One of the most fascinating (and irritating) parts of being a writer is research. Almost no matter what you’re writing, you’ll need to at least a bit of research to help inform your story. Sure, fantasy is all “made up,” but, often, the best fantasy worlds are those that have some real-world anchors. The most infamous example of this is likely Tolkien. Middle Earth is informed by (and perhaps even built upon) the framework of Old English and Norse poetry and mythology.
Even authors writing, say, contemporary romance might do a smidge of research. Maybe they research the professions of their main characters or the geography of their small-town setting. And those of us writing paranormal romances? We’re often doing research into urban legends or cryptids or some such. (How do you think omegaverse alpha shifters came to have knots in their dicks? Someone did some research on the mating habits of canines.)
When it comes to writing sci-fi, there are plenty of facets that may need to be researched. Some authors look at the technology we currently have to help them envision the technology of the future. Others think about how space travel would work and what effects it would have on the human body. Some authors will research current theories about quantum physics or how time travel might possible. Others will dig into theoretical papers about how terraforming Mars could be accomplished. The list goes on.
So, what did I research when it came time to write the latest in my sci-fi romance series, Flirting with the Zodiac?
Scorpions. I read up about scorpions. Here’s what I learned while I was working on Two Scorpions in a Bottle.
Scorpions Glow
Perhaps the coolest detail about scorpions is that they are fluorescent! That means they glow in the dark, basically.
Certain substances in the scorpion’s exoskeleton (or armor) make them appear blue. They will glow under a black light, much the same way they would glow on a moonless night. We’re not entirely sure what purpose it serves. Some people have theorized that the glow helps scorpions locate sources of light. They’d be able to find their way out of underground dens or burrows, especially at night.
The fact that scorpions are fluorescent inspired a few things in Two Scorpions. One is, obviously, the cover. The bright blue color of the scorpion was based on photos I found, particularly of emperor scorpions, all of which featured scorpions under black light.
Of course, the fact that scorpions light up under black light was also a factor in determining some of the culture of the Scorpiates in the series. Their culture is largely nocturnal, which means there’s a big focus on night life as well. The idea that people themselves glow under black light makes clubs that much more interesting.
The Mating Rituals of Scorpions
Another factor that played into the development of scorpiate culture is some of the mating habits of scorpions. Scorpions might not get much love, but they are actually quite romantic for arachnids!
Famously, scorpions engage in a mating dance, which is called the promenade a deux–a walk for two. Males will locate females by following pheromone trails. The male initiates the mating ritual by shifting back and forth, a behavior called juddering. Some scientists think this helps the female find him. Once the two have located each other, they grasp each other’s pincers—this is the dance or the “promenade.” They move together while the male tries to find a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore.
During the dance, the scorpions might engage in other behaviors. One is known as a cheliceral kiss, where they grasp each other’s mouth parts. Another is the fabre droit (or upright tree), which sees the pair raise their posteriors and rub their tails together. Finally, there is also sexual stinging, which seems to be used by the male to subdue the female. This behavior can go on for hours.
I was fascinated by all of this! We don’t often think of non-primate (or even non-human) creatures “kissing.” Mating dances are often performed by the male for the female, not with both partners engaged.
Incorporating This Information into the Worldbuilding
The idea of the scorpions dancing and kissing led me to consider their world as one focused on sexual pleasure. The scorpiates gather at clubs and engage in dancing. They also use their venom to get each other high, since it enhances sexual pleasure.
Undergirding this is the foundational idea of scorpiate society: pleasure is paramount. This alien species seeks pleasure above almost all else, and there is nothing wrong or shameful about it.
This is a counterpoint to some of the other alien species. It’s certainly different from a lot of human cultural philosophy. This, coupled with the scorpiates’ imposing appearance—with stingers and armor—leads to the idea that they are a warlike people.
One of the things Harriot accuses the scorpiates of is using their venom—a pleasure-inducing drug—to conquer other populations. Harriod argues the Scorpion Empire needs to be dismantled, and the scorpiates need to be punished.
Yet a counter-narrative is emergent here: the scorpiates don’t just sting anyone. Since the venom is powerful—something of an aphrodisiac—it’s considered inappropriate to sting people outside of consensual sexual encounters. That’s precisely why the scorpiates argue they haven’t done what Harriot accuses them of. Rather, they say their empire is founded on mutual good will and consent between peoples. In other words, the people who pay tribute to them want to be part of the empire.
The Demonization of a Culture
This is, by and large, commentary on how people throughout the ages have demonized “other” cultures. This is particularly prominent in Western thought from the Renaissance, as imperialism and colonization became commonplace throughout the world. Many, many cultures were strange to Europeans, who then demonized the peoples they encountered. That demonization became an excuse to oppress those peoples, to conquer them, murder them, enslave them, and more.
That is precisely what is going on in the Zodiac series. There is an imperialistic power looking to conquer resources, and to do so, they challenge the existing power structure, convince others that it is injustice, and then fight a war to take over those resources. The most similar story currently is the US, which is, even as I’m writing this, engaged in various tactics to demonize certain political movements.
The US is hardly the first country to engage in such tactics, of course. Britain famously fought the Opium Wars with China in order to keep China in its debt and its population subdued. Britain flooded China with cheap opium, leading to widespread addiction. In response, Chinese leadership moved to crack down on opium availability, angering Britain—because it would harm their opium exports to China, which would then mean they had a trade imbalance.
China lost those wars. Japan noticed how its neighbors were being treated by the European powers and opted to modernize itself along European lines. The success of the Japanese modernization project opens up a direct line to its own imperialistic tendencies. Japan then argued it was clearly “superior” and was therefore “meant” to be in charge of its Asian neighbors.
Coveting What Your Neighbor Has
This kind of thinking often transcends countries, skin tones, and more, of course. We can see Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jewish people, which comes from a long European tradition of antisemitism (Spain and England both expelled Jewish people at various points in the Middle Ages). In the Nordic countries, the Saami people have long been discriminated against due to cultural differences.
These arguments usually erupt when one group has something another group wants: oil, land, access to food or precious metals or fertile land for crops—the list goes on and on.
The point here is to force us to question what narrative we’re being told. The Harriods are telling one story; the Scorpiates are telling another. Who do we believe?
Scorpions Are Good Parents
Okay, enough about the political backdrop of the Zodiac series. What else did I learn about scorpions?
Just like they’re relatively romantic, these arachnids also have a fair bit of maternal instinct! After mating, scorpions may be pregnant for up to a year, depending on the species. Unlike spiders or insects, scorpions actually give birth to live young—they don’t lay eggs, which later hatch.
Instead, these live young—known as pro-juveniles—will climb up onto their mother’s back and hang out with her, at least until their first moult.
After their first moult, which happens any time between five and twenty-five days after birth, they more closely resemble adults and are known as juveniles. They’re still soft-bodied, however, and have to undergo additional moults to both reach adult size and harden their bodies.
During that time, most scorpion juveniles will still ride around with their mothers. They will eventually begin learning to hunt. They’ll range farther and farther afield, although they’ll come back to their mother when they sense danger. They may not leave until they are fully mature.
That is … far more parental care than I was expecting from these creatures, actually! While the male isn’t in the picture, many, many species in the invertebrates category lay eggs and render no parental care. That a scorpion mother may carry her young around on her back for months is quite something!
Some Scorpions Can Reproduce through Parthenogenesis
Finally, some scorpions can seemingly reproduce through parthenogenesis. That means the female doesn’t need to mate. Unfertilized eggs simply mature into what are effectually genetic clones of the mother. Not all species can do this, but there have definitely been some documented cases.
That is obviously something that intrigues me, especially since the Zodiac series, as much as it’s a meditation on (neo)colonialism and imperialism, is an exploration of reproductive diversity. So many people assume that the way humans reproduce is the only “natural” way of doing things. Yet nature shows us a much more complex and varied reality.
Looking at scorpions tells you something about nature: you really can’t predict it. The world is wonderful and full of diversity, and we should embrace that. Diversity isn’t something to be feared—whether it’s biological diversity or cultural diversity, it’s all natural and part of the amazing world around us.
And that’s really what the Zodiac series is about, at its core: diversity. We should all be celebrated and we are all worthy. Fear can only give way to harm—and in the end it hurts everyone, including ourselves, because our world is poorer for it.
I didn’t start out being excited to learn more about scorpions. After all, they’re pretty freaky looking, and they don’t have a great reputation. But after reading about them, and understanding them more, I have a lot more respect for these creatures.
Just don’t expect me to be keeping one as a pet any time soon. I’ll admire them from afar, thanks.
