Thriae Queen

The most powerful individual within any given thriae colony, the queen is a divine soothsayer, a provider of life, and a destroyer of those would seek to disrupt the order of the colony. Viewed by her children as a benevolent matriarch rather than a mother, the thriae queen is the only fertile member of the colony, and thus the sole reproducer should the colony's population meet a devastating blow, whether through plague, famine, or war. A queen is revered by soldiers and seers alike, both for her physical might and her divine power, and she exemplifies the very best of thriae society in terms of strength, insight, and magnetism. While a queen is often too busy to entertain guests of a thriae hive, those intruders who do catch a glimpse of her are captured by her beauty and grace, and many would follow her if only to be by her side. But those who are allowed to enjoy the queen's company are few, and those few are carefully selected from among the hive's greatest warriors and priestesses, soldiers and seers whose powers have shown them to be skillful as well as loyal.

Most thriae colonies only have one queen, though particularly large or far-reaching hives have been known to have as many as three at any given time. Thriae queens are the ultimate authority within a hive, and make most of the major decisions regarding the colony's growth. Only the wealthiest and most respected outsiders are granted an audience with the ever-busy queen, whose numerous duties around the hive are analogous to those of any other ruler of a small kingdom. They grant only audiences regarding matters of the utmost concern, matters that stimulate the curiosity of a thriae queen and require not merely the cryptic readings of seers but a true divination as only a queen can provide.

When not divining or performing governmental tasks, a thriae queen can often be found in her private chamber, where she lies with male consorts, lays eggs, cares for her larvae, and creates the vast stores of merope used every day within the hive. Consorts are chosen carefully, as they are constantly within extremely close proximity to the queen, who is far from vulnerable in her own right but nonetheless often prefers to avoid conflicts with would-be assassins or burglars.

A thriae queen lays fertilized eggs in one of the waxy, golden cells of her chamber walls. Thriae eggs go through several stages of growth before becoming fully formed thriae—the longest stage of development is the larval stage, which is a crucial point in determining the formation of a thriae. Most larvae are fed merope while they grow, but in the height of her power, a thriae queen selects a single larva to be her successor, and she feeds that individual a special substance secreted from her merope gland called royal merope. This thick, jellylike substance strengthens the larva and causes it to grow greatly in size, and when it pupates and hatches, it does so as a fully grown thriae queen.

The mother queen teaches its successor in the ways of divining as well as ruling a colony. The successor then faces a choice—either remaining in the colony she was born into and furthering the growth of the hive, or setting out on her own to establish an allied colony. If she does the latter, the remaining queen must birth another successor, which is not considered so much a bother as it is an unavoidable circumstance. Queens do not look upon successors who leave as deserting daughters, instead viewing them as future allies for the colony down the road.

Launch Merope — A thriae queen can launch a stream of merope from a gland in her lower body in a 60-foot line as a standard action. A thriae queen using this ability can control the purity of the merope she launches, which makes it either harm those it touches or heal them. If a thriae queen chooses to make her merope harmful, all creatures in the area of effect take 20d8 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 29 for half). In addition, any creature in the area of effect is also staggered for 1d4 rounds (or 1 round if it succeeds at its Reflex save). If she uses it to heal, the merope heals all living creatures in the area of effect for 10d8 points of damage. A thriae queen can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Spawn Soldiers — Three times per day as a standard action, a thriae queen can spawn a large swarm of wasps. This functions as four separate wasp swarms (Bestiary 275) that occupy all of the squares adjacent to the thriae queen. These swarms do not harm any thriae, and while they move with the queen as she moves, the swarms cannot leave her side. The swarms last until they are destroyed or 1 hour passes, at which point the swarms die on their own.

Alertness, Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Critical Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Critical (light mace), Improved Critical (light mace), Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (regenerate), Spell Penetration, Weapon Focus (light mace)

Bluff +34, Diplomacy +34, Fly +24, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (religion) +30, Perception +37, Sense Motive +34, Spellcraft +30, Use Magic Device +34