Puppet Bees

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Puppet Bees is biologically similar to the smaller Anthophila family. They possess a chitinous outer shell, protecting their soft internal organs, a distinct thorax, and segmented antennae. The size of Puppet Bees brains are proportionate to their bodies near-human intelligence.
The most feared attribute of the Puppet Bee is also the one which makes their hive structure possible. The Puppet Bee is a being that lays their eggs in a host. A puppet bee that is born in the flesh of a sapient being will emerge with the knowledge and memories of their host, allowing them to refine their breeding attempts. Adult Puppet Bees will often sacrifice their own lives to implant their eggs in a host viewed as "useful."

Genetics and Reproduction

A puppet bee is a parasite that uses the bodies of living creatures as hosts. They prefer intelligent and dangerous hosts, should they find a host that is exceptional they will stop from killing the host outright if they can find others to eat.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Puppet bees are carnivorous and hallow out their host while turning the body into a hive.

Biological Cycle

The Bees swarm a prospective host and sting them to weaken the target. The puppet bees then lay their eggs into a host which will hatch in two to three weeks and begin controlling the host through a communal hivemind. After another week the mature puppet bee will be able to leave the host body and fly on its own though the only reason to do so would be to leave a dying host or feed from another corpse. After a month a puppet bee will be mature to adulthood and if a new host is found they will breed and attack the new host. Most bees will live for a year or two at most.

Additional Information

Domestication

Attempts to domesticate the bee for their jelly have all ended in the swarm taking over the farm and taking over the keepers.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

The Puppet Bee can produce a jelly derived from the fat of a humanoid being, while originally meant for the hive to survive on if other sources of food cannot be found. The jelly if imbibed by a humanoid will slow aging considerably.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

A puppet bee has the regular senses of an insect, while it is inside of a host body it can share the senses of the host.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

The parasites that are puppet bees can live off any mammalian host but prefer humanoid races for their size and intelligence.

Civilization and Culture

History

No one knows where the first puppet bees came from, most believe them to be traps created by the ArchFey before they fled this world. When first found they had taken control of a pack of dire wolves but soon spread to the nearby settlements. By the time their true nature was discovered the surrounding settlements were wiped out. There are a few hives that survived but have been more secretive and selective in their nesting. There have been attempts to selectively breed and harvest the Puppet Bees for their jelly but each has ended in buildings and towns having to be scourged to insure the puppet bees do not spread too far.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The species is the most desired and hated species in the world.

Scientific Name

Bombus Cordyceps

Lifespan

2 years