Name: Vohra (juveniles) Vahyra (adult females), Vahrga (adult males) (singular: Vohra/Vahyra/Vahrga)
Also known as: Vohrans, Vora, Vargans (adult males), Swarmlings
Average Height: 90cm for juveniles, 200cm for adult males, 260cm for adult females
Average Weight: 70kg for juveniles, 200kg for adult males, 300kg for adult females
Basic Description: Vohra come in three distinct forms – a juvenile stage and separate adult male and female forms.
Juvenile Vohra are small, brightly coloured part insectoid, part mammalian beings that stand on both two legs and four legs. They have segmented plates of armour running down their backs and similar plating running down their stomachs. They have heavy clawed hands and feet, tipped with the same chitin armour that protects their backs. Their mouth are surrounded by four large tusks that interlock with each other.
Vahrga are adult male Vohra. Their armour is much heavier than their juvenile counterparts, covering their shoulders and thighs. The armour on their fingers is thicker, limiting hand movement and fusing their claws in place. Vahrga colouration tends to be darker and more muted than that of juvenile Vohra.
Vahyra are adult female Vohra. Their body shape is somewhat similar to that of juvenile Vohra, but their bodies are swollen and bloated, having been reformed to lay eggs. Their heads make up about 25% of their total body size, with jaws that open to over a metre wide. A Vahyra’s body is always black with only slight tints of their original birth colours.
A subset of normal juvenile Vohra exists, called the Vahla. These Vohra have much stronger armour and are generally a couple of centimetres taller than their brethren. They can easily be identified by small plates of spiked armour on their shoulders and knees.
All Vohra have incredibly long tails, often twice the length of their body. Vahyra tails will often split into four at the end, which can be moved individually. Their eyes and nostrils are also incredibly large. Their tails act as extra limbs, allowing them to hang upside down and pick things up if needed.
Abilities and Powers: Vohra are telepathically linked to all individuals in a nest, allowing them to move and act as if they are a single entity. They are controlled by the oldest and most powerful Vahyra in a nest, often referred to as the Queen.
Juvenile Vohra have the ability to curl up into a ball. They will spend all of their idle time like this, and regularly sleep in their balled form, hanging from the ceiling of their individual cells.
Vahla are much stronger than normal Vohra, and have the ability to use some form of elemental magic, but how this works is currently kept secret.
Vahrga are incredibly powerful beasts. They may lack the strong telepathic links of their fellow Vohra, but they are essentially walking tanks of flesh and armour, capable of withstanding huge amounts of damage.
Habitat: Vohra live inside massive nests build deep underground. There are generally four openings into a nest, one exit, one entrance and two openings that work both as entrances and exits. Nests are neatly organized into various chambers, with separate spaces for Vohra, Vahyra and Vahla, each individual having either a private cell or a large room depending on how important they are. Vahrga are often all kept in a single cell in cramped conditions unless needed.
The higher parts of a nest are reserved for growing and storing food, while the lowest areas are used to store water. A Queen’s chambers generally tend to be in the middle of the nest.
Diet: Within Vohran nests, a variety of flowering plants are bred and farmed. The pollen from these plants is collected and made into an incredibly sweet substance called zakari, which is used to feed all the Vohra in a nest. These plants vary from nest to nest and are routinely watered and fed with organic waste from the rest of the nest.
When crops come to the end of their life, they are crushed down and mixed with the dregs from zakari containers, then boiled over time to make honeywater. This much thicker substance is fed to young Vohra to make them grow quicker. A spiced variant is fed to pregnant Vahyra to give them strength.
Vahrga and Vahla tend to have more varied diets, generally with a mixture of fungi, fruit and rarely meat thrown in with their otherwise liquid diets.
Breeding: Vohra have three distinct forms. The majority of Vohra will spend their lives in their juvenile forms, doing specific tasks within the nest. They are born in round, clear, egg-like canisters, laid from the mouth of a Vahyra.
Each canister is looked after by a series of workers until the Vohra inside wakes up and breaks free. The canister will then be drained, cleaned and moved to the main living areas of the nest, while a baby Vohra is orientated and begins learning their designated job. After six months of learning and education, baby Vohra are fed on honeywater for another year, then begin work in the nest. Vohra designated as Vahla will be given three years of training, taught by the eldest Vahla of the nest, before being fed honeywater.
At the age of 10, all Vohra are tested for their genders for the first time. About 90% of all Vohra are genderless at this point, but any Vohra who gender male are castrated and sent back to work. All Vohra are tested again at the ages of 20 and 30, again with the majority of males being castrated. Vohra cannot gender female until after the age of 30.
At the age of 40, all Vohra are gendered again. The best male and female specimens are taken away, while any remaining Vohra are castrated or spayed to prevent them becoming adults.
Female Vohra are gently looked after and spend the next five years learning how to be adults. At the age of 45, they will slowly begin to grow into their adult forms, the process taking anywhere between 4 and 6 years. Once they have matured, they may pick a Vahrga to mate with and will either assist in birthing more Vohra for their current nest or venture out to create a new nest for themselves.
Male Vohra are locked away in padded cells until they begin their transformation into Vahrga. Unlike that of Vahyra, the transformation is quick and painful, with a Vohra being fully changed in around 30 hours.
The average neutered Vohra will live until the age of 50. Vahla often live for slightly longer. Most Vahrga will only live for about 10 years after becoming adults due to mistreatment from their queens.
A Vahyra can live for up to 1000 years if well looked after, but most will only live to the age of 500, either killed in uprisings from mistreated Vahla, wounded by desperate Vahrga trying to escape or killed in conflicts with other nests.
Hierarchies: Hierarchies are simple in Vohran society. The Queens rule all, the Vohra do as they are told, the Vahrga are slaves and the Vahla protect the nest at all costs.
Technologies: Vohran technology is incredibly advanced, particularly in the field of bioengineering. Every piece of technology in Vohran society is created from lumps of organic, fleshy material or bioengineered from already-existing creatures. Many lesser animals taken over by the Vohra end up being manufactured into organic machines that are useful to the Vohra.
Society: Vohran society is often believed to be singular and monotonous. Individual Vohra do as they are told, while Vahyra Queens rule with an iron fist, easily crushing any dissenters. But as long as a Vohra does as it is told, it will live a comfortable life, being well fed and looked after by fellow Vohra.
Vahrga are kept as slaves, intended only to satisfy the desires of their queens. Most Vahrga are killed after they can no longer fertilize queens, and more technologically advance nests will keep Vahrga permanently sedated, draining them of all useful fluids then turning the corpses into fertilizer.
The only source of distinct culture lie among the Vahla. Their duties to protect their nests has caused them to form a strict code of honour and rigid training routines to make them as powerful and as capable as possible. Vahla intentionally keep themselves and their traditions secret, in order to protect their nests.
In extremely rare scenarios, a Vahrga may escape from a Vohran nest. These rogue Vahrga, known as Vahlost, generally die quickly, but groups of Vahlost will occasionally form their own small communities, eating grass, scavenging for food, building small, shallow shelters and sharing between themselves. They can also be rehabilitated by other races and will live the rest of their lives somewhat peacefully as long as they are kept away from other Vohra.
Religion: Normal Vohra do not have a religion, but the Vahla worship the Lord of Death, praying that he will give them protection in times of need.
Economy: Despite their swarming ways, the Vahyra of the largest Vohran nests do have trade deals with external nests, mainly just exporting any extra zakari and honeywater stocks that they don’t need. Nests on the very edges of the Vohra Swarms will trade with nearby races if they are not hostile, requesting local sugars in exchange for any mineral resources the Vohra can spare.