Chrysalis

The role of the Brood Tender seemed straight forward enough. It was mostly in the name, after all. The Brood consisted of the unhatched eggs, the larvae and the pupae that were the future generations of the colony and ensuring that they were cared for in as optimal a way as possible was the Brood Tenders primary responsibility.

"How goes the Brood today, Florence?"

"Theresant? Nice to see you! You’ve been at the academy for days! The darlings are busy little grubs, as usual!"

The two council members approached each other with gladness ringing from their antennae. The two ants had a peaceful and motherly disposition which was why they had volunteered to take up this role, despite the immense pressure involved.

"Are we going to reach our target for today?" Florence asked her sister, "two hundred hatchings, two hundred graduations?"

"I believe so," came the reply, "my people in the academy have assure me the current crop of hatchlings will be ready to graduate on time."

"Wonderful!"

"I agree!"

The two ants fell into a companionable silence as they moved to a brood chamber near the surface. The larvae needed warmth to accelerate their growth, so they were moved to chambers closer to the surface during the day as the sun shone and then deeper underground at night, where the heat remained trapped. With the wave at play however, the Brood Tenders were unwilling to risk their charges in the Dungeon proper, so they’d asked if some fire mage ants could assist in warming the chambers for the Brood.

The two siblings arrived and were greeted by their fellow tenders already hard at work in the chamber. The overlapping nourishing auras washed over them and gave them both a little shiver of joy. The aura gland was an expensive part of the evolution from worker caste to Brood Tenders, which seemed like a waste because the gland itself didn’t have a powerful effect. It essentially calmed and nourished infants of aura owner’s species, helping grow faster and stronger.

overlapped with others however, the effect became more noticeable. When it had first been noticed that those hatched from chambers with more Tenders in them were slightly more developed, even having a few extra stat points, the colony had decided to produce a large batch of Brood

was no exaggeration to say that currently, apart from the soldiers, the colony was pouring the most resources into the Brood Tenders. In order to

larvae, tickled them and played with them before they moved onto the next chamber, doing the rounds so that they could keep an eye on the progress of every member of the brood. As they passed through the tunnels, other ants made space for them respectfully as they called out

"Tenders, work hard today!"

today, Tenders? Can

putting forth all of their effort, Tenders! We

of that,"

brood was the future of the colony, it was ingrained into ant nature to prioritise the rearing of the young above almost everything else and that hadn’t changed when the species of the colony

more thoughtful and calculating about how they went

in their final stage of development before

to them as she entered the

"Greetings, senior" they replied.

been any further developments

the Tenders stepped

Nurturing skill to the third rank, but no new

different sides of the colony if possible. We need to ensure we can isolate the cause in the

course, senior," the Tenders

Test groups for every caste of worker, soldier and artisans were hard at work trying to unlock new skills, test skill fusion options and explore the benefits

complete fluke that no other worker had touched that particular larvae other than Florence right up until it spun its cocoon and then hatched. The skill granted knowledge and instincts when raising the young, turning the Tenders into almost supernaturally gifted carers. Which in

caste. They felt sure that there were further skills to be unlocked to deal with rearing that would allow them to provide even better