Hedgethorn
Berinu swarming insect
The Hedgethorn is a tiny, nearly invisible swarming insect native to Berinu's river deltas and wetlands, notorious for painful bites that make contact feel like running into a hedge of thorns. Swarms invade exposed skin, ears, and noses, causing intense lingering irritation without being directly lethal.
During the Era of Early Dominion, Berinese groups weaponized the Hedgethorn for torture and interrogation, trapping captives for prolonged periods in confined spaces thick with insect clouds. The practice relied on the bites causing maximum suffering without killing, and it makes the Hedgethorn one of the few insects on the planet that has been deliberately cultivated as an instrument of pain.
