Nqurt Ants
Racial Magic
☀️Rithaldis' Movement
☀️
Able to walk, step or move on or through radiant energy such as beams of sunlight or ionizing radiation as a solid foothold. They are immune to damage from radiant energy and can briefly transform into sunlight and travel at the speed of light in a given direction before reforming, though this quickly eats up energy.
Fliris' Agility
The caster is able to move with increased agility and speed, fueled by their magic. Combined with their natural speed, they are astonishingly fast! As a small organism, they have little energy so must use this ability selectively.
Original Ancestor
Saharan Silver Ant
Length
Coloration
These are the fastest ant in Emynea even before making use of their magic, capable of running 855 mm per second (1.9 mph or 3.1 km/h), travelling 108 times the length of their body per second. While this is nearly the walking speed of a human, the equivalent speed for a human would be running 447 mph (720 km/h)! The purpose of this astonishing speed is an adaption for both minimizing time spent amid immense heat and to evade predators, mostly Mul'ataa Agama. They only leave their nest for ten minutes per day, a brief window too hot for their predators but just cool enough for them to survive. This usually occurs around midday when temperatures reach 117 F (47 C). Scouts will alert the colony when their predators have sheltered inside their burrows. At their signal, hundreds of ants disperse simultaneously in search of food -dashing wildly into the desert- and must return before temperatures climb above 127 F (53 C) which is lethal. They forage corpses of other insects and arthropods, especially those who have succumbed to overheating.
Nqurt ants have several unique evolutionary adaptions for dealing with their blistering habitat. The top of their bodies are covered in silver hairs with triangular cross-sections, helpful in keeping them cool. These are extremely reflective of sunlight and expel heat into the air even in full sunlight. They also track the position of the sun in order to navigate, always aware of the route back to their colony to avoid wasting time wandering aimlessly. Finally, their bodies preemtively produce heat shock protiens before leaving the nest rather than in response to heat -as most animals do- so that they won't receive any damage from rapid increases in body temperature. This allows their cells to continue functioning well even at dangerously high temperatures during the very brief window of their foraging frenzy, making them one of those most heat-resistant animals in Emynea outside of racial magic!
Nqurt ants make their home amid the sand dunes of Alkelbulan, found throughout the Shamsi and Arabiyyan Deserts as well as in Kemet and Kna'an. They have large and widespread nests in extremely dry dunes, their nest several meters deep. They might also live in old wadis. The queen and her soldiers are found within the deepest parts of the colony, only 1-2% of their worrk force comprised of soldiers. These soldiers are responsible for defense and food storage, possessing large and saber-shaped mandibles. Their singular queen has wings and mates with anywhere from 6-14 males.
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