Beebra

Native to Boardor, Beebras are zebra relatives which share not only many convergent biological adaptations to bees, but also magically similar abilities with changelings

Evolving shortly after the end of the War of the Deer, the Beebras are descended from populations of Zebras and Abada who, for one reason or another, were unable to return to Zebrica. In order to survive in the hostile and still radioactive wastes, familial and social bonds became increasingly important, and as such their descendants became increasingly eusocial. In time, partially due to their hazardous and magically mutagenic environment, they gained chitinous armor, wings, extra limbs, stingers, and the ability to perform more direct magic, including forms of telepathy.

They also became emovoric, and gained the ability to project realistic "illusion coats" around their bodies, effectively letting them change shape, and the queens- who were true shape-shifters- became somewhat hermaphroditic.

In modern times, Beebras typically construct their skyscraper-esque hives in Boardor's plains, forests, and jungles, but they also nest in abandoned ruins.

Beebras, alone out of all non-monotreme mammals, lay eggs, which hatch into little beebra grublings.

Beebras have two distinct castes- workers/warriors and Royals

Workers/Warriors are quick-maturing, and loyal to their leaders. They tend to avoid combat, but will furiously defend their hive if needed, injecting their enemies with a paralyzing venom.

The leaders of the Hives are the Royals. These are generally divided into Queens and Princesses, with Queens being the leaders of their Hives and Princesses their subordinates. These are the only castes which (normally) produce offspring, and only the Queens normally produce other Royals. Royals tend to be almost terrifyingly intelligent and strong-willed; they are naturally very dominant creatures who almost always get their way.

Instead of producing a single egg per 21-day estrus and requiring 11-12 months to foal, a Royal who is breeding can produce multiple eggs a day and bear them within a week of fertilization. However, these are in this stage mere fertilized eggs, which are entirely dependent upon constant care by Nurses (a Worker subcaste); they then develop into grublings. Beebras can mate and produce a hybrid with a Pony, but development still tends to be speedy by Pony standards, with birth usually taking place within 8-10 months after conception.

Note that the Beebras in a Hive are closely related, but everyone is not the Queen's daughter, nor even necessarily her daughter's daughter. They are, however, all at least fairly close cousins.

Queens can produce members of any Castes, including Royals, and Queens suppress the ability of Princesses to produce Royals, but Princesses can and do produce members of the other Castes. A Queen produces a daughter Hive by activating a Princess' transformation into a Queen, then sending her forth with some supporting members of other Castes to found a new Hive. However, a Princess can rebel against her mother, and if she can defeat the previous Queen in single combat, she can become the new Queen. Her odds of succeeding at this are generally poor, as Queens are normally stronger than Princesses.

Two Queens can't tolerate one another, and will usually fight to the death upon meeting, or will at least be REALLY uncomfortable about being together.

Beebras can spit a sort of quick-drying cement which can be used for various structural purposes. This cement is elastic and tough, though inferior to hard wood, stone or metal. They can also spit a fluid which can dissolve this material, and use both of these abilities to construct most of the interior fittings of their Hives, molding the spittle into what they consider aesthetically-pleasing shapes, scents and colors.

The Hive Mind emerges from a sufficient congregation of Beebras (generally at least a hundred). The Hive Mind itself is not very intelligent -- it's only about as smart as a smart dog, though it can communicate and be communicated with more explicitly.

The purpose of the Hive Mind is routine maintenance of the Hive and distribution of normal resources within it. The Hive Mind lets Beebras know what needs exist and what means exist to fulfill them. This enables a socialistic economy to actually run smoothly, provided that most activities remain fairly simple. Hive Minds can and have been adapted to other problems. The most obvious example is a "Swarm Mind," which is used for purposes of military and travel coordination.

Beebras generate and link to the Hive Mind by numerous channels including telepathy, empathy, buzz, voice, scent and body language. They receive communications back by similar means. Royals can engage in more complex communications than Workers/Warriors, meaning Royals can gain very precise information from the Hive Mind, while Workers/Warriors get only vague sensations.

The Hive Mind is not capable of directly operating or taking over the bodies of individuals, as it's far too simple and its channels too narrow in bandwidth. What it can do is impel individuals with objectives which, if they have no other important objectives, they will pursue. This is most the case for Warriors/Workers. This is of obvious utility in recruiting Workers for important tasks, or ensuring that Swarms attack or retreat in unison.

The benefits of the Hive Mind, in general, are communication and coordination, as it enables a culture with only limited technology to function as if linked by short-ranged radio or intercoms, and also allowing considerable eusocial coordination, guaranteeing that those responsible for tasks will know what needs to be done and feel impelled to do them.

However, the Hive Mind is not capable of creative thought. At most it can solve problems by emergent path exploration, and very much needs the leadership of Royals and the initiative of Beebras in general for competent strategic thinking.

Parasitic Beebra

More aggressive than their common cousins, Parasitic Beebras are a lot like the normal Beebras, but more adapted to easily sneak into sapient settlements and either get the emotions they feed on... or worse.

Parasitic Workers/Warriors take longer to mature than common Beebras (10 years), and hone their empathy to a high degree and can tell not only if they are loved, but in what manner; the most adept individuals can deduce the rest of a target's emotional state by analyzing their love patterns.

Parasitic Worker/Warriors are also capable of turning on their fertility, though this is normally not done. Hence, any individual is a potential (though inferior) Royal, a fact which has sometimes been used by Hives which have lost all their Royals to survive such a catastrophe, as a desperate Hive may assign some of its Worker/Warriors to breeding to rapidly make up losses, though this is an inefficient employment of their talents.

Parasitic Queens are more conniving and aggressive than their common cousins, though they still at least show some care and concern for the welfare of their Hive.

Parasitic Beebras gain their name from the fact that, by means of a specialized ovipositor, they can lay their eggs inside the bodies of other creatures, with the wombs of other equines being favored. Note that this is not necessary for the eggs' incubation, but does somewhat improve it