Bees

"A city founded on the flight of insects."

— Foreign saying

Found all along the Meleatte River, bees are magical species of insect integral to the economy of Thripia and are considered sacred to the gods. They are believed to be in direct communication with the gods, particularly the sun god Sargos, and are famed for producing ichor from the flowers of the sungold tree which is said to be their blood.

Appearance

Bees are small insects with small wings and large, striped thoraxes tipped with a detachable stinger. In other parts of the world, they are known for their black and yellow coloring. However, the Thripian species are, notably, black and gold, said to glint in the sunlight like specks of light. This difference in appearance is thought to derive from their hundreds of years of consistent feeding on ichor.

Properties

Centuries of cultivation by Thripians has lead bees to become a partially domesticated species. They will rarely attack humans, requiring a great deal of provocation to consider it necessary. When they do, they jab their targets and the stinger is detached, causing great pain, though this also kills the bee. Given that bees consume ichor on a near daily basis, they are known to be strong predictors of the future. The Labyrinthian Arts, which involves the careful usage and consumption of ichor, can also be based around studying the patterns of bees in order to divine things yet to come. Bees may, seemingly spontaneously, leave their hives or react negatively to certain objects, places or people. This is a bad omen as it is thought the bees have seen something dangerous yet to come. Moreover, some bees are strangely attracted to certain individuals, following them and landing on their skin. This may be a sign that the individual is destined for great things or is strong in character. Inversely, a person bees are repulsed by, or who is stung by a bee, is thought to be of bad character and may bring destruction in the future. As such, many carry around phorums; leather pouches filled with five or so bees, frantic movement in which suggests good, or ill, fortune.
Most fascinatingly, bees are seemingly able to enter ichor visions, appearing inexplicably within them and disappearing at the same time from the material world. Whether this is actually happening, whether it is a hallucination or whether bees are capable of entering the future is unknown. On some occasions, particularly in times of great crisis, bees have been known to disappear entirely. On others, bees will seemingly appear from nowhere.

Significance

Bees are widely considered the most important species to the survival of Thripia as a city. They are farmed on a massive scale by beekeepers who build apiaries along the banks of the Meleatte near sungold trees. However, most wealthy households and those with private gardens will also typically have at least one hive which they maintain. Due to bees being the sole producers of ichor, a substance intrinsic to Thripian civilization, they are prized throughout the city. Streets will almost always have bees flying about them, and the bee is printed on the Thripian currency, the sungold, as well as the city's banners and sigils. Sargos, Thripia's patron diety,is commonly represented by the symbol of a bee which illustrates their connection to the ideas of destiny over which Sargos rules. Those stung by bees are traditionally tattooed with a black mark where they were stung, called an omen, so that all may know they are a dishonest, untrustworthy, aggressive or violent individual.

Lifespan

~130 days