Bug World VIII: Zombie edition

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>>46124441
Imma start the with VERY ROUGH finished version of our map of bug world

>>46124544
Here's the legend:
>grey-unexplored
>light green-plains
>brown mountain- Mount Khepri, sacred site of the Beetles
>yellow-dessert, inhabited by scorpions(closer to the center) and scarab beetles(the outskirts)
>green island-bee island. The triangle is a dormant volcano, due to the bees attraction to heat
>light brown-land claimed by the wasp horde, northern half is tundra-esque.
>Mountain range and big lake-Butterflies and moths inhabit these lands
>Tan coast-CRAB. PEOPLE
>Big arrow-biggest crab town, largest port on the western continent.
>Green island-Mantis island
>Green blob on eastern continent-Jungle. Spiders and whatnot
>The eastern continent also has an inland sea now. Inland seas are neat
>Purple stars-scattered fly cities
>Striped area-contested land between the wasp horde and the desert scorpions
>Dark green blob(west)-A large, dense forest inhabited by scorpions, moths, butterflies, and spiders
>Big black square-Capitol of the beetle peoples, their largest city, the king lives here
>Swampy Green(east)-Swamp lands
>Bright green section-The "Big Green", named by an anon from last thread. Very dangerous area to cross, due to various Behemoths roaming there

The inland sea needs a name, as well as other names for regions to place. All suggestions welcome!

>>46124614
We need a germanic place for Arbites story. I really like it

>>46124614
The inland sea is also rumored to be the home of a large beast of some sort, known to swallow ships whole

>>46124724
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. it took 900 years in photoshop to produce

Arbites story could probably take place in the southeastern corner of the western continent, beneath the lake. Sound good?

>>46124544
Looking good MapAnon!

>>46124798
Sure

Remember to support other /tg/ homebrews
>>46121697
>>46096916

>>46125109
Thanks!

>>46125111
I'll put that in my note page then

>>46125350
We still need more culture for the mantis's, so maybe someone can bring up some ideas. On that note Imma head to bed.

>>46124544

>The Big Green is beside the swamp realms of the craw people

>Everything is coming up milhouse

Do we have anything about dragonflies?

I'm off to bed too. Don't bury the thread in shitposting while I'm gone.

>>46125624
Dragonflies are bug-monsters, non sentient, and fairly large, but not gigantic
maybe I don't need sleep

>>46125655
haha jokes on you i'm going to do that now! all part of my master plan

>>46125683
So like... the wyverns of bugworld?

>>46125617
Glad it worked out! I just kinda slapped some color on to "finish" the map, because I got really tired of the east being blank

>>46125705
Kinda. They're not dragon size, but they are feral.

>>46125728
Do people wrangle dragonflies to use as flying steeds?

>The butterfly is a vain creature, that typically relies on magic for battle. They find the use of most melee weapons barbaric, and some would cite bladed weapons to be especially cruel, they would not wish a life without flight to their worst enemies. There are weapons that are used in battle often, though. Despite moral complaints, glaives and swords can be decisive weapons in aerial combat. The spear is wielded by officials and guards, typically 'for show', but they are trained in their use. Other weapons that are deemed acceptable include the rapier and the epee, for aesthetic reasons.

>The Monarchs have been the ruling family of butterfly society for a few centuries now, but they exist as an aristocracy, despite what the name implies. Petty, but competent, they divide their time being apt rulers, and unspoken rivals. Monarch Simona and Monarch Mirabelle are vying for the right to rule the capital, in expectation of their father's death. To the public eye they are loving sisters, but those in the know can tell their squabble over the succession could turn ugly soon.

>The Locusts are physically large and imposing, much larger than their Grasshopper cousins, though not as massive as the Scorpions. They make fierce warriors and apt scouts. There are occasional Locust shaman or witch doctors, but many are leery of them, especially other locust who fear that he may become a demagogue and gather too many of his kind in one place.

>The Locust people are nomads, but not by choice. They are nomads by necessity, for a civilization composed solely of their people could not thrive. The more Locusts that gather in an area, the stronger their hunger grows, an ancient and ancestral curse placed upon them eons ago.

>The Hunger was placed on their people after the Council of Six betrayed the Desert King Thrixxir Quir, the first and last king of the Locust. After uniting his people during the old wars, and making allies with both the Scorpions and the Beetles, the Council of Six, driven by their private hungers and urges, mustered an army against Thrixxir Quir's command and besieged the beetles to steal their fabulous fabrications, beyond the skill of any locust smith.

>Furious, Thrixxir Quir rallied the banners of the few noble houses and wandering desert clans that remained loyal to him, and had resisted the temptations of greed and gluttony. For many months he made battle with the larger legions of the Six, slowly driving them to starvation in the desert.

>At the end of the third month of the war Thrixxir Quir waged upon the traitors, he was finally encircled. His soldiers were few, and theirs were many. The Six's armies had already began to cannibalize their dead in their desperation. As the degenerate legions descended upon the last loyal Locusts, the noble few who had fought to uphold the peace in the desert between the nations three, the Stars overhead aligned.

>The traitors devoured the loyal banner men as they lived, tearing them limb from limb and guzzling down their flesh in the cool desert night.

>>46127294

>Thrixxir Quir stood upon a mound of his own dead, their flesh being broken and sucked from their exoskeletons by the ravenous and desperate horde. As the emaciated Council of Six themselves rose to the forefront, their mouths slavering with hunger for Thrixxir's own meat, he cried to the heavens and cursed them for all eternity, that should they ever muster behind the banners of false leaders and untrue kings, that this hunger should return and plague them forever, that they may know shame and guilt eternal.

>That night, the Six feasted upon Thrixxir Quir. For the next seven nights, the army searched for new towns to consume, before finally falling exhausted, cannibalizing one another unitl the entire horde was dead and eaten.

>Locust avoid each other because of their ancestral mythos, but some believe that should a righteous lord of all locusts arise, a reincarnation of Thrixxir Quir himself, the locust people may become a great nation once more.

>But until that day, they are wandering swords, fighters for hire. Skill-less and stripped of culture, they are a displaced people, though they are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Such is an individual locust's speed and mass that he is easily the equal of a smaller race's heavy cavalry, and a charge from a formation of them can break even the most steadfast of ant phalanxes.

>They adorn themselves in beads and silks, their natural chitin thick enough for them to eschew most heavy armours, lest they interfere with their flight and charges. They prefer to wield a heavy lance or glaive in their upper set of arms, and typically dual wield a pair of smaller weapons in their secondary hands for skirmishing after being bogged down in a phalanx or after having their wings clipped, but it is not unheard of for them to wield bows, or more recently, black powder rifles bought from fly merchants. They adorn themselves with terrifying warpaint to break enemy morale before the charge is even complete.

>>46126778
Its a supreme honor and heroic task to tame one as a steed. Khepri was the first beetle to

>>46127556
Wow this some great stuff! I've added it to the doc which still needs further fleshing out of some races.

Unfortunately its very late here so i'll have to check up on posts later

Bumpu

We still need writing about the average day in a town and what you might typically see on your travels around one.

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>>46124441

>>46132754

will do somethin like that tomorrow at work

>>46126789
Please, the rapier was too good at unarmoured dueling and caused so many deaths it became associated with murderous thugs. Not a good fit for Butterflies.

Good morning Bugworld. I'm liking the Locust fluff.

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Posting new spider art

>>46135590
PR that is amazing! I love the chain thing he's holding.

>>46135718
I imagined they'd be all for weapons like meteor hammers since they're flexible like a length of web but designed to crack difficult armoured targets

>>46135872
They should be made out of spider webbing, making them a unique spider weapon. Very few substances are strong yet flexible enough to craft a proper Meteor Sling.
Also I think Meteor Sling would be a good name for them, as they are on a web begin slung about

Are Bot-Flies Mengele-esque mad scientists, that dissect various races and creatures? Seems like those antagonists need to be fleshed out more.

I want more lobster fluff.

>>46135971
>[lobster king name], current residing king of the lobsters, no longer lives on land with the bulk of the Mer
>Having ruled for so long, he has grown to large to reside within the castle of his people
>Knowing his size to be a problem, the king commissioned a great ship to be build
>Upon completion of this vessel, the king, along with 20 of his most trusted and prestiged guard, left the shore
>The king still roams the sea to this day, seeking to find those lobsters who have grown beyond comprehensible size, so that he may challenge them to contests of strength
>In his absence, his son rules, though his youth has proved to be a problem when it comes to decision making

>>46135929
I could see crazy mad scientist flies being an antagonist of sorts, creating stitched together monstrosities of different species
>At last, my latest creation lives! Behold! All of the speed of a roach, plus all the strength of a beetle, with the stinger of a scorpion! What will you do now, heroes?!

>>46135040
Morning.

>>46135590
It screams badass.

>>46135040
Morning Trilobite

>Expert metal workers, their arms and armor are sought after throughout the land. The few Grasshopper settlements that are permanent build around a grand forge and an even grander brewery. The grandest of Grasshopper forges is deep within the earth, closer to the heat of the heart of the world, so that the weapons and armor are “created more pure”.

>Those grasshoppers that do not settle down on a forge instead take to the nomadic life like the Locusts, bringing speed, dexterity, and kinship to those who hire them.

Some Grasshopper fluff. Thoughts?

>>46133938
Alright, I'm not married to them at all. Any suggestion for a weapon that would be pretty enough that it would be acceptable?

>>46136736
Maybe they're partial to the fencing swords, Foil, Epée, and Sabre?

>>46136592
I like the fact that settlements are built around breweries, but I thought it was Mole Crickets who are the Forge masters?

>>46136851
Sounds good. The epée is in already, no reason not to go all in. Butterfly fencers sounds cool as fuck.

I imagine they are as careful as modern fencing schools are when dueling for sport. Would they be able to "fold" their wings? I can't imagine them being okay with them being so close to pointy or slashy bits.

>>46124441
Not sure if anyone brought this up but the whole moth mages thing got me thinking about if their were two schools of magic. Butterflies that gain power from the sun and the moths that gain power from the moon.

>>46136913
I kinda lumped the crickets with the Grasshoppers, because Locusts are a separate race. Didn't want too many hoppy races. The crickets can be a subspecies of grasshopper, while locusts are a separate race

>>46136937
That's what we have in the doc currently. Moths revere the moon, butterflies the sun

>>46136930
I think they should be able to, or they have special armor when learning so as to not damage their wings

>>46136851
Yeah, those are good. Maybe even Katanas. Not for weaboo reasons, but because of emphasis on precision and use with a precise style like Epee, and for dueling.

>>46136937
This has been discussed before. IIRC Moths use slower and ritualistic lunar magic while Butterflies use fast, showy Sun magic.

>>46136968
We'll need to make an entry for Solairians then.

>>46136980
GLORIOUS BUTTERFLY STEEL, FOLDED OVER TEN THOUSAND TIMES UNDER THE LIGHT OF THE HIGH NOON SUN

I do think Katanas would be a good fit for them though. Butterflies or Grasshoppers

>>46136937
This has been discussed already, and is pretty much how you think. Moths even have special rituals with lunar eclipses.

What I am really interested in now is what magic looks like. We've established a key point in moth magic, which is how they view it. To them, they are shaping the primordial dust that remains from the time of Creation, and this is very cool. But I'd like to see also, what their magic 'looks' like. What kind of effects and spells would they employ? Personally, I imagine lots of blinding flashes of light, a lot of illusion magic, and forceful pushes (damaging, not all magic has to be harmless).

I'd also like to know for all the other races. I also imagine schools of butterfly magic that revolve around hypnotism, using their wings as catalyst (fluttering eyes that force their will into you).

>>46136990
>>46136968
Fuck yes, I love bug world.

>>46136993
The butterflies don't worship the sun per-say, but they do draw power from it. If anything, most butterflies would worship the Lord of the Sky, Oznus

>>46137042
Sounds about right considering they uses the "eyes on wings" tactic to frighten predators

>>46137042
The butterfly this seems pretty neat. They would have big showy things that were to happen during their magic. As for the other races that use magic, Bees do use fire magic, but I don't know how they would go about "doing it".

Other races can go study magic, but with the advent of alchemy and gunpowder, many bugs turn to that as opposed to magic to solve their problems.

>>46137052
>What is the point of a good spell, if there's no one to see it? What is the point of beauty if there's no one to enjoy it? I think it's clear this is a universal truth, all good things must be appreciated. If my technique is good, I want at least the Lord, Oznus to see it, and witness it, and see it is good. Out there in the sunlight, is where I shall cast my spell, for it to be seen by him. It would be a pity if I would cast in vain, wouldn't you agree?

>>46137132
Beautiful, I'll add that too the doc

On the notion of terms

What would be the equivalent of 'man' or 'woman'
>Bug = Man
>Buggess = Woman

A suggested better term instead?

>>46124441
What's the terms of use for bug world? Is it free for everyone to use?

>>46137104
I always felt the bee pyromancy was a bit disconnected from their concepts. Not that I want it gone, but I think some further analysis is in order. The concept is good, but I fear there's no execution.

I'm churning something in my head, about bees believing the fire to come from within. It comes from the fire that burns in all living things, and they can channel it, to ignite the breath that comes from their mouths. They believe that one's breath can at most create a gentle breeze, but a hive's combined might can weave a spectacular hurricane, and that this is true for the fire they cast as well.

>>46137210
I think this is the kind of thing that would complicate things unnecessarily. "Bug" is the species term like "Man" is for humans, but "man" and "woman" are reserved for one's gender.

>>46137210
Drone for males I know this much

>>46137242
I had it in my head that the pyromancy came from the queen somehow, given that she is the true Goddess in their eyes.

>>46137210
>>46137264
I'm for just leaving it as Man and Woman, but still calling them "Bug" or "Mer" depending on what we're talking about

>>46137294
This is also a good idea. In fact, it's better. But it also goes a step back when it comes to "fleshing out". How does it work now?

>>46137386
This is what's in the doc right now
>Along with this empathic connection, all Bees are capable of vibrating their bodies at high speeds, which they use as a method of simple communication to groups of other bees.
>When sustained, bees can also greatly raise their own temperature forming the root of their famous pyromancy abilities.
>Though very energy intensive and noisy, the heat generation allows any bee to become a potential pyromancer.
>Although a rare occurrence, other bugs can learn pyromancy but must first generate the heat necessary for starting the spells by some other means.
>With the advent of Fly Alchemy this has become easier than ever and more than one Hive Queen has looked upon this with fear and anger.

>>46137218
BugWorld as a setting should be free for non-commercial use to anyone to use in their own games seeing as it is not just my work but the work of many others contributing content.

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>>46137469

>>46137474
Everyone gets BugWorld!

Some guy a couple of threads ago actually converted it for 5E

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>>46137532
Holy shit this is actually I dream come true. I've always loved bugs, thank you /tg/. Must. Make. Beetle. Paladins.

>>46137474
Its important that multiple contributions to group projects are not commercialized by singular people.

>>46137594
Go forth, make beetle paladins. Read up on the doc if you haven't!

>>46137898
No worries i'm just along for the ride.
>>46137966
I'm reading now, its so good, I love it.

>>46137966
>>46138000
Beetle Paladin master race

>>46138000
Any and all ideas that you have are welcome as well. Welcome aboard!
nice trips

>>46136592
>>46136913
>>46136950
Yeah Mole Crickets are separate from Grasshoppers. THey're their own faction that keep separate from everyone and sell their creations for protection.

A Hive or City that has access to a Mole Cricket forge through trade or protection has significant political and economic power because of their work.

Mole Crickets are an NPC Faction separate from all others. This is fact.

>>46138298
Ah ok ok, so they make the best weapons, but they're not to be played. Got it. Would the Grasshoppers interact with them/help in the forges at all? or no?

>>46137294
>>46137242
Bees originally were pyromancers because of how they can generate extreme heat from vibrating/buzzing their body.

Real bees, when attacked by wasps or hornets that are immune to their stings, will pile on them and start buzzing their bodies and increasing their body heat until they literally cook the invader to death

I also kinda hate the Queen is a God thing. Maybe as a progenitor, the Mother of All Hives and each queen is a divine-touched Descendant rather than living gods themselves

>>46138364
I can see a faction of Grasshopper Knights/Guardians being their sworn protectors. They get the best Cricket Forged steel weapons and armor while being their bodyguards when a Mole Crickt actually decide to come to the surface or to protect the location of the Forges from greedy bandits or rival forges like some of the more ruthless Bombadier blacksmiths

>>46138379
We have the Queen is God thing because the bees are a secluded, small race currently. Almost all bees live on their island to the far west, so they have only one Queen

>>46138425
That would be really cool, and it would let the Grasshoppers be able to live in the forges like I had thought.

>>46138470
>the bees are a secluded, small race currently.
For some reason I think they should be a lot more wide spread than this. Bees are very common in our world, after all.

>>46138470
>We have the Queen is God thing because the bees are a secluded, small race currently. Almost all bees live on their island to the far west, so they have only one Queen
Okay that sounds fake but I'll believe you lol

I dunno, living gods rubs me the wrong way. The fact that in real world bees and other eusocial insects and bugs the Queens have literally no control over the hive kinda bugs me with making God Queens.

Queens like bees, ants, termites, and wasps, they're not the Brain or Leader of the Hive. They're the Ovaries.

>>46138470
I thought the Bees were as widespread as the Ants.

It would be easy for the Wasps/Hornets, that have a blood feud with bees, to swarm their island and wipe them out.

As much as I absolutely loathe the Nazi/Hitler comparisons that the Wasps are getting from the /pol/-anons they would take advantage of the fact their enemy is in one single location.

>>46138540
The Queen isn't really a god, they just view her as one. She is the mother to all, so she is worshiped as the life giver.

The other hive creatures revere their queen as the live giver, but due to being in contact with the other races more often they do not view them as a God.

>>46138509
That's just kinda how it happened. They're kinda like Hobbits I guess

>>46138585
Yeah that makes no sense, sorry Mappy. We should get PRs judgement on this.

>>46138583
>>46138509
Reading through all this is making me question having the bees be secluded to the island like they are now.
How about they Queen lives on the island, but the Bees have settlements elsewhere as well?

>>46138600
It's all good. I guess I just really wanted to shove a species onto an island, because that sounded neat in my head

>>46138605
Only one queen? In the whole world?

Perhaps crabs sail around using the shells of shellfish?

So several crabs could ride in the shell of a clam with some food and cargo, for instance?

>>46138629
That could still be their origin but I just don't like the fact that this race we thought was widespread is ONLY on this one island. Plus I'm just anti-God Queen. COuld just be me though

>>46138630
Turns out i've been retarded this whole time. There are multiple Queens, who are revered as DEMI-gods. My bad

>>46138637
That sounds super cozy, I like it

>>46138665
No worries mang. I still like the idea of the Island being their ancestral homeland. Perhaps their unbreakable defense of it is what keeps pissing off the Mongol Wasps.

Plus Demi-God Queens feels more right than a living god queen. The Queen of All Hives should be a god like Lord Oznus, The Horned Father and Shelled Mother, and the like

>>46138648
>>46138630
>>46138583
>>46138736

Ok I have an idea.
>Bee mythology tells of the first Queen, blessed be her name, rising from the great pyre of the Red Mount
>She Claimed the land around her(bee island), and gave birth to 9 daughters
>With the help of her daughters, the Queen raised the Bee empire on this secluded island
>The daughters grew restless though, wanting more power, more room
>They each left the island, one by one, taking a legion of bees with them to settle the rest of the world
>All Queens to this day are said to be descended from these original 10
>The island remains a place of worship and prayer, fiercely protected
>Very few non-bees ever gain access to this island, even less the sacred halls of the Red Mount

>>46138775
This way we can weave the Demi-God Queens into the story, have the island, but still let the bees go wherever they please in the world

>>46138047
Im>>46137594

I found something that might be interesting.

>He may sound like he's straight out of a comic book, but the Oriental hornet indeed gets his electric superpowers from the sun. This incredible insect has specialized yellow tissues that can absorb sunlight, as well as brown tissues that generate electricity. The hornet uses this electricity as a power source — and is the only known animal that can convert sunlight into energy. Scientists made their surprising discovery after noticing that the Oriental hornet was active during times when the sun was most intense — an unusual trait for his kind.

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Might I also add that Coconut crabs would make great siege beasts or laborers. They'd be like war elephants

>>46138795
Yo that's super cool. Kinda gives a foil to the Bee pyromancy

>>46138963
I'm also pretty sure that we've discussed Coconut crabs as siege beasts before, but I don't know if it ever made it into the doc

>>46138963
>>46139006
Yeah they've been discussed as such a few times, just haven't made it into the doc

>>46138795
Oh dang this could be good. A foreign invading force of Hornets larger than even the native Wasps and Hornets creating cloud-less lightning storms at the peak of mid-day

What roles do worms play in bug world? I don't think I saw anything in the doc. I imagine they would be used for food because of their regenerative abilities.

>>46139164
Another antag, a cult of flesh because
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKpx2DxGwY

>>46139179
what the actual fuck, that's some love craft shit dude.

>>46139247
>Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
>Praise the great worm lord

>>46139247
>>46139179
>>46139164
Kinda inspired to make them like the Psurlons from DnD but different.

The Worms are harmless on their own and a favorite meal of burrowing bugs and behemoths. When they join together in large groups is when they become a problem. This unlocks an intelligence in them and a latent psychic or telekinetic ability, the Worm Mass becoming typically angry and pissed off at the surface world for whatever unknown reason that drives them.

Perhaps a genetic memory or an alien god/entity that can only be channeled through a grouping of Worms.

The Worm that Hates

In my mind, a lot of the races on the map seem far too isolationist and far from one another.

That could just be me, but there should be more "wilderness" and border-town type stuff, since that's where most of the action for any RPG would take place, and in these border towns, the spread of the ubiquitous races should probably be represented (Ants, Moths, Butterflies, Beetles, Bees, Wasps, Locusts, etc.), but with various colonies being under the influence of different empires.

IMO and I don't want to like, trivialize MapAnon's work, but a lot of basic stuff just seems too far from each other. Bees will virtually never encounter spiders, for example, given the state of things.

What I'm suggesting, is rather than creating a "true map," we hash out a a lot of different regions and themes and strong cultural flavour on a region per region basis and have them "free floating," sort of like puzzle pieces to be assembled by a GM at the start of a campaign to make their own bug world setting, but that still retains the full flavour of our work here while enabling them to be able to make their own campaigns.

It can be thought of as, since the whole world is scaled up, it's possible that all these bug worlds co-exist on a single, simply enormous planet, with cultural and regional tropes carrying over across various areas of the world. It keeps the world unknown, you know? Like on this map, that single beehive on bee island might be incredibly influential and powerful, and imagine the stupor of other races when they learn that "wait, there's more hives out there."

>>46139305
>>46139318
They're called Tubifex worm. They certainly are strange. Nice find Anon.

>>46139179
>>46139247
>>46139305
>>46139318
>>46139359
Tubifex Worms are sentient, worshipping the flesh, they often group up into large manipulatable blobs of flesh, and can shape their density, hardness and such on certain areas via the swarm, such as slivering around like a snake or as a fist to break through armor.

>>46139350
All of what you say are valid points, and I really appreciate the honest critique. It is hard for me to properly place "empires" and have all of those things that need to happen onto the map, given what little artistic ability I have. I don't have a "wilderness and border-town stuff" because I don't know where to put them, or I think that the smaller things should be left out now.

It still needs a lot of tweaking, and a lot of what I have on the map right now it not meant to represent the entire area claimed by a species, but just general landscapes and some key points. Your "puzzle piece" idea is neat though, and I had an idea kinda like that.
After the general geography was finished, I would zoom into each section of the map and add the little details.

Bee Island was pretty stupid though, we've fixed that up in the thread, I added what to change to my notes.

>>46139437
I prefer them like >>46139318
The physical avatar of an alien hateful god.

The Worm that Hates has a nice ring to it I think

Although I think we have Slugs filling a similar role in that they join together to become effective monsters while alone they're pretty harmless

>>46138795
This is neat. While the Bees would be famous for pyromancy among their casters, Hornets could be famous for electromancy.

>>46139350
I get what you mean. Currently, things are too far apart, and I think the point of the setting from an "actually playing it" point of view, is to have various different races in the same group, and to interact with plenty different races as well. Currently the distance makes this a bit unlikely.

>>46139522
I do need to work on "mixing" the races better, I've done a pretty lackluster job of that currently

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>>46139437
Like this?

>>46139563
How about a little retcon. The grey area could be like a grand city where all races come and go through

>>46138963
>Blackfeeler used an enormous coconut crab when he besieged the walls of New Clearwater, the largest freshwater shrimp settlement, itself
>he managed to make of with over three quarter's of the city's amassed wealth

>>46139511
Slugs are magical, while Worms are physical.

>>46139621
Off*

>>46139640
can you say cleric slugs

>>46139606
Another possible retcon is to reduce the size of the map, from "the whole planet", to "two large islands". It does conflict with the scale of some events already established, though. Khepri's Horn is a lot smaller now, for instance.

>>46139606
I don't want that area to be so isolated. I'm think that, because I have a lack of "stuff" to the east, that the east is fully populated with all races, while the west is more "segmented"

>>46139690
*thinking

>>46139606
That city would be way too big.

How about multiple mixed cities and settlements spread out around the world instead? The largest port would certainly have a lot of races coming, going, and living there. And an anon in previous threads was establishing the Pharaoh ant colony as a generally friendly one.

>>46139690
I meant the light grey area, it looks perfect for that sort of thing

>>46127556
...metal.

>>46139621
More on Blackfeeler?

>>46139666
I think a good retcon would to make this 2 continents. There is more to the world, but this is what we're focusing on right now

>>46139750
That's currently a giant wastes due to past conflicts, as that's what the thread wanted when I first showed the map

>>46139744
I like this. I've got everything spread too thin right now. I think I need to drop the "X lives here" and just create the geography until that's good. THEN we can go in and put cities

>>46139782
More on Blackfeeler!

>>46139522
Yes I'd ideally like the actual playing part of BugWorld to be nebulous enough to allow most of the races to interact at some level, much like say how the roman empire would have seen egyptians meeting spaniards by nature of their army service.

Sure, its unlikely that Scarabs might meet Crabs but it shouldn't be ruled out based on geography.

In general what I mean is that concrete geography like distances should be a little looser to accommodate for things much like how medieval maps were focused on location importance rather than accurate geography rather like how the maps of Siam had it as the centre of the world or crusader ones just started with Jerusalem and tacked everything on around it.

>>46139856
From the previous thread:
>Blackfeeler was one of the most notorious lobster privateers of his time, striking terror into coastal communities on nearly every continent.
>He was finally defeated by a courageous band of pistol shrimp who hunted him to his atoll port and burned it to the ground
>his massive wealth was then distributed among the shrimp villages nearby, jumpstarting the economy and giving rise to one of the richest trading empires of today

He's half Reef Lobster and half Deep Lobster, a la half orcs. Dunno what else he needs.

>>46139621
Coconut Crabs aren't sentient. Blackfeeler sounds more like a pirate crab or lobster

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>>46139906
Found this.

>>46139906
Just stories and whatnot, fleshing out the character. I'm adding what we have to the doc

>>46139868
I'll keep this in mind PR. Thanks for all the thoughts on the map/world/geography, I want it to be as good as it can be.

>>46139906
How much supernatural stuff is there? Can you say ghost lobster pirates?

>>46140024
Lobster voodoo?

>>46140070
The Craw people in the swamps probably practice voodoo, maybe even some Leech folk that left their villages to live as hermits

>>46140024
Ghost could be a thing. Ghosts are always neat

Do we have anything on naming conventions? I'd love to write something up but I'm terrible at names.

>>46140024
>There's rumours that seem to imply Blackfeeler the Pirate sails the seas once more. Many believe his ghost has come to claim revenge on the shrimp who have misused his fortune. Others claim it's merely an impostor or copy-cat, trying to ride on his coattails to achieve a reputation without having the experience. The few scholars who treat these roumors seriously theorize that ancient and mysterious Trilobite machinery could have brought him, or a version of him, back to life. Are the roumors true? And if so, which one?

>>46140142
I suck at names too, so maybe just leave the name as a blank, and as a nice anon to name them for you?

>>46140181
This seems like a great story hook for a nautical, Mer themed campaign!

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Along the Rivers and in the Swamps those that make their homes and living on them worry about the the predatory River Dragons, the hungry Salamanders and the sneaky Cuttlefish.

There are however, some of the large vertebrates that are tamed by the Leeches or Craw. One such is the Softshell Terrapin. These docile creatures are herbivores and easily tamed if raised from hatching to become beasts of burden and livestock for their handlers. Large enough to drag a boat or even have platforms attached to their fleshy backs and trained to stay near the surface these creatures are vital to many Craw villages, their meat, hides and bones very important to their way of life and trade.

>>46140247
Speaking of nautical:

http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/11/10/natures-scuba-divers-how-beetles-breathe-underwater/

>>46140181
My thoughts exactly.
>When the pistol shrimp heroes vanquished Blackfeeler and appropriated his fortune, they also took both of his claws as trophies
>This was forty seasons ago
>Now, they hang above the gates of a renovated New Clearwater, serving as a reminder of the evils of the past and inspiring vigilance among the shrimp House Guard
>on moonless nights one might hear faint laughing, or maybe the jingling of coin coming from these massive natural weapons

>>46140305
He's a lobster right? Coconut crabs are non-sentient

>>46140142
I just pick random nation groups and vaguely relate it. Like in this case its bastardized greek sounding.

"Patroklosus III, the current Lobster King of the reef, no longer resides in the palatial residents of their tropical islands having grown too large to comfortably or safely fit in most buildings. Instead upon his insistence a great vessel was constructed to hold his vast form taking with him a small cadre of assistants and guards. This royal barge still roams the sea often stopping at coastal lobster towns allowing the now senile Patroklosus to monitor for any would-be usurpers that have grown mighty with age in the hope of challenging them in combat. In his absence, Diraknos, his first born son, acts in his stead where his inexperience and penchant for the ‘highs of life’ has lead to more than a few problems, mostly centered around bastard children and infuriated husbands."

I have the image of Patroklosus roaring "YOU ARE HUGE BUT I AM HUGEST" floating around.

Also pity the lobsters that have Diraknos take an eye to their daughters and wives

>>46140337

>>46139906
>He's half Reef Lobster and half Deep Lobster, a la half orcs.

>>46140337
>>46139930
Maybe you should re-read this: >>46139621 , you seem to be confused.

>>46140269

What if the craw people train them as effectively being passenger and cargo ferries? The craw themselves can swim through the waters, but some species of bug can't, and many require passage through the swamps to reach border provinces, making the training and handling of the soft shells a very lucrative enterprise, even if they are ever endangered of losing their livelihood at the merciless jaws of a River Dragon.

>>46140380
But you're wrong, you dummy.

Coconut crabs are land-dwelling behemoths. They aren't intelligent. They're living siege weapons. This has been the lore for Coconut crabs from one of the first threads.

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>mermaids

>>46140364
Thanks for using my story PR, I love the names you chose!

>>46140409
BLACKFEELER was a LOBSTER who used a COCONUT CRAB as a SIEGE ANIMAL

>>46140409
no no, that post says that Blackfeeler, a lobster, USED a coconut crab as a siege weapon

>>46140409
>Reading comprehension

It says
>Blackfeeler used an enormous coconut crab
Not
>Blackfeeler used to be an enormous coconut crab

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>>46137031
Nah, grasshopper monks.

>>46140405
Whoops that was something I meant to include. They'd totally be turned into Ferrys for land-based bugs needing to travel the rivers and swamps.

I can see Leeches and Craws having close relations in some places, some villages formed of equal populations even. They would focus on raising their Softshells and Toads they each tamed.

>>46140451
>>46140445
>>46140442
oops, sorry. My reading comprehension goes out the window hwne I'm drunk

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>>46140412
>mermaids

>>46140514
all good drunk anon

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>Jasus Edwards is one of the most famed Mer sea captains in the world
>It's said that he could sail an upended river dragon shell through a tempest and come out the other side without so much as a drop of water getting in the boat

>>46140269
Speaking of Cuttlefish, have they been discussed yet? They could be the settings Krakens (besides bobbit worms), to change from giant octopi and squids. Those could be scaled down in exchange.

Spiders love to dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo2TUIEXJig

>>46140723
It should be the Scorpions, due to them dancing while mating.

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>>46140689
Well when I first mentioned Bobbit worms several threads back I included Cuttlefish.

They act like crocodilians in how they hunt. They lurk around the shorelines of rivers and lakes waiting for prey to come for a drink. THeir mimetic hide allows them to literally look like a submerged log as they drift close. Their clubs, the two extra long tentacles, would lash out and drag unsuspecting prey into the water where they're torn apart by their venomous beak.

I was thinking they could be hippo sized since a lot of cuttlefish irl are barely bigger than your thumb

>>46140723
Spiders are cute. CUTE!

>>46140778
>Scorpions dance a dance similar to the flamenco as part of a mating ritual

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>>46140791
There could be sea-born cuttlefish that are much larger and use their colorchanging skin to hypnotize unwary prey like Sirens of the setting.

>>46140842
>>46140791
>cuttlefish hide is highly sought after by many for many different purposes, from dazzling one's foes to hiding in the middle of a room

>>46140842
I dig it Leech Anon. Kinda like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3uDjjFFRGQ

>>46140910
Oh God, that part freaked me out.

>>46140823
>>46140810
>>46140778
>>46140723
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq-r20mlGes
Peacock Spider guys are the most vain of all spider-dancers

So I was looking at my past writings about the hornet dude I've done some threads ago (the warrior Ar'Kir), but some of the things I wrote...now I look at them and they see off.

Say, we have hive type insects. How would their whole population growth look like?

Would they have like normal families or implant the real life thing and have the queens be egg factories?

Also in the first threads I also thought about stuff like reproduction rights for those who are either certain soldiers or high-ranking guys and those who did something great that allowed them to earn those rights.

What do you think about it?

>>46140944
Spiders are my favorite bugs

>>46140842
They could be very versatile, honestly. Mimetic skin used to either sneak up close, hypnotize prey, or flash like a rainbow saying 'fuck this stealth nonsense. The environment should just blend in with me!'.

Also, unlike typical giant tentacled monsters in fiction, their arms are too small and the actual tentacles to as flexible to really reach out to grab and kill on a ship's deck or such, so it's used to fight off or crush at close range.

>>46140958
>Hive species have little semblance of a "family life"
>All are born from the current Queen of the hive and then sorted
>Men go off to to be raised in groups, under the guidance of a group leader, who they view as their Father
>All women are placed under the care of the queen and the older women
>All females are given the title Princess, with the eldest alive at the time taking over as Queen when the queen dies
>To be chosen to be a mate of the Queen is a great honor, for you are chosen for life
>When chosen, it is the males duty to help produce more eggs at all hours of the day
>This vigorous process normally shortens the life of the men drastically
hope that's not too magical realmy

how about that?

>>46141022
Spiders are rad

>>46141093
also
>To mate with someone other than the Queen is punishable by death
>The male, as well as all eggs/offspring will be executed, while the female is demeaned for the rest of her life
>Many princesses that are caught in this act attempt to flee the hive, instead of staying and living with the guild and jeering

>>46141129
>those that succeed start their own small Hives with their lovers

Thus could be an explanation for small beehives that are scattered around.

>>46141129
>>46141093
I was thinking that male and female members of a Hive race would just not be concerned with romance or lusts until the Queen either requires a new mate or a Queen dies and must be replaced by a worthy enough female from the Hives population. Those that get picked must be both considered worthy enough to step up to the responsibility, many male members becoming adventurers or soldiers with a good amount of females doing so as well. A strong adventurer or soldier would mean strong descendants.

Maybe the males have nearly yearly competitions in order to prove themselves as the current queens consort once she's used up her former drone.

Know what I find hilarious? There's a type of ant that if the queen dies any worker can step up and take over. They're called Gamergate Ants

>>46141240
I like your idea on the males having a competition to be the queens mate, could be pretty interesting. And there could be female adventurers too that leave of their own will, but I feel that it would be a rare occurrence, due to the opulent lifestyle they would live at home

>>46141240
That IS hilarious. I'm glad I learned this today.

>>46141240
A gamergate (/ˈɡæmərˌɡeJt/) is a mated worker ant that is able to reproduce sexually, i.e. lay fertilized eggs that will develop as females. Gamergates are restricted to taxa where the workers have a functional sperm reservoir ('spermatheca'). In various species, gamergates reproduce in addition to winged queens (usually upon the death of the original foundress), while in other species the queen caste has been completely replaced by gamergates. In gamergate species, all workers in a colony have similar reproductive potentials, but as a result of physical interactions, a dominance hierarchy is formed and only one or a few top-ranking workers can mate (usually with foreign males) and produce eggs. Subsequently however, aggression is no longer needed as gamergates secrete chemical signals that inform the other workers of their reproductive status in the colony.

>>46141182
That's a great idea! Small rebel hives

>a reclusive species, ghost crabs only come out of their burrows at night, and often poach other crabs' livestock
>few even know that ghost crabs exist, as their natural camouflage makes them nearly impossible to detect if someone does not know what they are dealing with

>>46141313
>>46141240
>Anti-feminist movement named after a very "feminist" ant
Yet another reason to make fun of GGers

>>46141319
>>46141304
Ant males from other colonies arrive at these competitions. It's becoming a taboo that a Male from a hive could potentially mate with his mother or sister queen.

THis could be a very good reason for male ants to become adventurers. Female ants could go off on their own as adventures too with the desire to become queens themselves but must prove themselves first.

>>46141093
>>46141129
Hmmm. So no female hornet adventurers?

I'd say that the females, other than the Princesses, are infertile due to the Queen's emphatic link. They cannot have kids because the Queen says so.

Only the Princesses and the Queen can produce offspring, yet the first ones are rarely born and in small numbers. Usually when the Queen is quite old.

Reproduction rights would be granted to those who are strong, did something impressive to have them granted, and when the hive has a shortage of members and the Queen doesn't want to have one of her successors to be the one to repopulate the whole hive...yet.

Still, a small clutch of eggs is all that is allowed, but that's all. In return, the "parents" need to have their offsprings made into total badasses and present them to the various hive institutions as something of a tithe. On the other hand, the parents can hope that one of their male offsprings may or may not become the Queen's future consort.

This is something I thought about. I came up with those things back when I was doing that story about a hornet bounty hunter (I really need to finish it), and Ar'Kir's story had that after he managed to save the hornets from a fiery retaliation driven by the Bees of The East and their Fire Mages, he became the consort of the new Queen whom he once saved from a Dragon Chameleon when she was still a Princess. And thanks to becoming her consort, the new generations inherited the possibility to be born with a unique mutation that made him a badass (aka: Baraka-esque arm-mounted stingers).

BTW, did we thought about possible mutations among the arthros? I'd see some as either blessings or curses depending on utility and situation.

>>46141357
>fiddler crabs often make crude shoreline settlements based around clam ranching
>despite their fearsome appearance, fiddlers are cowardly and their claws are largely used for mating purposes

>>46141517
No, there can be female adventurers, just it's a more rare sight, due to the opulent lifestyle that they would have

>>46141517
We haven't touched on anthro mutations in a while, but I do remember your story, it was pretty good.

>>46141551
>>46141357
yay crab fluff

>>46141579
>>46141613
>there can be female adventurers
Well that's good. Having only males as adventurers would be kinda...one-dimensional?

Also I'll go and get back to it when I get more time.

>>46141627
Yeah no worries, everyone can go adventure. Culture just dictates some of it

>>46141357
"his crab can produce a variety of sounds by striking the ground with the claw, by stridulation with the legs, and an incompletely explained "bubbling sound". Males compete in a heavily ritualised manner which prevents the need for physical contact."

Related.

>Centipedes are monsters but are actually sentient and excessively cruel

>Skeletons are just empty exoskeletons. The lack of eyes and antenna are what is spooky

>Locust's are usually Bezerkers

>There are no gods and this is low fantasy

>There are gods but for everything. Like there's a god for the cool side of the pillow and a god of morning dew. The pantheon is needlessly complicated

>Magic is super rare but super effective, often the very lifeforce of the caster being the fuel for the spell

>The planet has rings from when the second moon was destroyed by mysterious forces in prehistory

>There are eldritch forces constantly moving against the world where secret orders combat them

>Guilds, like gods if we go Noblebright high fantasy, are fucking everywhere. No facet of the economic situation doesn't have a guild. Shipwrights Guild, Hive Builders guilds, sell sword guilds.

>Mercenaries and sellswords are super common as most of the world is in political gridlock and the last open war to be had fucked everything

>Monsters, Dragons, Giants, and Kaiju are exceedingly common, and there are guilds/mercenaries that specialize in Monster Hunting. Nya~!

>The jungles make Catachan look like a summer resort.

>The deserts make Iraq look like a daycare.

>The mountains make Afghanistan and Middle Earth look like playgrounds.

>The world is basically a balls to the fucking wall death world

Posting hornet fluff since it seemed a bit unfair that bees would get fire powers

"In the last few decades after a partial eclipse of the sun predicted by the Butterfly Conductors, a strange trait has been found in newborn hornets. Patches of brown and yellow colouration seem to collect sunlight and with it, generate a current. These strange hornets have been heralded by the Butterfly groups as ‘Light-Blessed’. Further investigation into this odd trait has led to these unique hornets being taken as apprentices at a young age and trained by Butterfly Maestros to control their current, unlocking frightfully effective electric powers. While these ‘Light-Blessed’ are few in number, the mutation is occurring drastically often in young, a common whisper being that the Paper Empresses lineage itself has more than a few ‘Light-Blessed’ inheritors."

>>46142278
I like it. Origin of the Hornet Electromancers.

How much do we have on cockroaches so far? I was thinking it'd be cool if they were all paranoid hermits who lived underground in constant fear of a magical-nuclear war.

>>46142461
Check out the doc for everything I've written and included

Roaches are middlemen basically and quite particular about cleanliness. Also they have a black market but there's nothing written about that properly yet

>>46142537
Oh, I searched for Cockroach, not roach. That explains why I didn't see it.

Appearently German and American cockroaches have "elaborate social structure, chemical signalling, and "social herd" characteristics". Maybe there could be like a cockroach mafia or something that runs the black markets?

>hermit crabs are exceptionally frail and thus use the shells of sea snails as armor
>hermit crab sorcerers are some of the most powerful mages in the ocean, capable of conjuring destructive tempests
>a council of hermit crab sages could theoretically create a large enough tsunami to wipe out most of the Carapace Coast, though it would be against their strict code of noninterference with other cultures

>>46142029
>>Centipedes are monsters but are actually sentient and excessively cruel
We've been debating their sentience. Most seem to want them as giant kaiju
>>Skeletons are just empty exoskeletons. The lack of eyes and antenna are what is spooky
Got those, we call them Shells for reanimated exoskeletons and Hollows for Liches
>>Locust's are usually Bezerkers
Pretty much. They're fine and peaceful enough in small groups or solo but in big groups they sorta WAAAUGH!/Hulk out
>>There are no gods and this is low fantasy
False, there are a lot of gods. Magic is becoming less common with the advancement of alchemy and blackpowder weapons thanks to a scientific revolution led by the Flies
>>There are gods but for everything. Like there's a god for the cool side of the pillow and a god of morning dew. The pantheon is needlessly complicated
It's headed that way
>>Magic is super rare but super effective, often the very lifeforce of the caster being the fuel for the spell
Magic was pretty common but as said above attendance to magic academies is dropping due to the ease of guns.
>>The planet has rings from when the second moon was destroyed by mysterious forces in prehistory
I like this, this could be used.

>>46142633
>>There are eldritch forces constantly moving against the world where secret orders combat them
This is factual. There is a Nameless Mad God of Venom that desires widespread violence and chaos as an example
>>Guilds, like gods if we go Noblebright high fantasy, are fucking everywhere. No facet of the economic situation doesn't have a guild. Shipwrights Guild, Hive Builders guilds, sell sword guilds.
I believe this to be factual as well
>>Mercenaries and sellswords are super common as most of the world is in political gridlock and the last open war to be had fucked everything
Sounds about right
>>Monsters, Dragons, Giants, and Kaiju are exceedingly common, and there are guilds/mercenaries that specialize in Monster Hunting. Nya~!
Exactly
>>The jungles make Catachan look like a summer resort.
Yup.
>>The deserts make Iraq look like a daycare.
Indeed. Complete with scorpion empire. Bipedal Scorpions rule the empire while centaur scorpions are nomads with giant tortoise herds.
>>The mountains make Afghanistan and Middle Earth look like playgrounds.
Si senor
>>The world is basically a balls to the fucking wall death world
It's quickly becoming that way for sure. Hell even the opening of the Googledoc, which you really should've read before spewing all this, explains that succinctly.

>>46142611
Yup. Most roaches live in cities as the workforce since they're neurotic and neat-freaks irl. We do have the black-markets being a mainly Roach controlled industry so Roach Crime Families would make perfect sense

>>46142633
I'm more for the hollow name than shells.

>>46142629
>>46141613
4U

>>46142611
A roach mafia seems like a great idea, given how they act in real life, and how they run the black market here

>>46142668
>which you really should've read before spewing all this, explains that succinctly.
>I'm a prick, the post
You the guy that tanked Biomarines?

>>46142668
>>46142633
I'm pretty sure he was suggesting options rather than trying to worldbuild, thus the two contradicting "facts" about bug gods.

>>46142745
biomarine what? If that's a 40k thing I have no idea.

I was just going through explaining things that are easily enough read in the googledoc, but yeah, I'm a prick, sorry

>>46142633
>>46142668
If Berzerk had an optimistic and quirky tone. I actually like that idea.

>Yeah our world is one of death and conflict, but there's no reason to be a downer about it.

Also, magic could enter its own revolution later, if it starts being studied like another branch of science, making advancements, and finding technological applications.

>>46142715
>>46142668
How's this:

"Most of the black markets are run by one of 4 major cockroach crime families, families whose influence goes back so far that historians have lost track. They are highly protective of their business, and few outside of the families are ever aloud into any part of the production or distribution process. The four major families are the Carlione, which primarily deals in pure, high quality drugs, the Cante, who control many facets of the entertainment industry, the Taero, a family of arms dealers more than willing to back both sides of a conflict, and the Rezae, who sell pheromones (either farmed or chemically manufactured) of various types to various species."

>>46143000
They would have big connections to Fly merchants and alchemists, possibly even secretly funding some of the largest Fly Research Schools so they would have access to the best alchemical discoveries both narcotic and weaponized

>>46142629
>>46141551
>>46141357
Thoughts guys?

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>>46143125
I'm digging it. Any lore for these Mangroove Crabs?

I think we were gonna have a bunch of subraces of crabs but having a similar stat block for ease of customization

>>46143125
I think it's great, I put it all in the google doc

>>46143226
I would have them as mounts.

>>46143000
>>46143044
This is awesome! I assume the families all hate each other? Or have some kind of "we work together, but only because we have to" alliance?

>>46143226
Which kind? There appear to be multiple.

>>46143325
I'd say they prefer to maintain distance, but aren't necessarily in direct competition, since they all have different specialties. They'd probably love to screw each other over though, at any opportunity they get.

>>46143348
The tree ones, I see now.
>Mangrove tree crabs are druidic tenders of their holy trees, zealously guarding them from all intruders
>Though harming a mangrove would incur their wrath, passage through their territory may be bought with an offering of meat, which they cannot easily acquire

>>46143449
That's some great stuff for the black market, I'm gonna go throw that into the doc

>>46144021
Never mind, PR already got it. Good work

Are there bug clerics? What gods do they pray to?

>>46144504
The doc details various faiths, many of which would have clerics, yes.

Moths make good clerics.

>>46139065
"They came from the east in massive numbers, the beats of their wings were the only sounds in the sky. The land became shrouded in darkness when they came, then there was the light. Brilliant streaks of purple ripped apart the soldiers in response we fired back with our own magnificent flames. The dark was perforated by the clashing colors, it was a bloody spectacle to behold." ~ Found letter of a bee comander

Have we discussed how land bugs can survive under water and vice versa? I think someone mentioned some sort of biological apparatus invented by trilobites once.

>>46144793
I don't think there's been any big discussion of that at this point. I think Beetles can hold their breath for very long in real life though, so they should be fine underwater.

Crabs, shrimp, and lobsters can stay on land indefinitely in this setting

>>46144643
Nice fluff Beetle Anon.

This setting isn't wierd enough.

Like so far it's really lazy Culture+Bug and everything else is a bug unless it's a kaiju.

Then when folks try and introduce standard fantasy stuff people say it's not unique enough. Like what?

We need more wierd shit. Or so how elders rolls does and have to shit be wierder the deeper you get into the lore.

>>46146166
I wanna get Morrowind level of weirdness

>>46146166
What kind of "weird" do you mean? What do you have in mind?

The reason we don't have standard fantasy stuff is because that's not what we want. By putting standard fantasy stuff into the setting it detracts from what we've been going for this whole time.

>>46146166
gotta start simple before you can start diverging into weird

>>46146263
This.

>>46146266
Like Bugs Life had Sex with a Brandon Sanderson book and had a baby that was raised by Warhammer Fantasy Battles and The Elder Scrolls. This all occurs in Discworld.

That's the kind of wierd I hunger for.

>>46146377
>some dung beetles are adept in fecomancy

>>46146552
>Golden Mound clerics can draw their power from their own fecal matter, much to the disgust of others

>>46146552
>>46146632
Let's not.

>>46146641
I agree. The Golden Mound religion is okay, actually using it for anything practical is not.

>>46146641
>Golden Mound clerics can draw their power from the idea of the Golden Mound, which is still kinda gross, but less so

>>46146641
He wanted weird.

>>46146674
>>46146675
For real though, it should probably not be able to produce battle/magic clerics

>>46146685
poop magic is kinda magical realm

>>46146552

Maybe there's a spreading cult among the moths stealing spotlight from the Lunar Temples. Those that join it don't consciously realize what's happening, because they are soul touched, they are dreamers awakening from Lunara's great facade. They are the Wakeful, and they know nothing but ravenous consumption. Their high priests are Gluttomancers, who use the act of eating itself as a ritual for their convocations. So far, only Lunar Temples have been found desecrated, their tapestries and artworks devoured with nothing left save for a handful of moths left behind, too fat from their rituals to move.

There are rumours from the border towns that some of the smaller Lunar Temples, sometimes no more than a small hovel, have had not only their ornaments but also their clergy devoured.

There is great concern that this will get worse with each passing moon, and the perpetrators are impossible to find because they blend into society until they strike, then vanish. What their rituals are doing is a complete mystery.

The High Priests of Lunara dread the coming of the Red Moon several cycles from now...

NO POOP MAGICS

>>46146725
Wow this is some really good fluff, kinda like the hunger of the Locusts

>>46146685
Weird and unique not fucking shit magic you cuckold

>>46146702
I think mundane clerics is perfectly fine. The Golden Mound holymen should be more like our real life priests. More 'guiding the herd' than 'channeling holy will'.

>>46146725
But the Red Moon is already their second biggest holidays after Moon Day (Solar Eclipse), and something of a cross between halloween and easter for the children. Unless this is detailing the first Red Moon experienced by Lunarians.

>>46146781
Fair enough.

>>46146793
Yeah, normal priests sure, but not magic wielding battle clerics. More Father Johns

>>46146769
Spoiler alert im locust anon.

It's different though. The locusts are overcome with a primal and irresistible need to eat, the moth cults are eating as an act of iconoclasm and to fuel their sorceries. It's a deliberate thing, and also adds a clandestine threat within. I have no idea what they are doing, magically, but it's deviant behaviour.

Something about eating and hunger really strikes a chord for me with bugs. Will do some work on town life soon like I said I would

>>46146882
Shit magic aside, I like the idea of a rhinoceros beetle war cleric.

>>46146725
>>46146807
>>46146908

Oh hey Locust
Yeah, I would change it from Moon day, the whole idea is super neato though, it does feel very "buggy" and does hit the weird that the one anon wanted. Helps the world be more unique

>>46146807

And these deviant iconoclasts are a macabre reflection of their own beliefs. It's not a far stretch to guess they have something shitty planned.

>>46146909
There are probably a ton of War-Clerics dedicated to The Horned Father and Shelled Mother. Should Khepri be named a Saint of their Order?

The Order of Horn and Shell. They are the Gods living instruments of justice and order. They stride into battle with their metal-shod horns or mandibles, bodies armored in the best Chitinmold or Cricket Steel, their weapons heavy warpicks and shields that look like a beetles horn and carapace. Their prayers and hymns to the Gods fill them and their comrades with divinely bolstered strength and courage, protecting them against bullet and spear and venom. The War-Clerics are among the best fighting forces of the Beetle Clanships, their might and influence invaluable on a battlefield or in an adventuring party.

>>46146955
>>46146908
Perhaps we could include this mothmen vampires that an anon posted last thread I think.

Shadowy unseen moths that corrupt the devote Lunarian priests, encouraging them to give into their vices and embrace the hunger. The act of consumption is a holy rite to them.

For the night consumes the day and in the end times their darkness will consume even the cold light of the moon and fires of the sun, even the lights of the stars will be consumed. The world will be consumed by darkness and be reborn from its sacrifice.
(sorry, got carried away with that)

>>46147027
Khepri might be a saint, if only because he's motherfucking KHEPRI

The Order of Horn and Shell is a great name for that though, seems like a neat idea. Gives a good alternative for the religious followers of The Divine Horn and Shell other than magic, as I don't feel beetles are as fit to be magic users

>>46147116
Edgy. I like it

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>>46145728
See, this is where I wish the setting was actually small and not 'scaled-up'. At that scale, fluid dynamics would actually make it easier to transport air underwater:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-RtG5Z-9jQ
Because of how it works for beetles in real life, it would allow the relatively easy creation of scuba gear. I think that's a lot more interesting.
I thinks it's a lot more interesting in general if the setting were small and functioned at that scale of physics

Like falling:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1425/why-can-bugs-fall-great-distances-and-survive-but-humans-wont
It makes heights less lethal, but it also allows you to have sweet air battles without them being 1-hit kill fests. You get cool fights more often and the lethal ones will feel even cooler because now they're over a carp-filled lake, or against a flock of rocs, or over centipede territory and now you have to survive on foot

Or walking on water:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y2oLPH3l6E
It's still cool as an ability, but now it has at the very least a neat visual effect for magic or a physical explanation for tech

It would also make flowing and falling water especially dangers to bugfolk. Anything more than a light rain or a small trickle would hurt like hell as bowling ball sized drops hit you on the head. Imagine a duel in the rain now. Rivers and floods become much more treacherous

I just think small physics would make the setting that much more interesting. Taking off of what someone said last thread, the flipping of perceptions is one of the things that makes this setting really awesome. That fighting an iguana is now some epic battle the bards will sing of. I think the same theme should be reflected in movement and environment as well

>>46146166
>>46146263
>>46146685
>>46146377
If you want weird, this may be the way to do it without adding standard fantasy elements

>>46146552
Maybe if with just called it filth magic? I like the bug version of plague cultists

You want weird now?

ok throwing out ideas

>some crab warriors reach a level of combat where they intentionally sever one of their arms and use it as a weapon itself
>bombadier beetles secretly eat gunpowder which is addictive and are becoming enslaved to fly pushers
>a strain of Not-HIV is spreading throughout bugs that use mite and tick jewelry feeding off them
>A beetle practice of renowned priests is to lacquer themselves into mummies for all time
>A fly technician has claimed he has found a way to live forever based on sealing himself in a mercury filled suit of discarded beetle husks. He is utterly mad but has lived thrice his lifespan if its to be believed.
>Wild gnats have been seen to congregate around the ancient cairns and if you allow them to bite you you will dream lucidly in the body of the bug kings buried there. Don't get bit a lot of times or you will forget who you are and never wake up.
>A former hornet architect turned recluse has reappeared claiming that through her experiments is is entirely possible that any wrapped object done so with the right folds, any object can be made temporarily non-existent, that is, to be folded and be reduced to a 0 sided object. This was scoffed at until somehow she carefully undid a complex bow and three Bull-Aphids appeared. When asked why she pulled the bow in such a way she said "If I was to do it right-to-left the poor things would be inside out". No one knows what to think of this as she mysteriously disappeared once again.

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>>46147116
Oh someone remembered my shitty doodles

>>46147225
Can we just say fuck it and make things small?

>>46147225
>It would also make flowing and falling water especially dangers to bugfolk. Anything more than a light rain or a small trickle would hurt like hell as bowling ball sized drops hit you on the head. Imagine a duel in the rain now. Rivers and floods become much more treacherous.

This would make the hermit crabs' policy of isolationism and noninterference make more sense, as they could be incredibly destructive.

>>46147268
>Due to bombadier beetles eating gunpowder, some of them are volatile
>Possibly blowing up if coming into contact with fire

Those are pretty weird, and I love it. The hornet one is really weird though. Like, I don't even get where that came from weird

>>46147225
>>46147353
Maybe we could scale things down, but one of the reasons we didn't originally was because we didn't want every rain storm to be the end of the world.

I'm personally not in favor of small people, but a big world in some spaces.

>>46147353
We discussed this previously, and chose against it for several reasons.

>>46147420
Yeah that one was a bit too weird.
I like pretty much all of them >>46147268
All except the first and last.
Love the lacquer mummies.

>>46147366
Now I can't stop thinking of hermit crab equivalents for the Unseen University faculty.

>>46147027
I'm going to get flack for this, but I want rhino beetle spess mehreens.

>>46147519
Well the first one actually does happen to a degree, so I think we should keep it in.

>>46147481
This seems redundent, since the size of the races vary greately already. We have some who are already pretty small, and others that would be pretty big regardless.

I vote for keeping stuff as we've had it

>>46147548
It should all probably just stay as is

>>46147591
size wise I mean, oops

>>46147268
>A beetle practice of renowned priests is to lacquer themselves into mummies for all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_KAUcRBlWs

>>46147481
I agree it shouldn't be the end of the world, but it's not the end of the world for real insects. The reasons for that are even more interesting. Most insects can sense the incoming weather and get to cover before it hits; even those that get caught out are almost certainly going survive unless they get caught up in what equates to a flash flood or mudslide. The drops may be bowling ball sized but they'd be more like getting hit by bundles of paper towls or big rubber balls. Much more of a hazard or inconvience than it is to us, but rarely lethal.

>>46147492
Out of curiosity, what were the reasons?

>>46147790
Even if it is not deadly, it contributes to a more "Bug's Life" feeling, which we decided is very much not what we're going for.

>>46147225
I thought everything was bug sized. By their standards it's normal size but to humans it'd be small.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis

Who /zombie ants/ here? Given that ants are so populous, there's no way we can't work this into a zombie disease somehow.

>the more useful a hermit crab is to their society, the more luxurious shells they are permitted to own
>the grand sage council has fabulously embossed artificial shells carved from mother of pearl

>>46147882
Cordyceps is in, currently aided by Cicada death cultists.

>>46147790
Some people said that bug sized was boring, therefore we should be human size

writefag here Is there aything that you folks need writing about?

>>46147996
The grand council of hermit crab weather wizards!

>>46147919
Is this it?

>>46147996
If you know anything about Noh theatre, we want that kind of thing for the Moths. But probably write something on the termites, they are really lacking lore

>>46148031
>>46067558
whoops

>>46147859
Really? I pictured it fitting in in the realistic tone the setting has so far. I actually pictured, in PR's style, something like an ant pulling a rickshaw through the rain for his roach customers. The rickshaw had a tented roof and extended over the 'driver' who was wearing tall wooden sandals. They were all passing by a grasshopper sitting under some brush on the side of the road.

>>46147919
I'm kinda surprised by that too, I think small physics are so much cooler.

>>46148058
Nah, in one of the earlier threads when we were discussing it, a couple people pushed hard for human sized bugs, there wasn't all that much arguement iirc. So we came to the compromise of human sized bugs with everything but rain is scaled up.

>>46148103
I agree, but I didn't feel like arguing and then having the shitposting that comes from that disagreement. A GM can change sizes anyone, so it doesn't matter as much

>>46148103
There's a lot of things that change other than that. Weapon physics, grains of sand that are actually grains of sand, the aforementioned water falling form the sky problems, the fact that agriculture becomes possible.

The only things we really lose are the physics of flight, which we have been kind of avoiding thus far, but it's a bit of handwaving that I'm happy with.

>>46148207
Sorry, not trying to start an argument. I'm going to run it small physics for my games either way, I just think it improves the setting and I'm curious if other people agree. If it's an official part of the setting it can influence certain lore and especially mechanics later on. I'm fine whichever way the decision goes, I just want to make a case for it and see what others think.

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>>46142029
>>There are eldritch forces constantly moving against the world where secret orders combat them
Behold, the true face of such eldritch abominations!

>>46148391
Nah its fine, as long as it doesn't descend into the Centaur vs Bipedal civil war.

>>46148231
Also I forgot about these reasons, so herp derp my selective memory

>>46148595
Humans don't exist, though.

>>46148391
Consider it an alternate reality and if you're prepared to account for the aspects that don't fit such as the physics, its completely fine and opens up a whole different box of ideas.

For ease of creation though, they will continue to be written as human sized

>>46148595
no

>>46148627
Well yeah, but someone said eldritch and humies were the first thing to come to mind.
I'm not even certain how you would describe us to these bug people.

>>46148654

>Unfathomably large Titans, larger than even the biggest of cities or under halls. They tread the world aimlessly, destroying and creating without care or whim. We are nothing to them. They are devoid of empathy and think on a level completely alien to us.

Their bodies are inside out, their meat on the outside, vulnerable and naked, they coat themselves in the hides of behemoths, and some of the land itself. In the bayous of the craw people, they hunt the moving islands themselves, bringing ruin to entire civilizations as they foist the landmass from the water and skin it for its hide.

>>46148231
Ah, true, arrows wouldn't work at all realistically.
I just imagined sand would be like gravel and farmers would either grow smaller things or chop up larger produce. Instead of 100 turnips, you grow 1 turnip per field and sell it by the pound. I can see that starting to have a Bug's Life feel to it. Hmm, maybe I'll just use the water and gravity for my own games.

>>46148638
I get you.
Great thing about tabletops, there's always house-ruling.

>>46148826
>Entire civilizations.
Wouldn't you just need to scare them off with some spiders?

>>46148826
>>46148897
No humans, not even as eldritch horrors, unless you want to homebrew them.

>>46148826
Humans don't exist in this setting in any shape or form unless you decide to put them into your own games

>The Tome of Nayaa'Zan'Huluul fri'Nz Domu'Ruaz
>Most Deva texts are half shredded bundles of Madness bound in color and blood. Those that read these bizarre works of art are often driven into a dazed and confused state, those that read and understand them are thrown into the depths of madness.
>There is but one Tome of the Mantis Shrimp that is not beyond the reach of mortal comprehension, but the information within is enough to break the weak minded.
>Carved upon the shell plates of a Deep Mer of a few centuries of age and bound together by copper wire this heavy tome is a grand thesis on the nature of the universe. Translated it means the Book of Five Spheres, and it details the placement of the universe between five spheres of existence or being. A simplified version of this model is a system of two wheels where the universe exists between their touching points.

>>46148946
Deva are fucking crazy. I love it

>>46148871
>Ah, true, arrows wouldn't work at all realistically.
Not just arrows. Bludgeoning weapons in general would be useless, at a volume proportional to what we're used to, the force exerted will barely scratch chitin, and would glance off harmlessly off the plate. Larger volumes would be more meaningful, but would probably be too cumbersome and large to be practical. Bladed weapons become a bit less niche than what they are currently, since aiming for the joints becomes the only viable strategy. Piercing weapons will suffer from the bludgeoning weapon's problem of not enough force exerted, but the small area gives them an edge over blunt weapons. Still useless though.

In general it just makes the whole fighting aspect very boring. Swords are the only weapon fielded and even then, it becomes a long turtling game of protecting your joints and aiming for theirs. Really, I think this reason is the prime one for keeping the insects human-sized. Your games can be whatever, though. If we can handwave the insects still being able to fly, you can have your weapons acting as if human-sized.

>>46148826
They don't exist, because monkeys and such don't. They wouldn't make allot of biological sense either, due to all the nutrients you would need even for a young one.
Not to mention even if one did show up, it can be easily handled through wasp swarms. Hell, even a furkin Black Widow could ruin their shit rather easily if they can bite it.

>>46149088
Yeah, it's all about what you're more willing to suspend your disbelief about.
So pretty much everything would need to be made out of ultra-lead? Hmmm, no... no, I think that's one I'm gonna hand-wave.

>>46149243
Eh Black Widows aren't all that dangerous, only to little kids and old people. My mom was bitten by one once and she only had a mild headache and pain throughout the day.

>>46149243
Actually the spiders would have a looooot of trouble. Even recluse bites aren't as bad as they're rumored to be. Usually what a doctor diagnoses as a spiderbite is actually a bacterial infection.

>>46149320
Anything Australian will ruin ya fukkin' day though

>>46149362
would be painful as hell but unless you're a kid, an old person or someone with a weakened immune system, you'll be fine. Spiders for the most part are all harmless and a death from one is a statistical anomaly

>>46149344
Well yeah, but fear of spiders is a very common fear for good reason. Not to mention it would still hurt like a bitch.

>>46149404
>fear of spiders is a very common fear for good reason
It's actually a learned fear so culturally ingrained into everyone at a young age it only seems natural to most people. Not instinctual.

Anyone, even the most arachnophobic person in the world, can have their fears ammended within four hours with the correct lessons. There are zoos that actually provide these lessons for spiders and snakes as well

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Anything about these fucks?

>>46149312
There's also something I failed to mention. Maybe you're in the mood to go full Bug's Life unrepentently, and just scratch the idea of non-bladed weapons altogether. Bugs are extremely adept at killing each others just fine without them, and they do this by exploiting just how terrible organic matter in general is at keeping itself together at that scale. Mantises just pry off each other's heads, and bite chunks off other insects with just their mandibles. Insects with pincers can pull chitin plates off another insects, etc. Just a suggestion though, it's just like you said, what you suspend your disbelief.

>>46148103
'Realistic' is the wrong word I feel. We have sentient bugs that clan use magic and fight shroom zombies and warp or exaggerate traits of real world equivalents. There isn't really a 'realistic tone' anymore than any other fantasy setting, and isn't a good argument for passing some major change as a result. We should keep it as is.

>>46149458
I was thinking about flavoring them as a tribe/clan of wandering druid type people

>>46149483
Maybe not realistic but Low Fantasy and maybe a little grim like Morrowind and Old World Warhammer

>>46149466
If we did go small we would have to make completely different weapons then those humans use, an idea would be something like a crowbar to rip apart your enemy. I still think we should just keep human weapon physics because it is a lot easier, then inventing whole new weapons to work

>>46149344
>>46149320
It would still hurt like hell though. Not to mention even the ants would be able to get it to fuck off and possibly panic under favorable conditions.
Don't even get me started on the butterfly mages, because you typically don't have to worry about thinking creatures trying to set your hair on fire.

This thread died a lot quicker than I thought, we should make a new one.

>>46149560
We already did things like that, acounting for things like multiple limbs. But as human size, we have more variety instead of just using those invented weapons.

>>46149636
Dead? What are you talking about? We're still talking.

>>46149662
But we're falling off the board, that's what I meant.

>>46149685
Ah. Okay.

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So how is amber in this setting? Has it been fluffed up for anything yet?

>>46149449
>It's actually a learned fear so culturally ingrained into everyone at a young age it only seems natural to most people. Not instinctual.
Doesn't mean it wouldn't be learned by humies in this setting, because not only do their bites hurt but they're smart enough to organize against you.
Heck the entire reason why spider bites is a anomaly is because a spider has no reason to bite you in this world. This world doesn't have to worry about intelligent spider people.

>>46149737
as currency actually. There was an ancient colossal tree breed that is now extinct. It's amber is harvested and used as currency. We discussed a banking guild that has an office in each city. The guild would be run by flies and pseudoscorpions I think it was.

>>46149841
Maybe we could use something like the pic, where rich roach families sometimes decide to "immortalize" people who really fucked up with them.

>>46150116
I like it. Throw them into vats of fresh sap and let them suffocate in them. The vats get sealed and allowed to harden, the process likely hastened by magic or alchemy. It's easy enough to tell fresh Amber from the legal tender that is legit Fossilized Amber

New thread?

>>46149483
My argument wasn't that it should be changed because it was more realistic, I said I thought it was more interesting and created cool scenarios.
In the post you're referencing I was saying that I didn't imagine something as being like "a Bug's Life", I imagined it being more "realistic." You're right that that's not the right term; but realism was not my reasoning for suggesting small physics.

>>46150316
Maybe wait til morning when there's more activity?

Has anyone touched on early life yet? How many babies do most species actually have? Is it hundreds and they aren't seen as sentient until a certain point or is it mostly one at a time like humans? Is creating a cocoon or pupa a right of passage into adulthood or an earlier stage of development?

>>46148946
Wait, since the Mantis Shrimps can see in more colors than us... could it be that some Mantis Shrimp tomes are actually maddening to behold? Colors that aren't there, false colors that clash together and cause headaches - to non-Mantis Shrimps.

>Tome of Prophecies
Some say there is a tome locked deep in [insert Mantis Shrimp archive/monastery] that detail the past, present, and future, and allows you to see anywhere in the world you want to. But the catch is, it's written in Mantis Shrimp colors - and encoded in riddles and puzzles, so only the most learned and most perceptive of the Mantis Shrimps can decode its passages.

>>46151712
The Deva see shit that either isn't their or that normal bugs can't see.

Their either crazier than batshit or the most sane people in the world.

Personally? I think that they aren't crazy or sane, just more aware of the things that should not be.

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Working on this...
Mostly for fun.

>>46152845
You can't bump a thread with more than 310 replies, newfag.