Bone Crusher Beetle

Mixture of a Stag Beetle with the mandibles, a jewel beetle with a white iridescence and multiple segments from isopods.

What They do

These beetles start their lives as larva within the marrow of bones from recently deceased creatures. The larva use an acidic spit to melt away at the bone before consuming the resulting liquefied bone. Once having consuming enough they burrow into the ground where they metamorphosise into their beetle form.

The Bone Crusher beetle spends most of its long life foraging their environments for bones to consume, the beetle draws upon the latent magical energies within the bones themselves. These beetles are found more frequently in areas recovering from magical disasters. Many people who have found themselves in the presence of these creatures know how territorial they can get when feeding. Their thick carapaces acts as both a natural armor against both physical and magical attacks making them especially difficult to damage all the while having to combat their potent acid spit and crushing mandibles.

Some people say they've seen the faces of those who've been consumed by these beetles. The frequency of these reports had skyrocketed during the fall of Rustward. This was most likely due to the population of the beetles exploding as the Fabric Sickness took hold.