The Dark Hive (Circe’s Mantises)

The mantis hunter clan everyone on the sixth floor fears: Circe Took’s warrior daughters. Eight mantises remain: seven warriors (including Vrah) plus one male who stays in Zockau trading; all the warriors are Circe’s daughters and all Dark Hive (distinct from the Burrower clan). Brilliant tacticians, they swoop from above to poach other hunters’ kills, and since Vrah once legally killed a rival hunter in the Hunting Grounds, nearly everyone defers to them. Carl crowdsources their weaknesses at CrawlCon: poison hits them 3× fast (but they carry antidote rings), loud sounds drive them off, and their unarmored necks are the target: you need a five-second, uncurable poison on a blade.

Book 5 appearances

• Chapter 33 — CrawlCon panel reveals the roster: eight mantises total, seven warriors (including Vrah) plus one male who stays in Zockau trading; the warriors are all Circe Took’s daughters and all Dark Hive.
• Chapter 34 — Carl crowdsources the mantises’ weaknesses at CrawlCon: necks, loud noise, fast poison.
• Chapter 38 — Revealed as a private corporation funded by an intergalactic amusement park (a twisted Disney family), not the mantis government. It sells its looted gear exclusively to the Burrower royals, via merchants like Edict.

Related entries

• Vrah (Character)
• Circe Took (Character)
• Hunter Xindy (Character)
• The Hunters (Character)
• The Nebular Sin Patrol (the Nebs) (Character)
• The Burrowers (Character)
• Edict (Character)

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