Thri-Kreen

Thri-kreen, sometimes called mantis warriors, are an insectoid species found all across Exorsia and the Astral Sea.
Thri-kreen are a single sex species that are commonly found in colonies, like ants, built deep underground in deserts or mountains. These colonies all serve a single Queen, a gargantuan Thri-Kreen who is both the mother of every member of the colony and who controls the colony through her pheromones. Thri-Kreen colonies are notorious scavengers, plundering every resource available, because of this they are outright hostile to outsiders.
Members of the colony are groomed from birth to serve specific roles:

• Workers: Perform all the labour for the colony such as building and gathering.
• Soldiers: Protect the colony from intruders and hunt prey.
• Drones: Winged Thri-Kreen who compete to reproduce with a Queen before dying at 3-4 years old.
• Princesses: Winged Thri-Kreen who have the potential to become Queens themselves. They either serve the Queen as handmaidens and bodyguards or leave to start their own colonies.
• Queen: The leader and mother of the colony. She constantly produces eggs and controls the colony through her pheromones. The Queen was formerly a princess of another colony, mutating to a gargantuan size and losing her wings.

In rare circumstances a Thri-kreen can be disconnected from their colony, this allows them to develop a personality of their own, commonly leading them to travel and try to make a life for themselves outside of the colony, though they are usually met with hostility due to their appearance and reputation.
Thri-Kreen have difficulty speaking foreign languages, naturally communicating with clicks and body movements. This results in some Thri-kreen developing a form of telepathy to communicate more effectively with other peoples.

Appearance:

Thri-Kreen are tall bipedal insects with a tough carapace, antennae, large compound eyes, clicking mandibles and four arms, each with three clawed fingers.
Carapace: Thri-kreen bodies tend to range from tones of green, brown, yellow or red, with some in the Astral Sea taking on a purple colouring. Their carapace is also capable of shifting colours, giving them a natural camouflage.
Eyes: Thri-kreen tend to have large compound eyes that range from yellow, green and red in colour to purple, blue and black.

Maturity:

Thri-kreen mature much faster than Humans, reaching adulthood around the age of 3.

Reproduction:

Thri-kreen hatch from eggs. A Thri-kreen Queen can produce up to 400 eggs annually. These eggs then take around 3 to 4 months to hatch.

Origin/Ancestry

Insect

Lifespan

35 Years

Average Height

1.5 - 2 m (5 - 7 ft)

Geographic Distribution

• Hepsut
• Soliemia
• Terrasmus
• The Astral Sea

Polyphagy
Omnivore