Formian

• Formian

Formians are psychic insectile humanoids with features similar to gigantic ants. They coexist on Castrovel with lashuntas and elves, but brutal generation-spanning wars between formian colonies and lashunta city-states still loom in living memory. Formians are more than components of a hive mind, but their social nature and psychic connections are core aspects of their identities.

Formians are a eusocial species of ant-like beings who form hive mind colonies on their home world, Castrovel. While the overwhelming majority of formians remain a part of their colony for their entire lives, some formians experience a phenomenon known as “the Call,” an unmistakable and irresistible longing to temporarily set out from their colony as a separate, individual being. While historically rare, the Call is inexplicably becoming more frequent among formians, and many believe the Call is the only way formian society can survive in the face of the modern galaxy's evolving challenges. Even if they travel far from their colony, those who heed the Call maintain a subtle psychic connection to both queen and kin.

You Might...

• Put the needs of the colony or another group above the needs of individuals, even yourself.
• Be especially aware of how much each person contributes to a group effort.
• Long to return to your colony and rejoin the hive mind.

Others Probably...

• Value your collaborative nature.
• Have trouble understanding you unless you use telepathy.
• Assume you just follow orders and can't think for yourself.

Physical Description

Formians resemble giant ants, with their segmented bodies and six limbs. While all six of a formian's limbs end with similar clawed appendages, four limbs are typically used for locomotion at any given time, leaving the other two to function as “arms” with “hands.” A heavy, chitinous carapace covers a formian's body and is usually some shade of black, brown, red, or yellow, though many formians display complex patterns and shades of purple, green, blue, and other colors; some formians who live deep belowground even develop ultraviolet patches or lines that span their entire bodies.

Formians have five eyes: two prominent compound eyes and three much smaller supplementary eyes in a triangle on their foreheads that help them navigate and sense light. Formians sometimes have powerful mandibles that can be used as vicious weapons, but most modern formians use their mouths as many other species do: for eating and speaking, though their speech has a clicking, percussive quality that most non-insectile species struggle to reproduce. Compounding this linguistic barrier, many other species have difficulty understanding formian social behavior, which often relies on high-context nonverbal cues, such as pheromones, ultraviolet light, and telepathic “pings.”

Society

Formian ancestors lived deep beneath the surface of Castrovel's jungles, where they spent much of their lives hiding from the planet's predators. Over the centuries, they developed unique architectural talents and sophisticated technology. After a prolonged period of civil war, the most prominent formian hives united along the southwestern continent of Castrovel, forming a complex social and industrial collective known as the Colonies. The Colonies have existed alongside elves and lashuntas for generations, sometimes peacefully, though often engaged in brutal wars.

Each formian hive contains vast cities that extend for miles across—and below—the planet's surface. Most non-formians never have the opportunity to visit the deepest and oldest formian cities, which are utilitarian and efficient for hiveminded formians but unfathomably complex for those who are unaccustomed to them.

A queen rules each major city, often reporting to higher-ranking queens who oversee and coordinate multiple others. The entirety of formian society and its hierarchical caste system revolve around serving and supporting these queens and their hives. Builders and workers are almost always the most numerous formians in a hive, with the population of soldiers varying wildly depending on whether the hive is at war or expecting to be at war in the near future. Taskmasters and other attendants of the queen's court interact most directly with their queen. Ambassador formians are the sort most commonly found visiting other lands or planets, though any formian might set out to travel the galaxy after experiencing the Call.

At birth, formians are assigned a combination of pheromonal and telepathic signatures. When translated, these “names” consist of 14 numerals, always in the format “XX-XXXX-XXXXXXXX” and indicating the formian's hive, city, clutch, and individual designation. Most formians never need or desire any other name, but a formian who experiences the Call or otherwise interacts with other species might take a common name from another language. Some formians take the time to craft their own names, whether by adapting another name or by inventing an entirely bespoke name, often incorporating clicks, tsks, and clacking noises made possible by their mandibles.

Beliefs

The formian caste structure leads many other species to view formians as authoritarian, but in truth, formians have a great deal of autonomy in directing their lives. This allows individuals to better enjoy their work, make more significant contributions to the colony, and ultimately be happier, better fulfilled, and thus more efficient. Even if they haven't experienced the Call, a formian who displays aptitude for a certain task might acquire a job outside their caste, sometimes even permanently—especially if this means they can better contribute to the colony as a whole. Furthermore, thanks to the focus on community, quality of life is high, and the lessening frequency of war has resulted in fewer instances of queens and taskmasters exerting psychic control over the formians in their colonies, a measure that was once commonplace but is now typically reserved only for the most dire emergencies.

Though formians place little emphasis on their individual names and focus most of their effort throughout their lives on serving the needs of the colony as a whole, they often express their personal beliefs and feelings by engraving their carapaces. This tattoo-like tradition developed from an ancient practice of scratching the exoskeleton to enhance a formian's ability to absorb and transmit pheromones, allowing for more efficient and accurate communication and identification of formians during the chaos of war. It grew into a time-honored tradition for warriors to display their rank and deeds, and it later expanded across formian society, leading to an entire profession devoted to engraving formian carapaces with ritual chisels. Traditionally, these engravings are simple, shallow grooves—the pheromones released are the purpose, after all, not the visual appeal—but some formians experiment with piercings, metallic inlays, ultraviolet lacquers, pheromone-altering injections, and other modern innovations. In a largely rigid and hierarchical society, these bits of flair help formians communicate their personal identity, interests, and beliefs more directly. Popular Edicts establish and maintain strong relations with others, focus on producing quality work, serve the needs of the colony Popular Anathema act hastily or clumsily, ignore the needs of the community, interfere with another's Calling

Sample Names

Arkichi, Froxilix, Graa'id, Morgebard, Tski, Xcibiz

Other Information

The Call

“The Call that demands an answer” or simply “the Call” is a phenomenon in formian society that takes many forms but is frequently characterized by an intense longing to temporarily leave their hive. Most formians who hear the Call rarely understand the intended purpose of their journey. After departing, some formians travel far and wide in search of novel experiences before returning to their hive. Others never return, instead choosing to establish a new colony. A formian might be Called to begin a new career, to join an organization, or to go to war—whatever nature the Call takes, it's a highly respected, auspicious, and ritualistic tradition, and no formian would ever dare to deny another formian's Call.

Colony Hive Minds

Within their colonies, formians operate with a shared hive intelligence that allows near instantaneous communication. Most formian adventurers are those who are currently experiencing “the Call that demands an answer” and have traveled far from the rest of their hive. If you're playing a formian who visits their colony, or you meet other members of your hive mind during play, work with your GM to determine how to roleplay your character and the NPCs you're sharing a hive mind with. GMs might also allow you to gain the following benefits from your hive mind.

While within telepathic range of at least one other formian from the same hive mind, a formian gains a +1 circumstance bonus to Perception checks for initiative rolls. If one formian is aware of a combatant, all members of the hive mind within range are aware of it.

Formian Reproduction

Formians hatch as legless larvae from melon-sized ovoid eggs. After a few months of growth and a few weeks pupating in a silken cocoon, they emerge as young adults. Hives carefully control the environment and diet of their young to influence their development and steer them toward a specific role in the colony, such as worker or Soldier. After a year of intense study and training, these youths become mature adults and full members of formian society.

While some formians become winged individuals known as “alates” who are responsible for mating and establishing new colonies, most formians are nonreproductive, so their society places little emphasis on sexuality, gender roles, or gender identity. Sometimes formians reframe questions of gender or sexuality in ways that make more sense to them, often (quite famously across The Pact Worlds) responding to questions about gender with statements about their job or hobbies, such as “I am a historian” or “I like to read.”

Formian Mechanics

Hit Points

6

Size

Medium

Speed

25 feet

Attribute Boosts

Two free attribute boosts

Languages

Castrovelian

Common

Formian

Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent on your home world).

Limited Telepathy

You can communicate mentally with creatures within 30 feet that share a language with you. This doesn't give you any access to their thoughts, and it communicates no more information than normal speech would.

Low-light Vision

You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, so you ignore the Concealed condition due to dim light.