Chapter 0 - Explainer

This is an explainer for the genre of Insectoids, or 蟲族／虫族 in Chinese, literally meaning ‘Insect Culture’ or ‘Insect Species.’ No, it’s not what you think, because I’ve seen many MTL translate these as Zerg, but honestly, no. They are extremely different from the Zerg physiologically and socially.

The genre is said to be first started by a Chinese author 风享云知道 on jjwxc. It bears similarities to the Omegaverse settings, but differ in quite a lot of respects. If people show enough interest in this novel, I’ll try to translate one novel that delves quite deeply into the culture and society of insectoids, but I digress.

This type of novel revolves around a sentient species with insect features. In general, there are either two or three sexes. Male insectoids (雄子, which I simply call males), ‘female’ insectoids (雌子, which I simply call shemales, for reasons that will be explained below) and demi-female insectoids (亞雌, which I call demis if it comes up in a novel). Originally, this genre was quickly used to its full potential as a sub-genre in erotic adult novels, especially ones featuring wanton BDSM practises, but recently, more serious and less inappropriate novels using this genre have also emerged. This is one such more lighthearted, non-R21+ novel.

The protagonists are often transmigrated males, or males born native to this species.

In terms of settings, the insectoid species is generally said to evolve from more primitive insects, gaining sentience along the way, while possibly keeping some biological features and most definitely keeping the demographic distribution. Socially, they are often like an ant or bee colony that has entered a post-queen period. The two or three sexes that make up this society are described below.

• Males, coming from the males in a colony, whose sole function was procreation with the queen, are the most like humans found on Earth. While sharing basically every feature with male humans, they may also possess extra features like having antennae or having wings that may or may not be capable of flight and may or may not be colourful. In keeping with the demographics, they are often a hilariously small minority in insectoid society, with ratios of male to shemale or demi going from 1 to 5 to figures like 1 to a million. Oftentimes, they enjoy aristocratic or otherwise undue luxurious living conditions, in order to keep them happy and keep the species going. They are also often depicted as spoiled in milder novels and downright sadistic and psychotic in… less appropriate ones.
• Shemales, coming from the workers or soldiers in a colony, are often the most numerous. They share most features with male humans (including male s*x organs), but the most significant difference is their ability to bear young, having a womb and other such organs; that said, they are usually much more powerful than the males. In some novels, they are capable of assuming a ‘primal’ or ‘insect’ form that is basically a giant, intimidating insect, that has great fighting power. Even while pregnant, they can still fight on the battlefields and carry out their duties undisturbed. The pregnancy is usually depicted to only show at the last leg of the pregnancy, just before going into labour, which births the egg from which his offspring emerges. Masochism is possibly a defining feature of this s*x in insectoid society, but it is usually less prevalent than sadism is among the males. They are also generally depicted as unromantic and completely unable to arouse love in their males, if they’re lucky enough to get married with the big demographic gap.
• Demis, whose origins I cannot tell, are often depicted as a third s*x, but there are also a fair amount of novels without them. If they are present, they generally make up the white collar and middle-class section of the population. They, again, share most features with male humans, but are able to bear young. They are usually depicted as being more fertile, more romantic but less capable of fighting compared to the shemales.

Marriage in this species is polygamous, with a male leading a harem consisting of shemales and, if present, demis. The following terms are employed.

• 雄主, meaning ‘male owner,’ which is basically husband, but because it would repeat with the term below, I will simply transliterate this as ‘xiongzhu.’ The male head of the harem, who may also be the master of the house in some novels.
• 雌君, meaning ‘shemale lord,’ which is, again, basically husband. I will translate this as ‘cijun;’ this and xiongzhu are the only two terms you may have to remember. The female head of the harem, generally overseeing the rest of the harem. This position is unique per male harem. They may or may not be stripped of their personal assets on marriage depending on the novel.
• 雌侍, meaning ‘shemale servant,’ which I will use ‘shemale concubine/s’ to represent, because that is who they are. They are the concubines in the harem, having some to possibly no autonomy, and their sole duty consists of making money for the household in general. On marriage, they are usually stripped of their personal assets.
• 雌奴, meaning ‘shemale slave,’ and I will translate it as-is. They are the slaves in the harem, meaning they have the lowest social status, and are quite often physically abused or tortured. They are also usually stripped of their rights as well as any material property should they agree (or are forced) to be married to a male as a shemale slave.

Other aspects of insectoid society are much less in common with each other. They are generally warmongering and span several solar systems to an entire galaxy. I have seen absolute monarchies, constitutional monarchies and parliamentary insectoid societies in different novels. Other settings in similar vein would often be described in the novels anyway, and I really hope I have not bored you to death with this Insectoid Society 101 course. Please proceed to chapter 1 and I hope you are able to enjoy this rather unique genre and this heartwarming but also deep novel to their fullest.