Environment

Special abilities

Normal sight 15 | Dark vision 10 | Legs 6

Aku are overgrown relatives of bees and wasps. Their bodies grow to just under a meter and are adorned with black-and-red stripes. They live in hives dug out under the plains; a hive can cover several square kilometers, reach dozens of meters deep and house hundreds to thousands of individuals. They feed on everything they find – from bushes and trees through field game to large creatures they can sting to death. They have keen senses and an excellent sense of smell. They live about five years.

Society

The hive is ruled by the queen, the only one who lays eggs. She communicates with her subjects extrasensorily and directs them around the hive, so the hive acts as a single collective mind. Those who find themselves farther away follow their last order. Soldier-workers gather food and defend the hive, drones fertilize the eggs and nurses prepare a mash for the young aku. Useless individuals are driven out of the hive and die after a while. If a new queen is born, she leaves with part of the subjects to found a new hive, or she stays as the successor of the current one.

Combat

Only the soldier-workers fight. Outside they swoop on the enemy in swarms of about ten and try to sting him to death. Inside the hive they cannot use their stings, so they attack with their mandibles.