A collective hive-mind, slavs are a powerful and dangerous species. Living in the Scorched Lands, they are extremely deadly, capable of wiping entire settlements from the map if left allowed to roam free. It is unknown what created the mysterious creatures, only that they would happily destroy the world if they could.

Each individual slav is insectile, appearing to be a more or less humanoid ant. What makes them unique is the powerful telepathic field generated by the slav. If two come into contact with each other, their minds sync, forming a singular consciousness with two bodies. The more that come together, the more powerful the collective becomes and the more range that the telepathic field gathers. Though an individual slav drone is only about as intelligent as a dog, when around one hundred of them have joined together, the creature becomes about as intelligent as a human being. Around one thousand have been equated as having the mental and magical power of a single dragon, while higher numbers are said to be among the wisest beings on the continent. Nevertheless, even with such wisdom in their palms, intelligent collectives of slavs rarely display any emotion other than aggression... And in such cases, they possess the skills to do almost anything they set their minds to.


Height:
- 4-5 feet

Characteristics:
- Covered in protective chitin armor.
- Six legs. Two for walking, four more that function primarily for grabbing, though these can double as running legs when needed.
- Powerful pincers capable of penetrating most armor.

Habitat:
- Scorched Lands

Weaknesses:
- As individual units are killed, the collective slav grows progressively weaker, eventually collapsing and falling apart if enough are killed quickly enough.

Threat Level:
- Red

Other notes:
- The name "slav" was actually chosen by a particularly docile collective known as Virgil. Communing with several dragon priests, the collective chose the name as a play on the word "slave," as its individual units are often seen as slaves to a higher mind instead as part of a collective.
- Unlike other hive-minded creatures, there are no slav "queens," or single units that controls larger collectives.
- Truly sentient slav collectives can communicate with humanity (or other races) only through telepathy. As insects, they lack vocal cords to speak, and as their sentient population is ever-changing and fluctuating, no written language has ever been developed.
- Thus far, all attempts to integrate other species into a slav collective have failed miserably. Typically, one or both parties will go insane or die, though other attempts have simply not worked.