clan Bug Claw

The Miasma Hive

“The Miasma Hive is probably the second largest of the known hives. It usually resides underneath or at the edges of big cities like Las Pegasus or Manehatten, modifying sewage systems and/or garbage dumps to their needs. They eat rotten food and the occasional carcass to produce their body liquids, which, in addition to their choice of living space, gives the whole hive a particularly rancid smell. Sometimes it even gets so bad that it's noticeable when a changeling has transformed himself into another creature.

Their Queen, Miasma herself, is a very vain and snobby person and tries to appear better than she is. She has two changelings follow her around with incense burners wherever she goes and douses herself in perfume as often as possible. One wonders what is worse, the rotten smell of the hive, or the overwhelming stench of sweet perfume contrasting with it.

Although trying to appear noble and sophisticated, the queen has a very bad temper and can turn from sweet to sour in mere seconds.*
(She also has very bad table manners (and taste), and won't even stop short of literally rolling around in her food. It's not helped by the fact that she has holes in her cheeks so you can see her chewing even if she has her mouth closed)

The hive's manner of gathering victims isn't very sophisticated, ranging from cries of help from out of a gully to simply waiting for someone to get stuck in their secretions while drunkenly wandering about at night.” – Time Share

Hive Miasma is a sparse hive, one that spread it's population out over a massive distance with dozens of smaller hives working together as one. Every major city, not just in Equestria but also the Griffin Empire, Saddle Arabia AND the Free States of the West all have secondary hives of Miasma living in their dumps and sewers. It is unknown if they even have a main hive only that all these other hives tend to have a population of a few hundred. While this leaves each hive fragile, it means that their primitive ways of collecting love work as smaller population means less love is needed plus if one hive gets discovered and wiped out it doesn’t really affect Miasma at large.

While other hives really on massive armies and fortress like hive constructs in order to survive Miasma uses its space and distance. This is not to say they have no defenses, often they use scrap from the same garbage pits they feast on to make patchwork weapons, armor and in some rare cases little forts. Still, this doesn’t really do much against an organized armed response and often when the hive gets discovered they leave. While its tempting to wipe these foul creatures from the face of the earth they offer a very important service, eating the filthy run off from the cities. A group with a high enough population could single handily keep a cities dump from overflowing which is a blessing for mayors and city planners. This is always countered however by their need to still feed on ponies and when your waist deep in rot, a stinky changeling standing over you sucking every inch of love out of you city planning doesn’t seem all that important. Often bounties are put on these creatures, both to keep their population small and also to try and convince them to seek another love source other than ponies though this rarely works.

Now before we get any further I have been asked this question again and again, especially when touring public schools. Yes some of these hives live in sewers and no, I do not know if they eat pony poop. Now you can all stop asking me, let’s talk about their eating habits. Each hive deals with food differently, some breaking it down into a goop they use for building or cocoons while others have food greatly disagree with their stomachs maybe causing belly aches or even have the food turn entirely into fat since their bodies cannot break down the foods nutrients. The fact that Miasma enjoys eating, able to break both food and garbage down plus have no actual use for this stuff beside producing fowl bodily liquids makes them one of a kind and how they evolved to become the flies of the changelings is a mystery.

Miasma tends to be treated differently depending on the culture. In Equestria ponies tend to try a live and let live policy, letting the changeling live in their dumps and try to ignore them, though this still leads to ponies walking into police and hospitals drained of love and smelling like a dead skunk. Griffins actually call these changelings ghouls and have a much more aggressive way of dealing with them. Often they are removed by force, though they rarely go after them if they choose to leave mainly because they offer a one of a kind service for them.

Unlike the ponies of Equestria the griffins of the Griffin Empire often considers the battlefields a second home especially when fighting off attacks from barbarian diamond dogs from the east or Hive Vermata from the north. After big battles, stalemates or sieges griffin generals often get auxiliaries or second class citizens like hippogriffs to collect these Ghouls and release them onto the battlefield to devoir corpses preventing sickness from spreading through the ranks while also allowing soldiers to do their jobs as opposed to separating some for burial duty. This technique has come under great scrutiny even by other griffins but morality aside it has proven very effective. The Free States of the West tend to be way too busy with the dozens of other problems their cities suffer to worry about these guys, especially when they serve a purpose and in some cases are even invited to join as citizens which they often accept. Saddle Arabia is a very superstitious nation and they tend to avoid these changelings whenever possibly most believing them to actually be ponies murdered and left in the dump to rot, resurrecting as some kind of zombie cursed to walk amongst the filth until their murderer is brought to justice. On the other side of the border Zebra tribes don’t have garbage dumps and as such never have to deal with them, though often warriors and hunters who want to prove their worth tend to sneak over the border and hunt them, bringing back their horns as trophies.

It’s also rather unique in that they have no unified religion, most likely due to the distance between population clusters and religious types tend to follow a faith common in the area whether it is pony, diamond dog or griffin in nature even adapting religions from other hives. Culture wise they are obsessed with eating, tend to be very laid back and somewhat mischievous. They end up living in either small huts made from the garbage they can’t eat or eat tunnels though an especially large pile of trash and use it as a sort of mini hive. When in times of emergency, the changelings are summoned to the location of the queen although certain populations too distant go undisturbed. This hints that while this hive’s hive mind must be massive to cover so much land there’s probably a limit to its range, most likely following the queen around.

Miasma has only ever been to war three times, once in Saddle Arabia where they came to the help of the ponies when the zebra took to the offensive in the October Push fearful that the zebra might try and wipe out their population there. While they did offer some help overall their actions were overshadowed by the armed forces. The second time was when Griffin Empress Sarah the Weak declared the desecration of corpses on the battlefield immoral and banned it under punishment of court-marshal. To make her point clear she attempted to eradicate the “filthy ghouls” from the Empire, which Miasma went to stop. The idea of such an untrained, unorganized and unexperienced force going up against the might of the Griffin Army was laughable at best, so Miasma set up a dummy army using bit of trash to lure the griffins away from the capital before the Queen and the rest of the changelings assaulted the palace through the sewers, taking the Empress who, as griffins tell their children, “screamed like a filly as she was dragged off not even offering a fight.” Empress Sarah was known for trying to make peace with warring factions and chose to stop the Empires slow expansion, also attempting to reform the government so it was based more around trade then war. Had she succeeded she would probably have been called the Just, but with her removal from power she has gone down in griffin history as a coward who always tried to run away from a fight instead of tackling it head on like a true griffin would. There is a rumour that the Empress still lives, a pet and play thing for the current queen but it’s probably a myth told to scared chicks to show what happens to cowards. After all, that would make her two hundred and fifty, more than double the life expectancy then a normal griffin though I did want to mention it as in this day and age myths seem to be turning into facts rather quickly, if she was still alive then she would still have a claim to the Griffin Empire’s throne.

The third time is somewhat more personal but we have little information to go on,, mainly because we didn't know the other faction even existed until open war was fought. What we do know is recently hive Lacera, a previously unknown hive, went on the offensive against Miasma attacking garbage dumps and sewers all over Equestria lead by their queen of the same name, most notable for being Miasma's mother. This surprise attack would have certainly worked in their favor, unfortunately they were slowed down by pony militia and royal guard forces who though these attacks were the start of some kind of changeling invasion targeted at them, not Miasma. Everything settled once Lacera "retreated" to more remote Miasma locations. By then Miasma herself had called back any changelings she could, even traveling for a short while to make sure she got everyone she could. This was to be the largest gathering of Miasma changelings in its history, surprisingly almost one hundred thousand showed up from all of the world. The conflict itself wasn't as one sided as you would think, despite Miasma outnumbering Lacera three to one but Miasma were not warriors or fighters and their weapons were basically recycled garbage, a complete contrast to the well trained and well armed Lacera.

The war was very personal with a focus on eliminating the others queen. Now as any soldier can tell you personal wars are always the most costly. Victory is not seen in assets, land and lives but who can kill the other leader first and often many costly risks are taken. The war lasted just under a year when one of the many assassins sent by Lacera returned with the location of Miasma, a dump outside Manehatten. Lacera herself, wanting to see her own daughters death first hand, lead the attack and soon smashed away the areas defenders. As they fought though it became clear that the information given was indeed false. Miasma had broken the will of this assassin and was told all the changelings security codes, sending one of her own changelings disguised as said assassin. If Lacera had taken the time to double check the assassins credibility this changeling would have been discovered, however she was too concerned with seeing her daughter dead and this spelled the end for her. The battle was short with Lacera being slain by Miasma herself in single combat. The war was extremely costly, Miasma losing over half its population to desperate gambles and pour leadership although introducing of the remaining Lacera changelings into the hive helped.

Miasma is about as threatening as a fruit fly on a nation-wide scale. Sure they can be annoying but they offer a useful service, though my advice would be to never go to the dump alone.

Hive Lupa/Clan Bug Claw

The legend goes that thousands of years ago, before ponies came to Equestria, changelings of hive Chrysalis fought bloody battles on the surface with a powerful diamond dog guild, known as Rock Taker. At first the guild master only wanted to mine the area for everything it was worth but after years of fighting he slowly became fascinated by his foe. His imagination went wild as he kept asking himself what it must be like. To have the power of a dragon, the speed of an eagle, the endurance of a cave troll…All granted with just a thought. He romanticized the idea and it wasn’t long before he began to look into ways of turning himself part changeling. At first he tried magic but this had horrible results on his “volunteer” test subjects and soon resorted to far more radical attempts to change himself. It got to the point where he would basically throw stuff at the wall and see what stuck, one of them breeding with a changeling female. Shortly after he tried the unthinkable, he devoured the corpses of a dozen changelings and had their blood injected into his own veins. The transformation that followed over the next few days varies from account to account but in a nut shell, he turned in a Cthulhu esc blob of insect flesh, eyes, mouths and tentacles before he was cast off a cliff by his peers, screaming in pain and agony the whole time. They even say he still lives, in the bowels of the deepest cave in the mountain he still screams in agony and if you rest your ear to the mountain side, you can even hear him.

This changeling was kept as the guild-master hadn’t picked a diamond dog mate and as such, technically she was now in charge. She stopped the war and isolated the guild to the center of the Crystal Mountains, soon laying three eggs. Now you must understand while we have no idea why diamond dogs and changelings are perfectly compatible as sexual partners. So why don’t we have more changeling diamond dog hybrids running around? Well first off both races hate each other with a passion, their cultures and ideals are very different if not downright the opposite of each other plus diamond dogs guilds and clans, along with changeling hives tend to smash hybrid eggs since they're seen as a crime against nature even by the few hives that get along with diamond dogs like Firestarter. This was different however since a changeling was in charge and these were her children. Don’t get me wrong, the diamond dogs apparently tried everything to overthrow her but she managed to beat any challengers to a pulp, probably thanks to the power of motherly love and the muscle building nature of a diamond dog life. When the eggs hatched they developed into hybrids.

Hybrids walk on two legs like a diamond dog, their feet forming into three claws, two at the front and one at the back for balance along with holed arms and legs from the elbow and knee down with hard chitin forming natural light armor over their chest and thighs. They have insect wings though without holes and a changeling head with a sharper, narrow chin. The rest of their body is shaped in the same style of a diamond dog, almost like one is wearing an unbelievably good costume with their skin and shell looking just like that of a changeling with yellow eyes and wings. Their horn has very little magic only able to form a light for exploration or a sharp striking bolt used to blind an attacker. Their strength is huge, being slightly stronger than a large diamond dog and are very wild in battle, snarling and roaring as they leap at their foe claws out often digging their teeth into the pour sods neck more out of battle rage then anything, though the cost of this power is their ability to transform.

Overtime the guild’s diamond dog population vanished as more and more of the next generation became hybrids, now there is not a furry one amongst them. It is said the changeling transformed into Queen Lupa which is what we name the hive after despite calling themselves clan Bug Claw. While that would make her the oldest changeling queen to ever live I’ve seen queens who eat garbage, want to turn pony kind as a whole into their personal pet, content with being a shaman and deciding to take over a nation via a wedding so Queen Lupa being that old isn’t that big a stretch. She is supposed to be warm and motherly, but cold and harsh to outsiders treating every one of the changelings like they were her children because in one way or another, they're all related to her anyway. She is supposed to look similar to a normal queen with yellowed eyed, hair and winged but has feral canine claws instead of hooves and a longer tail moving more like a wolf then a pony or bug.

This hive is, thankfully, isolationists. They stay inside their territory at all times stealing away ponies that enter without their permission. We understand from one who escaped they have set up a sort of farm, which are very lax and act more as mini tribes comprising of diamond dogs, griffins and ponies living amongst themselves working the land the best they can all while being fed upon by the hybrids. This technique does result in a low population but considering they wish only to stay within their borders a small population is probably a good thing as a higher one would call for expansion. When a hybrid gets old enough they are sent on “the Great Walk” were they are allowed to leave the mountains and explore the world a little before coming back for a life of isolation. These hybrids are warned to stay away from cities and villages as they are usually described as cold and unforgiving, a place where people do not think of themselves as brothers or sisters but as individuals, concerned mainly with gaining personal wealth…Which is technically true. This has led to sightings of hybrids to start wild tales of a strange and horrible monster living in the nearby forest or swamp but by the time these tales take hold usually the hybrid has moved on. Some don’t return, deciding to stay in the outside world but it’s a very small percentage and most come back at an older age to settle back down with their people, especially since even if only visiting those who come back are greeted with open arms.

The hive is rather spiritual with most members believing in an All Mother, a being who created everything. They also believe that Lupa is an avatar of her will, something she has not confirmed or denied, and that they are all the All Mother’s chosen though instead of chosen to take over the world like most “chosen” people they believe they are chosen to keep the purity of their life alive, as the world around them gets bigger, darker, colder and more advance they will always stay the same under her protective gaze. They live a tribal existence in stone huts, one very large building housing the queen along with a blocked off valley for the multi species village to stop those without wings from leaving, which tends to keep those with wings to stay as many have been birthed and raised there, unable to stand leaving their friends and family behind. They don’t wear armor in combat usually either using oversized throwing spears or their own claws for fighting and while small in number they have been known to wipe out whole royal guard outposts. In slaver groups putting a changeling of Lupa and a changeling from Ash Raider in a ring together is considered the ultimate money maker, having even nobles paying a ransom just for a seat. It’s only too bad for these slavers that either changeling can rip apart a whole team of herders like a griffin threw a fish burger.

Out of all the hives I’ve seen this shows the least risk. They isolate themselves in a remote and difficult to get to area, only steal ponies away if they wander into their territory without permission and even then they can live a long and full filling life. Still, if I had a choice of which kind of changeling not to run into it would be these guys.

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