#bug fables bees

[the-unicorns-of-nienna]

“Bug Fables” Headcanons: Bee Edition

Dancing, originating from the communicative dances used by pre-Awakening bees, is extremely important to Bee Kingdom culture. Vi loves dancing, and is very good at it; but HATED the dance classes she was forced to attend back at the Hive.

Bee sign language, now widely used across Bugaria, is also descended from their ancestral dances.

Bee mythology includes a Typhon-esque monster said to be “as tall as a tree, and black as a stormy night; that leaves craters where it walks.” It’s described as having “a cavernous mouth, a thunderous roar, and claws longer than a queen bee is tall.” This monster is a cultural memory of a bear.

The Bee Kingdom has a separate, smaller factory that produces special, extra-nutritious honey for bee larvae.

While most bees, and many non-bees, know that princess bees are created by feeding larvae royal jelly; exactly what royal jelly is, and how it’s produced, is a carefully guarded secret. This is meant to reduce the likelihood of rebellious workers secretly creating a princess to overthrow the reigning queen.

Princess bees (as well as ants, wasps, and termites) experience a period of intense wanderlust in early adulthood; a relic from their pre-Awakening ancestors, who typically left their birth colonies to start new ones. Increased aggression is another vestigial behavior common in adolescent princesses. *stares at Vi*

When he first arrived in Bugaria, Monsieur Scarlet snuck into the Hive’s drone quarters; intending to free Queen Bianca’s sons just as he had freed himself. To his horror and disgust, the princes were aware of their impending deaths; and either willing to comply for the good of the kingdom, or simply preferred a short but luxurious life over a long but uncertain one. Only one drone-Prince Leon-accepted Scarlet’s offer of escape.

[the-unicorns-of-nienna]

“While they used to make honey themselves, technological advancements made robotic drones slowly take over the honey's production.

Many bees of the newer generation, barring scholars, do not fully understand how to make it.”

From “A Brief History of Bees”.

“Workers take their job very seriously and will fulfill their duties the best they can.

Recently, some workers have rebelled to lead a loner life. This too, could be an evolution?”

From “Family Structures”.

I doubt I’m the only one who suspects that Vi, Chubee, and the other worker bees leaving the Hive to start new lives; would have been foragers and scouts prior to the mechanization of honey production.

It’s interesting to think that the exact same qualities that made Vi an outcast could, in a different time or place, have made her one of the most valued and respected workers in her Hive: her thirst for exploration, and skill at combat, helping keep her thousands of sisters safe and fed.

I’m not saying that the mechanization of honey production was a bad thing; foraging for nectar and pollen is difficult-sometimes dangerous-work, after all. Plus, mechanization no doubt enabled the bees to make far more honey-a staple food not just for the Hive, but for all of Bugaria-than they could before. Not to mention: it left many workers, such as Jaune, free to devote their time and energy to the arts and the sciences.

Nonetheless, as technology spreads and advances, there will almost certainly be more cases similar to Vi’s: in which instincts and behaviors once essential for survival become incompatible with new ways of life.