To be a kwama farmer in Necrom is to be among the exalted few trusted with preparing kwama properly for funerary rites and accoutrements. I'd say that my mother left me with this responsibility, but to be fair, I think I took it from her.
Oh, she was fine with that. She's off visiting other lands now and discovering something new and terrible about each. (I should strike this foreword. Or is it forward? I don't know. Maybe I should save up to pay for a fancy scribe to rewrite me. Anyway, keep going. This must be documented somewhere.)
SCRIBS
These larval form of kwama have several uses unique to Necrom. First, though, you need to make sure whatever enclosure you put them in can contain them. They're sneaky little things.
Grind up the joints of their legs to make sprinkling dust. Sprinkling dust is used by some visitors—mainly Hlaalu—on the candles around their ancestors to create a brief flash of glittery light. I use a special mortar and pestle crafted from rubedite for this purpose. The dust must be freshly ground or it won't work.
If you feed scribs a steady diet of toadstools, you're priming their jelly for use in food-based offerings. Mix a spoonful of fresh jelly into whatever you're cooking or baking for ancestors, and your offering will remain fresh for several days. I do not advise eating these offerings yourself, especially if you're an Argonian. That's about two days of pain you don't want to exist through again, from what I've seen. And, again, the jelly must be freshly made or it won't mix well with your dry ingredients. (No, I still don't know why toadstools. Must be an alchemical thing. Maybe find out for draft six?)
Maybe I should specify that the food needs to be of our people. Don't expect your fondue recipe from Elsweyr to work with this. I don't care if your Redoran grandmother adapted it to use ingredients from Molag Mar.
KWAMA WORKERS
These kwama just want to do their jobs. Don't let them. Keep them well-contained within a pen. If you have a couple of live scribs nearby, they'll settle into a routine of sorts. Along with all the usual uses these creatures have, we have a couple that are Necrom-specific.
The Telvanni prefer to have any offerings for their ancestors presented on a freshly crafted tray made from one of our workers. There's a specific cut I make while working with the carapace that leaves the inner abdominal veil intact. I wrap that veil gently around the carapace before an artisan starts working with it. They let the veil dry on the carapace after treating it with some alchemical reagent, which ultimately lends the carapace-tray a metallic sheen. Then they etch their patron's requested art into that layer. Some trays get quite ornate! One of my miners asked to have a kwama queen surrounded by eggs, scribs, workers, foragers, and, of course, warriors. He died while protecting his mine, so it seemed fitting. (I probably don't need to discuss Ol' Marzy in here, either, I guess. So, noting for deletion from the final manuscript.)
When rendered properly, kwama cuttle can be crafted into one of the many candles you see around Necrom. After I harvest a kwama worker, I set aside the cuttle for one of Necrom's Keeper of the Dead chandlers. They need it freshly harvested so that they can mix in the proper herbs and alchemical agents. Because of this processing, the candles in Necrom last much longer than average candles. They also don't smoke or gutter. Plus they have a nice scent. Like fresh scrib jelly mixed with a vibrant sunset. Before you ask, no, they're not for sale. The Dead Keepers around here make them and keep the formula and process secret. (And, really? What does a vibrant sunset smell like? Mark that for deletion in draft six.)
And, of course, I can perform all those other more mundane aspects of kwama harvesting, but only after I provide Necrom and its visitors with the items above as needed.
As for where I get these lovely little creatures, they come from several mines, all scheduled perfectly to provide me with a balance of workers and scribs for my next day's work. If Necrom's need is great, we can get more in, provided the mines are well stocked.
Definitely don't keep this part in draft six, but it came to me after I sold some scrib jelly and I needed to write it down somewhere:
The jelly of scrib
Divine, divine
Into my belly
All mine, all mine.
Your chittering ways
Sublime, sublime
Tease deep my heart
Near all the time.
Come here, my dear
And fill my days
With darting moves
And carefree gaze.
The wonder of scrib
Divine, divine
Into my belly
All mine, all mine.
