Forelings

Strange, aeon lost creatures

"...and when I opened the chest, I felt the pressure of two emptying chambers right below my wrists. I lifted my hands in a hurry and saw that the intricacies of the chest had hidden two cylinders within them that now were empty."
"Lucky you, sounds like it was a dud!"
"...However when I examined my hands I saw a strange tumor right below my palm. As I noticed it, it began travelling up towards my bicep."
"You saw what in what doing what?!"" -Tavern talk with an explorer once they returned from the Tower of Erudites.

As a recent quest to the forgotten ruin known as "Tower of Erudites" revealed these insect-like creatures, it sparked a vast conversation in the deep halls of Deepburrow. Claimed of being capable of all sorts of strange abilities coupled together with the strange architecture of the Tower, the few corpses that scholars were able to study have revealed a realm of possibilities and an endless sea of debates to the origin of these creatures.

Physical Features and Traits

"Foreling" is the overarching term used for a wide variety of creatures that have locust and mantis-like features and appendages. Youngest of the species are known as "Forenymphlings", while a sizeably larger one the size of an ox are known as "Forelords" for their foreboding, graceful appearance. As these are the only confirmed samples of Forelings in existence, it is theorized that there are a multitude of forms inhabiting the middleform of these two sizes. Although a terrifying thought, it has been presented that the Forelord might not be the final form of the Foreling...
Forenymphlings. Forenymphlings are the size of a palm, and in their usual stance they're oval in shape. With three pairs of legs and two, sharp claws at the end of two arms the Forenymphlings first choice of conflict seems to be to slink inside of their opponent, creating a small incision that is just enough to pierce the flesh and to slip through to their targets bloodstream. It is unknown exactly what they attempt to do once inside, and the terrifying end results are only hinted at by the presence of the Forelords.
Forelords. Only living Forelord ever witnessed had resided inside of a Deepburrow dwarf. It is only assumed that as a nymphling it had made a similar incision to the dwarves thick skin and burrowed its way deeper. According to the record of explorers, the dwarf in question asked strangely before the Forelord surfaced from their insides. A sleek formed creature, towering tall and with a plethura of appendages (the one seen counted to having 4 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of arms with sharp claw-like appendages) had the eyes like that of a fly and a mane of weird tentacle-like pseudopods.

Mental Features and Traits

A terrifying discovery, not replicated by witnessed by the group of explorers was that while Forenymphlings act much like an aggressive insectoid, they eminated a strange buzzing with their small wings. This buzzing confused and misdirected the explorers, up to the point of allowing a Forenymphling to hop onto their palm and to burrow its way deeper. An ability like this would implicate a deeper understanding of the psyche by the mere nymphling, not to mention how the explorers witnessed the Forelord behaving.
The Forelord is implied, through the tale told by the discoverers, to have been controlling the dwarf that was its victim. Like a hand inside of a sockpuppet, the Forelord used the dwarf as a mere sack of transportation and deception, even while the dwarves form was barely enough to contain it. It is unknown if the dwarf in question had still the mental capabilities only to be manipulated by the Forelord, or if everything done by the dwarf (social interaction, gentle manipulation of objects, normal movement) was in fact the movement and speech of the Forelord.
As the situation evolved into combat, the Forelord audibly called out for help and begged the explorers to stop striking at it, which, according to one survivor of the group sounded like "it did not fully understand what it was telling, but it only understood the implications of what it asked from us"...

Implications

Deepburrow has in their solitary ways kept to themselves even with this discovery and it is unknown if they'll share this information even with other dwarves of the area, or the settlement above ground in Old Godivan. However, as the explorers partly formed of Wood Elves chilling theories were formed of the ancient enemy of the elves; ancient masters of other worlds, who once ruled all of Taurua and had enslaved its people. Could the Forelings be what remains of them, or somehow connected to these creatures?

Geographic Distribution