Winnowing Wasps (GLoGtober 2024)

This is for the Some Spooky Halloween Monsters for GLoGtober 2024.

Also known as Flute Wasps, Winnowing Wasps get their name from the sounds their abandoned nests make. The territory of a family of Winnowing Wasps is marked by dozens of discarded nests that create eerie discordant melodies when the wind is blowing. 

Matvey Smirnov

Adult Winnowers can grow as large as a human forearm. They can be easily recognized by their large size as well as their distinctive dark red and black patterning along the thorax. A somewhat social creature, Winnowers display a family behavior and have been known to nest together as well as to situate multiple nests nearby for protection from predators such as the Greater and Lesser Sulfur Lizards. Due to the typical temperatures of the Starklands, these wasps tend to congregate around sulfur pits in the colder months but there are also many reports of Winnowers entering a state of suspended animation while their nests are transported around the Starklands along with the Tower. 

Winnowers are a parasitoid wasp that lays their eggs primarily in human hosts- however moose and elk are also common hosts of the Winnower. When they find their prey, they aim for exposed soft tissue and deposit as many eggs as they can before retreating to their nests. Extensive documentation of the lifecycle of the Winnowers has been made by many a village and town throughout the history of the Starklands and the danger of these creatures is well known. After the initial attack, the host will experience the following symptoms:

Days 1-14: Itching around the injection site and a ravenous appetite. During this initial incubation period the eggs laid by the Winnower hatch inside of the host. The host will experience a ravenous hunger to account for the larva- much as with a tapeworm. A typical host carries anywhere from thirty to one hundred larva in them. By the end of this first period, the host looks to be obese and casual observers can notice unnatural movements under their skin. At this point, the larvae account for about 1/3 of the weight of the host. Winnower larvae spend their time eating and turning the chest cavity of their host into a nest, chewing through marrow and bone and spitting it back up to create a well protected barrel-like chest cavity riddled with small holes.

Days 15-21: The larvae emerge from the host at this time using sharp rotating teeth. Their natural secretions rapidly seal the wounds (and in fact make for a very valuable surgical aid) and the host will gather the larvae and shelter them in their home, usually somewhere safe and dry. Over the rest of the duration of this period, the host is driven to defend the larvae as though they were their own children- and what limited interviews are possible with these addled individuals reveal they are unable to tell the larvae apart from their children. During this time, the larvae spin a protective shell around themselves and begin their second phase of growth into a full Winnower. 

Once the Winnowers hatch, the new family instinctively returns to their host and the initial nest they made therein. By now, the hosts are usually dead- but this does not mean the end of their use. For some period after their death, their body still moves and carries the wasp nest at the whims of the family of Winnowers. Once their flesh has sufficiently rotted and they can no longer move, the Winnowers move on and leave the host behind, chest full of chewed up marrow and winding tunnels that make eerie sounds. Some hosts' minds are known to survive this process and, through means unknown, happily carry their wasp family around in their chest cavity. 

Villages are especially cautious of Winnowers. The stories of children, hunters, and foragers who have accidentally been infected and carried an infection back to a village are well known. Any Starklander worth their salt knows the best cure for an infection: fire. If the eggs were lain recently enough it's possible to burn them out and preserve the host- but some aren't willing to risk any remaining wasps spelling an end to the village and opt instead for a full cremation.

Many a wise woman and witch have their own cures as well, including the imbibing of certain poisons and liquors to kill the larvae within the host as well as the use of certain burning herbs to ward Winnowers off.