Other races in Cerilia

[geeman]

That's really a clever idea, Gary.

Thanks.

The interesting question would then be whether originally the thri-kreen awnsheghlien was an insect which devoured a scion of Azrai, similar to the Sphinx, or if they were a human/sidhe/etc who became insectlike through the corruption of Azrai. The latter are often more tragic figures, while the former tend to be more bestial.

I think of some poor scion of azrai staked out in the desert to die being devoured by a colony of insects - which could of course mean that there is, or at least was, a number of awnsheghlien at the outset, with offspring then following to multiply their numbers.

I like it. The Hive of Azrai. The Swarm of Azrai.

I like backstory/origin stories for awnsheghlien that tweak the existing materials a bit into a new area--and that have their own drama. Any particular awnshegh could be an "elevated creature" or a "degenerate mortal" if you will, but it could be some combination thereof. A scion of Azrai "lost" or "abandoned" in the dessert who winds up feeding on insects to survive could take on insect-like qualities and/or his death could transfer his bloodline to the creature that strikes the "killing blow" or just eats his heart. A typical act of bloodtheft/transfer involves a stab through the heart or a ritual, but in a background story one could tweak that a bit.

People do eat insects in various parts of the world. I have a memory from some documentary I saw years ago that several types of locust are even kosher.

Or a scion of Azrai might die in the desert and be eaten by scavenger insects, his bloodline transferred to one in some divine freak accident (the power of the gods does tend to wander where it may...) and "evolve" that insect to monstrous proportions, and maybe spawning both intelligent insect offspring (thri-kreen) and monstrous ones (various giant vermin with blood abilities.)