World of CYBERBUN: Lampyridae

It’s not all rabbits. There’s also insects.

The at-times sharp green neon that can illuminate the forest floor of Greensward isn’t always reflected light on from the nearby giant signs of Pasturage City on wet fern leaves - the deeper into the forest one goes, the more it becomes apparent that it’s the organic glow of an Emerald Bee. And that soft pink glow seen across the treetops isn’t always light pollution either - it’s often the bioluminescence of a Magenta Beetle.

A Magenta Beetle in flight.

Emerald Bees are the world’s nightlights, emerging from nests and burrows in the ground or the roots of trees as sunset fades and illuminating the darkest parts of the forest for several hours thereafter. Similarly, Magenta Beetles nest in crevices in the trees, but nearer the base of newer, younger higher branches and help wake the world as their activity heralds an emerging sun, zipping amongst the dense cover of leaves for only a couple of hours each day at dawn. In the mythology, their behaviour and biology was studied in more depth by a professor by the name of Hustlander.

Professor Hustlander’s paper on the insects of the forests.

Whilst their inclusion in the series has resulted in not only a beautiful aesthetic of moments in the dark of Greensward lit by a soft neon glow, they have appeared elsewhere with deeper meaning. In one scene, several Emerald Bees can be seen flying around Dyce’s sanctum. He even allows one to crawl across his hand before watching it fly away. It is as though the sight of it momentarily reminded him of his younger life amongst the trees, before his move to the city and subsequently surrounded by technology.