Zylphids

"Simpler folk tend to see Zylphids as inferior beings - mindless, swarming pests, who've only prospered for this long because we allowed them to. But when you truly consider the size of that colony they've been growing beneath our feet... you can't help but see it the other way around." - Arphaun

Zylphids are a race of subterranean insectoids that inhabit the sprawling tunnels of The Underweb, which stretch beneath most of Aarn.

Whilst their size and physical features can vary dramatically, most Zylphids possess long antennae, four to six eyes, three pairs of legs, and chitinous exoskeletons. The matriarch of their species, the Zylphid Queen, resides deep underground at the nerve centre of The Underweb - bloated, immobile, and always laying eggs. Zylphids vastly outnumber all other races living above ground, though their exact number is still unknown.

Zylphids are highly diverse and self-sufficient, able to build enormous and complex underground structures from their own bodily secretions. Some subspecies have iridescent wings allowing them to fly, others produce valuable silks, and some can even utilise biochemical defences such as acids and glues, when the need arises. All Zylphids feed on fungi which they cultivate in enormous underground garden chambers, keeping them supplied with a constant stream of dead plants and other fertilisers from the surface.

Due to their vastly different anatomy, Zylphids are incapable of speaking the common tongue, and are thought to communicate through chemical signals released into the air. However, the speed at which they do this continues to baffle researchers, leading some to believe that Zylphids actually share a hive mind, allowing their Queen to co-ordinate large and distant groups instantaneously. Despite their continued isolation, Zylphids are not inherently aggressive or hostile to outsiders, but will defend their territory if threatened, and will give their lives in defence of their Queen.