Kurthig, Devilbug

Upon overlooking the lair, all had seemed quiet. Then as the slayer party entered into the confines of the chamber, all hell had broken loose as a single creature, great in size and greater in fury had risen through the shattered limestone ground, impaling one slayer from the ground through to his neck.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Drone and Royal

When adults, these beatle-like monstrosities are powerful man sized things, capable of tearing flesh and bone with massive foot long mandibles. Within one's mouth is pair of numerous man-like jaws lined with molars, used for crushing bones and weak rocks. With these rows of man jaws, although they lack proper tongues, they are able to roughly communicate speakable languages in a manner that is understandable. Along with this, they have man like eyes, one eye on each side not so far from their jaws. Their soft exterior flesh is man-like in texture where their shells are exposed. Each kurthig has 6 legs, one set of two in the rear, one set along the middle and a final set in the front, under their mandibles. It is by this horrible mixture of man and insect that they are considered monstrosities.

Lord

Considerably larger than a kurthig drone, a lord is about twice as long, with a large flexible detachable organic sack that makes up most of this extra length. Below the base of this sack is an extra pair of legs, covered in bristling spines, nearly as long as the sack can grow too. The front of the lord brings about an elongated mandible, even with the additional size of being nearly twice the size of drones. Along with this, kurthig hive lords exhibit an unnatural and extremely useful ability to stop Urselon from misplacing itself. Along the innermost of a lord's heart is a bundle magical nodes. Each node, by unknown means, anchors the lords surroundings of up to 300 ft away from her within spacial real space, not allowing the Great Maze to shift tunnels and caves once more.

Genetics and Reproduction

Mating

For a kurthig to mate, it must first be a special kind of kurthig. By this, it must be born from a kurthig lord, which since all devilbugs are born from a lord, this is no special feat. However, if a kurthig is born from a lord, it must also be capable of making and bearing eggs. One out of every hundred kurthigs born are born with reproductive organs, male and female. Once a kurthig has these two things, once it matures to be able to use it's legs, it will leave the hive at it's young adolescent age, usually taking with it two or three other devilbugs as security. From there, the creature now known simply as a 'royal kurthig' chatters it's inner jaws in a rhythm that let's other kurthigs it comes across that is able and willing to pair with another of it's species, granted it is also royal kurthig and the opposite sex. Male and female mating chatters are unique to it's gender and the sound of this chatter can echo off of cavern walls for hundreds of feet, even in sound consuming areas. Once two royal devilbugs pair, if they are not mature, they stick together till they both are and immediately mate.

Gestation

Once the creatures have mated, the male sticks with the female for a time till the eggs she carries on her back. When a female mates, the rear of her back shell swells more and more over time, growing into a large sack for three months as this sack fills up with close to thirty devilbugs eggs. This now paired couple of kurthigs are now known as kurthig lords. Once the three months are fulfilled, assuming the rear sack is still safe and as full as it can be, the female lord releases the sack once she finds a place she deems safe. It ought to be noted, during this time of gestation, any remaining devilbugs from the royals last hive and the male lord guard the female as well as do much of the scouting work as they travel, so that the female lord is not ambushed and killed. As the sack is released, the nutrient cord running from the female into the sack, sustaining the eggs mark for them that it is time to hatch. As they do and the small, fist sized kurthigs rise, the male lord is chased out of the newfound hive by the female lord, making the male not a lord anymore, but instead a kurthig royal once more

Growth Rate & Stages

Adolescence

When a kurthig hatches, it is born without any shell or mandibles of any sort. Because of this, they are nearly entirely defenseless. Though they can actually see relatively well for a newborn creature compared to many others, this does not profit them very well as they cannot move fast away from danger or make considerably loud noises to alarm as they have no vocal chords. They remain this way for over two weeks, as the hive's lord kurthig must breast feed all of them herself. Once the two weeks continue on, their skin hardens and their interior grows to where they must molt by the time the two weeks are up. This new exterior has harder skin and some shell pieces, notably around the eyes, a dorsal piece shell and shells around their legs. Upon molting, these somewhat larger young kurthigs instead rely upon grounded up brought to them by adult devilbugs of the hive. In this time, these young devilbugs may even eat one another, dead or alive. They remain in this state for two months, molting every few weeks with harder skin and new, harder shell pieces every upon every molt.

Drone Life

Once a youngling kurthig is done molting to a point it has grown every shell piece for adulthood, the amount of times it will molt from here on slows drastically, to a new molt every few months. From here, throughout the rest of it's life, it will carry out orders from the hive's lord, protect the lord and younglings, and assist in carving out additional passageways when needed.

Lord Life

Throughout the three months of original male and female lord travelling, the female lord grows drastically, detaching and reattaching the sack as necessary to molt. By the time the male leaves, she should be nearly one third larger than her normal size. Within her chest cavity, a number of four nodes will form, all of which anchor the nearest 300 ft of the lords surroundings within the Great Maze. From here on, she will continue growing till she is roughly twice her original size, growing as she gains extra nutrients as the production of young devilbugs will naturally drain her.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Carnivorous habits

Drones are infamous for lying in wait in the caverns of caves, waiting on prey to pass by through it's area, not seeing of the predator presumably hiding in a hole above or nearby, waiting to call others to the area through said lesser tunnels. It is by this, and that the queen has an area of 300 ft around her that the drones trap and kill their prey. Devilbugs consume nearly any kind of flesh it can eat, save that it digestible and able to be torn apart by powerful mandibles and legs.

Herbivorous habits

Although eating flesh is the main means of kurthig consumption, it is by no means the only way, as kurthigs are omnivores. Having sets of flesh ripping mandibles and legs means canines are not necessarily required, while in the case of eating plants, they simply take in the plant material and break it down using the inner three sets of human molars on the way to its stomach. Kurthigs prefer heat generating and light generating plants and lights, though it is unknown why these specifically. To some extent, a queen.

Advanced Techniques

A non sentient non humanoid species that both hunt and consume plant life while remaining in a single area within the Great Maze is largely unheard of. As this is, to some extent queens, if learned one way or another, can order her drones to cultivate plants, provided the necessary means and materials are within her hive that allow her to do so, providing a relatively stable source of plant based food. However, kurthigs farming other creatures has never been proven true, some accounts, old and new, claim that in more remote depths of the Great Maze, massive devilbug hives manage to do just that.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Urselon Interaction

Kurthig hives in the Great Maze, if set along or nearby an anchored path, depending on the queens attitude toward travelers and the like can make or break either the community anchored to the path or the hive. If the queen is not favorable and chooses to attack travelers, soon enough a group of slayers will be dispatched to remove the hive. If choosing not to feed upon travelers, a hive may be offered allegiance to the local community by means of food or protection, in trade of the hive providing protection to the anchored path. In certain cities and as old stories tell, hive lords sell their drones in favor of being pampered, safety and being well fed.

Materium Interaction

Kurthig lords, more often than not, choose to enter the Materium on the grounds of the immense food it may supply a hive. Because of this, hives can feed on entire forests, depleting areas of wildlife, lumber and food from nearby farms. It is by this, that kurthigs within the Materium are removed as soon as possible, with nearby governments often commissioning experienced slayers in the removal of these over ambitious hives as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Urselon

Kurthigs are often found in the middle'ing layers of the Great Maze, where there is less if a chance of encountering sentient beings from the higher layers and less of a chance of encountering the more dangerous creatures and hazards of the deeper layers. With this said, kurthig hive lords tend to place their hives in the more wild regions of Urselon, where roaming prey is more plentiful.

Materium

When a young hive lord pair becomes lost and or happens to finding and foolishly decides to choose to enter a Moonbridge, they subject themselves to the Mundane Realm. Often, from here kurthigs set their hive usually in caves or large abandoned structures.

Average Intelligence

Drone Intelligence

An adult devilbug drone is capable in itself compared to many others of it's insectile ilk. Even capable of basic problem solving and tool use, along with being apart of an ordered social structure and capable of coordinating attacks, kurthig drones can be formidable if underestimated.

Lord and Royal Intelligence

Lord and royal kurthigs are born with a slightly larger brain and with a larger and presumably more complex central nervous system, allowing them to think on the terms of an average intelligent individual and yet also feel pain. It is by this intelligence that they are able to give complex orders to their drones, solve basic and advanced problems, and actually speak and understand not only the kurthig clicking language, but other languages as well. However, it is also by this that they hive lords make dangerous allies or formidable foes in certain tactical situations.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Mundane Sight

Each eye is capable of moving independently, as it is suspected this is because due to their limited vision, being unable to see directly in front and behind them, they must compensate by being able to see in two places at once. Their eyes are also welcome adapted to seeing in the darkness of caves, being capable of seeing far in deep lightless cave systems. Because of this, their eyes are not only independent, but in darkness, their armored eye lids retract into their boneless head, allowing their man like pupils to dilate greatly, expanding into large black dots.

Extrasensory Sight

Within each leg is a bundle of nerves that start in the center, expanding throughout the rest of the leg, even partially into the deeper layers of the shell on a leg. It is by these special nerves that allow kurthigs to interact well with their environment. However, also by this, it is suspected that they use their legs to sense all around them, feeling the ground around them to understand where things are and their general shape, as some cooperative kurthig lords have explained. It is by this, kurthigs are able to see in pure darkness and or when their eyes fail them, that they feel all that is around them.

Kurthigs, oh well... Most folks call them devilbugs just because they are as destructive as the devils themselves, not to mention the unsightly eyes they have on them. If it's your first time against them, know to bring bess guns, grenades, caltrops, anything that can slow down or stop a swarm of pony sized bastards. If you've managed to kill a number of them, try to talk the queen in custody. This may sound stupid, but understand that many lords are not willing to die if they understand they are going to die. If that doesn't work, try to dispatch her chamber guards first. Odds are they're the toughest of the bunch so you'd do well not to die here. Once theyre taken care of maybe the lord will be more cooperative. At that point, if she still isn't, then it is in your best interest to kill her. If your group is depleted and or mostly dead at that point, retreating may be a better option, however by the time you have returned she will undoubtedly have moved away, prompting that you track her tp find her once more. - Ollin

Lord Anchor Node : Used to anchor areas up to 300 ft in Urselon. Often used in various alchemical, arcanistic, and ritualistic means. 80 goldens per node.

Scientific Name

Noganask Truve

Lifespan

Drone - 5 years. Lord/Royal - 25 years

Average Height

Drone/Royal - 4 ft tall. Lord - 8 ft tall

Average Weight

Drone/Royal - 230 lbs. Lord - 860 lbs

Average Length

Drone/Royal - 5'6" ft. Lord - 12 ft

Average Physique

Drone and Royal Physique

Drones, male royals and young female royals are all laden more with tendon and chitin than hardened muscle, with the youngling devilbugs having almost none of the aforementioned.

Lord Physique

Lords, once grown into their full natural form, are much heavier and much stronger than the rest of their hive. It is because of this, that the full extermination of a a kurthig hive is perilous not only for that they can exist in large numbers, especially on the Materium, but that the queen is on herself a match for many slayer and hunter groups.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Drone and Royal Colors

Drones and royals exhibit a pale yellow skin color, lords included, and depending on the general region the subspecies of kurthig lives, may exhibit darker black shell colors the deeper they live in Urselon's layers.

Lord Colors

Hive lords often are varied in their style of markings. Higher layered lords exhibit brilliant shining lustrous yellow and red shells. Middle'ing layered lords have duller dark green and brown shells. Meanwhile, the deepest lords have a mixture of black and white stripes across their shells. It is unknown exactly why these are, as they do not aid in camoflauge or help in taunting or tricking opponents, but it is suspected it may have to do with the manner of kurthig layer by layer hierarchy and recognition, although this theory is flawed.