Lore24 Apr 29: Copperbugs

Copperbugs, also known as bronzebane bugs, are curious little critters. Growing to about the size of an adult’s fist, the carapace of these beetles is made from the purest copper. While the smaller, younger ones may be able to fly, the adults are too heavy for their wings to actually lift them off the ground.

In order to gain the copper necessary for building their carapaces, copperbugs eat raw copper, and copper alloys, neatly depositing any other metals and any impurities in small little piles. This obviously makes them very dangerous for anything made out of bronze, as a dozen or so copperbugs can and will eat render an entire suit of armor unusable in less than an hour.

On the other hand, feeding them low quality copper, then harvesting their carapaces is a very cheap, reliable and easy, if quite time-consuming way of getting high quality copper. They can even be used to separate low quality bronze to its component parts, so that a better alloy may be made. Of course military applications also exist, and sneaking a few hundred eggs into an enemy’s armory is a rather popular act of sabotage. There are also rumors of some Sorcerer-Kings breeding giant varieties, that being the size of donkeys can overpower humans and eat their arms and armor in a matter of minutes.

Image by gailhampshire


 

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