Bumbumast

Bumbumasts are small flying insectoid creatures native to Cabina. They played a vital role in Cabina flora pollination and were at times kept by the Cah-Binn for the sweet milk- and wax-like substances they’d produce. Bumbumasts naturally exhibit three distinct phases of behavior: solitary, colonial, and swarming. In recent times, a new phase has been discovered: the mortally dangerous ur-swarm phase.

Though largely peaceful in all three of their primary behavioral phases, Bumbumasts have a defensive mechanism known as their death-bite. When a Bumbumast's lair or colony is under attack, it is able to force its jaws to bite with such force that it either chews clean through whatever it's biting or gets permanently stuck. If stuck, the Bumbumast will literally decapitate itself trying to pull free.

Bumbumasts became extinct as part of the total ecosystem collapse following the Blood Eagle’s bombardments. But due to their importance for the pollination of several key species of native Cabina flora, they were among the first species reintroduced by biosphere restoration projects. However, the Bumbumast proved to react to the wasteland outside of these projects with new and unexpected behavior. Cah-Binn and human biologists have labeled this behavior the ur-swarm phase. While rare, ur-swarms are extremely aggressive, and travelers of the Cabina wastelands caught unawares by a Bumbumast ur-swarm are in mortal danger.

## Anatomy

### Body

Adult Bumbumasts tend to be around 4 millimetres (0.16 in) long. They have a multitude of limbs including a set of wings. Their heads have eyes an antenna's. Bumbumast don’t have stingers, but their jaws are sharp and able to chew through most organic material given time. In addition to eating, they use their jaws to dig their lairs or colonies.

### Diet

Bumbumasts are herbivores, able to digest most forms of living plant manner. However, they have a preference for flowers. Bumbumasts have a symbiotic relationship with several species of native Cabina flower, where Bumbumasts will eat the center of these flowers and act as their pollinator in the process. The Bumbumasts are able to convert these parts of the flowers into a sweet milk-like substance. Bumbumast in their solitary phase will keep their milk in their stomach and regurgitate it to their young back in their lair. In the colonial phase, Bumbumast gather and store large quantities of milk in cells in their hives. In addition to storing the milk, Bumbumast lay their eggs in these cells so that when they hatch the larva have enough sustenance to need no feeding until they grow into fully fledged Bumbumasts.

### Death-Bite

Bumbumast have a special defensive mechanism known as their death-bite. While normally preferring to avoid any dangers, when they feel under extreme threaten the Bumbumast is able to bite down so hard that it either chews clean through whatever it's biting or its jaws gets lodged into the victim. Any Bumbumasts stuck in such a position will literally decapitate themselves trying to pull loose.

In the solitary phase, Bumbumast will almost always prefer to flee from any perceived threats, but will use this death-bite if disturbed while in their lair. For the individual Bumbubast, this behavior is rarely more than a pointless sacrifice, but for the species the behavior helps teach other species to leave even individual Bumbubasts alone.

In the colony phase, they will use this bite on mass as a colony defensive mechanism, and hundreds of Bumbumasts will sacrifice themselves to protect the hive. Thankfully, this defensive mechanism doesn’t trigger easily. Proximity is not enough, the hive must be physically damaged for colonial phase Bumbumast to feel under threat. However, people are advised to keep their distance from Bumbumast hives all the same. As if a person were to trip and accidentally fall into a hive, breaking its outer walls, the resulting attack can easily turn fatal if the victim does not receive proper medical care soon after.

In the swarming phase, Bumbumasts are more aggressive, but as they are herbivores they will normally ignore other animals in favor of whatever flora is unlucky enough to be in the swarm’s path.

In the ur-swarm phase, once the swarm has been starving long enough, the Bumbumast grow so ravenous they will use this bite on anything in their path that looks different from the lifeless wasteland.

## Behavior

The Bumbumasts naturally exhibit three distinct phases of behavior: solitary, colonial, and swarming. In the past, Cah-Binn biologists were able to determine that two main factors determine the switch between these phases: population and hunger. The Bumbumast brain produces two distinct neurotransmitters, Stophamine and Glinenephoc. Production of the first is triggered by the detection of the pheromones of other Bumbumasts, and increases the more Bumbumasts are detected in this manner. Production of the latter is triggered by lack of food, and increases as the Bumbumast approaches starvation.

### Solitary Phase

When Stophamine levels are low, the Bumbumast exhibits its solitary behavior. It will make a small lair for itself, usually by chewing its way into the wood of a tree, and spend its days foraging in the surrounding area. If it meets another Bumbumast, it may attempt to mate with them after which both will proceed to lay eggs in their own lairs, as Bumbumasts are hermaphrodites. In this phase, the Glinenephoc levels determine how far the Bumbumast will travel from its lair on its daily forages. As Bumbumasts have only limited navigation abilities, the further one travels from its lair the greater the risk it will not be able to find its way back.

### Colonial Phase

When Stophamine levels are high, and Glinenephoc levels are low, meaning there are many Bumbumasts in an area with plentiful food, it triggers the colonial phase. Bumbumasts will become gregarious and join together to build great colonies. Through observation and experimentation, Cah-Binn biologists concluded that the only limit to the size of these colonies was their food supply. In controlled environments, hives were able to grow to populations of millions of Bumbumasts without any significant decline in their rate of growth.

### Swarm Phase

When Stophamine levels are high, and Glinenephoc levels are also high, meaning the hive has either grown too large or exhausted all nearby food supplies, the third phase is triggered: swarming. The Bumbumasts remain gregarious, but now the hive becomes a nomadic swarm. Bumbumast swarms spread themselves out across the region around their hive, devouring any plant life in their path. The height of activity of Bumbumasts in the swarm phase correlates to the height of their Glinenephoc levels, meaning those Bumbumasts in the swarm who are able to find food become temporarily less active. Through this process, the swarm over time splits and breaks up as sated Bumbumasts are left behind by their still hungry brethren. The survivors then either coalesce to build new hives, if there are enough Bumbumasts in one area, or go into the solitary phase. The final result of this process is that the swarm disperses itself out over hundreds or thousands of acres surrounding the location of its original hive, spreading the hive's gene pool across the land.

### Ur-Swarm Phase

Bumbumasts became extinct as part of the total ecosystem collapse following the Blood Eagle’s bombardments. But due to their importance for the pollination of several key species of native Cabina flora, they were among the first species reintroduced by biosphere restoration projects. The dangers of Bumbumast swarming behavior were well known, and advanced surveillance and control methods were implemented in restored areas to prevent calamitous swarms hitting human or Cah-Binn populated areas. However, these control methods have proved only a mixed success. While Cah-Binn and human biologists are generally able to prevent Bumbumast swarms from targeting the settlements at the center of most restoration projects, the Bumbumast proved to react to the wasteland outside of these projects with new and unexpected behavior. Rather than avoid the wasteland entirely, as expected, Bumbumast swarms instead gather in even larger numbers, before heading straight into the wasteland.

Even Cah-Binn biologists have been fascinated by this hereto unknown behavior, and have speculated that it is the result of some ancient part of the Bumbumast genetic code, and that this behavior allowed the species to spread across the planet in times when the polar ice caps covered even more of the planet than they have in living memory. They have called this new behavior the ur-swarm phase.

However, as fascinating a discovery as it has been, this behavior has proved highly problematic as well. After several days of finding nothing in their path but more wasteland, these Bumbumast ur-swarms begin to starve, and after a few more days begin to die as the swarm collapses. However, in the days leading up to final starvation the Bumbumasts become aggressively ravenous. The ravenous Bumbumasts will bite through anything short of a vac suit, and any person caught unprepared by a ravenous ur-swarm is in mortal danger.

Ur-swarm victims are a ghastly sight. The Bumbumasts will use their death bite to dig through the victim's flesh, but as they do not eat meat they will spit it out and keep biting hoping to find plant matter underneath. They will stop only when they lodge themselves into something tough like bone and cannot pull free. Dependent on the number of Bumbumasts, death can come either from from accumulated blood loss from hundreds of flesh wounds, or from being literally eaten alive. Either way, what is left after an ur-swarm attack is a body filled with holes and hundreds of bodiless insect heads still stuck in death-bite.

The one bright side is that if someone has gotten themselves lost in the wasteland, the appearance of an ur-swarm signals that they are no more than a week out from a nearby settlement. Provided they can survive the encounter, that is.

## Produce

In the colonial phase Bumbumasts produce both a sweet milk- and a wax-like substance. The hives themselves are made of the wax-like substance, and inside they gather and store large quantities of milk in cells. In addition to storing the milk, Bumbumast lay their eggs in these cells so that when they hatch the larva have enough sustenance to need no feeding until they grow into fully fledged Bumbumasts.

### Bumbumast Sweet Milk

Bumbumast sweet milk has been described by humans as tasting like a combination of goat milk mixed with honey. Unlike dairy milk, however, Bumbumast sweet milk is extremely resistance to spoilage, and the greatest danger of leaving it out in the sun is that it will attract Bumbumast to come drink it and take it back to their hives.

However, raw Bumbumast sweet milk will invariably contain Bumbumast eggs, and while the milk itself will not spoil, leaving it out too long will lead to these eggs hatching. To some, however, this only improves the flavor.

Various processes have been developed to harvest and refine Bumbumast sweet milk. The main distinction is how much effort is taken to try and filter out any Bumbumast eggs. In its most refined form, Bumbumast sweet milk is both sweet and extremely resistant to spoilage, giving it a long history of use of food supplies stored for emergencies or cold seasons.

### Bumbumast Wax

Bumbumast wax is fairly similar in proporties to other forms of organic wax, and has been used for similar purposes. In addition, since ancient times many Cah-Binn have been fond of using Bumbumast wax for more softer or decorative parts of their exoforms.

With the colonization of Cabina by the Church of Humanity Repentance, the use of Bumbumast Wax for ceremonial candles has become a particularly popular usage of the wax.