[Molding] Jewel-bugs [Denied]

[Vallux]

"For those that find one of these wild, fully-coated, untold riches await. For those that find one in the wild, fully-coated, and undamaged, well... Perhaps you could buy Syliras?" -Stephen Pineye, master Animator and part-time rare gem merchant Name: Jewel-bug Area: found across Mizahar, mostly in urban areas with sufficient stock of refined gemstones, and a major pest in Izur lands, rare or nonexistent away from urban areas or large above-ground gemstone deposits (though as a result of the quartz-crystal composition of sand milky quartz-jewel-bugs are extremely common in Ahnatep and the surrounding desert, to the point of being featured in some of the architecture as 'scarabs.') Threat Level: Varies; All jewel-bugs are of minimal threat to sentient life, though Eypharians who put powdered gems into their makeup should be careful in case they are subject to an infestation, as the mandibles of the jewel-bug may do damage to eyes or hair. Jewel-bugs that target specific gem species are little more than a form of noise pollution to anyone who does not possess gems of the specific species and tint they require, though to the unfortunates who actually own such gems (such as an emerald merchant in the vicinity of an emerald-jewel-bug) there are a list of precautions that should be taken in order to prevent infestation and the loss of wealth. Jewel-bugs with no targeting instinct are more of a nuisance, as they will indiscriminately attack and devour anything with a rigid crystalline structure, making them a pest for everyone from diamond merchants to food-stall owners selling sugar-crystal sticks. Creature Description: Jewel-bugs were originally a small variety of beetle, but some thousands of years ago were twisted into their current form by some anonymous and capricious deity, granting them several unique abilities, twisting their biology beyond that of normal creatures, and giving them a limited form of immortality. First and foremost among their abilities, instead of eating plants and small aphids, Jewel-bugs hunt down and eat crystalline solids, almost always gemstones (but occasionally organic crystals such as sugar), processing parts of them and extruding the remainder as a glittering shell (known as a 'molt'). Most Jewel-bugs go for any gems they can find, giving their molts a swirling, colored-sand-vial look that is of a purely aesthetic value, worth maybe 12 gm on the open market. However, roughly one jewel-bug in five hundred has a compulsion to only go after a single kind of gem, giving the world amethyst-jewel-bugs, onyx-jewel-bugs, and the incredibly rare diamond-jewel-bugs. The rarest of jewel-bug molts are extremely valuable, and finding a completely-coated and undamaged diamond-jewel-bug molt is almost unheard of, but would be enough to set up the lucky finder with a fifth of mainland Mizahar. There are only two known molts of this description in existence, both of them from the same captive diamond-jewel-bug, and both part of an ornamental jewelry set owned by a high-up member of the ruling clan of the Izur. All jewel-bugs, regardless of diet, appear in their uncoated form as an extremely small brownish beetle, less than half an inch across, with red splotches on their wing casings. As they consume more gems their molt forms as a second exoskeleton, and drops off painlessly roughly once per week if they have sufficient access to gems of appropriate type. While jewel-bugs are incapable of communicating with others of their kind, having no intrinsic need to do so, the incredibly dense composition of their exoskeletons and internal organs gives them a disproportionately loud buzz when they fly. A single jewel-bug in full flight is roughly as loud as a swarm of hornets, clearly audible from a quarter mile away, and is able to fly at over ninety miles per hour, with a turning radius of a sixteenth of an inch. It is only their extreme speed and maneuverability that have stopped them being killed off or harvested into extinction for their molts. Weaknesses: Jewel-bugs are extremely fragile, and even when fully-coated can be easily crushed between two fingers. It is because of this that fully-coated and undamaged jewel-bugs are so highly prized. In addition, while a jewel-bug has no maximum lifespan they will go dormant if isolated from sufficient crystalline nutrients for more than a week at a time. Dormant jewel-bugs cannot be revived via any known process, and are useful only as ornamentation. Finally, despite their modified bodies and highly specific diet, jewel-bugs are no more intelligent than an average Hercules Beetle, and are easily captured if a successful approach is made and the jewel-bug does not fly off at top speed. Reproduction: Like their cousins, the dragonfly-magi and mineral-moths, jewel-bugs reproduce by shedding their exoskeletons, a lengthy and delicate process that requires at least a fully day of complete isolation. When the shedding is complete the 'child,' in reality an empty and extremely fragile exoskeleton with all the memories and instincts of the parent, will immediately go off in search of a large deposit of gemstone, either nonspecific or of the same type of the parent, in order to create internal organs and other fleshy structures. The 'parent' will do the same, but will instead eat granite and other rocks for roughly twelve hours, regrowing its exoskeleton. How often this reproductive process occurs depends on the specific jewel-bug. Jewel-bugs that eat any gem they can find will reproduce every year or so, while jewel-bugs such as the legendary black diamond-jewel-bug will reproduce once in a millennium, if that. This time span is dependent not only on the quality (or rarity) of the gems the jewel-bugs consume, but also on how much they can consume. In general, a jewel-bug can reproduce once for every ten-foot cube of crystal it consumes, though there are exceptions (such as the jewel-scarab, which reproduces once every other day regardless of its quartz intake). Known Subspecies: Jewel-bug - Eats any gem or crystalline substance it comes across, a major nuisance and noise-polluter, worthless to anyone but a collector, molts dissolve in water due to organic crystalline content and are useless for ornamentation Gem-bug - only eats inorganic crystalline solids, useful for jewelry or ornamentation depending on aesthetic tastes of collector and distribution pattern of colors, molts sell for 1~3 gm in good condition, 4~9 gm in excellent condition, and 10+ gm undamaged. [X]-jewel-bug - eats only one specific type of gem or crystalline solid, and grows a molt comprised purely of this one gemstone or crystal, highly useful for decoration, ornamentation, and gemstone purification, molts sell for 100~500 gm damaged, 1000~2500 gm in good condition, 5000~10000 gm in excellent condition, and 20000+ gm undamaged, though prices may vary from these ranges by as much as 8000% for extremely common (quartz) or extremely rare (diamond) jewel-bugs. Unique or near-unique jewel-bug molts (such as an undamaged molt from the rumored "black diamond-jewel-bug," a jewel-bug that supposedly seeks out and eats black diamonds instead of tinted or transparent diamonds) have unique and extremely high prices, and do not necessarily follow the guidelines above. Quartz-jewel-bug (jewel-scarab) - Not technically a subspecies, quartz-jewel-bugs (more commonly known as 'jewel-scarabs' because of their appearance as scarab-beetles in certain aspects of Eypharian ornamental architecture) are notable only because they are the most common (and consequently the least valuable) of all jewel-bugs that target a specific species of gemstone. In addition, because they are almost always found in the desert, where their gemstone makes up the very ground they walk on, quartz-jewel-bugs reproduce with much more speed than jewel-bugs that target gemstones of similar rarity, most specimens spending every other day in the reproductive-molting state. Because of this, jewel-scarabs represent an extremely disproportionate and destructive amount of the jewel-bug population, and it is not uncommon for entire dunes to be converted into a mass of jewel-scarab molts overnight, the victim of a massive host of the creatures moving in one direction. Jewel-scarabs are also unique among jewel-bugs as the only kind that have a mild predisposal to congregate. Unfilled jewel-bug scion - A jewel-bug 'child,' jewel-bug scions that have not had the opportunity to eat enough minerals and gemstones to generate internal organs are prized as instruments of torture, as they will indiscriminately burrow into and devour any material they come into contact with (with the exception of granite, certain metamorphic rocks, and other jewel-bugs), up to and including sentient beings, and are able to completely devour a living human (one bug can consume one human, bones and all, before it collects the necessary materials to generate its insides) within five minutes. Unfilled jewel-bug scions are valueless if in any condition short of pristine, as the slightest damage will turn them into mundane and worthless insect shells, but are valued at 3000 gm each on the black market for undamaged shells. Like jewel-bug scions at any other period of their life-cycle, they turn into mundane (though in this stage also incredibly fragile) pieces of inert decoration if deprived of sustenance for more than a week. Unshelled jewel-bug - An unshelled jewel-bug 'parent' has a single-minded focus, to find and devour as much granite rock as possible within a day of their 'division' into parent and child. Large swarms of unshelled jewel-bugs can do serious damage to stone buildings or sculptures, but are otherwise harmless. Society: Jewel-bugs are mostly solitary, and since each one is effectively its own self-contained reproductive system they form no society or groups of their own, not even the swarms normally formed by flying insects. However, massive deposits of rare gemstones (such as a large concentration of amethyst) attract large numbers of jewel-bugs, and such quasi-swarms can cause unintended destruction if and when they spawn, the younglings seeking out any available sustenance (including each other) and the parents devouring large chunks of landscape in order to regrow their shells as quickly as possible. The exception to this rule is the quartz-jewel-bug, or jewel-scarab, which has a mild predisposition to forming swarms of a hundred to five hundred individuals due to its rapid reproductive cycle. Useful Byproducts: Jewel-scarab molts are the only useful product available from the insects, since their insides are as worthless as that of any other insect and their primary exoskeleton is likewise worthless. Molts are purified and wafer-thin crystals that perfectly follow the shape of the jewel-bug's primary exoskeleton, and are shed periodically (usually once a week, though species that target common gemstones such as quartz or flint may shed as often as twice per day). Molts are shed whole, and will usually maintain their shape for a week before either being blown away by the wind and smashed against some obstacle or simply being trodden on. Molts, however, are not only valuable for ornamentation. Jewel-bugs take sustenance from the impurities in the gemstones they consume, and their molts are a purified form of whatever gems they eat. For jewel-bugs that target specific gemstones, this means that each jewel-bug is essentially a small factory that periodically produces 100% pure gemstones in the form of paper-thin shells. In addition, since the impurities are the only part of the gem that the jewel-bug utilizes for nutrition, a ten-ounce emerald with 99% purity placed before an emerald-jewel-bug will produce 9.9 ounces worth of perfectly pure (and consequently much more valuable) emerald-jewel-bug molts. Molts that are crushed become worthless colored powder.

[Vallux]

Please note, at the time of this creature being posted the Mineral-moth page is in the process of being written and the Dragonfly-magus is in the concept-stage.

[Jilitse]

I don't like how you made this creature at all, especially the fact that you said that it is Animated. Perhaps you have not fully understood the discipline, or perhaps I must have misunderstood the concept of your creature.

Let me argue with these accounts:

Jewel-bugs are not natural creatures, but are a form of self-propagating Animation whose first examples were created by a master Animator/Magecrafter thousands of years ago, possibly the same being that created the mineral-moths and the dragonfly-magi, two other self-propagating insect-like Animations that feed off natural resources (minerals and Djed, respectively).

and,

Reproduction:GARBAGE

and,

Society: GARBAGE... and the parents devouring large chunks of landscape in order to regrow their shells as quickly as possible.

First of all, products of animation could not be referred to as a creature at all. These are called golems, and do not, in any way, self-propagate. On the same account, they do not feed. Parents? SERIOUSLY? PARENTS. Don't even kid me about golems having a society. I'd submit my nuit self to Leth the day Sahovan golems started learning to reproduce and build their own civilization.

If you really wanted to make a creature that was created and given life through the concept of animation, then it should be elementary to know what golems are, what they can or cannot do. Thus,

Area: found across Mizahar,

already contradicts the wiki. Animated objects, golems, are not actually as widespread in the post-Valterrian world. Note that majority of golems malfunctioned after the Valterrian, and only Sahovan undead mages are knowledgeable in the discipline. As an additional trivia, the craft of animation is generally frowned upon, because the power to give life was ever meant to be given to humans (only, it was stolen by Yshul).

Weaknesses: Jewel-bugs are extremely fragile, and even when fully-coated can be easily crushed between two fingers. It is because of this that fully-coated and undamaged jewel-bugs are so highly prized. In addition, while a jewel-bug has no maximum lifespan they will go dormant if isolated from sufficient crystalline nutrients for more than a week at a time. Dormant jewel-bugs cannot be revived via any known process, and are useful only as ornamentation. Finally, despite their djed-augmented semiorganic bodies and highly specific and individualized diet, jewel-bugs are no more intelligent than an average Hercules Beetle, and are easily captured if a successful approach is made and the jewel-bug does not fly off at top speed.

Golems have no lifespan, because they do not have a "life". They stop functioning when they are destroyed, and I do not recall coming across "djed-augmented semi-organic" bodies. The best bet you have is the undead race and Drainira, and their physical properties do not even come close. What part of AUTOMATON did you misunderstand?

And as such, I believe you were not even able to comprehend the Animation wiki, for even adding:

Method of Animation: Despite their having all the characteristics of living beings, jewel-bugs are still animated constructions, with granite exoskeletons and insides made of various trace minerals. The exact animation process has been lost in the thousands of years since they first appeared, and there is no way to create a jewel-bug through Animation in post-Valterrian Mizahar.

Wow, what a construct. Did you know that the smaller the animated object, the harder it is to make? Have you read the part that stone is not an ideal item to construct as a golem part? Did you ever wonder about how golem mechanisms function, how difficult it is to even attempt to create something that MOVES properly because you need to have all the skills related to hard science, and invention to create limbs? Don't answer, it's rhetorical.

And that's quite cheap of you too, "animation process lost". Well, it's an easy scapegoat, but I'm not impressed.


I'm sorry to totally burst your bubble, Vallux. But your article is totally out-of-place. I know you'd think "who is this bastard who brings a pick and mallet to my opus", but I really mean well. My character is deeply involved with Animation, and I have asked numerous questions about it, discussed it extensively with Tarot, so you have to give me credit for being half-an-authority on the skill. I'm really shocked, my blood pressure is rising, and I may have been too sarcastic, but you deserve it. You truly do, for not researching the discipline you're trying inject your creature upon.

Not that I hate your creature. I totally do. It's just that... it doesn't belong to Animation, dear. It's a great article, but you have it scrambled. I suggest you make your Jewel bugs a Landspawn or even a Valterric, instead. If you undo your error and follow that last bit of advice, I'd personally approve these bugs. Who doesn't love shiny things?

I hope that you will see the sense I am projecting beyond the harshness and the rhetoric.

Jil

[Vallux]

Many thanks for the critique, I believe that I have misunderstood the Animation page rather thoroughly, though to counteract your 'golems have no society' and 'animations cannot self-propagate' comments I would point to the Nuit, which unless I am very much mistaken indeed are themselves products of Animation (in the same vein as jewel-bugs) and can indeed sef-propagate (via the ichor-spawning). I created this race (and am in the process of creating the minera-moths and dragonfly-magi) with an eye to making them Relics, and while your comments have indeed opened up how much I misunderstood the Animation process I believe I'd still like to make them some sort of unnatural creature, since I can't think of a non-magical way for a small beetle that eats gemstones to come into existence. I might make them and their 'siblings' into Fragments, though that would necessitate finding a deceased deity for them to have Fragmented from...

Upon further consideration, I'll be making them (and their 'siblings') into Moldings, and removing the concept of Animation from the creatures, though I originally intended the trio to be insectile variations on the Nuit creation process with a few extra features (the diet and reproductive process).

Again, many thanks for the critique, I'l be implementing several of your suggestions (though I'm keeping the reproductive process, even if it is toned down a bit.)

EDIT: I have completed initial edits, and added a 'Useful Byproducts' section.

[Gossamer]

Just a quick comment here.

As per the rules of World Development, if you cannot post these creatures and get them approved with 5 peer reviews, and a founder review before August 1st, then you will have to submit the ideas to the Help Desk for pre-approval before you even write the article. And I have to sadly say, and back Jil completely, that this creature as is would have never been given permission to be developed since it breaks some of our serious animation rules. Truthfully, reworked, I can't see it really passing a founder review without being gutted and completely coming out of that process as a unique and fitting creature for Mizahar.

So what I'm saying is that before you develop your other two ideas (which you have no way to do so grandfathered before the rules change august 1st), you should HD ticket them and make sure they are on par with our game world.

[Vallux]

Goss: I tried to get them HD approved late yesterday with a short description of each in a Help Desk thread, but it has for some reason been deleted as of this morning, since when I try to access it I get a message that it does not exist. I have completely removed the aspect of Animation from it, it's now a Molding by an anonymous Protohuman deity.

EDIT: I have found the HD thread. Probably just my internet acting screwy again...

[Solomon]

This thread has been locked and denied until further notice. PM me if you would like to start on this project again, Vallux. I will just need some confirmation from a Founder that you went through the proper channels if you do decide to work on this some more.