RE: Re: A quick thought on Scorpion Men

From: Sam Elliot <samclau_at_Ae4EjVech5yM9_xk62OMra78aeHSgYMfJ7ddn5zd-i3Q4pg7oVDffYOr9hSdbfocZTDW>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:22:11 -0300


Adept:
The only female scorpion man in published Glorantha (that I know of) is Rana the Scorpion Queen in Lords of Chaos, and she was a human woman before being devoured and given her new form. Rana looks like a perfectly nice looking human woman (from the waist up), but that's not to say that the average scorpion queen has to even be recognizable as female. I doubt they breastfeed their young or anything like that.

I'd expect your average scorpion queen to be a bloated monster whose distended abdomen fills a few hundred metres of tunnel. Much like a termite queen. Somewhere, at the other end, she is popping out mini-scorpion men at the rate of twenty or so a day. She either has sperm stored up from twenty years ago (cf leafcutter ants) when she had her nuptual [well... ants and termites have the nuptual flight, these creatures could have something altogether more gruesome] or she has a "king" like termites do.

The "scorpion man" we know is just a solider caste with delayed reproductive capacity (as in termites rather than ants) and in this respect is totipotent; it can become male or female. You don't want to see the other castes, it is as well they are hidden. You need to exterminate the entire nest or those non-reproductives will start breeding (cf termites). Scattering the scorpion men is also no good as you'll suddenly have a hundred nests (cf termites).

Sometimes, there is more activity than usual and all the nests in the region (e.g. Dragon Pass) suddenly unleash swarms and swarms of reproductives. They might even have wings which they later discard as they look for suitable nest sites. They land in your food and generally make a terrible mess, though trolls have a great time catching them and gobbling them up.

Sam.

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