Mosquitos are unpleasant, but having experienced them in a couple of different countries, I can say that they cannot compare to West Scotland's "Highland Midge" (Culicoides impunctatus)! These are Beelzebub incarnate and you will be hard pressed to find a more painful but non-lethal small beast, which therefore lends your fantasy an air of practical reality.

You can barely see them (about 3mm long) but they just bite and bite and bite... it's like a Chinese water torture which will eventually drive you insane, plus they don't transmit malaria so it's all pain and no long lasting effects. I've yet to see anyone who is tough enough to laugh these little barstewards off. I'm itching madly just writing about them!