Tessiel Desert Worker, Beetle

One of a series of utilitiarian 'castes', this 'small' worker includes both bioluminescence for soft ambient lighting and and a bio-photovoltaic 'sail' that can be made to go opaque and act to screen or dampen bright light when deployed near an overhead light source other than themselves.

Though unable to fly, they are highly mobile with micro-hair grippers in addition to their claws, and can fold both sail and compress their overall carapace to fit through some pretty snug openings.

Their head-blade can be used as a cutting blade while still alive, though these particular workers prefer their nandibles.

Dead, the carapace can be hollowed out, cleaned, enamelled and lacework added to make an effective set of bracers. Their headblades make for excellent cutting and augering tools and have a high enough metal content to be forge-welded to a proper handle if need be.

Though of very poor intelligence, they respond well to verbal or pheromonal training, and, while young, are loyal to the death to their owner or hive-master.

Most encountered in a typical nest or hive will be between six and ten inches long with a similar sail height, but these workers never stop growing and molting, roughly half an inch in length a year. Once they start to reach the size of a large pack animal, develop the rudiments of intelligence, as well as the ability to 'command' others of their kind.

While most of this particular kind of worker were exterminated during the Ancient Wars, new nests are occasionally found in the desert, and the Tribals sometimes trade in both their carapaces and live, if small, specimens. They eat little, and require very little water. Starving them doesn't affect them that adversely, as they are able to discard extremities and 'hibernate' their vital organs in suspeded animation within the armor of their shell. Adding a few drops of water revives the beetle, and if necessary, it will regrow the lost bodyparts over the course of 6-24 hours depending on the size of the beetle.

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Quickie sketch toward the end of the day.
WYSIWYG - what you see is the scale and resolution worked on, all with wacom and pshop, merely flattened, and jpeg'd - starting to toy with the idea of not having to bring the sketchbook & art materials to work every day.