Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

There?s more to these laboring creatures than meets the eye. As a Bosmeri mercenary, scribe for a Hlaalu noble, and professional burglar, I have traveled throughout Morrowind from Red Mountain to Tear and I have talked to many locals and have observed these fascinating creatures in the wild for myself. These creatures provide cuttle and eggs for the Dunmer who value them greatly. Infact they are so important to the survival of village-Dunmer that they will transplant a queen to a cave or a mer-made burrow so that an egg mine may be made. Interestingly in artificial colonies, the Kwama workers and Dunmer miners will work alongside one another digging and expanding. However the most interesting aspects of the Kwama are to be found in the wild.

The Classes in a Kwama Colony
The Kwama have a very ordered society with distinct tiers. Above all is the Kwama Queen. She produces eggs, which are cared for by the Kwama workers, and gives off scents that keep the colony in order. Without her direction, the feral instinct of the kwama resurface and vicious in-fighting will develop between kwama foragers and kwama warriors and scribs, workers, and poison warriors. Kwama Warriors guard the Queen as well as the colony. In older, more sophisticated colonies, Warriors can be seen guarding certain twists and turns in the tunnels, implying a rudimentary strategic sense. Interestingly, in colonies with few warriors it seems that a special strain of guards develops from Scribs with exceptional paralysis powers. These become Poison warriors, similar to kwama workers except with a snout that sprays toxic chemicals at intruders. Kwama foragers and scribs are the young of the colony. While workers and warriors as well as the queen do not leave the colony, foragers and scribs do so regularly. It seems that they wander out of their colonies and scout out the land around the cave entrance. Interestingly at a certain time, they will all return to their colonies (or egg mines) and develop adult forms. However, they do not necessarily return to the same colony, and the reason for this is discussed next.

The Two Types of Kwama
Perhaps before Man and Mer existed, there were two distinct creatures in Morrowind, the ancestor of the kwama, and ancestor of the scrib. While one was a clever worm-like creature the other was a dull but strong insectoid which in its adult form was a heavily carapaced tunneler. However, predators were abundant including the ancestors of Alits and Kagouti, the Nix-hounds and giant ancestors of the cliff-racers. Thus it seems somehow the two creatures came into a relationship. Kwama learned to enter the body of an adult scrib and formed the beginnings of the warrior type. The Kwama worm acts as the eye for the body and the two become fused. Others may have developed an ability to fuse and mate, creating the queen. The queen produces eggs which hatch into both Kwama foragers as well as scrib. After careful observation, it seems that the scribs (which grow up into workers and poison warriors) are all female. The kwama worms and later fusing into the warrior and queen form are all male. Very rarely a male form of the scrib and a female form of the worm will appear, but that is very rare indeed.

The Kwama?s Place in Nature
Kwama colonies are virtually impenetrable to the attacks from wild animals. Intruders are quickly overwhelmed. However in rare cases some animals that had taken up the colony-cave as their abode have become friendly with the Kwama, and vice-versa. It seems once they are used to your scent they will no longer regard you as an intruder (unless you constantly attack them of course). Scribs and foragers are similar to mice in their habits. They also provide a lot of food for hungry predators, which helps to balance the fact that Kwama colonies are not easily killed off. It is common for a kwama worker to stand sentry at the entrance of their cave, and some clever nix-hound learn to lure the sentry from its post, but aside from that, the colony is rarely attacked. Kwama of both type tend to shy away from water, however when there is a spring discovered in their cave or flooding, they must take measures to circumvent the source of water, as both are bad swimmers. In the deep south, in the southernmost Dres lands and in the northern Argonian jungle there are Kwama hordes that do not settle to make colonies. It seems that they simply march on, ravaging the land and moving on. Instead of a diet of fungus and small insects, the southern horde-kwama bring down large southern guar and Marsh animals to feed their army. It is a terrifying yet fascinating experience to see a thousand of these beasts flanked by many more scribs and foragers fanning out in search of food. Thankfully, they keep to the jungles and shy away from rivers and settlements.

The Legendary Kwama-Man?
An old Dunmeri legend speaks of a Kwama Warrior that shook off the scent-controls of the queen and became intelligent, wandering the Ashlands in search of his identity. This may not be entirely fictional for poor Velothi farmers say that they have seen the Kwama-Man. Egg miners say that occasionally they find Kwama warriors wandering outside of their colonies hunting small game, it seems perhaps the forager-instinct occasionally overpower the body?s colony-worker instincts. This is truly a mystery, and has not yet been confirmed. However perhaps they are simply southern horde-kwama that have wandered north? Unlikely?

the Dr. does it again.

I want to re-write my Silt Strider essay into a full on book now, thanks for the inspiration!

just doing my job... keepin things going and inspirin others to do so too

Done with only a couple of changes to grammar and make it flow a bit better.