Hexworm Frass Collector Profession in World of Wizard's Peak | World Anvil

Hexworm Frass Collector

All citizens of the Zone do their part for our society. Even a humble job such as being a hexworm frass collector contributes to our great civilization!
The pay is decent for the gobbys and the kobbys, but the dwarves treat them like the crap they collect. Also, the stink never quite washes off, but at least they're getting paid! Not sure it's enough for the random frassers that get blown up by the odd hex bomb!

The ubiquitous hexworms of the Kirinal Concordance Zone move earth and dig through the ground around the Kirinal Pit. A worm's lifetime of ingesting and processing the soil infused with the magic of thousands of planes leads to the creation of Hex Crystal during the final stage in their lives when they become Incarnation Moths to mate and start the cycle anew.

Forgotten during the process that creates the most valuable resource in the world are those who clean up after the hexworms, the frass collectors.

The Shit End of the Hexworm

Not everything that comes through the back end of a hexworm is frass, most of it is earth moving unprocessed through the worm. The worm's digestive system separates organic matter from the soil it ingests for food. Throughout the worm's busy workday, the worm ejects exceptionally smelly frass every few hours, up to one or two hundred pounds of it in a day. Most of the frass is just hexworm shit, but occassionally something unexpected pops up.

Every bit of frass must be collected and brought back to the Hexworm Corrals for inspection. The everchanging nature of the Pit means that a percentage of the frass spontaneously transmutes into something valuable or dangerous. Usually the fluke frass ends up being normal, but still extremely valuable, hex crystal. Gems and precious metals also occassionally show up, but sometimes the hexworms guts combine random material into explosive materials or hex crystals with unstable matrices: hex bombs.

The frass itself makes an excellent fertilizer and the processed manure is sold for a healthy profit by the enterprising dwarf bosses.

Paid for Poop

To attract workers to such an unpleasant and dangerous job, the earth dwarves of The Tortoise pay frass collectors very well, from 3 to 5 bilog a day. Enough for the workers to have a comfortable lifestyle and raise a family.

Despite the decent wage, elves would never perform the job and most humans, dwarves, and halflings find the work beneath them. This has led to an influx of goblins and kobolds to The Tortoise who are willing to take the jobs and to escape the worse social conditions that they suffer in the Magister's Dominion. The dwarves still look down on them, but they don't actively persecute them.



Cover image: by Chris L

Comments

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Jul 12, 2021 15:35

No matter the setting, there will always be someone, somewhere, who needs to pick up some sort of poop for some reason ;)   Well done - really interesting look into this aspect of your setting :D


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Jul 12, 2021 15:50 by Chris L

Thanks Q! As always, you're the best!


For your consideration, my submissions for the WorldAnvil Worldbuilding Awards 2024. (I've also included some of my favorites other worldbuilders.)

Jul 23, 2021 13:36 by Cassandra Sojourn

This is amazing and now I’m going to need to watch this training grounds episode.

Choose your poison:   Phasmatum: An Afro-Solar-Fantasy world created for my epic novels.
Adazuri: A shonen-inspired magitech fantasy world home-brewed for 5e.
Aug 8, 2021 20:10 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Sounds like a smelly and dangerous job, so I'm glad that the pay is somewhat good!

Emy x   Etrea | Vazdimet
May 6, 2022 09:33 by Sailing Ocelot

Ah, what a cool lore idea! Glad that the pay is good enough for the goblins and kobolds! Love the eye catching links on the side of the article too! Great planning!

~~~~~~~~ SailingOcelot
May 8, 2022 03:49 by Chris L

Thanks for the comment! You're getting pretty deep into my lore here!


For your consideration, my submissions for the WorldAnvil Worldbuilding Awards 2024. (I've also included some of my favorites other worldbuilders.)

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