Astranagants are social insects that have existed for the last ten million years or so. Like the Lilliputians, they are remnants of the human civilization; specifically, they were the result of human efforts to create as perfect a dominant insect predator as possible. When humanity abandoned the Earth, they also left the Astranagants behind, to act as an external spur to Lilliputian development. The facility that housed them was located fairly far from the original Lilliputian release center, and released the Astranagants into the ecosystem at the same time Lilliputians were, which was about 30,000 years ago.
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Morphology and Physiology
Although Astranagants are called insects, there are several anatomical differences that would exclude them from actually being considered a proper insect. Astranagants possess not three pairs of legs, but four, two of which are used for walking and two of which are used for other purposes. Despite this, they are very similar to modern insects, particularly mantids.
The head of an Astranagant is a rather curious thing. Superficially, it resembles that of a praying mantis, with two well-developed compound eyes of a similar shape in the same position. The antennae jut out from behind the eyes, and are fairly short; although they are sensory organs, the final segment is broad and armored, made to protect the compound eyes. Near where the mouth would be on a mantid, there is instead a large protrusion. Underneath this are a pair of large mandibles clamped firmly together, which do not separate until the Astranagant is ready to feed. However, underneath the mandibles and above the actual mouth are four eye-like organs; the mandibles can shift downward while clamped together to reveal these strange protrusions. Although they can be used for sensing light, they have a far more important function: they are bioluminescent, and are used to light the Astranagant's way in darkness. In actuality, although a dim red glow can be seen from these organs, most of the light emitted is infrared, preventing a Lilliputian from detecting an Astranagant by their own lights.
The mouth of the Astranagant is a seething tunnel of constantly working jaws, engineered to be capable of breaking down any organic solid. Due to the mandibles, they are almost never seen; indeed, they are the subject of many a dark story in Lilliputian culture. It is said that if you see an Astranagant's mouth underneath their plate-like coverings and survive, you will be cursed and fated to die at the hands of that particular specimen; alternatively, some cultures believe that if you see an Astranagant's mouth, your soul will be sucked out and you will be left an unconscious husk for its consumption.
As noted earlier, the Astranagant resembles a mantid; its thoracic and abdominal segments are aligned in much the same way as a mantid's is. The Astranagant is notably better armored than a mantid, with a denser exoskeleton and more plating. Even the soft parts of an Astranagant are superior; the thoracic segment is able to rotate 360 degrees yet retains a frighteningly protective stiffened layer underneath the elastic tissue. The head is capable of extending up from the thoracic segment on a stalk, and is also capable of drawing closer to the thorax in a manner similar to a turtle, although it is too large to actually enter it in any way. Although the Astranagant normally stays in this alignment, they are capable of bending forward to change their body shape to resemble a more typical insect.
The legs of the Astranagant are entirely unique, although many elements are similar to existing legs. The top pair of legs, very close to the head, is positioned closest to the back of the Astranagant. It functions similar to a mantis's famed forelimbs, in that it is used mainly to strike quickly and capture prey using the sharp barbs that cover two segments. However, it differs in one major regard; rather than ending in a simple appendage, the Astranagant's first pair of legs ends in a hand, complete with an opposable thumb. The entire limb is rather clumsy when not engaged in the usual lightning quick strike, but the hand is fully capable of grabbing something with monstrous strength.
The second pair, situated in the same general area but lower and closer to the front of the chest, lacks the muscular power and barbs of the first. However, compared to a Lilliputian it is still quite strong, and what's more, it also ends in a hand. This limb is fairly plain in terms of appearance, but compared to the first pair, it is much more maneuverable, with 270 degrees of rotation in all joints and far smoother motor control. These hands, rather than only gripping, are capable of fine movements almost equal to that of a human.
The third and fourth pairs are located at the very end of the thorax, and are connected almost loosely. One pair mainly points forward, the other backward; these limbs are responsible for locomotion and are quite strong. In fact, freakishly so; Astranagant hind legs were the result of several experiments on grasshopper legs, which aimed at reducing the monstrous power released during a jump and making it useful for high-speed movement. An Astranagant is capable of incredibly small leaps at speeds exceeding 60 kmh and actually controlling the movement. Astranagants also have wings, which are attached to the thorax behind the first pair of legs. These wings are quite large, and resemble dragonfly wings, but can fold inward or down towards the abdomen to stay out of the way.
The abdomen does not have any particularly special trait, but contains a few more organs than a typical insect's. Life processes were minimized slightly in order to fit more muscle tissue into the thorax. It is also interesting to note that although the Astranagant's brain is quite large compared to other insects, it also has a secondary brain just behind the joint between the abdomen and thorax; this brain works in tandem with the first. It not only allows greater capacity for intelligence, but it also means that even if you cut off the head of an Astranagant, its lower half will still function perfectly well until starvation(putting aside that it will also be blind).
Development
Like ants or termites, Astranagants have a society revolving around a queen, which is the sole individual of any colony that reproduces; however, Nag queens are not helpless like those of the aforementioned species, but fully capable of fighting. More often, they are in charge of strategizing for the entire colony; unlike the rather uniform intelligence of Astranagant soldiers, queen Astranagants display a great amount of variation in their intelligence, ranging from that of an ant to that of an actual Lilliputian. As such, although Astranagant campaigns are limited by many factors, a gifted queen can direct her armies to lay waste to their enemies with rare efficiency throughout her adult lifetime.
Astranagant queens are quite different from their fellows, being much larger and more bulky. Many end up incapable of flight, as their wings do not grow with the rest of their body. Although they main many of the same traits as other Astranagants, queens demonstrate a heavily swollen abdomen similar to that of a termite queen, although not quite as disproportionate. The thorax and head also grow to a certain extent, giving the queen power and reach far beyond her brood, although at the cost of vital speed. Despite this, the number of eggs laid is comparably small, though still great enough to increase the size of an Astranagant population. A queen will always lay enough eggs to sustain the current numbers, and will lay more in response to unexpected deaths in the colony.
Eggs are kept under the queen herself for the first twenty days, after which they are moved to a nursery chamber. They are checked on daily by a soldier; an egg can spend between two and four months before hatching. Astranagants undergo incomplete metamorphosis; the hatched specimen is a nymph which is very similar in appearance to the adults. It takes a full two years for the imago to reach complete adulthood, but by the time a year has passed nymphs are expected to hunt and fight as full members of the colony. Nymphs do not receive any special education or nurturing from the rest of the colony, and learn through instinct and through watching adult soldiers; they also receive no physical conditioning, as one might expect of this abnormal insect society. The vital spines on the first pair of legs do not develop until the 18th month, and so before then the imago relies on artificial weaponry to fight, retaining its skills with the weapon into adulthood.
A queen nymph learns the same skills as the soldier nymphs, but upon reaching maturity, will leave the colony, followed by several male soldiers. Once she has chosen a site, often taking weeks or months to reach a suitable one, the young queen will land and mate with her pursuers, who become the first of her colony. Once mating is complete, the queen's body begins to change, and egg-laying begins. Initially, the queen will mate with all the males in her colony daily; once it begins to be established however, the males take turns mating. By the time it has become a fully functional Astranagant colony, the male soldiers fight amongst themselves for the right to mate with the queen, ensuring that the best genes are the one used to build the next generation.