THE HOST
-Holy City Benefactor: South
-Original Primary Objective: Self-preservation
-Original Secondary Objectives: Grow the Swarm
-Host Size: 1,000,000+
-Unique Trait #1: High Army Regen Rate: Firmehi breed like the vermin they’re renowned for being, a Firmehi female can have upwards of thirty children before her death.
-Unique Trait #2: Hidden Sanctuary: As one of the Cradle Pantheon's few devout races, the Cradle keeps an eye on their little hungry friends. While they dislike the acts of theft from peasants, they see great use in these tiny devours as a means of environment control. The spirit gods own pruning sheers, they are sometimes directed from the southern holy city to cut away overgrowth and excess as a means of keeping both physical and cosmic balance, like a fire clearing a forest. With service and connection to the Spirit gods comes boons. The Cradle Pantheon actively protects their little friends temporary homes. Forest animals will assist them. The very forests will almost consciously try to conceal them. (Practical effect: Being attacked while located in a forest or jungle blocks gives very high chance of the Cradle Pantheon attempting to indirectly assist. A very small chance also exists of a Spirit God of the Cradle Pantheon intervening directly with their own physical form)
-Unique Flaw #1: Extreme Weakness to Cold: Firmehi swarms can’t traverse Tundra, Steppe, Mountain, or Arctic terrains. They’re also particularly vulnerable to ice magic.
-Unique Flaw #2: The Bigger Fish: There is already a locust eating at the roots of the world... and it does not share food. The Darkness while having seemingly no more or less visible hatred or interest in the Firmehi, the Darkness always seems to target them first when it expands outward. Its reasons for doing so is unknown beyond rumour and speculation, however the facts remain: Where the Darkness goes, the Firmehi die in mind-boggling numbers. The small creatures seem to have no defence against the unknowable absolute will. (Effect: Firmehi have far more worse days when facing the Darkness)
PATRONAGE & GEOGRAPHIC
-Founding Location: Southern City
-Patron Realms: None.
-Host Headquarters Location: None.
-Major Host Strongholds: None.
-Buildings of Interest: None.
RACIAL
-Majority Race: Firmehi Sprites (100%)
-Majority Race Appearance: Humanoid fairyfolk, 3-5 inches tall, wide spectrum of hair and eye colors, unclothed
-Majority Race Characteristics: Short Lived, High Fertility, High Mobility, Low Strength, Strict Hierarchy, High Perception,
-Majority Race Overview:
They structure themselves according to a stength-based alpha-male structure, males are drastically rarer amongst the Firmehi population and make up the bulk of the leadership amongst the swarm. The alpha is the obvious head, his sons, brothers and occasionally uncles all fall under him and are granted their own harem, unsurprisingly female for the purpose of reproducing and as warriors. Succession in the Firmehi alpha structure is decided in full-blown war between generals. When an alpha male dies, civil war breaks out amongst the Firmehi swarm, in most cases the size of the swarm is reduced by over half.
When a new alpha is chosen he is blessed by the Cradle Pantheon and given magical ability to raise them to LEGENDARY status, Firmehi biology allows only males to trickle magic ability, for these two reasons the direct male line of an alpha have magical ability for the next three generations. If a line fails to place an alpha then it gradually falls out of magical ability and when a line fails to produce any magically-sensitive offspring those offspring are abandoned by the swarm.
Firmehi swarms are parasitic nomads; they travel from realm to realm harassing farmers and livestock to sustain their large populations. While generally sticking to tree-fruits, in the east Firmehi are known to slaughter cattle and devour it within a night. As a result, Firmehi are seen among common pests and have poor relations with most realms. This denotation is not entirely false, Firmehi culture is excessively savage compared to the civilized realms, while attacks directly on humanoid populations are few and far between, a starving swarm will consume anything organic.
Firmehi have razor sharp teeth that they use to gnash through fruit and flesh as well as retractable claws. Individually a Firmehi sprite is not much of a threat - except perhaps to other Firmehi - their true strength comes in numbers, an unstoppable barrage of tiny blades that can tear apart a cow in a matter of minutes. The only known deterrent for Firmehi is the cold and ice-based magic. The cold causes a Firmehi’s wings to beat slower than normal and they can’t fly, migration patterns show swarms retreat to the South Holy City every winter to avoid the frost, many are wiped out in the first big cold of the season and on the retreat to the Southern City.
The Firmehi, like other sapient races, have developed language, however their vocal cords are so short that the frequency of their voices cannot be heard by other humanoid races. They can, however, be picked up by animals, most notably cats.
RELIGION & MAGIC
-Host Religion: Dyradicism
-Holy Relics In Possession: None
-Holy Sites Under Control: None
-Hosts Magical Arsenal: Healing, Field Barriers, Elemental Magic
MILITARY
-Total Military Size: 1,000,000+
-Military Details: 900 Firmehi Male Masters
9000 Firmehi Male Mages
990,000 Firmehi Females
LEADERSHIP DRAMATIS PERSONAE
-Host Leader: Bora Khan
-Host Religious Head: Bora Khan
HEROIC DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Bora Khan - Firmehi Alpha, LEGENDARY grade hero,
CULTURAL
-History of the Host: The Firmehi Swarm has existed for a millennia and harassing farmers ever since.
-Relations: Poor Everywhere