Bestiary Entry - Vesp - Maelstrom

[DiscOH]

Vesp
Race of insectoids incredibly skilled at Celestial magic.

Resists:

Tracking -

The vesp scouts are capable of flight and leave no tracks when walking.​

Scrying -

Vesp cloak themselves in an esoteric form of obfuscate.
Attempting to scry on a vesp will make them aware of your presence (also it mostly doesn't work. You probably shouldn't do this).​

Entry Incomplete​

Weaknesses:

Solinari Curse -

Entry Incomplete. Unsure on how they react to it.​

Reproduction:

Vesp can hatch 2? more of themselves from a fallen body
Probably works on the undead [edited]
Probably works on alien metabolisms [edited]
It does not work on constructs​

Variants:

The color of a Vesp's face denote elemental attunement (inferred, not proven) [edited]
Yellow - Lightning
White - Death
​

Known History:

Nearly wiped out the Azacranti / Architects / literally everybody else
Most of the strange local celestial magic has been stolen from Vesp archives
Have been hiding underground in a heavily warded vault of some sort (potentially more hiding places)
Breed exponentially when attacked / provoked
The reason wayfarers were made in the maelstrom
​

Caste:

Queen / Brood Mother (Unsure on titles or details)

Is the ruler
Azacranti hate her​

Scout

Can cast arcane spells (@kjeld, please confirm)
(Unsure if the ability to throw arcane spells extends to the entire race or not. Scouts are the only Vesp to have been seen in the last <arbitrarily large number> years)​

(The following is conjecture)
Given the presence of an insect queen, the existence of warriors / drones / etc can also be argued at
Given the race's strong history in celestial magics, it is unclear if a wizard / scholar caste also exists or if magic is an innate part of the entire race.​

The Azacranti think we're all fucked

-Ciego

 

[MondayMcGee]

Ciego,

This is excellent. Thank you for compiling it. May I ask the source of this information? (My intention is not to doubt, but citing sources is generally helpful.)

For anyone seeing this dream who is not aware, the Vesp are a dire threat to our safety that we have only recently become aware of. As Ciego notes, they reproduce incredibly quickly, and overwhelm their opposition with sheer numbers. Our best bet is to act quickly, and to destroy the Queen before they are able to get sufficient numbers. (Source: the Azacranti, via Kjeld)

Additional conjecture: the Vesp have a number of similarities to the enemy from the Parnan Bug War. Even if they are not in fact the same creature, there are enough similarities that tactics from that war are likely to be useful. I have notes on those similarities from Drusil that I can add if desired.

Additional conjecture: may have some connections to the Spirits of the Land. I found a small fragment of text while looking for something else. It referenced Vaeltarri totem spirits, and some kind of ‘bad spirits’ called the Vesp that made war on them, gathering their strength underground and then making war on the surface.

Incomplete entry: the Selunari have some yet unknown connection to the original war against the Vesp. A request has been put forward to the Selunari elders for any relevant stories that Grandmother is able to share.

-Plue

 

[DiscOH]

I experienced a waking dream. It unsettled me so I sought confirmation and guidance with Kjeld, the Wood Elves, and the Azacranti.

What I've placed here is the culmination of those events.

 

[MondayMcGee]

Thank you for the clarification, and again for compiling this information.

 

[jtsquish]

Ciego, I believe it to be the coloring of their faces that describes them. The one with a yellow face was described as "lightning" and the one with the white face was described as "death" and I have seen similar coloring of elementals and other such creatures of the same types. I am unsure if this is somehow tied to their abilities or if these are names they are called by the azacranti. They do throw arcane spells, but I believe it to be innate rather than practiced. From some of the things the azacranti said, I believe they could reproduce inside of undead. Drusil mentioned a time when the bugs in Parna got a hold of ethereal creatures and evolved into having ethereal properties. So far the only spells that have been presented are Fear and Repel.

-Kjeld