Bloodthirster

A common type of Small Monster found primarily in areas near swamps and sluggish rivers, these flying omnivores absorb the nutrients found in blood to improve their own fertility and virility and the health and power of their young. Not particularly large or dangerous on their own, they are nonetheless known for the tenacity with which they cling to their prey, their skills at stealth and ambushes, and ability to serve as carriers of a variety of diseases that they can weaponize through their blood-sucking mandibles, barbed tail, and regurgitated blood-meals. Frequently compared to mosquitos, these insectile Monsters have a reputation for being annoying teases and bullies, and for pursuing their chosen prey over long distances before attaching themselves. Prolific breeders, these Monsters are relatively weak on their own but are known to swarm more powerful targets through their large numbers.

Bloodthirsters undergo a metamorphic life cycle, with each individual beginning life as one of many eggs laid in a stagnant or sluggish body of water, where they grow rapidly over roughly a week. These eggs hatch into black, aquatic, worm-like larvae that possess the specie's distinctly pincer-like tail barbs and humanoid upper-torsos, but. In this form, they primarily feed on aquatic plants, fish, shellfish, and other invertebrates, and environmental Mana, adding weight rapidly and transitioning from the rough size of a housecat to that of a human adolescent before pupating after another week. In this stage, the Bloodthirster develops a protective, chitinous shell that encapsulates its head, torso, and the organ-containing segments of its lower body, leaving its tail as a viable locomotive and defensive tool. It subsists on Mana drawn from its environment in this form, which persists for about a week, before it rises to the water's surface and ruptures the protective shell, emerging as an imago. In this form, the Bloodthirster is bipedal, with clawed humanoid forelimbs, powerful hind-limbs with long, grasping toes that resemble the ending leg segments of mosquitos, their barbed, chitinous tails, and two-pairs of oval-shaped, translucent, scaled, insectile wings. They possess rudimentary compound eyes to either side of their head above their ears, granting them wide field of peripheral vision, as well as a pair of sensitive antennae capable of detecting subtle shifts in air pressure and direction. Their other facial features are otherwise human, with a humanoid torso accented by a pair of forward-facing vestigial insect legs extending from their mid-back below the ribcage that primarily serve to help grasp prey while feeding or their partner during mating. Their extremities are protected by chitinous sheaths that resemble long gloves and thigh-high boots, and many possess vestigial limb segments beyond their wrists and ankles and adjacent to their hands and feet, sometimes bladed as a common defensive mutation, and all possess segmented internal mandibles concealed within their mouths that are capable of extending outward and biting nearby prey in order to drain blood to later be used to fuel their egg or sperm production, or to fire jets of stored blood as a defensive mechanism. They tend towards light, slender builds, but store blood-meals in pouches in their bodies that can give the false impression of voluptuousness or muscular bulk. While the above quoted times for the life stages of a Bloodthirster are roughly a week for each, they can actually be much longer depending on the availability of food, Mana, and environmental conditions. Most are sexually adult within no more than forty days after being laid, though environmental conditons can cause them to enter diapause for great durations. They generally have little in the way of parenting, relying on instinct instead, and are often quite primitive socially because of it. They usually have little attachment to their children or families, with the exception of those born to a Bloodthirster Queen.

Bloodthirsters born to parents who received large volumes of Mana or blood prior to conception or during gestation are often abnormally large, being Medium creatures as adults rather than Small, though they otherwise possess the same capabilities.

## Bloodthirster Queens

Some female Bloodthirsters that are able to consistently gorge on blood or Mana, or that can successfully consume large quantities of Blood Elementite, have a suitable mate, and that can find a suitable location, may begin to mutate into a variant known as a Bloodthirster Queen. These creatures are perpetually gravid, swelling to massive size and laying clutches of eggs weekly through a swollen, detachable ovipositor that makes up much of the Monster's new Huge size. Nearly immobile in this state, such Queens are normally powerful enough to generate a Dungeon around themselves and rely on their swift-growing legion of progeny to bring them blood and sustenance, a legion that they are able to influence through rudimentary telepathic communication. They often develop additional defensive capabilities, including acidic blood, and the ability to generate . Unlike most Bloodthirsters, these Queens often have strong connections to their children, raising their broods into more civilized communities. As such, they are sometimes known as Broodmothers or Bloodmothers, serving as Dungeon Masters and community leaders. In more recent decades, the Dungeons these Queens produce have become havens for other types of Monsters, who form a symbiotic relationship with the Bloodthirster colony; blood for shelter and mutual protection. One such example is the Dungeon Guen Kleuzenn a Elvire in Armorica, a multi-level Dungeon complex that houses a number of different Monster species with a Bloodthirster Queen as the Dungeon Master.