Vespidian

Vespidian are a bee-like race of humanoids. They are an imperial race seeking to unify all insectoid races under their rule.

Appearance

As an insectoid race, Vespidian have six limbs, four arms and two legs. Each arm has three fingers on it. They are yellow with black stripe patterns across their chests and a bee abdomen. This abdomen does have a stinger that can inject venom. Their eyes are completely black with no discernable pupil or sclera. A pair of antennae protrude from thier head and a pair of wings growing from their back. Their torso and head more or less resemble a normal humanoid otherwise.

Statistics

Ability Score Increase: Increase your Wisdom by 2 and your Constitution by 1.
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium
Speed: Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Flight: You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.
Secondary Arms: You have two slightly smaller secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. The secondary arms can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has the light property.
Pheromone Communication: As an action, you can communicate with any sapient insectoid creature using pheromones to convey thoughts and emotions in a manner similar to telepathy. Only other creatures with this feature can respond.
Stinger: When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with your stinger. On a hit, the attack does 1d4 piercing damage and the target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take an additional 1d4 poison damage. The poison damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).
Languages: You know how to read and write Common, Elven and Sylvan.

History

Early History

The first Vespidians of Malgrave were thrown into the world by the Elemental Plane of Air. Though they were initially scattered, those that survived their unexpected trip managed to regroup fairly quickly and settle in the Pastelle Meadows. Getting their bearings, they quickly organized a defensive army and sent drones to scout the world. Learning that there were other insect-like humanoids in Malgrave and that they had been nearly wiped out by mass genocide, they went to war with the inhabitants of the world, starting with Maracia. Knowing it was a major trade nation, their hope was to take it over quickly and cut off supplies from the rest of the world.
At the same time, they sought out the other insectoids, such as the Thri-kreen and Papillon, and offered them refuge in exchange for helping them wage their war. Suprised at the rejection they received, the Vespidians overtook their small civilizations, forcing them to live under imperial rule as subjects of the abiel queen, becoming an Empire rather than a monarchy. With troops divided across the world and not enough princesses to establish rule in the areas they took, the abiel were eventually pushed back to the Pastelle Meadows from Maracia and with the aide coming to the Thri-kreen by the beast races such as gnolls and lizardfold, the princesses left to return to the main hive.
Forced to take a diplomatic approach, the Vespidians made peace with the neighboring nations and have kept mostly to themselves since. They have strict maintenance on their population to reduce the need to expand and offered a surprising olive branch to the Thri-kreen, giving them freedom to live their own culture, but still be under abiel rule. They accepted, knowing that the Vespidians would be forced to come to their aide with such an alliance now that they were under scrutiny of the major powers of the world.

Society

They can communicate with each other using pheromones and subtle gestures that seem to work almost subsconciously with any insectoid race, but only other abiel can respond in the same way. This makes their military one of the most efficient in the world, despite its relatively small size as communication travels quickly and without any method another creature can detect. The majority of the race is female, making up 90% of their population. The males are highly protected as their population would be decimated in only a century without them. Their strong sense of community is so universal between them that inner city struggles in other cultures confuse and anger them as they uplift all of their own members whenever they're in need.

Vespidians in the Pastelle Meadows

As the main settlement of the abiel, their home hive structure is called Palette in honor of the Pastelle Meadows. Each abiel is divided into a class, usually a worker or a soldier, with a few other rare and niche jobs that don't have a class to associate to. Born in a larval state, the abiel protect the young chambers fiercely and will typically only deploy half their army at once if the need arises. There is no segregation between the classes, only a developmental path chosen when a Vespidan pupates to become an adult.

Vespidians in the Howling Sands

The Vespidians in the deserts of the southern continent are very different from their home hive. Having spent so long in the harsh environment, they tend to have more black than yellow in their patterning and think much more independently from each other. Adapting to the Howling Sands forced them to be more free thinking than their empress likes. This has endeared them to the Thri-kreen, who joke with their imperial friends that they've gone native.