Beetle, Blowpipe, Various

Blowpipe Beetles, Adults

Blowpipe beetles look rather like rhinoceros beetles, having a single great horn projecting from their faceplates. The horn is generally half the length of a young beetle, with the projectiles it launches little shorter. The beetles are commonly referred to as dart, arrow, javelin, and ballista beetles, according to the size of projectile they launch.

Subtly different habitats support populations of different species of beetles. Body shapes are adapted to travel through different sorts of vegetation. Colors vary widely, as to exoskeleton and axe ornamentations; trophy heads are collectable. Beetles adapted to life in the grasslands tend to be striped while those of forest lands are usually mottled. The great ballista beetles, usually too large to hide in the grass, may instead be camouflaged as great rocks or sand hills. Curiously, in desert areas, only the dart and ballista beetles are found; the smallest are able to find sufficient food in a small area while the largest are able to travel far enough to reach widely spaced food sources. Despite their different sizes, and the varied colors and patterns displayed by the various species for better camouflage or display, the four hundred and seventy six documented species of blowpipe beetles are all quite similar. Metallic colorations may indicate actual metal incorporated in to the exoskeleton; such beetles tend to have an appetite for metallic objects.

Blowpipe beetles are, as a rule, non aggressive. The exception is during breeding season, when 50-500 females cluster near good egg laying sites, often near cave mouths, sewer-undermined ruins, "dungeon" entrances or other easy access to the underworld. The gravid females do not have long to wait until an equally numerous orchestra of musical males shows up to serenade and seduce.

When they spot a potential predator, they freeze, hoping to remain unnoticed. If approached, they wave their horns in warning and emit a sharp warning zing sound by rubbing their wing case edges against each other; poets assert that the zither-like music, which is much elaborated in breeding season, is quite stirring. Only if further threatened do the beetles retaliate with a barrage of missiles, shot forcefully from their horns.

The beetles' projectiles are formed from special secretions, hardened from a mix of blood and amber in channels set in the sides of the blowpipe horn. If there are toxic plants in the area, the beetles have a 20% chance of finding some they can digest; the toxin is infused in to their projectiles.

Each beetle keeps a half dozen to a dozen projectiles ready in its horn at all times. Replacements for launched missiles take only half an hour to solidify, regardless of how many replacements are needed.

Should the beetles' projectiles fail to deter their attackers, they can wield their horns with reasonable dexterity. The horns are sharp-edged as machetes, but this is more for use in cutting their way out of tangled thickets than for defense. The darts' and arrows' horns serve as well as daggers and short swords, respectively, while the javelins and ballistae have long sword and Joten (giant) sword-like horns.

The beetles' projectiles can be made in to fine weapons with little additional crafting. There is a limited alchemical market for the bodily fluids of these beetles. The fluids can also be used as an ingredient in superior mortar mixes. Some instrument makers prize the musical wing case edges, but only pay top price for those harvested during the breeding season.

Gruesome Grubs of the Blowpipe Beetles

Gruesome Grubs

While the adult beetles are non-aggressive vegetarians, and fairly harmless if they can be avoided, their grubs are a different story. Happily, the blind beasties burrow deep into the earth, fleeing the desiccating sun. In colonies clustered about narrow caves and tunnels, the soft-bodied grubs hide in shallow burrows or in loose earth or gravel or under piles of rotting flesh with just their eyes and blowpipe horns sticking out of the ground. When prey draws near, the grubs fire their darts.

The grubs do not eat their victims' flesh directly but rather cultivate it in piles of rotting meat. As the flesh decomposes, the gruesome grubs slurp out maggots and other vermin from the festering mass of putrescent protein.

Colonies of grubs infest the underworld below the adults' habitat to a surprising depth, but also migrate laterally through the earth for as much as a mile. The grubs are surprisingly clever at squeezing their way about in the depths, returning towards the surface only when it is time to pupate and hatch as adults.

All the grubs from an egg mass will stay together as a colony, sharing the bounty of their communal flesh piles. If they run out of prey, they will migrate en mass. As they may number between 50 and 1,000, this usually happens several times before they grow to full size. Their migrations are a plague to dwellers in the depths. The colony usually starts with several thousands of small grubs, but they usually number only in the dozens by the time they are matured and ready to pupate.

The pupa stage of many species, while passive, is quite dangerous - or useful, depending on one's point of view. SEE Exotic Gasser Pupae entry for details. Blowpipe beetle pupae of non-subterranean species usually "shell up" or encyst within ten to fifty beetle-lengths of the surface, exact distance varying by beetle size and geology.

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Last update May 10, 2006