Bug

The term "bug" is the common word for invertebrate life on Ijzeria.

Bugs are notably different from realworld insects and crustaceans in that they often have fewer legs. This is because the common ancestral life form of Ijzerian bugs, had fewer legs than the common ancestral life form of realworld arthropods.

Additionally, some species of Ijzerian bugs are quite intelligent, especially in comparison to realworld insects.

## Physiology

Bugs which are insects such as moths, beetles, or bees usually have four legs, none of which are useful as "arms". While bugs which are arachnids and crustaceans will usually have six legs, plus an additional two legs which are useful as "arms".

Aside from the number of legs, bugs are incredibly diverse, and there are as many kinds of bug as there are stars in the sky.

Naturally occurring bugs are much smaller than magically enhanced ones. This is because without special biomancy and husbandry, the physiology of a bug simply can't exceed a certain size. Like realworld bugs, Ijzerian bugs don't breathe using lungs and a respiratory system, but rather through spiracles and tracheae. Without an intelligent hand guiding the evolution of these breathing systems, bugs simply won't be able to grow very large before their bodies will break down due to lack of oxygen.

Most bugs of unnatural size possess special organs which have been artificially introduced into the bug's systems, and allowed it to overcome an otherwise natural limitation on its growth.

## Intelligence

Most bugs do not possess any measurable intelligence. Bugs which achieve a certain size however, are noted for their intelligence, which compared to that of their smaller cousins is enormous.

For example, while a Saha'i Scarabax (such as the one depicted in Siegebreaker Beetle) is about as smart as a realworld dog, a normally-sized Ijzerian scarab beetle possesses negligible intelligence.

Bugs which measure less than 5cm in body length are very rarely capable of any kind of cognition or intelligence, and no naturally occurring bugs of that size exist that are capable of individual cognition.

Due to humanoid meddling, there do exist species of insect which are capable of higher intelligence. Specifically in-game, the Rostroot Widow is the byproduct of many years of illegal biomancy, having been magically bred to live in the Rostroot forest.

## History of Exploitation

Historically, bugs were considered not just ugly or detestable, but loathsome. In many societies, even before the Age of Unity, bugs were thought to be so disgusting and lowly, that even touching them was considered "gross". Insect life was not believed to have value, meaning, or purpose, and so bugs were not often included when discussing things like animal abuse or basic dignity.

This is important to understand, since this lack of regard for the dignity of insectkind directly lead to massive and unrestricted scientific and arcane experimentation. For thousands of years, biomancers experimented on bugs freely and without moral concern, no matter how many crimes against nature they committed; since in most peoples' reckoning, bugs themselves were disgusting and unnatural. Further, the term "bug" is even today quite broad. The discrimination faced by invertebrate life forms has seen crabs and spiders being lumped together with bumblebees and sea snails.

It is only in more recent years that bugs have been assigned the protections and dignities that other animals have had since the year 0AU. Even now, insects remain some of the few forms of life that humanoids are legally able to meddle with (depending on context).

As a result of this protracted period of use and abuse, many insects possess artificially induced biological features. This includes enhanced size, enhanced intelligence, limited magical capability, and many more. Not all such traits are positive or useful however. Many bugs survive into the present day with horrifying congenital defects, thoughtless gifts, courtesy of an uncaring intelligence from thousands of years prior.

## Trivia

* The term "bug" was chosen to describe most invertebrate life on Ijzeria because it sounds sufficiently "computery".
* As part of including bugs within the world of Ijzeria, it was discovered during research that realworld insects have six legs for essentially no reason. Remarkably, most insects which have six legs are perfectly capable of ambulation if they lose one or more legs. In particular, beetles can find their legs cumbersome and move faster when some (not all, obviously) of their legs fall off or are damaged. Some spiders will even bite their "extra" legs off in order to move faster!
* Since it became apparent that realworld insects have six legs ONLY because their common ancestor had six legs, the number of legs on Ijzerian bugs was reduced. This was done both as a mercy to the illustrators working on the project, and as well as to give Ijzerian bugs something that made them feel a little extra special. The hope is that players who see that Ijzerian bugs have the "wrong amount" of legs will ask themselves why, and explore the world around them for the answer.