Hi, Does anyone have any ideas about how big larvae are?
They're listed as being medium which I guess means about the same size as a human.
This is all well and good but they're also used as spell components, foci and food and being human size could make these kind of tricky (I know I struggle to get through 1kg of steak let alone the 60-70 of an average human).
What size do you guys treat them as to allow for these uses?
I was thinking that it might be viable to cut pieces (possibly buds?) from a live larvae? I know that this doesn't quite have the same flair as using the whole soul but the torture caused to the creature and the idea of slowly degrading the embodiment of a soul seems evil enough to counter this if people want to keep the size medium.
Larvae Size
Not to say that the mouth of the gourmet enjoying the larva's taste may be larger than medium size.
And, of course, you're assuming that the entities in question eat in the same way as you or I. I imagine the process being a little less pleasant and a little more disturbing to watch ... imagine a Glabrezu slurping up some unfortunate soul through the abysmal equivelent of a curly-straw.
I'm sorry, I don't care what horrifying depth of the Abyss a curly-straw comes from, it will never be terrifying.
As for larvae size, I can imagine them being cut up and used piecemeal while still alive, but I always imagined them as being small, about three feet in length, while whole. That's just my vision of it, though, and probably not in agreement with the description. I need to pay more attention. 
I don't know, can you imagine being sucked messily through a curly-straw? Humors and organs being pulled through that little bit of tubing while your body caves inward - it would be like having yourself sucked clean with a vacuum wand - and because you can't die you get to watch it all slurp through the twisting course of pastel plasticwork; catching and clotting and breaking free ...
Or, they could pull them apart handful by handful, as one does to cotton candy - long, stringy bits of larva sticking to their fingers and melting on their lips until they playfully lick it clean. (or have a quasit fly by and lick it clean for them)
Maybe larva are the "sticky buns" of the abysmal world ...
Have fun with it man!
(Though, I agree, I tend to imagine larva as about the size of a dog - 1/2 the size of a man)
Wasn't there a Dr villain recently used a curly straw to suck out people's blood?
I can see it now, a pit fiend walking up to a larvae, pulling out out a small metal case, slowly opening it and... "Don't worry, I've got my little straw."
In Planescape: Torment the larvae were around 6 foot tall not including their "tail".
-420
Yeah, but a pack of 6 Torment Larvae were also a pretty solid threat to a party of 14th ish level Planewalkers. I've always pictured the Larva as being Small in size, maybe the size of a doberman without the legs.
Incidentally, there's an illustration of a Night Hag selling Larvae to a Glabrezu near the beginning of 'Fires of Dis' and they look slightly smaller than the gnome standing nearby. But then again, that's just one artist's conception I suppose.
-420
There's a handful of illustrations of Larvae scattered throughout the 2e Planescape books. DiTerlizzi seemed to draw them between 4 and 5 feet long, by my (off-the-cuff) reckoning; that would correspond their being "Medium" size still, no?
Look what I found:
-420
Yup, that's the picture from Fires of Dis
I think larva´s size should wary proportionaly by evil of soul that is turned into larva. So for exeptionaly evil mortals should be L size larva or larger in their afterlife, and those would be wanted by all sorts of fiends.
Her are some info from Planar Book of Records about largest larva size: in dragon magazine (ecology of hag) they mention hag goddess Cegilune, and her harbringer: larva of gargantuan size (they used 20HD fiendish purple worm stats for it).
Which Dragon magazine is that? I thought I read all of the Ecology of the Hags and I don't remember that bit about the giant white squishy harbringer of woman scorned.
Iavas wrote:
Sorry I didn´t mention it in my previous post, it was writen from memory(witch is rather dusty). I will corect it now: It is Dragon #345, (it is gigants issue featuring demon lord of wrath, Kostcaiche), and there is ecology of Annis hag article. There are Cegilune and her larva harbringer mentioned in a rather small green sidebar.
It is amazing what you think of when boredom sinks in at job,so here is my new insne idea: If was wondering has anyone read "Tales from Infinite Staircase" module (spoiler alert!!!), there they mention Nuperibo that Kytons have held in prison for centuries and it evolved in some new/old form of fiend (Nuperibos are actualy petitoners of some ancient Baatorian powers wich Baatezu have "adopted").
So my idea is: maybe larvae also (if left undisturbed) follow their infernal life cycle: larva-puppae-metamorphosis-something else (hellish butterfly, moth, fly, dragonfly or even something compleatly different?).
I know this is bit off topic but it is interesting idea
(Sorry, but I have to stop now, is time for my medicine). Nyar!
Cool idea, larva becomes hellish cocoon, then something else emerges with a moth like wings with screaming skull dots on the wings.
May be a cool drawering, I might draw something for a change.
I thought larvae if left alone became hordelings...
I'm with KoboldAvenger on this one... larvae either become hordelings (and possibly night hags, if powerful enough), are intentionally turned into Baatezu by the same, or either intentionally or not into Tanar'ri, depending on the plane where they spend the most time and their own original alignment.
The planes being infinite, though.....
What if larva comes on a Material Plane and makse a cocoon. Options are limitless.
... invariably a group of human kids would come by and poke it with a stick until dead or stick it in a jar and forget about it until it asphyxiates.
Iavas wrote:
LOL! Good one!
Anyways, I still think that larva could eventualy mature into somethig else (besides hordlings), also I belve that they would mature into some forms of fiends without aid of Baatezu or Tanar´ri.
(Mental note: Maybe I should draw series of insectlike hordlings).
That methamorposis would depend on their planar enviroment: on Baator they would mature into Kokarachons, on Abyss they would mature into Chasme. (this is just harmless couch philosophy).
Since we talk about buglike fiends here are some interesting questions: hawe there been any locustus like fiends, and have they made Belzebub (aka Lord of Flies) into Archdevil or demon lord? Have they made him at all? He would be perfect patron demon of chasme.
Interesting, although for me it would seem just as likely for larvae to metamorphose into any sort of demon (chaos being chaos) or the lowest of the devils (law being law) as any particularly insectoid form. Hordelings, of course, are a given, and they can take any variety of shapes (which always bothered me as being more chaotic than the blasted tanar'ri).
As for Baalzebul, he was originally an archon, Triel, that fell from grace. He originally, or at least post-fall, appeared as a tall dark humanoid with the compound eyes of a fly (ergo the pun-like appelation Lord of Flies/Lord of Lies). After the Reckoning of Hell, he was cursed by Asmodeus with a horrid sluglike form that continually creates grime, a torture for its obsessive perfectionist owner. So, with his originally holy origins, any link with insect-like larvae is probably coincidental.
Larvae are just a special form of petitioner (a template in 3E) that have no planar commitment. I don't think petitioners can change their status without some kind of outside influence.
However, the petitioners of the Beastlands become animals over time (Planar Handbook pg. 16) so there is a precedent for petitioners being changed by the very plane they reside on.
-420
@ Iavas:
Shame on me, I even have "Tyrants of Nine Hells" book back at home, and I forgot about Baalzebul. :oops:
Thanks for reminding me.
Heh, that means that space for demon lord of Chasme is open.
Here is explanation for my larvae metamorphsis idea: they look are so like standrd insect larvae (even if they are souls of evil people), so it came to me; all larvae pass metamorphosis into somethig else, and it just seemd logical (at moment) they would change into some insect-like fiend form.
@ 420:
Ok, I was not clear on that one:
I just thought that lawful or chaotic plane would influence (not trigger) their natural metamorphosis into fiends (hoardlings), like heat of nest determines the sex of crocodile hactlings. So Baator would influence methamorposis into Baatezu, as would Abyss into Tanar'ri.
420, you are right that they are a form of petitioner, however in original Planescape petitioners often changed over time. The form they changed into depended on their alignment (and thus plane of rest) or chosen deity. Thus, a human worshipper of Garl Glittergold would become a gnome petitioner, a worshipper of Set would become a scorpion or other desert beastie, and a basher in the Beastlands would gain beastlike traits. An evil soul that is not claimed by a deity has a very high chance of being bargained or stolen by the devils and demons, respectively, before death and would thus become a lemure or mane. One that appeared in Baator and, by some chance of luck, not almost immediatley found by the Baatezu would appear either as a larvae or as a Nupperibo. One that appeared in the Abyss and somehow survived would have an equal chance of becoming a mane, going straight to Balor, or remaining a larvae indefinitely... it's just too chaotic too tell. Those that end up in Hades remain larvae for much longer periods of time, herded by the Night Hags, but the strongest of these become Hordelings. Oddly enough, those that end up on the other evil planes, even those inbetween, (Gehenna, Carceri, Pandemonium etc.) and are not in a deity's realm retain their natural forms, albeit twisted by the laws of the planes. With no inherent exemplars to evolve into, they remain, at least physically, unchanged.
A cow is large sized.
I'd still treat a larva the same way - as a medium critter. And when you eat it you get a steak - not like a giant grub all to yourself. (Which does the whole torturing to good effect too come to think of it.)