Kmiros

Kmiros are giant scarab-like beetles native to the arid deserts of Shurima, where they range across the dunes in great carnivorous swarms. A single kmiros stands about the size of a dog, sheathed in a carapace so tough that a dagger cannot pierce it, armed with snapping jaws and clicking pincers, and set on hairy legs. When pressed, they spread glittering wings and take to the air, rising together like a unified black cloud before falling upon their prey. They hunt in packs and rely on sheer numbers. A swarm can run to hundreds of beetles that charge without pause, and where one falls another takes its place, so arrows and blades barely thin them. Fire is among the few things that stops them: struck with flame, a kmiros bursts and burns in a reek of scorched chitin. Their appetite is simple hunger rather than malice, and they will bring down prey far larger than themselves, as when a swarm of pack-hunting kmiros was seen dragging down a wounded skallashi, one of the desert's gentle giants. In Shuriman memory the kmiros are bound to Rammus, the Armordillo. When a family of traders was run down on the dunes, a swarm of hundreds of kmiros overwhelmed their caravan, tearing through the roof and driving the family into the open. Rammus burst from a rushing wall of sand and smashed through the beetles, crushing them to pulp until not one remained, then lingered to feed on the dead before rolling back over the horizon.