#leafbugs

[petitprincess1]

Trick or treat?

Leafbugs

[wundrbagel]

When you fall in love with a cluster of bugs so now you have to kiss every single one of them.

[leucotomi]

Leafbug

[trickingbell]

Day 3: Panels and Workshops

"This schedule is so packed it's like every Sissel has her own damn event.." They're deciding on what they'll do first. Then after that. And after that. And after that....oh boy. @samthecookielord I hope you don't mind me totally hijacking your Sissel...

[katartna]

Working on some bug NPC + generic designs for my Patreon! Their icons will be up soon🐝🍃🪰

[jazmatazzzzzz]

Goodnight ☽ ༄ ˖ 𖣠 ࣪˖ ✧*･ﾟ☆

[mantisgodsdomain]

Hello we are still alive despite it all. We have spent time on Bug Geopolitics. Eventually we'll release them but for now we just want you to know that currently in notes we have phrases like "The Age of Deception, also known as That One Time The Wasps, Roaches, And Termites Competed To Invent The Most Creative War Crime" and "everyone assumes that the leafbugs are a wasp scheme. the leafbugs would be personally offended by this if they spoke bugnish but it would take several more years before this would be translated to them" and also of course "no one wants to try and take the swamp because it sucks and the people already living there probably hate you"

[not-your-lifeline]

me and my little Leafbug Laurel :)

[jellycreature]

a collection of nervous creatures

[nonsensical-shitposting]

The Isopteran System

This is probably the least necessary worldbuilding aspect I did for the Team Snakereverse AU, but I had fun with it, and more importantly, I need no excuse to do some overcomplicated worldbuilding. (Just gotta hope other people are similarly enthusiastic there...) Anyway, since the Termite Kingdom dominates Bugaria in the Team Snakereverse AU, it’s a cultural hegemon and as such has been able to impose a political compass equivalent based on termite anatomy, which is known as the “isopteran system.” Asides from the obvious complaints of isopteran terminology being termite-centric and promoting imperialism, I designed the isopteran system to be flawed and limited on purpose (as well as strange and self-contradictory from a human perspective), and it will be properly analyzed and criticized in-universe once I get to writing for the AU.

That in mind, the ideological taxonomy of the isopteran system is under the cut to avoid taking up too much dash space:

ABDOMINAL: Vaguely defined by the Podomerintern, abdominalism is said to be based on isolationism, self-sufficiency, promotion of high birthrates, and traditionalism, as well as opposition to a nomadic lifestyle. There are no known current abdominalist states; most suspect the term was only invented so the termites would have something to label their pre-podomeralist society as. Some political scientists in the Ant Kingdom have suggested the combination of the abdominalist and thoracicist categories into a single catch-all called “peltolialism” for simplicity’s sake. Termites don’t care.

ANTENNAL: Stereotyped as the favored ideology of paranoid bugs and obnoxious know-it-alls, antennalism places a high priority on gathering as much information as possible to ensure governments can make as informed a decision as possible on any given issue. As such, antennalist governments prioritize education, promote the most intelligent bugs to positions of authority as soon as they’re located and their qualifications are verified (which leads to a lot of inexperienced, stressed-out public officials), and are seen as inevitably developing convoluted bureaucracies paralyzed by their requirements to cross-reference as much applicable information as they can before making the slightest policy change, which causes antennalists to lean towards de facto traditionalism by way of inaction. On the plus side, past antennalist societies are credited with bringing about many scientific advancements, singlehandedly advancing Bugarian cartography by centuries in the span of years, and leaving behind some of the most detailed historical records in existence. Additionally, despite their focus on gathering information, antennalists generally oppose surveillance states, leaving the Podomerintern leaning slightly negative on antennalist ideology but not working to actively suppress it, seeing it as preferable to some of the alternatives that exist. Around a decade ago, a monarch butterfly by the name of Danaus proposed a “reformed” version of antennalism which deemphasized the knowledge-gathering aspect and promoted a nomadic lifestyle in the name of avoiding wringing any one region dry of its natural resources, with the aftermath of his death leading to an ideological schism between Danaus’s “wanderer” antennalism and the preexisting “unaltered” antennalism. Some Podomerintern political scientists are now calling for a reexamination of how the isopteran system classifies antennalist ideology in light of the ongoing Danausic split, wanting to define the former as “left-antennalism” and the latter as “right-antennalism.” This remains fiercely debated.

CEPHALIC: Where antennalism is the ideology of technocrats and bureaucrats, cephalicism is seen as the ideology of the thoughtful, the wise, and the well-read. Cephalic thought resembles antennalism at a glance, but is far more relaxed on the information-gathering front and prefers to focus on vigilance so future problems can be predicted and averted before they even happen, which has in turn led to cephalicism being associated with mysticism, prophets, and the like. A more significant difference from antennalism is that, rather than the de facto traditionalism antennalists usually fall into for lack of another option, cephalicists call for willingness to “go with the flow” when unforeseen events happen and evolve as drastically as needed in response rather than scrambling to maintain a preexisting system simply because it’s the way things have always been done. For this reason, the Podomerintern is formally opposed to cephalicism, and the Termite Capitol has restrictions against promoting cephalic ideology in public places and will frequently blacklist known cephalicists from employment and home ownership. The Wasp Kingdom’s unique governing diarchy under which power is equally shared between General Fuff (in the role of military leader) and Vanessa II (in the role of spiritual leader) is classified as a hybrid cephalic-mandibular state by the Podomerintern, with its “cephalicist” elements being one of the foremost causes of the ongoing termite-wasp hostilities.

MANDIBULAR: Colloquially called horizontalism in some circles, mandibularism is one of the less complex isopteran categories, simply based around high militarization and high domestic agricultural production. The aim of mandibular governance is to create an entirely self-sufficient state in terms of both food and defense, though despite the militaristic aspect mandibularist governments tend to lean de facto pacifist- they’re very much “leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone” types. Mandibularism is also associated with single-floor buildings with flat roofs, leading some uneducated termites to incorrectly call this architectural style “mandibularism” as well. The Podomerintern officially classifies the Northern Kingdom and Eastern Kingdom as having mandibular governments (a label both reject) and hypocritically deems the Metal Island Mercenaries a “stateless neo-mandibular society with podomeral characteristics”; anti-Podomerintern bugs mutter that this label was created solely so the Podomerintern could hire Astotheles’ mercenaries to reinforce termite troops when “needed” while seeming ideologically consistent at home.

PODOMERAL: The ruling ideology of the Termite Kingdom, the Podomerintern, and by extension much of Bugaria. As an inherently termite-centric ideology, podomeralist thought is based on slow modernization and cultural progress through a “sufficiently advanced” outside source imposing societal and international stratification that are both gradually reduced to a total lack of categories as sufficient movement towards the termite example is accomplished. Upon the spreading of the Termite Kingdom’s “shining city under a hill” example to all known nations, so podomeralists say, a true utopia will be achieved... with the Termite Kingdom leading it as a reward for its decades of “compassionate guidance,” of course. The Podomerintern formally places all known nations into one of five categories: a nation that has met all podomeralist ideals is known as Tarsal, nations deemed close enough to becoming Tarsal to no longer “require” a termite presence on their territory are known as Tibial, nations deemed in need of continuing “guidance and protection” but sufficiently advanced to be allowed domestic autonomy are known as Femoral, nations deemed in need of significant technological and cultural “advancement” before they can be considered equals of the Termite Kingdom are known as Trochantral, and “primitive” societies lacking a unified government and thus “needing” direct termite intervention on every level are known as Coxal. Podomeralism is also associated with militarism, interventionism, Termite exceptionalism, and mass surveillance, as well as the form of secular messianism the termite monarchy is treated with. As Podomerintern member states, the Termite, Ant, and Bee Kingdoms all officially follow podomeralism, as does the Termite-run Leafbug Protectorate, and the Metal Island Mercenaries are also a reluctant Podomerintern member as a “stateless observer society.” The Podomerintern classifies the Termite Kingdom as Tarsal, the Ant Kingdom and MIM as Tibial, the Bee Kingdom as Femoral, and the Leafbug Protectorate as Coxal. Out of spite at the Wasp Kingdom’s continued opposition to the Podomerintern, it is labelled as Trochantral despite being on even ground with the termites technologically (and even exceeding them in military tech), as are the Golden Settlement city-state and the Northern and Eastern Kingdoms.

THORACIC: Thoracicism is the vaguest ideology defined under the isopteran system and has been criticized as the Podomerintern’s “none of the above” category which it lumps all governments that don’t fit into any of the other categories under. The Podomerintern defines thoracic governments as decentralized, promoting mobility in terms of society, class, and location alike, and claims it is frequently hybridized with cephalicism; however, only the Golden Settlement is classified as having a hybrid thoracicist-cephalicist government by the Podomerintern, and even then it acknowledges that it has “mandibular characteristics.” Thoracicism is notably not opposed by the Termite Kingdom as cephalicism is, though critics have accused the Podomerintern of covertly promoting thoracicism as a watered-down alternative to cephalicism to ensure opposition to podomeralism remains divided and distracted by infighting. In light of the Podomerintern International Council’s decision to classify the Usurper Militia led by the mimicfly Servitor Hoaxe as “seeking to establish a thoracicist state,” however, tolerance of thoracic ideology may be short-lived.

[phylliumsiccifolium]

Phascinating Phasmids Sticker Sheet // Etsy

£6.47//US$8.14

Physical item / Stickers

[wundrbagel]

There's sno-place like your homies.

If Bugaria were to ever experience some sort of winter, then Dust would come prepared with a snuggly sweater! Frax would even have a coat made from a madesphy's fur.

The bugs gotta stay toasty!

[lepidxpterxphxbia]

I should've named myself mantidfly / mantid they're SO gender but I'm already attached to Cicada. I will always be Cicada for better or worse

[rup221]

Creatures

[flame-shadow]

leafbug dance time! reed and magnolia ✨🍃

[ reed belongs to my friend, psycho ]

[ratcandy]

stares. I will find this bug. But also .for the record I will also accept cicadas. Or planthoppers. Or leaf footed bugs. Or whatever. I just need evidence of hemipterans (outside of the aphids and scale bugs) and I figure if anything it’d be an assassin/stink bug in the game .. Belostoss (the enemy) I am aware of. But I need. More

☝️question. Do we see any assassin bugs/stink bugs in Bug Fables. As “lesser” bugs or NPCs either works