Alter Aeon The Great Library

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AABN:  31843
Title: a book titled 'The Apiarchy'

"The Apiarchy" by Lorimar the Angelologist. A Study of the most
industrious, generous and principled Beings the Author has ever met.

Of all the choirs of Planes of Light, perhaps the most alien are those of
the Apiarchy.

Natives of Crepuscula, the apiarchs are classified as matinals. These
curious beings are roughly humanoid, with upright torsos and arms with
clever, clawed hands. They tend to walk on their other four limbs, with a
suspended abdomen hanging behind them like a tail. Most apiarchs have four
insect-like wings, and prefer flying whenever possible. Most of them have
poisonous stingers on their abdomens.

Like the bees or hornets they resemble, apiarchs live in hives. They have a
caste system where an individual's role is determined by his or her
physical attributes. Each caste is specially adapted to its role, and an
apiarch is generally most happy performing its tasks for its hive. The
common apiarch castes are as follows:

workers - these are the most common apiarch caste. Somewhat shorter than
humans, they perform the day-to-day tasks within the hive, from
constructing new chambers to storing food to caring for the young. They
will assist soldiers in the defense of the hive.

forager - these especially swift and clever workers leave the hives and
gather raw materials from the jungles of Crepuscula. Aside from queens,
they are the most articulate apiarchs, as they often serve as traders,
messengers and ambassadors to other angelic choirs.

artificer - these specially prepared workers lose their stingers and wings.
They learn to perform the most advanced crafts within a hive, constructing
anything from wax armor to potent magical elixers.

soldier - these are the warriors of an apiarch hive. They are greater in
stature than all but the tallest of humans. They sometimes assist workers
in heavy labor, using their superior size and strength.

guardian - these specially prepared soldiers are created by apiarch queens
in times of great need. They are the size of ogres, and their upper limbs
end in powerful claws instead of nimble fingers. Their wings fuse together
to form an extra layer of armor over their torsos.

drone - the only male apiarchs, they are taller and more slender than
workers, and far less bulky than soldiers. They help clean and repair the
chambers of queens and alates. They are suicidally protective of alates and
queens, but they lack poisonous stingers.

alate - these are young virgin queens. They are taller than workers and
less slender than drones. Alates seldom remain in a hive for long, and
seeing one is rare.

queen - the mature version of an alate, queens are the rulers of apiarch
hives, and also mothers to the majority of its inhabitants. Young queens
are often potent spellcasters, favoring druidic magic. As they age, queens
lose the humanoid shape of their alate form, becoming bloated, nearly
immobile creatures without stingers or the gift of flight. However, their
exoskeletons thicken, making them extremely difficult to injure.

An extinct race of matinals, known as the Myrmidons, once dwelt in
Crepuscula. The Myrmidony had a similar society to the Apiarchy, though
they had ant-like bodies with different colored exoskeltons. They were
wiped out during the Great Wars. The remains of one of their Hive-Cities
served as the foundation for the City of Fonts.