The Scourge are swarms of large insectoid creatures known to inhabit the Scourgelands.
Description
The Scourge are a type of unnaturally large insect - each individual may grow up to two feet in length. Rather grasshopper-like in appearance, each Scourge creature has six legs, a spiky armored exoskeleton, and a set of wings. Scourge creatures can move incredibly quickly, using their powerful back legs to rapidly propel themselves into the air.
Scourge can spit a noxious flaming liquid a remarkable distance when threatened, and an aura that follows the creatures seems to quickly decay any flesh, living or dead, that lies within.
Individual Scourge are very rarely encountered - they are almost always found in swarms of anywhere between a dozen and hundreds of individuals.
Scourge are able to change the color of their exoskeletons, which they use both to aid in camouflage and to dazzle their prey. The creatures only use camouflage when separated from their swarms. When gathered en mass, the Scourge's flickering displays of colors can easily disorientate even humanoids unfortunate enough to be close.
The buzzing and chattering of Scourge swarms can be heard across vast distances, and is usually the first sign of their arrival.
Habitat and ecology
Scourge are only known to live within the Scourgelands. The insects were only discovered in Y6829, not long before they began rapidly spreading over the region.
The creatures live in large underground burrows, some of which can stretch for miles. When the Scourge appeared in Y6829 a number of these burrows were discovered in places where there previously was nothing - seemingly the Scourge was already there, waiting underground for a time to reemerge into the surface world. From the entrances to these tunnels, usually located in grasslands or other areas lacking tree cover, the ground perceptibly shakes from the Scourge's incessant buzzing.
Some suspect the Scourge to be cicada-like, only emerging from below ground on a cycle that takes years to complete.
Scourge are seemingly entirely carnivorous. When they swept over the small colonies of the Scourgelands they left foliage mostly unharmed, yet consumed all people and large animals they came across.
History in the Scourgelands
The first recorded sighting of the Scourge was near the small town of Acridae in Y6629. Reports of the creatures expanded outwards rapidly. Wherever the Scourge was seen, they quickly devoured all they came across. Towns in the region soon dwindled and depopulated - sometimes from not evacuating in time, but more and more frequently out of fear.
After sweeping over the land, the swarms of the Scourge disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Unconfirmed sightings of the creatures have continued in the century and a half since, though seemingly most have re-entered their underground burrows to wait for until some unknown future date.