conceptual word usually translates toward 'disorder', meaning something that is affecting the order of the hive mind. Trauma, obsession, hyper-fixation, and other mental afflictions from individual bieneren can potentially contaminate their kin. To prevent these experiences from degrading their collective mind, the bieneren explore all kinds of options in order to remedy them. These can vary from self-care routines to ritualistic recreation, and even outright termination of the afflicted bieneren.

Motivation and Emotion

The beginnings of bieneren motivation are, like most species, found in animalistic concerns: hunger, safety, reproduction, etc. As the hive mind gained sapience, it developed an insatiable curiosity of itself, the world, and existence at large. Over time, that curiosity melded into every action it undertook, spurring the bieneren on a path of continual growth and improvement. The more they learned, the more they wanted to find out and try for themselves. Awareness brought with it myriad experiences, and so the bieneren wished to experience life's offerings.
Their drive to further the hive entails as much expanding its physical structure as it does the bieneren population, and their collective experiences. It is this, and their evident emotional intelligence, where many also confuse gestalt intelligence with individuality. Bieneren laugh, love, feel empathy, hold grudges, and the breadth of emotions that monsterkind at large does. Their concept of self-preservation is radically different, though. While bieneren do not meaninglessly throw away their own lives, if their sacrifice can afford the hive victory, all of them are ready to do so at a moment's notice.
Hence, attacking the bieneren is many other cultures' first introduction to the concept of total war, and the unbridled ferocity the hive will unleash.

Sexuality and Love

To the bieneren, sex itself has long since divorced from reproductive connotations. The advent of the umta's direct control over genetic lineages revolutionized reproduction, increasing the hive mind's overall efficiency. However, after the dramatic loss of several hives due to population crashes, reproductive ability was restored to the bieneren as a whole, albeit under more direct control.
However, the concepts of physical pleasure were never removed, and the bieneren treated such activity as a form of relaxation and bonding. That sexual relations spurred on mana generation was also not lost on the hive mind, which considered and experimented with many forms to see if there were viable applications. In many ways considered vestigial but 'fun', sex was relegated as an afterthought for the most part.
When the bieneren began interacting with the notus, however, it was re-evaluated. Individuals who didn't have the accumulated experience of a gestalt intelligence were much more interested, compelled, and/or controlled by such a thing. It became a powerful tool in the hands of the bieneren, who were willing to use it to form meaningful bonds or acquire foreign genetics for their usage.
Love, and its myriad trappings, took on a much stranger form for the hive mind. Pair bonding is a common occurrence for the bieneren, typically in groups of three. It also isn't uncommon for it to happen within group nodes of closely purpose-related members either. For other species, who developed strong love bonds to one (or, rarely, more) persons, it formed a thorny proposition for the hive mind.
On the one hand, the bieneren were interested in such harmonious relations. On the other, if they interfered in the hive's goals, it risked becoming disorderly. Balancing the two is a delicate act that is both tricky and of arguable value. Still, the possibility of interconnectivity and bringing others into the hive is one that intrigues the bieneren. It brings on a question if love itself could be a means to which all other peoples could be integrated into the hive.
Though the bieneren aren't certain if it's possible, such a thought continues to merit their exploration of it.
Bieneren do tend to have a 'preference' for the female form, as it most closely resembles their own. However, they're just as willing to utilize males of similar physiques.

Society

Social Mannerisms

Cooperatively sociable, the bieneren are orderly, neat people who take care of themselves and their environment. For outsiders recognized by the hive mind, they're treated like respected guests, and given much attention, on-call servants, and whatever amenities could be desired. However, even though the bieneren do not care for the concept of money, they do not care for giving things away for 'free', either.
Contrary to what some might imagine, bieneren do foster internal competition against each other. Whether by purposeful metrics or simply for the sake of it, the hive mind motivates the different nodes through strife-based goals. Such behavior encourages unexpected innovation, increased productivity, and for sheer entertainment value alone. This is especially prominent among the zafa, who do anything from military drills to bloody combat sports against each other. And this can even scale up to encompass entire hives participating in mass civil construction projects or war games with each other.
The bieneren are peaceful; that does not mean they are not capable of violence. Indeed, even the extreme heights of it are something they're familiar with.
It can be said the renyi are the most conversationally amiable, the zafa possess aggressive energy, and the umta are haughty and all-knowing existences.

Gender

As a unisexual species, gender doesn't play much of a role within the bieneren superorganism. It is something that's mostly studied and examined in other species, principally sapients, who are affected by it. To the bieneren, the biology of two or more sexes and resulting gender paradigms is a puzzling thing. The umta generally regard it as entirely superfluous; an inefficiency born from evolution.

Kinship and Ethnicities

The closest thing toward kinship or ethnic groups the bieneren possess are cognitive clusters called nodes. These trinary-based groups form shared-purpose organization within the hives. Renyi responsible for lumbering, for example, will be categorized into lumber-worker nodes. These renyi nodes are then folded into zafa nodes, who oversee their operations. Finally, zafa nodes are folded together underneath umta vertexes, who handle broad-scale administration.
These are not mere categorical definitions, but the literal ways in which the bieneren superorganism arranges its psychic network. Mental information from the different nodes are processed through specific pathways so that information propagates appropriately. By containing similar thoughts into self-contained nodes, less overall strain on the hive mind is created because such information is not being sent across the entirety of the network.
In fact, much of the hive mind's structure is based upon the limits of its psychic network. The cognitive strain of information transmission means it must be highly selective on what is shared. As a result of these limitations, information redundancies and divergent thoughts tend to arise quite often. However, the bieneren are always working on improving their intelligence and expanding their collective mind's abilities.

Governments and Politics

Bieneren are encapsulated within their hives, a combination of mega-city and veltronformed landscape. These hives are massive constructs that bieneren centralize within, and so house their entire civilization. Each of these hives tend to adapt into different directions over time, specializing in whatever ways their local populations envision to do.
As they do not use hierarchy, all members have a say in what goes on. They do, however, understand that prioritization of experience or 'decision-maker' responsibilities can enable effective administration. Thus, many decisions are left to various nodes, and as indecision arises, consultation from other nodes can be considered. In times the entire hive must form a decision on something, the umta will facilitate higher psionic stability to enable speedy conversation and decision making.
Since the bieneren world doesn't radically change all that often, many questions and concerns usually have a library of answers for them. Other species often confuse the umta as some kind of monarch or absolute ruler because of their 'decisive authority'. In reality, the umta are usually those who were deemed most suited toward handling such issues. In fact, they're often efficient at it because of how other species inappropriately value them as 'queens'.
It amuses the bieneren constantly, and they enjoy switching up their representative to mess with diplomatic encounters.
The closest idea to political factions for the bieneren is in the form of their different hives. While still psionically connected, information compartmentalization means each hive usually operates 'in house'. Information exchange between hives tends to prioritize critical strategic details, while more conversational or casual pieces propagate much slower. It is not that there is 'no' intercommunication, there is just different transmission and reception speeds. Hives that are further away have to relay their information through intermediary hives, which can further complicate psionic traffic.

Trade and Economics

Being a gestalt intelligence, the many trappings of economics simply do not matter to the bieneren in the slightest. Resources are requested and distributed on a priority schedule, and everyone at every step in the chain understands why things are the way they are. Circumstances that would change prioritization are, as well, already understood by those involved.
Where the real chaos begins is when a hive trades with other species. Having an efficient, insanely skilled workforce from start-to-finish allows the bieneren to mass-manufacture goods at a qualities virtually no one can compete with them at. Dragons might win on sheer quality itself, but they could never hope to match the quantity aspect.
Because of their ability to flood markets with goods, the bieneren have destroyed numerous civilizations (usually unintentionally) from the economic chaos. They've since learned a great deal of restraint. For those willing to really pay the prices a hive requests, the bieneren can meet any demand imaginable.
That, however, is also part of their political strategy. The more notus rely on bieneren production, the more control the hive gains. Some 'strategic' allies often end up becoming puppet states to local bieneren hives, who view such civilizations as useful proxies. For many, doing business with the bieneren is done with one simple expectation: get what you want and get out, or you'll end up owing the bees everything.

Interspecies Relations

For many, bieneren are icons of terror as much as bizarre fantasy and intrigue. In ancient history, the hives did not perceive other species as 'people', and so slaughtered them indiscriminately. These bloody and terrible conflicts scarred countless civilizations, and so much fear about the bieneren resulted. Their reputation as harbingers of doom wasn't unfounded.
When the hive mind conceptualized of the notus being people, however, the hives quickly disarmed from conflict. Peace, however, was a difficult thing to begin working on. Individuals did not trust easily, nor forgave wrongs they may not have even experienced themselves. Time, effort, and bloodshed saw the bieneren foster more and more peace with their begrudging neighbors.
While there were improvements since such times, many civilizations and the bieneren settled into 'unintrusive ignoring'. The hives kept to their territories, expanding in directions that took them away from their neighbors. Conversely, most civilizations left bieneren lands alone, at least until some megalomaniac or power hungry warlady got a stupid idea. While the bieneren weren't unbeatable, attacking them was so incredibly costly that most civilizations regressed or collapsed shortly thereafter.
Given they did not really diplomatically, culturally, or economically expand into other civilizations, the bieneren became wrapped in a veil of mystery. The hives keeping to themselves meant only folktales, delusions, and grandiose stories were all most people had to learn about them. However, in times of the Relentless Herds and Packs, the bieneren marched forth to slaughter the frothing beasts. In that, they became powerful allies who blunted the dangers of the Relentless greatly.
For as much fear was born from bloodshed, trust too was forged in it as well.

Associated Articles

Notable Civilizations

Citokakon

A disorder hive that, unable to handle the collective trauma of the bieneren hive mind, eventually diverged into rampancy. To the citokakon, all notus must die in order to ensure the safety of the bieneren as a whole. Their genocidal thinking is considered too extreme, and many bieneren hives are preparing an eradication war to remove them for good.

Notable Characters

oh yeah we should make a bieneren character at some point

Design Notes

The best part of Bee is that there is so ... many, Bee

Gestalt intelligences (often but not always conflated with a hive mind) are interesting staples of the science-fiction genre. While very primitive forms can show up fantasy, they're rather quite rare, so Veltrona borrows a lot of its understanding from science fiction. Even then, the very concept of a gestalt intelligence is not only very strange, but at the far reaches of our imagination. However, exploring such ideas is one of many things Veltrona does, so let us embrace a good effort in doing so.
The bieneren allow us to explore gestalt intelligence in many ways, from the approximately individualistic to the completely alien and different. We shy away from presentations of 'emotionless worker drones' or other de-personifying ideas that are commonly associated with a hive mind. Sure, that can be done, but it's boring, so it can't be the only thing that is done.
One possible example to think of is like livestream chat: the bieneren 'streamer' and then 'chat', which is the rest of the hive mind. Alternatively, for a small node, a group of bieneren in a constantly-on phone call with each other set to the backdrop of their greater, buzzier hive mind. Alternatively alternatively, the embodiment of many voices into one vessel, expressing something personable but distinctly inhuman.

Portrait

Species conceptual portrait goes here.

Table of Contents

Conceptual Inspiration
Honey / mason / carpenter bees, science-fiction bug aliens
Average Lifespan
Renyi: 70 years
Zafa: 90 years
Umta: 150 years

Average Height
Umta: 7-9ft / 213-274cm
Zafa: 75% of their parent umta
Renyi: 50% of their parent umta with a minimum height of 4'5ft / 137cm.

Average Weight
Umta: 300lbs / 136kg
Zafa: 225lbs / 102kg
Renyi: 150lbs / 68kg

Aspected Nature
N/A
Day/Night Behavior
Diurnal
Place of Origin
Classically associated with Aerthen and Nerzin
Preferred Biome
Forests, jungles, temperate plains, border regions to savannahs and alpines
Geographic Distribution
Aerthen, Lophern, Nerzin, Immensio, Nemma, Etzli Cuauhtla, Jerhegn, Temu