Ecology: Benevolent Monoclonal Humanoids a.k.a. Soup Ladies

What follows is a bit of a collaborative effort between one group of my players and I. During our osr-ish 5e Vymrrys campaign I've been running for a bit over 3 months now, I began introducing an NPC character(s) the group took to calling "Soup Ladies". In their starting neighborhood of the city, they stumbled upon an mute old woman who runs a soup and bread storefront in a quiet little alleyway. Throughout their first few in-game weeks in the city, they would frequently stop by the Soup Lady's store to purchase a few containers of soup (stored in small wooden flasks corked at the top) for both rations and healing (1d4-1) purposes. 

As it turns out, they've discovered two more Soup Ladies, who look identical. At first they were convinced that it was actually the same old woman who runs multiple stores. I originally had no plans for this throwaway NPC, but the group really latched onto this idea of the Soup Ladies being twins, clones, or something more weird and nefarious. So below I present our combined efforts: the Benevolent Monoclonal Humanoids (aka Soup Ladies). 


-------------------

Benevolent Monoclonal Humanoids (aka Soup Ladies)

Hidden somewhere among the Myrtacean Graves along the coastline North of the Pearlescent City sits a small but dense grove of trees not found elsewhere in the known (or unknown) world. These particular trees exhibit a high degree of canopy shyness, and are easily identifiable by their multi-braided trunks and gracefully drooping branch systems. Despite their seeming litheness and fragility, the trees are immensely strong, and should an adventurer climb one, they will find that even the thinnest branch can more than support their weight. 

The other key identifying feature of this grove of trees are the ovular golden pods that hang from many of the branches. Each pod is roughly 4 feet long and 3 feet wide, with a surface that shimmers brilliantly in the sunlight that filters down through the tree canopy. Like the leaves, the pod's otherwise smooth surface is interrupted by a network of slightly-darker veins that extend down from the pod's connection point with the branch. While each tree would seem to be a distinct organism, the few scholars that have visited the area have shown that they are all connected via a shared root system, making the grove a single, massive monoclonal being. 

What is not known by any scholar is what those shimmering, beautiful golden pods contain: despite several efforts, they can not be disconnected from their trees by force or magic, and all pods that have been found on the ground were split in two and empty when discovered. 

In fact, each pod contains a single clone of what would appear to be an old woman, silent and stoic, awakened when her pod detaches from the tree and falls gently to the forest floor. When the pod splits and the clone emerges, she quickly proceeds into the surrounding myrtle forest and using thousands of years of clonally-transferred knowledge, gathers materials with which she can craft a large urn. Once the urn is complete, the clone taps her tree of origin and fills the urn with its sap. The old woman, stronger than she appears, hoists the urn onto her back and chooses a direction in which to walk. 

When the clone finds an area of civilization she will attempt to set up shop and use the tree sap to make a delicate and delicious soup, each batch of which is identical to the last. It is not known why they do this, or what they do with the money they collect in the process. The soup itself is a gentle golden broth, always the perfect temperature for drinking slowly. When the stock of sap is finally depleted, the clone will make her way back to the grove, where she will burrow into the ground, her body joining with the root system and eventually sprouting a new tree. 

Social Ecology: The Beetlefolk Proletariat of the Flowering Expanse

Far to the Northwest of Vymrrys, as the rolling dunes of the Stone-Crushed Sea level off into an arid and rocky wasteland, a lost traveller might happen upon the Flowering Expanse, and potentially the always aloof brood-clans of the Beetlefolk Proletariat. 

----------

Social Structure

The eusocial Beetlefolk Proletariat makes its home among the flowering giga-cacti that grow out of the cracked and desiccated scrublands, with each individual brood-clan occupying a single cactus. As a cactus grows, so too does the clan - slowly - able to hatch more larvae within the root system under the arid soil. As the larvae grow into adult Beetlefolk, they are given roles within the brood, and though some might seem more important than others to a traveller, all roles within the Proletariat are treated with equal dignity and respect. These roles fall into one of two castes within the brood: the reproductive caste, and the sterile caste. Among the sterile Beetlefolk, roles include defense, foraging, larval care, mercantile, and architecture/construction. The reproductive caste are mainly preoccupied with making sure the intra- and inter-clan economy is running smoothly, that all roles are filled, and that each mature member has a role. 

Each clan (and thus the Proletariat as a whole) maintains a standard ratio of 1:3 reproductive to sterile Beetlefolk, with the reproductive members of the brood living near the heart of the cactus. Political representation is afforded at this ratio as well. Every few years, a meeting of all clan representatives occurs and discusses when the next clan should be formed, and which clans will need to donate reproductive members. All decisions are made based on the best interests of the Proletariat in terms of long-term survivability. 

View from the base of a mature Gigacactus.
A clan of about 600 could live here with room to expand.

Defense

The Proletariat is aloof and fiercely defensive of their borders, and the clans which occupy gigacacti closest to the edge of the Proletariat's territory usually produce the strongest and most capable Defenders. Attempts by other civilizations to obtain nectar from the cactus flowers have made the Proletariat intensely wary of all outsiders, regardless of their intentions. In a typical clan 1/3 of all sterile caste members will be assigned to roles in defense, though in the border clans, this fraction can rise as high as 2/3. Within clan defense units, specialization occurs, as some Beetlefolk will be assigned positions in flower defense, larval and root defense, scouting parties, or warbands (in times of conflict). The clans never fight amongst themselves, though there are occasionally disagreements which need political intervention, and all fighting units are preoccupied with outside threats. 

Traditional Enemies

Longtime enemies of the Proletariat include raiding parties of Arakokra from the mountain range to the North - The Weeping Children - as well as Bullywugs from the Vexatious Chlorine Marshes to the East.