Cinderbee

For the Cinderbrew Meadery NPCs, see Cinderbee (Cinderbrew Meadery).

Cinderbees (or fire bees)^[1]^[2]^[3] are bee-like elementals^[4] that live in the Cinderwold on the Isle of Dorn.

The earthen on the isle harvest their fire honey (a source of elemental fire, organic and untainted)^[5] to make cinderbrew. Stunning yet perilous creatures, their tempers are as hot as their flames.^[6]^[4] When their numbers surge, honey production halts, triggering extreme aggression instead. It is then necessary to cull their population to calm them down and guide them back to their honey-making duties.^[7] Their pollen is highly explosive.^[8]

The Arathi have an Undersea "Cookie" recipe that utilizes cinderbee honey.^[9] Cinderbees also produce fire beeswax which Janky asked adventurers to collect to make new candles from.^[10]

History

The Cinderwold

Originally discovered in subterranean magma channels beneath the quadrant east of Dornogal, cinderbees are among the most temperamental elementals in Khaz Algar. During the earthen's early survey operations in the eastern quadrant of the Isle of Dorn, their excavators accidentally discovered a connecting passage between an underground magma lake and the cinderbees' tunnel system. The fiery creatures were violent and territorial, resulting in the earthen's immediate departure from the area. It was decided that until the magma chambers in that sector were required for future projects, the eastern quadrant would be off-limits to further construction.

Due to their enclosed habitat and the proximity the earthen put between their work sites and their territory, cinderbees remained largely unstudied. Although they were rarely seen on the surface, tremorstone surveys indicated that the tunnel systems they inhabited spanned for miles under the surface. Earthen workers excavating belowground were alerted to approach magma lakes with extreme caution. As new flora continued to bloom across the isle, the cinderbees quadrant (which the earthen had started referring to as the Cindercreg) remained far too inhospitable for plant life.

Eventually, the earthen started a new project to try and make use of the Cindercreg's magma vents. Thermalseer Wenbrandt and Overseer Kriegval had shared their plans for a new thermal-powered refinery terminal, complete with a built-in transit system to deliver materials from dig sites outside Khaz Algar into the city. Their plan was to build overtop the Cindercreg and tap into the magma vents through imbedded thermal towers but the region had to be cooled in order to begin initial operations. Geomender Harmot raised concerns about the suggestions to flood and destroy the cinderbees' subterranean hives, hoping to find a way to coexist with the cinderbees instead. Some of the thermalmancers too had expressed an interest in finding ways to utilize the cinderbees for energy rather than destroy them.

After much deliberation, Stonebound volunteers and the thermalmancers assigned to the Cindercreg managed to successfully transplant several ironwood trees into the region. Their heat-conductive nature (as discovered by Harmot) and the restructuring of the nearby streams led to a rapid drop in temperature for the surface substrate. Wenbrandt ordered a full project halt on the thermal tower until they could further observe the effects these trees would have on the Cindergreg.

The experiment proved fruitful; the Cindercreg was transformed into a mighty forest, referred to as the Cinderwold from then on. This allowed the cinderbees to thrive and rise to the surface. Wenbrandt would eventually discover how to make cinderbrew using fire honey harvested by the cinderbees and the refinery he had planned to build would instead become the Cinderbrew Meadery.^[4]