Anteater
From the writings of Queen Antennette and her royal scholars
An anteater is a cruel and vile beast, known foremost for its ability to decimate unsuspecting kingdoms in a matter of hours. The average anteater stands hundreds of drones above the tallest blade of grass in the fields, and wields sharp blades upon its front limbs in order to breach even the most expertly constructed of kingdom walls. Perhaps most deadly of all its foul features is the long, sticky appendage it can summon from its face, which it uses to ensnare hundreds of innocent drones into its ravenous jaws.
Origins
The origins of the anteater are not fully understood. Some scholars claim it to be a chimera from the Hexantion Era, arguing its claws are a warped version of an ant's mandibles, and its frontal appendage is an earthworm of some kind. Others believe it to be apart of the Ancient Ant Bestiary, an incomplete collection of clay tablets from the dawn of civilantzation detailing several grand beasts that once terrorized antkind, though there has yet to be a description that is an exact match for the anteater.
There exist fringe claims with the chimera theory in mind that state that anteaters were created by royal mages during the Hexantion Era to wage warfare on weaker kingdoms, but this claim is unfounded: even the most powerful of ant mages could not hope to create beings of that size with such a penchant for destruction.
Defense Protocol
While it is nigh impossible to completely avoid a hungry anteater once it has its beady eyes set on your kingdom, there exists several strategies to minimize the destruction it causes in its wake, the most popular of which being the ANT protocol:
- Assess - Read the situation in full before inciting panic in the kingdom
- No Mercy - Swarm the anteater before it reaches the kingdom in order to slow its arrival
- Take Off - Move the larvae, the food stores, and the Queen to the deepest, safest parts of the kingdom
Though not without its unavoidable casualties, the ANT protocol has proven the most effective in terms of preserving the kingdom overall.