Kank

''This creature is a large insect with a black, chitinous exoskeleton and long, waving antennae. Its body is divided into a head, thorax and abdomen, and it has a pair of curved mandibles with which it produces a curious clicking noise.''

Tactics
A worker only goes into combat when all the soldiers are dead or it is backed up into a corner. Workers strike with their pincers when in combat and try to get a hold.

Tactics
A soldier is the first line of defense for the hive. A soldier strikes with its pincers when in combat and tries to get a hold. A soldierʹs bite is poisonous.

Tactics
A brood queen avoids combat at all costs unless all the soldiers and food producers are dead, and/or she is backed up into a corner. Brood queens strike with their pincers when in combat and try to get a hold. If cornered, the brood queen will release a gas cloud as a last defense.

About Kanks
Many kanks roam wild across the Tablelands, as well as being herded. These large, docile insects have black chitinous exoskeletons, which are divided into three sections: head, thorax, and abdomen. They can carry objects with their multi–jointed pincers, or use them in combat.

Kank workers are able to create elaborate nests and tunnel systems using a combination of soil, chewed wood, saliva, and feces. The walls of a kank hive have hardness 1 and 4 hit points per inch of thickness. Soldiers are charged with gathering food for the hive, in the form of most types of leaves and fronds, and an occasional small animal.

A queen sits in the center of a kank hive, producing the eggs with the aid of worker kanks, never leaving the nest. The queen lays anywhere from 20 to 50 eggs at a time, each egg hatching in about four weeks. If the egg is fertilized, the kank will be female; if not, it will be male. The larvae reach maturity in about six weeks. The average worker kank lives for about 3 years, though the queen lifespan might be up to 30 years.

The average worker kank measures less than 7 feet long and 3 feet in height and weighs around 250 pounds. Soldiers are 8 feet long and 4 feet tall and weigh 400 pounds. The queen is around 9 feet long, 5 feet tall, and she weighs about 500 pounds. Physically, male and female kanks from the same type are identical. Kank chitin color may vary; most are deep red or black, but other colors can also be seen, including some species with a metallic luster.

Only the most desperate of individuals will eat kank flesh. When a kank dies, its body produces chemicals that render its flesh foul-smelling and utterly unpalatable and because of that kanks do not have natural predators. Kank honey, however, is very sweet and fetches a high price. It can sustain the food (but not water) requirements for a Medium creature for up to three weeks before requiring more substantial nourishment. One pound of nectar can reach up to 20 Cp in most Athasian markets.

Kank exoskeleton can be used as armor, but it is very brittle and has to be treated properly to toughen it up some. It can be crafted into armor when cleaned and prepared. One pound of treated chitin costs 40 Cp. A much more common use of the kank's exoskeleton is in the construction of chitin golems.

A character needs the Bug Trainer feat in order to train kanks, which make good and inexpensive mounts.

Society
Kanks organize themselves into hives. Worker kanks secrete large globules of honey, which are used to feed the young of the hive; soldiers act as guards, warriors and defenders of the hive, and the brood queen rules the hive by dint of her reproductive prowess.

From time to time, when a hive has reached a certain size, a brood queen will give birth to a younger queen. The hive will then split, with some workers and soldiers accompanying the new queen as she sets off to found a hive of her own.