(approved by Terek)
Name: Ziima
Age: 120 years
Race: Bumblebee Fairy
Sex: Female
Hair: Red
Eyes: Black
Weight: 1 lb (71 lbs in large form)
Height: 8 inches (4’7” in large form)
Weapons: Thin metallic needles dipped in venom; she keeps them in a quiver between her wings. Bumblebee rapier, it’s her sting when in bumblebee form. She can’t loose it, as it is a part of her.
Armor: Spider web armor, very light but stronger than steel. Boots made from the skins of caterpillars, very strong material.
Strengths: Tiny and speedy, Ziima often can avoid her opponents attacks. She can affect her size and adapt for battle. She’s not discouraged of fighting those larger than her, face it, most fighters are larger than a bumblebee.
Weakness: Her size is also a great disadvantage. She can easily be pushed around the battlefield and a well-aimed attack will stun her. Strong wind gusts are her greatest opponent in life.
Skills/Magic: Ziima knows how to shift in and out from bumblebee form. While being a bumblebee, Ziima is slowed down slightly. On the other hand, she’s even smaller and it takes a skilled sniper to be able to hit her.
She also holds the amazing power to buzz!
Her buzzing can be everything from a soothing humming that lulls her opponent into a sleeplike trance, to a shrill shriek that cuts into her opponents minds, leaving them with a great head ache.
If Ziima faces too much struggle for her tiny body to handle, she can grow in size. For her race, she becomes a giant. For everyone else…well, she’s still small. Her strength grows a little along with her body size, but she looses the ability to buzz. Her weapons and armor grows along with her.
Personality: Ziima knows she’s tiny, and she doesn’t mind it one bit. She protects her space with surprising force. If someone ignores her, she often answers with an angry buzz and tries to pick a fight. Her greatest fear is to be ignored or forgotten. Being a bumblebee fairy, she has a strong bond with her hive and fellow bumblebees. The fact that she’s all alone is always nagging in the back of her head and she fall victim for depression from time to time.
Appearance: Here’s Ziima
Bio: Ziima first memories are from the hive. It was built inside a large oak, and through the years it came to fill the whole tree, from the crown down to the roots. It didn’t show on the surface, of course. Inside the tree, great well lit halls and cozy rooms for all the fairies. Outside, a small hive to fool the giants.
In the hive she was born and there her life took shape. She, along with all the other young fairies, practiced using the traditional bumblebee weapons, needles and sting/rapier. She became a good fighter, but not good enough to stand out in a crowd. During buzzing classes, she often dozed off and so she never came to be skilled at that either. The only thing she was really good at was flying away from work, as soon as it showed.
When she was around her 50th year, her first growth occurred. She was out on the fields, dozing lazily on a flower, keeping a look out for her seniors. Getting caught would mean work, and the day was much too beautiful for any kind of activity. The young fairy gazed into the sky, finding fluffy bunnies and fire spitting dragons hidden in every cloud.
The next thing she knew, she was sitting in the high grass. She looked up to see what happened to her flower, only to discover there’s nothing but blue sky above her. Looking around, the fairy realized how small everything was. The flower she had been resting on just a few seconds ago was now crushed under her body. She picked it up and studies the crooked petals. No ordinary Bumblebee Fairy could’ve done such a thing. Something very odd was going on.
Wondering what had happened, Ziima took to the air. It was harder for her to fly now, even though her wings grew with her, they didn’t seem to be used to carry the extra weight. Ziima needed a running start ending in a jump before finally gaining air.
When she reached the oak, Ziima was in for another shock. The guards gave her one quick glance and hurriedly turned into bumblebees. With faint popping sounds, her whole tribe turned into insects. They treated her like an outsider, like a giant. No one spoke to her; all she received was angry buzzing. She tried to buzz in respond, only to find she couldn’t. Tears began to fill the girl’s eyes and soon she was crying rivers.
A week passed without Ziima moving far from the hive. Her new giant size scared her friends and prevented them from leaving their home. Still feeling love and responsibility towards the hive, Ziima took long walks everyday, so as to let the bumblebees out for a while. She always returned though, hoping that being close to the hive would cure her.
One week after her change, dark clouds began to gather across the sky. Rain came pouring down and the fairies took cover in the hive. Only Ziima was left behind, out in the cold rain. Then the wind came. Strong gusts tore in her clothes, pressing them against her already wet skin. She was shivering from the cold, squatting next to the large oak. When she rested her head on the trunk, she could hear something from deep within the tree. Her hive had gathered in the great halls, and now they were singing out a tribute to the rain. Though she was on her own, Ziima joined in. She was disgusted in hearing how deep her voice was compared to the bumblebees but there was an eerie comfort in singing. And as she sung, she could feel her body shrink.
Soon she was back in her normal size, standing at the roots of her hive. The fairies had carved out gates at the bottom of the oak, for letting injured ones in, and Ziima was very grateful for it, as she now could enter her home.
The hallways of the hive were empty; everyone was in the greater halls, high up in the tree. Ziima stood at the bottom floor, her clothes dripping from the rain outside, and just enjoyed being home. The walls were covered with spider web armors and on pegs hanged quivers with poison needles.
For some unknown reason, Ziima took down one of the armors. It only took her a few seconds to slip out of her soaked dress and into the armor. She had to force herself to put on her clothes though. After some thought, she also took down one well filled quiver and strapped it to her back.
She was on her way to fly up to greet her tribe, when a bright light, shining stronger than a thousand suns, appeared before her. It threw her into the wall with awesome force. She sank to the floor, trying to breathe, when the most beautiful voice she had ever heard spoke to her.
Fairy, your destiny has yet to come. Leave now and find the truth to your existence.
It was impossible for Ziima to do anything but obey. She didn’t know why, she couldn’t control it, but she felt her body rise from the floor, turn and leave the hive.
She’s been on the run ever since then, searching for “the truth”. Every time she tries to return to the hive, something comes in her way. By time she learned how to control her growth, and her skill with rapier and needles grew as well.
Notes: Bumblebee Fairies are an ignored race, mainly because very few know they exist (makes sense, neh?). All bumblebees in this world and others are in fact fairies. They just chose not to show it. A bumblebee fairy is a small, loving creature. Their lives are so much longer than one would think; it’s common for them to reach ages above 300 years. As soon as you turn your back on a bumblebee hive, they return to their true self. The hives are only a cover up.
Bumblebee Fairies worship the season and weather gods. Everything from the beating summer sun to the howling snowstorms in winter is holy to the fairies. Each fairy is born under one of the gods and that affects their whole lives. Spring fairies are often whimsical and random, summer fairies tend to be lazy, with great hearts and a tendency to escape work. Bumblebees born in fall act almost like the spring fairies, a little more serious perhaps. The winter born fairies have a cool way to look at things, cold as the snow.
If a fairy is born between seasons, no one knows what kind of personality it will get. Ziima happens to be born right in the middle of summer and fall.