#macrovolute

[humansbgone]

There is not actually a macrovolute word for "mantis." Most macrovolutes don't even know that they exist. The roaches call them "cousins," and the mantises simply call themselves "spirits."

Of course, in order to have a Swarm, they were going to need a proper name for what they were. So, the bees gave them one--a mean-spirited one, with the mantises lacking the cultural context to even know that it was mean-spirited. Basically, the word Gregorsa is using for "mantis" actually means:

"Bogeyman."

[sacredspirit1337]

@revretch I just binge-watched all available content for @humansbgone and adored every second of it! The voice-acting is great, the educational elements are a fantastic addition, and I’ve been thoroughly absorbed into the story and worldbuilding. You’re knocking this out of the park!

The appearance of the Cows was a great twist, and I’m wondering what both the Humans and the Ants are plotting…

And regarding the Gregorsa’s Notes minigame, I achieved a perfect score so far!

Keep up the good work, you might as well catch me and drop me into Sophodra’s collection because I’m hooked!

And I couldn’t help but notice the fragmented pieces of text at the end of each episode…I wonder if they’re eventually all going to fit together…hm…

[humansbgone]

I have a couple questions about your super cool world (love your work!)

Can Macravolute arthropods see/smell/perceive their "normal" sized counterparts with the naked eye, or do they need magnifying tools like we do for microbes?

Are Macravolute cells (blood cells, muscle cells, neurons, etc) the same size as non Macravolute cells and there's just more of them to make a bigger body, or do they have the same number of cells all scaled up make the body bigger?

Magnification tools are indeed required for macrovolutes to see protocules, which is why their discovery is fairly recent! General Formicosan macrovolute regard for "protocule theory" is about the same as for evolution in 1950s America.

That said, they *can* smell their protocules. The faint smells of people where there were none were historically attributed to the trickery of spirits!

Scaled up! There are gigantic demivolute versions even of some single-celled organisms, as we saw with the diatoms on the bladder Diatom, in Gregorsa's lecture for episode 5. The Unknown Nature enables a *lot* of things that should be physically impossible, not just where it's related to gravity!

[humansbgone]

What swarm do mantispidae belong to or are they even still around?

They are around! In fact, I had a whole character with an arc going into them that sadly had to be cut for time.

Mantidflies are parasitoids on spider eggs--basically, they crawl into a wolf spider's egg sac and live in there, eating the eggs as they grow.

As macrovolutes, mantidflies are considered changelings. However, Spider Swarm is eager to divorce themselves from the other arachnids and become more insect-like, and this close interplay of mantidflies with their own eggs (through means I cannot spoil) brings their bolecores closer to an insect's.

As a result, these "changelings" are not only accepted by the spiders, but openly embraced and even revered, even and especially by their spider "mothers." The average mantidfly tends to have an entitled, spoiled little princess/prince attitude as a result.

Of course, they're still treated as second class citizens by other insects. They do belong to Spider Swarm, after all, and the insects do not look highly on the arachnids...so, certainly, they do not regard the "spider insects" highly either.

[humansbgone]

How long do the pheromones/scent conversations linger after being "spoken?"

I was worried that the bombardier beetle to get in trouble for harboring Clef if the ants caught a wiff of the conversation they had been having moments earlier, but I guess the ants either didn't hear it, or didn't care after Clef was processed?

Oh they definitely smelled, that's why they came out.

They don't really care, no. They trust that the bombardier is scared out of his wits, and it's only by having witnesses that warnings like this can be truly effective, after all.

As for how long they last...well, it depends. They dissipate into the air fairly quickly, but if the pheromones hit a substrate soon after being spoken, they can last months to years. Before recording devices like the pherophone and orchideo, in fact, macrovolutes used this to keep records. It's the closest thing they've ever had to a written word!

[humansbgone]

Jeez the “crazy ants” are terrifying. And if they view all the others as livestock then I guarantee you that they have already started “culling” or removing those who aren’t exactly what they want from their society. Just how many species have they wiped out? How many cultures…ants man.

Every other eusocial insect, for starters--all other species of ant included. Ant mimics and mymecophiles are also ostensibly gone.

Emphasis on "ostensibly."

[humansbgone]

You've mentioned that non-eusocial hymenopterans still exist, does that include parasitoid wasps? Because if so then Rose better watch out for tarantula hawks

We've seen one already, in fact! Rewatch episode 2 ;)

[humansbgone]

There's no beees???? D:

I guess I shall have to settle for technically wasps...

No eusocial bees, no (but the majority of bees are solitary anyway). But don't worry, we'll be seeing a flashback to honeybees next episode!!