A Study on the Origins and Lifestyles of the Kwama Family Options

[redsrock]

This is something I started writing sometime last week, and I had a lot of fun with it. I'm not sure what your alls' reactions will be, but either way I'll be happy because this is the first 'article' I've written other than guides for another forum. I hope you enjoy it.

A Study on the Origins and Lifestyle of the Kwama Family
By- Redsrock

*Foreword*

Before I started to write this report I had planned on writing specifically about the Kwama Queens around Vvardenfell and nothing else. However, once I had spent enough time down in the Kwama caves I became fascinated by the other family members, including the Foragers, Scribs, Workers and Warriors. I believe this report shall fetch me a modest sum of gold, but I assure you that is not what I am after. This report is written so that the people of Morrowind, and the people of Tamriel even, will know about the Kwama and their unique way of life. They really are a fascinating race of creatures, and hopefully you’ll find this report to your liking.

The Kwama have for the longest time been somewhat of a mystery, other than the basics of course. We all know that the delicious Kwama eggs come from the Queen herself, and the Warriors protect the Queen and their colony from invaders. The Workers dig tunnels and chambers throughout the caves that they inhabit, and they also take care of the Queen’s eggs as well. The Foragers scout the land, searching for potential dangers and potential homes for their colonies as well. These aspects are the very basics of our knowledge of the Kwama Family. What I am about to give you is a more detailed version of that, as well as some of my own theories that I have gathered throughout my journeys.

There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of different colonies of Kwama, all scattered throughout Vvardenfell and the mainland of Morrowind. What I am providing you is not a description of every single colony, for that would be impossible to write in one lifetime. Rather, I will give you a general overview of the origin and ways of the Kwama, to the best of my ability.

It should also be noted that during my travels I used a ring that gave me an infinite amount of invisibility. This was the only way I could have accomplished my mission, for I could not have let the creatures see me, or else I would have been torn to shreds. There were many instances in which I almost touched a Kwama, or stepped on an egg, but thankfully I avoided disturbing the colony. I assure you I did not harm any of the Kwama species. It is amazing that they neither sensed me or smelled me during my studies, and you guess on why that was so is as good as mine.

*Species Descriptions*

1. Queen: The Queen is the most important species of the Kwama for obvious reasons. She is essentially the “power source”, for lack of a better term. And as you may already be aware of, the Queen is too bloated and large to move, therefore she sits in a single chamber day in and day out doing nothing but producing Kwama eggs. But how exactly does she do this, you say? Well, if you had asked me this question prior to my report I definitely wouldn‘t have been able to give you a straight answer. But now I believe I have formulated a theory that can be accepted as the truth.

You see, while the Warriors protect the Queen, they also mate with her as well. Yes, I know this may sound absurd to you but that is exactly what happens. It seems it is somewhat of a random selection as well, for each day a random Warrior would walk into the Queen’s chambers and they would mate for a short amount of time. I amazes me that us Imperials, or the native elves for that matter, weren’t able to discover this sooner. And after the mating was over the Warrior would simply go back to his regular duties, and the Queen would continue hatching eggs. It is as simple as that, even if it doesn’t seem so.

Of course, this theory begs for many questions that needs to be answered, with one of them being ‘how can the Queen go from mating at one point, and then back to reproducing just mere seconds later?’ This I cannot answer for sure because that deals with the anatomy of the Queen, and that I do not know. My only guess is that the Queen possesses such a framework that allows her to effectively mate and reproduce without any kind of a break. It is a fascinating phenomena that we will simply have to ponder, at least for the time being.

Another thing about the Queen, something that we scholars have been saying for quite a long time, is that she never sleeps. This is not that surprising of a detail, but I thought I’d should share the information with you anyway, if only to prove that our theory has been correct the entire time. I know this for sure because at times I would not go to sleep either, in fear of missing something spectacular.

The Queen’s body is divided into three separate parts. She has a light brown worm-like head, a long and dark brown thorax with a hard cover-shell and a soft belly, and then a fat and delicate abdomen in which the eggs come from, the skin resembling that of the head, only a bit lighter. The abdomen is obviously the most sensitive part of the body, and it is a wonder that she does not go through pain whilst producing egg after egg after egg. And if she does feel a significant amount of pain she sure does a good job of hiding it from the Warriors and Workers, for I could not sense any pain during my stay in the catacombs. Her face is especially unique, in that she has the same type of face the Warriors and Foragers have. The Worker and Scribs are another story.

There are also two thin string-like antennas branching out from each side of her back, and while hidden in the mines I saw the Queen touching her food with these. Once the Workers brought her food she would feel the texture of the food with her tentacles, every single time. I have no other explanations for the antennas other than they are to help her feel the food and be sure that it is safe. It is possible that perhaps the Queen is blind and therefore cannot see what she is doing, hence the reason for touching the food. However, I would not take this theory seriously just yet, one reason being that the Queen does have three eyes in the front of her face. But even though I focused on the Queen’s actions for quite some time I was still unable to tell for sure if she was blind. My guess would be no she is not. The antennas are certainly an interesting subject, but that is another study for another time.

2. Warrior: These specimens are the protectors of the Queen, and also the colony as a whole. Despite popular belief by some of my colleagues, there are not large armies of Warriors in each egg mine. Rather, through my studies I’ve come to refer to it as a sort of a ‘bodyguard system’, and the majority of the Warriors guard the Queen’s chambers, and patrol the tunnels surrounded and connected to the Queen. You will never find a Warrior outside of an egg mine unless it involves chasing out an intruder, and in fact I’ve only seen it happen a few times. That’s usually because if someone or something disturbs them or the Queen they usually won’t survive long enough to make it out of the mine. Despite the fact that they are part of the normally passive Kwama family, Warriors are still a formidable foe to be taken seriously.

Unlike the Workers, Warriors walk on two legs similar to us humans. There blackish-brown feet consist of two long and black talons, one point forward and one pointing backward, I would suppose to keep balance. And even though the talons are extremely sharp I never once saw a Warrior use them in battle, or anything other than walking for that matter. And like the Queen, it appears that Warriors do not sleep either.

Warriors use their dark brown thick three-talon claw-like hands to fight when necessary, connected to the body by arms similar in length to our own body frame. Two of the talons are small and are used for scratching and clawing at prey, while the third is longer than the other two and is used for stabbing and digging into the enemy’s skin or armor. Although it should be known that Warriors possess a bit of magika as well, but it’s only a minor spell of poison. The Warriors use this technique if their enemy is far away or is retreating from battle.

(However, if the Warrior has contracted a Blight disease there is a chance they will infect you with it. It seems that the disease does not effect the Kwama much, but it will make them more aggressive than usual. Use extreme caution around a blighted Kwama creature, no matter what specie.)

The Warriors are anywhere from five to six feet tall, and are roughly two feet in width due to their slender stomach and chest. However, everyone would be wise not to let that fool them, for the Warriors are stronger than many creatures and will certainly show that strength if they ever feel that the Queen is threatened. It is best advise that you avoid the Warriors at all cost. Of course, unless you are harvesting eggs for the Empire you shouldn’t be creeping around in the egg mines anyway.

3. Worker: The backbone of the Kwama family, the Workers do all the hard labor. This includes, digging tunnels and chambers in the ground for their colony, and handling the Queen’s delicate eggs and placing them in the correct tombs where all eggs wait to be hatched. I would almost go as far to say that perhaps the Workers are more important than the Queen, because without the Worker the egg will not hatch. Of course that theory would obviously be flawed because without the Queen there would be no eggs at all.

The Worker walks on all four legs and is about three feet tall. They are by nature a non-aggressive creature, but if provoked they will not hesitate to attack or defend themselves, especially if it is at a time where they are handling the Queen’s eggs. A normal Worker only uses his two front feet to attack, both of them consisting of two front talons and one back talon. But if the creature is blighted it may possess a type of poison that can be transferred, so it depends of what state the Worker is in.

Now, if you look at a Kwama Worker closely you’ll notice two string-like antennas that protrude from its head, looking exactly like the Queen’s set of antennas. Again, my theory of Kwama blindness comes into play, but it is still an unknown factor. All I know is that during my time in the mines every time before the Worker would carry the egg it would feel the egg with its antennas. Whether that means that Workers are blind are not I do not know. The subject of the matter is similar to the Queen’s, and unfortunately I don’t have any firm answers just yet.

And just as the Queen and the Warrior, Workers never sleep either. Because I’ve found this in three different species I’ve come to believe that either Kwama adults do not actually need sleep, or in the Workers’ and Warrior’s case they simply choose not to because they are afraid to upset the queen. This would help explain why the lifespan of a Kwama is fairly short, but then again I noticed that Scribs and Foragers do sleep. While I have plenty of theories, there are still loose ends as well.

4. Forager: The Forager is an interesting specimen, in that is the ‘scout’ Kwama, searching the outsides of the mines to search for new locations to set up its colony, and scouring the land for potential dangers as well. There is not much to say about the Forager in terms of physics, for it is simply a worm-like creature that is roughly one foot in length and half a foot in width. It resembles that of a serpent in the way it wriggles across the land, though at a slow pace I should add.

The Forager is not a dangerous foe, but will attack on sight. It appears that the Forager feels the need to show its bravery, especially in the eyes of other Warriors, Workers and even the Queen herself. Though you shouldn’t be worried if you are attacked by one. Because they possess no limbs they are not a threat whatsoever. The only have their teeth to attack with, and even they are about as sharp as dull knife. That added to the fact that they are relatively slow they aren’t a true danger to anyone.

The Foragers do nothing by search the lands all day, however, unlike the other species Foragers do sleep, but not for long. During my studies I noticed that they would sleep for no more than three hours and then they would get back to work. And just to add to what I said about their bravery, it seems that this is directly involved in the development of their next strange. It appears that braver Foragers go on to be Warriors, and the more timid ones follow the Worker’s path. I am not totally sure how this works, but I do know it somewhat involves the Queen. Essentially she personally chooses their paths based on their actions, or at least that is what I've gathered during my studies.


5. Scrib: Being in the last stage of its larva form, the Scrib plays a more important role to its colony than I and my colleagues had originally thought. A Scrib’s lifestyle basically consists of running around the mines helping the others in anyway they can, usually the Foragers more than anything. I’ve come to realize that a Scrib is actually a “Kwama-in-training,” training for the day when they become Foragers and have to work on their own.

Being the late larva form, Scribs are somewhat unintelligent, and seem to only get in the others’ way. I think that the other Kwama species put up with them only because the Queen and the Warriors call for it. Yes, that means that also I think the Warriors are sort of like a council for the Queen, carrying out her orders and whatnot, but I will have to get into that later.

A Scrib’s body greatly resembles that of a large insect in the way that it is shape, except unlike most insects a Scrib has a hard shell covering its back that protects it from a multitude of attacks. A Scrib has four skinny legs on each side of its body, and they are extremely fragile. I’ve seen a number of Scribs injure their legs after clumsily falling off of a rock or even a hill. A majority of the time they are then killed by a Warrior because the colony does not have time to tend to the Scribs’ wounds. That is how it is with the other species as well. The colony is simply too busy with other things to worry about the wounded, especially when there are plenty of others to take their place.

*Male and Female Species*

Despite my many years in the mines, I still cannot come even close to conclude which Kwama is a female and which is a male. Many may say that the Queen is a female, but I’m not even sure of that. I believe this situation is very similar to the Sload, in that there aren't actually any specific genders. I know this is hard to believe, but there’s really no explanation as of now. One thing we all have to remember is that not all living species are like us humans. My colleagues don’t understand this at times, but that is pure ignorance. I’m sorry I cannot give you a better theory, but that’s all I have. I may look into this further down the road, but I haven’t decided yet.

*Lifestyle and other Aspects*

In this section I’ll be getting into some thing I’ve mentioned earlier, some of those including sleep and how each Kwama species act, and their roles in the colony as well. It’s a fascinating thing to see the Kwama working together so well, because before I conducted these experiments I assumed the Kwama were unintelligent beings. However, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. While they are not the smartest beings in the world, they certainly surprised me with the way the handle things.

Sleep

Sleep is one of the most interesting topics concerning the Kwama family. The Queen, the Warriors and the Workers do not sleep, ever. However, the Foragers and the Scrib do, anywhere from two to three hours each night. I have come to realize that in the early stages of life a Kwama species does in fact need at least a couple hours of sleep to re-energize. The others on the other hand do not need the sleep simply because they are used to the hard work and have become adjusted to it. This directly involves the anatomy makeup of the Kwama, and I believe there is a certain mechanism inside them that kicks in after a certain period of time.

I have no proof of this obviously, but I guarantee you my theory will hold its ground against any others. And the only thing that is keeping me from proclaiming I am one-hundred percent correct is that on occasions I would see a Kwama getting tired, causing them to slow down in terms of work speed. This was always fixed with a quick shriek from a Warrior. I don’t know what this means, but until I figure it out I cannot tell you that for a fact the Kwama do not need sleep.

The Council of Warriors

My next conjecture that I would like to explain is the sort of ‘council’ that runs prevalent inside the egg mines. While the Queen is obviously highest in rank and importance, the Warriors actually do most of the ordering around. The Queen will give them simple orders of course, but for the most part the Warriors govern the lesser Kwama by themselves, and in an extremely aggressive way as well.

There were many times where I would witness a Warrior strike a Worker for going to slow, and sometimes they would even be killed on the spot. The process of egg-harvesting is a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated, and it is a fast process as well. As soon as a Worker shows signs of slowing down they will immediately be replaced with another Worker waiting in line. The Warrior don’t have the patience for stragglers, for their life depends on the harvesting of eggs and other useful items inside the mines.

Even though the Warriors are the commanders of the colony, there doesn’t seem to be a set single leader. It appears that they all simply have the same powers and use them to effectively keep Workers and the other Kwama in line. I would say that the Queen is still the supreme leader of the colony, as we all have guessed, but since she is too large to move the Warriors act as her arbiters. And they sure do a good job at it, you can almost sense the fear in the Workers when a Warrior is hovering over them, and for good reason to, since the creatures are as tall as us humans a good three to four feet taller than a Worker.

Making use of other resources

One might think that eggs are the only things Kwama harvest, but that would be incorrect. Actually the Kwama enjoy insects very much, and one of the smaller jobs for the Workers is to gather insects and bring them to the Queen. They place the insects in front of her and she is able to eat them herself, though the others eat to. The Warriors will eat only a little bit when they absolutely need to, and the Workers eat whenever they have the time, which isn’t much.

Their eating habits

Kwama enjoy insects very much, and one of the smaller jobs for the Workers is to gather insects and bring them to the Queen. They place the insects in front of her and she is able to eat them herself, though the others eat as well during different intervals. The Warriors will eat only a little bit when they absolutely need to, and the Workers eat whenever they have the time, which doesn’t happen a lot. The Scribs eat quite a bit to make them strong, and the Foragers simply eat what they find while scouring the lands. There doesn’t appear to be a specific time to eat, just whenever they have a moments rest. And I mean ‘moment’ quite literally.

Other than insects, Kwama also like to feed on different types of plants, and many variations of berries as well. They are strictly herbivores, and I know this for a fact because I never once saw them eat any kind of meat. I would say this makes it easier on the Workers in gathering food, because obviously they would have problems killing anything made of meat besides a simple rat.

Imperial Incursion

It has already been well documented that the Empire has contracted several businesses that send men and women inside the mines to fetch eggs. However, not much detail has been given to the public, and I feel it is necessary to make known what is involved in the process. There’s a good chance I will be reprimanded for what I am about to tell you. But I fear not, it is the people’s right to know what happens to these poor and innocent creatures. Emperor Uriel Septim VII has done a superb job of covering this up, but I am determined to uncover the truth.

What the Empire does not want you to know is that these so-called business are actually hired to hunt and exterminate entire colonies of Kwama, in an attempt to clean the mines out of any potential dangers. Then they search through the mines and take all the eggs they can find, as well as the meat of any non-blighted Kwama.

At one point in time during my studies I was in the middle of the fray, actually my first visited colony. A small brigade of Imperials dressed in steel came charging into the into, and a fight soon broke out with them and the Warriors. While the Kwama fought violently they were no match against highly trained and paid mercenaries. After the battle was over I watched and listened as the men stole everything they good, spitting upon the fallen creatures and boating of their actions. It was truly a horrible sight, something that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I wanted to help the Kwama, but that would have obviously been the wrong choice. I would have either been struck down by the mercenaries, or the Kwama Warriors who would have no doubt mistaken me for an enemy.

However, during this horrible time I also got a chance to see the Warriors in battle for the first time. Unlike what my associates and I originally thought, the Warriors have a specific coordinated plan when their colony is threatened by an outside force, and it was a fabulous scene. They gathered in one large group and stood outside the Queen’s chambers, rather than run around the tunnels separately. Once the mercenaries were close the Warriors began shooting shock sparks at the roof of the tunnel. Rocks then started to fall on the mercenaries and while they tried to avoid the debris the Warriors charged them and the actual battle commenced.

But as I already mentioned, it was of no use. With their thick armor and sharpened blades the mercenaries quickly dealt with the Kwama and plundered the mine for all its worth. I myself am currently boycotting the use of any Kwama material, and I hope anyone reading this report will do the same. The Kwama are a peaceful species, and they should be treated as such.

Origin of the Kwama Family

Before the Imperial Expansion, Dunmer of Morrowind and Vvardenfell let the Kwama live in peace. It was during this time that you could find literally thousands upon thousands of colonies spread all across the lands, in almost every region. The Kwama roamed free without much of a care in the world, living their lives as they should be lived, in harmony. But once we Imperials arrived things for the Kwama changed drastically. Once we discovered that Kwama mines held thousands of eggs we immediately started to steal them, mostly because it was a simple food that was relatively easy to take with a large of people.

Once this mess started the Kwama were forced to migrate to other parts of the region, mostly in the Ascadian Isles, the West Gash, the Grazelands, and even various spots in the Ashlands as well. This was a dark time for the Kwama, and many colonies fought with one another over land, because there was simply not enough for it. This lasted for many years until we the Imperials were finally able to take a significant hold over Vvardenfell. Now that we have many other sources of food we do not target the Kwama as much as in the past, and therefore the creatures have since then moved back to their original locations, but obviously weary.

This is why the Kwama have been looked upon by many as ultra-aggressive towards humans, because we forced them into such a state. We have no one to blame but ourselves, and anyone who says otherwise is simply an ignorant fool. The Kwama are not a violent race of creatures, that much I know for sure.

The Blight Disease

One thing that is most unfortunate about the Kwama is that many colonies have contracted the Blight Disease, a terrible curse that is currently sweeping Vvardenfell at this time, even as I am writing this very report. The plague is carried through ash storms from the very depths of Red Mountains, even beyond the protection of the Ghostgate. Unfortunately for the Kwama many of their colonies have been infected. Have extreme caution when traveling in general. All beings infected by the blight are warped and disfigured, so it should be easy to spot an infected person or creature.

The Kwama themselves are not effected as much as other creatures. In fact, I only saw a few instances where attacks of no apparent reason commenced. In my honest opinion the Kwama are still not much of a danger even when blighted. Even so, it is still best to use caution around these beasts, because the blight can turn even the nicest man into a hazardous beast.

*Closing Comments*

In closing I want to thank anyone who has taken the time to read this report. I hope that it has been both informational and interesting as well. There are so many things about the Kwama family that we still don’t know, and much of it will remain a mystery for the rest of eternity. But with what little knowledge we do have it is in our best interest to use that in learning as much about the Kwama as we can. They are one of the oldest known creatures of Morrowind, and they should be given the respect that they rightfully deserve.

[Talking Soda]

Wow...

I actually read the whole thing. I'm feeling so much more... teary-eyed... for the poor little kwama.

[Colonel Mustard]

I've gotta agree with Soda on this one-next time I visit an egg mine those miners are gonma feel the business end of my mace!

Excellent theories Reds, and verv interesting. But didn't it occur to the author that the eggs the queen lays could simply be the ones that were fertilised by the male that mated with her before?

[redsrock]

But didn't it occur to the author that the eggs the queen lays could simply be the ones that were fertilised by the male that mated with her before?

Yes, very good point. There were several things that I did not take into consideration, and this is one of them. Pretty much, I wrote it that way on purpose, as if the author was not educated enough to realize this. HOWEVER, since he was in the mines that long he should have known. There were mistakes like that throughout.

Anyhoo, I'm glad you two like it.

[bbqplatypus]

Bravo! Very detailed, and quite plausible! Perhaps one day your writings will be adopted into the collective mass of opinions known as unofficial fanon.

[redsrock]

Perhaps one day your writings will be adopted into the collective mass of opinions known as unofficial fanon.

Ha! I doubt that. You should see some of the people that are considered to be in that group. I can't even hold a candle to their mad skillz. But thanks for the praise.

This post has been edited by redsrock: Oct 23 2008, 12:15 PM

[bbqplatypus]

Perhaps one day your writings will be adopted into the collective mass of opinions known as unofficial fanon.

Ha! I doubt that. You should see some of the people that are considered to be in that group. I can't even hold a candle to their mad skillz. But thanks for the praise.

Oh, indeed, I have. And some of it has rubbed off on me - particularly the Kirkbridean metaphysics. But the compliment still stands. Awesome.