#antfolk

[vodka-with-a-sippy-straw]

Ant Adventurer

Had a prompt to draw and explorer. Decided to go with an ant person who is a cartographer. Unfortunately I forgot that a bugs life already exist LMAO. Doesn't matter had fun

[betabites]

Monster-A-Day: Abatwa

A !chan oral addendum to the Rhymes of the Iron Lord.

Ant rider, poison wielder

Tiny as can be

Proud, our Mockery

Listen well to me, friend, for the abatwa are a danger. A danger to you. To me. To our people. The abatwa are a danger because they are small. ‘Small things are not dangerous,’ says the big man to himself. ‘Small things cannot reach me. They cannot bring me low.’ But the big man is wrong. Because they are small, they can take you unawares. Because they are small, they are thought no threat. Because they are small, and you are large, they will hurt you much more.

The abatwa know that they are small. They know that we are large. But they do not accept this. They believe that they are large, as large as you or I. And if you try to prove them wrong, they will get angry. They will get angry, and they will hurt you. They will hurt you because they are small, and you are large. But they cannot fight like we do. They cannot take spears and shield and kill a lion. They cannot run a gazelle to death. They have their spears and their shield, but they are toys - totems for them to pretend they are large.

The abatwa uses poison. Poison from the plants, poison from the animals, poisons from the earth. They take poison from all the world and use it against anyone who would make them feel small. 

The abatwa command insects. They ride the ant into battle. They send the termite against our homes, the locust against our crops. They send the mosquito to torment us. They use the wasp and the bee to harry us.

But the abatwa is more than their poison, more than their insects. They look like us, they talk like us, but they are not us. They are a game by the fey, to mock us. To make it seem that we are the small ones. That we are the ones who cannot see past our own faces. That they are the wise, far-seeing ones. That we should submit to their rule. And that is why the abatwa are our enemies. They are not our enemies because they are small. They are not our enemies because they are proud. They are our enemies because they mock us.