#bug fables ants

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more bug fables artstyle studying…

ant

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“Bug Fables” Headcanons: Ant Edition

Queen Elizant and her people are fire ants, specifically Solenopsis invicta. Like other Awakened bug species, they have long since lost the ability to produce venom.

The Ant Kingdom being more ethnically diverse than its neighbors isn’t entirely due to the Queen’s promotion of the Explorer’s Association. As acknowledged in-game (see: the ant-mimic spiders), many species of arthropod have evolved to mimic and live among ants; and while some ant mimics are predators or parasites, many others are commensalists or mutualists. Thus, from the Day of Awakening; many ant colonies had sub-populations of, say, butterflies living among them.

Trophic eggs are a vital famine food in ant (and bee) society. In the event of a failed harvest, or some other disaster; the Queen will start producing eggs for food, instead of future babies. Most ants prefer not to think about where the emergency rations are coming from.

The ants have a goddess/quasi-historical monarch named Juno; who is associated with law, justice, peace, military discipline, and royal authority. Juno is consistently portrayed as a fertile, flighted bilateral gynandromorph ant queen.

Since, unlike their ancestors, they don’t need to lay over 1,000 eggs a day to stop the population from collapsing; Elizant and her fellow queens typically set aside an hour or two each day for egg laying. Queen Elizant II usually spends this time doing paperwork, while Queen Bianca takes the opportunity to work on her arts and crafts. Queen Vanessa and Queen Layra prefer to relax with a book or some music while they lay.

As speculated on in-game; Elizant I wore a mask because she sustained a severe facial injury, leaving her half blind and heavily scarred. Before acquiring her scars, Elizant I looked identical to Elizant II; save for the fact that her eyes were blue, instead of green.

Although she was a genuinely skilled speaker and negotiator, part of Elizant I’s reputation as a peacemaker stemmed from her mastery of pheromones. While the queen never outright forced any bug to do her bidding (a la Kali); she was willing and able to use pheromones to calm enemies, or make other bugs instinctively trust her.

Elizant I loved Elizant II with all her heart; and insisted on personally caring for her chosen heir, even carrying the larval princess in a sling as she went about her royal duties.

The reason why Zaryant and Team Slacker didn’t accompany the Giant’s Lair expedition is because Queen Elizant II gave them a different mission: accompany the ant kingdom’s most skilled nursery workers as they transported half of her eggs and larvae to a secret location just outside Bugaria. They were given an additional order to, if they did not hear from her again by the end of the week, begin raising a larva into a princess.

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I started thinking about how Bugarians would respond to storms and flooding, which led me to research how modern ants deal with rain. I discovered that certain species of bamboo ant will save their colonies from drowning by-no joke-drinking the water, running outside the nest, and then peeing out the water.

7 Ingenious Ways Ants Survive the Rain – Fauna Facts

A virtual museum of ants (Formicidae) from Asia and Europe. Over 550 ant species (more than 83 genera) are shown in high resolution picture

It’s unlikely that Bugaria’s ants are bamboo ants, but can you imagine…

Ant Lieutenant: “Your Majesty, the palace is flooding! What should we do?”

Queen Elizant II: “…There’s only one thing we can do…”

Ant Lieutenant: “…Please, no…”

Queen Elizant II: “I don’t like it either, Lieutenant, but we have no choice. For the sake of the kingdom; we must drink, or die.”