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Mantid Spirits, How are they organized?

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FanGirl

Aug 25 2006, 03:25 AM

Post #26

Moving Target

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QUOTE (hyzmarca)

QUOTE (SL James @ Aug 24 2006, 01:36 PM)

QUOTE (Schaeffer @ Aug 24 2006, 06:54 AM)

Another problem, I think, with mantids, is the fact that they cannot exist on our plane without preying upon humanity. They need human bodies to "step through" right?

No. They can use other spirits, too.

Well, for males anyway.

:proof:

QUOTE (Bug City p.141; Magic in the Shadows p.131)

The investment must be made into a human host body of the same sex as the Mantis spirit created.

More proof here:

QUOTE (Street Magic @ p.151)

Unusually for insect spirits, mantids always enforce gender selection in their vessels; a male’s (invariably caretakers and workers) primary purpose is to serve as a mate and then as sustenance for “females” (soldiers, scouts, and nymphs).

Other interesting things to note about Mantids:

QUOTE (ibid.)

While they do form nests, mantids do not have queens or mothers, instead possessing a singular means of reproducing: eating other insect spirits....
All “female” mantid spirits possess the power of Energy Drain...Mantids drain Force from other inspect spirits by eating them. Force points consumed by the mantid in this manner can be...stored internally in what amounts to an “astral womb.” When the accumulated stored Force equals the mantid’s own, it gives “birth” to a full-grown mantid spirit of equal Force—which may then inhabit a living vessel.

It's been found that "real" female Chinese mantids will not eat their mates' heads if they are well-fed and don't have any nosy lab researchers breathing down their necks during the mating. Instead, an elaborate courtship ritual occurs. Below is some speculation as to why this might be:

QUOTE ("Dr. Beetle")

...the study by Liske and Davis suggests that mantises will naturally follow their instinct to pounce on any small moving object, especially when hungry. They need a 'one tracked mind' with fast reflexes to obtain prey - they don't have a web to help them and they cannot fly swiftly after their prey. Under natural conditions, it would seem sensible for them to evolve a courtship behavior that then allows their own kind to turn off the 'pounce and eat' instinct from a safe distance. Such an instinct would be difficult to turn off when hungry or starved under artificial laboratory conditions, but under natural conditions the courtship would allow non-violent mating to occur. A further part of the courtship behavior might be that if the female does not participate in the courtship display, the male would know not to approach. If however the male is 'desperate' or confined in the laboratory, it may have no choice but to try and approach the female, if it really wants to mate. It could not fly off to try another female. It would have to approach the unresponsive female, but this time cautiously, because it senses the risk of being mistaken as food.

There's a lesson in this for all you guys out there: No matter how desperate or impatient you are to mate with a female, always take some time to use foreplay - and make sure the female responds favorably to it - before attempting the act. Otherwise, she might bite your head off. :D

EDIT: Here's my source on mantid mating behavior.

Shanshu Freeman

Aug 25 2006, 04:23 AM

Post #27

Moving Target

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QUOTE (Schaeffer)

That's an interesting question, Shansu. Would they start eating humanity exclusively, or take their ball, go home, and perhaps try to find bugs in some other plane?

My vote would be that they'd start a change in diet.

they'd make whichever adaptation took the least effort, neh? (I had a chemistry teacher who used to tell us that everything in nature happend because it was easier that way. We are only alive because it's easier for chemistry to let us live rather than kill us. That drives my uber Christian parents nuts.)

toturi

Aug 25 2006, 01:27 PM

Post #28

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QUOTE (Shanshu Freeman @ Aug 25 2006, 10:05 AM)

QUOTE (toturi @ Aug 24 2006, 04:14 AM)

The friend of my enemy, is my enemy.

The enemy of my friend, is my enemy.

The enemy of my enemy...

The key point is that while regular Insect Spirits(from MITS, I don't have SM yet) look upon meta-humanity as a take-over target, Mantids do so to a lesser extent and look upon the other Insects as prey. Now the last time I looked, if you don't want pests in your house, you might want to stop killing their predators.

What happens when the rest of the bugs (as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony) are gone? Would Mantids stop there?

Reminds me of that saying "First they came for the jews, and I did nothing, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I did nothing because I was not a Catholic. etc, etc, etc and when they came for me, there was no one left to etc etc."

Well, you are assuming the Insects think like humans. Moreover, only metahumans will want to wipe out another segment of humanity. Never seen one insect species eat another into extinction yet.

FanGirl's quote FTW.

Inu

Aug 26 2006, 02:40 AM

Post #29

Target

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QUOTE (toturi)

[QUOTE=Shanshu Freeman,Aug 25 2006, 10:05 AM] Well, you are assuming the Insects think like humans. Moreover, only metahumans will want to wipe out another segment of humanity. Never seen one insect species eat another into extinction yet.

FanGirl's quote FTW.

Sure they do. Constantly. They don't set out going 'hey, let's wipe them out', they go 'hey, that looks tasty. That looks tasty too!' and eventually bam, the whole species is wiped out. Animal, insects, whatever: once the delicate balance goes, entire species can disappear very easily. It happens most notably in cases of introduced species (particularly introduced species of wasp or ant), but it happens 'in the wild' as well (almost certainly more frequently, too).

SL James

Aug 26 2006, 03:16 AM

Post #30

Shadowrun Setting Nerd

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QUOTE (FanGirl @ Aug 24 2006, 09:25 PM)

More proof here:

QUOTE (Street Magic @ p.151)

Unusually for insect spirits, mantids always enforce gender selection in their vessels; a male’s (invariably caretakers and workers) primary purpose is to serve as a mate and then as sustenance for “females” (soldiers, scouts, and nymphs).

Other interesting things to note about Mantids:

QUOTE (ibid.)

While they do form nests, mantids do not have queens or mothers, instead possessing a singular means of reproducing: eating other insect spirits....
All “female” mantid spirits possess the power of Energy Drain...Mantids drain Force from other inspect spirits by eating them. Force points consumed by the mantid in this manner can be...stored internally in what amounts to an “astral womb.” When the accumulated stored Force equals the mantid’s own, it gives “birth” to a full-grown mantid spirit of equal Force—which may then inhabit a living vessel.

Actually, note that there is nothing in the section about Mantis spirits in SR4 having to use humans. Note the use of the word may, when it states that, "When the accumulated stored Force equals the mantid’s own, it gives “birth” to a full-grown mantid spirit of equal Force—which may then inhabit a living vessel*."

*emphasis mine.

Personally, I think mantids kick ass (IRL and in SR), especially when I saw photos of one eating a hummingbird (there's another even better story if you Google around) and reading about someone battling a 10" mantis with a tennis racket. Plus there was my own battle with a mantis that left me freaked out and it pissed off when I jumped on my bed and it didn't die when I landed on it.

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