Forager
The bond between ant and human can be surprisingly strong. Over time, with regular grooming and prolonged exposure to the particular scent of pheremone mixed with an individual's own unique smell, a Korashi ant can become quite inured to that person. Even fond of them.
Perhaps more surprisingly, Korashi ants are highly trainable (though far from brilliant). Combine these two facts, and ant and handler can begin to act as a particularly effective unit.
Foraging teams are bonded pairs - a skilled desert scout, and an ant accustomed to them. Without such a bonding, Korashi ants travelling a sufficient distance from others of its kind will simply turn and wander back to their hive. With a bonded human, however, they can be led without hesitation over any distance.
Together, they are a formidable scouting team. The advantages the human brings are obvious - intelligence, keen eyesight, and thumbs. Consider though the benefits brought by the ant: They can traverse truly difficult terrain. Their jaws can chew through the hardy trunks and stems of desert plants, and through growths of valuable crystal for collection and return to the hive. They are tremendously strong. And they have the curios, useful ability to secrete a rich, golden nectar from their mouths.
While in nature this process is for sharing nutrition between ants of the colony, and to feed the hive's larvae, they can be trained to secrete this nourishing 'honey' on command - an invaluable asset for a far roaming human. Whilst the taste of this honey, when the ants have been consuming large amounts of meat, is pungent and strange, those fed on certain specific diets produce a honey that is by all accounts delicious, and makes for a valuable export.
On a less savoury note (or, perhaps, a more savoury one) it is common for human dead to be eaten by the Hive Kin's ants wherever such bodies are encountered. The tribekin have no compunctions about this, and will state mater-of-factly that this is but a natural and useful part of 'the path of survival' (the quasi-philosophy of the tribe; if nothing else, they are a practical people). But when questioned on whether they consume the honey of ants that have recently consumed human flesh, the Hive Kin will look away, and quickly change the subject...
Image by Ellen
Hive Kin
Perhaps more surprisingly, Korashi ants are highly trainable (though far from brilliant). Combine these two facts, and ant and handler can begin to act as a particularly effective unit.
Foraging teams are bonded pairs - a skilled desert scout, and an ant accustomed to them. Without such a bonding, Korashi ants travelling a sufficient distance from others of its kind will simply turn and wander back to their hive. With a bonded human, however, they can be led without hesitation over any distance.
Together, they are a formidable scouting team. The advantages the human brings are obvious - intelligence, keen eyesight, and thumbs. Consider though the benefits brought by the ant: They can traverse truly difficult terrain. Their jaws can chew through the hardy trunks and stems of desert plants, and through growths of valuable crystal for collection and return to the hive. They are tremendously strong. And they have the curios, useful ability to secrete a rich, golden nectar from their mouths.
While in nature this process is for sharing nutrition between ants of the colony, and to feed the hive's larvae, they can be trained to secrete this nourishing 'honey' on command - an invaluable asset for a far roaming human. Whilst the taste of this honey, when the ants have been consuming large amounts of meat, is pungent and strange, those fed on certain specific diets produce a honey that is by all accounts delicious, and makes for a valuable export.
On a less savoury note (or, perhaps, a more savoury one) it is common for human dead to be eaten by the Hive Kin's ants wherever such bodies are encountered. The tribekin have no compunctions about this, and will state mater-of-factly that this is but a natural and useful part of 'the path of survival' (the quasi-philosophy of the tribe; if nothing else, they are a practical people). But when questioned on whether they consume the honey of ants that have recently consumed human flesh, the Hive Kin will look away, and quickly change the subject...
Hive Kin
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