Swarm Master

Swarm masters are esotericists who control massive swarms of insects, which they use to bring horrors to their victims. They wield a combination of brown aether (particularly, corrupted nzwara murazvo), vile energy, and msawhat.

Trapping

They must trap a living specimen of each insect they swarm.

Traps

Funnels, pitfall traps, bottle traps, malaise traps, and flycatcher traps are often used. They are sometimes baited with sugary foods. They must be caught alive.

Nets

Nets are often used to catch bigger insects. Mesh netting, sweep nets, and sieves are usually used.

Killing Jar

Once caught, alive, they are placed into a special jar made of vile glass, left in it overnight with a drop of defouled water. Come morning, the insect will be dead, but soaked in brown aether and vile energy.

Pinning

Once dead, the swarm master must pin the insect inside a small case. For every insect swarm they intend to summon and control, they must pin an example of that insect with a needle made of griseomy.

Insects

Only very specific species of insects can be controlled for a swarm, and each has different particulars:

• Potato Aphid: bring calamities like earthquakes and floods with them if in large enough swarms. They are only controlled by an amulet made of the sternum of a murdered beggar.
• Bullet Ant: unbelievable painful bites, but they do not kill except the weakest. They are only controlled by a strip of flesh, tanned, from a victim of extensive torture.
• Yellow Hornet: spray acid that can dissolve stone; stings are excruciating. They are only controlled by shards of a bone broken by a crushing blow, repeated, in a live victim.
• Azeti Locust: destroy crops in massive quantity and makes it so they do not grow again within a decade. They are only controlled by the dried blood of a child who was starved to death.
• Common Paper Wasp: bring despair to those they do not kill. They are only controlled by the tears of a person driven to suicide.
• Pingtai [Formosan] Termite: destroy anything made of wood, living or dead, of any size. They are only controlled by the ears of a person who died via a needle to the eardrum.
• Anopheles Mosquito: spread malaria rampantly. They are only controlled by the dried liver of a malaria victim.
• Red Louse: drain the blood of victims by the thouasnds. They are only controlled by the dried heart of a victim who was exsanguinated.
• Spiny Crawler Mayfly: kill only children. They are only controlled by the foot bones of a child killed before the bones were truly solid.
• Eastern [Oriental] Rat Flea: spreads the plague. They are only controlled by the fresh eyes of a plague victim (can be kept fresh in special chemicals).
• Elegant Tarantula Hawk: leave victims' blood boiling. They are only controlled by the skin of a victim who has been ripped to shreds.
• Pine Pitch Midge: make the invocation of faith impossible where they swarm. They are only controlled by the pickled hands of someone truly devout.
• Palhuric [American] Cockroach: leave black film wherever they go. They are only controlled by the preserved flesh of someone who died in boiling tar.

Unleashing

The pinned specimens are kept in their special case somewhere safe, while the swarm master carries the killing jars used. Opening them unleashes the swarm and uses up the specimen, necessitating the acquisition of a new specimen.

Legality

Swarm mastering is illegal almost everywhere. In order to keep illegal use of the art down, it is illegal to own specimens of the above insects in many places as well.

Stats

The typical swam master will have the following variations from the base stats of their nation/species:

PRO +1
ATH +2
STR +1
AWA +4
WIL +6
ROG +1