Messenger Bee

Messenger bees exhibit a unique behavior characterized by their ability to communicate through a series of short and long vibrations, effectively conveying coded messages using a form of Morse code.   Unlike typical honey bees, which lack the ability to vibrate their bodies, messenger bees have been genetically engineered by integrating traits from bumblebees, granting them this unique ability. Consequently, messenger bees tend to be slightly larger than their honey counterparts. Additionally, this hybridization results in reduced honey production compared to traditional honey bees.   Though not entirely solitary like some wild bee species, messenger bees exhibit remnants of social behavior reminiscent of honey bees, particularly in their performance of the waggle dance.^[2] However, the bee dance does not relate to identifying the direction or distance from where the message was sent but instead has been observed to lead to recently visited flowers.   This limitation poses challenges for the Dragonguard, as they have found it difficult to train the messenger bees to modify their waggle dance to include directionality for the origin of the messages they relay. As a result, any coded message must include additional information, such as the sender's identity or location specifics. Due to a bee's limited memory, certain elements of the encoded message use shorthand signals standardized by the Dragonguard, called prosigns.^[4]