Alicorn Bee

Alicorn Bees are a type of rare beast famed for the curative properties of their honey.

## Description

A little larger than a conventional honeybee, Alicorn Bees are distinguished by their change in typical configuration compared to other similar species. In place of a pointed stinger at the tip of their abdomen, they instead have a horn-like hollow spike upon their brow, hence the comparison to the alicorn, or winged unicorn. Alicorn Bees are known to use the horns to joust and otherwise drive away threats to their hive with this particular weapon in their arsenal.

Alicorn Bees are famed for the products of their hives, with their honey providing a number of medicinal benefits, and as such is used in the creation of a number of healing potions, poultices and preparations. Likewise, propolis and royal jelly from their hives confers similar benefits, as well as being useful in other produce, such as that of Stalrose Vineyard's Amberian Dawn.

## History

Over the years, only a few groups have managed to meaningfully cultivate and manage hives of Alicorn Bees. Most notable amongst them are the residents of Faeflame Forest in northern Tourmalini'i, and the House of Xoldoxa in Atralran, who rely extensively on the nearby forest of the Chittering Holt to host their apiaries. Likewise, some members of the Aethelwald have claimed to have managed the art, particularly around Velenthir Estate, although rarely in any meaningful scope.

## Research

### Completed by Andrius

As many would-be apiarists have discovered, Alicorn Bees are a fickle past-time, owing both to the reliance of the species on a wide range of truly wild wildflowers - with it often claimed that anything planted or sown by the hand of a humanoid will be rejected by the workers - and the remarkable stubbornness with which the bees themselves have been known to act. While routinely considered a beast by means of conventional scholarly classification efforts, there is no doubt more that a few drops of the fey about the behaviour of Alicorn Bees, who seem to delight in generating additional work for their would-be masters and owners, going as far to actively sabotage provided hives in place of that of their own design, playing dead as a seemed form of striking should a beekeeper remove too much honey from the hive in one pass, as well as routinely staging internal uprisings to overthrow the resident Queen, as if disagreeing with their sense of leadership. Such revolutions are usually instigated by the male drones, who have been witnessed carousing with the workers and bribing them with choice pieces of nectar in exchange for their allegiance.

It is to little surprise that the creation of the Alicorn Bee is often attributed to the Archfey Ilena, ruler of Broadleaf Grove. Better known as the Alicorn Queen, the Archfey is the patron of beasts made intelligent, and given the Alicorn Bee's seemed elevated intelligence compared to their other apian relatives there is perhaps credence to these claims. This would go further to explain the species' seemed preference to fey-touched forests, the few success stories of their cultivation being linked to locations such as these. It has been noted that Alicorn Bees do indeed seem to respond less assertively to individuals of fey lineage, although even this has its limits. Furthermore, they are known to hold a grudge, collimating in one instance when a particularly riled hive seemed to have deliberately agitated a nearby nest of stinging ants, before leaving a trail of honey deposits to lead them into the apiarist's bedchambers.

For those with the mental patience and physical fortitude to keep Alicorn Bees, they too must find themselves in optimal surroundings. The presence of the feywild is seemingly insufficient in itself, for the bees thrive only in climates somewhere between temperate and tropical, with thick tree cover surrounding them, broken up only by forest groves filled with their requisite natural-grown wildflowers. In reality, it seems that the specifics of the wildflowers do not matter too greatly - although may have an effect on the flavour profile of the finalised honey - simply that they must be truly wild. Variations in temperature, altitude and surroundings may prompt a hive to empty overnight, feasting on what honey and royal jelly they can and tarnishing that which they cannot, or repeated refusal to forage, as aforementioned. Some limited success has been found with spiking nearby water supplies with exotic spices to encourage their continued habitation in otherwise unfavourable climates, though seemingly at quantities that proves financially unviable compared to the diminished output of the hive itself.