Hail Alixtaktek Tantorek, Princess of the Mooncursed Peaks and Loyal Servant of the High Queen!
...
The colonial expedition prepared by your mother was a relatively homogeneous bunch, most being Mooncursed or related broods. The blue-shelled swarms of formian workers had always made up the grand majority of those insectoids known to you, scuttling away in and out the tunnels of your mother's hive. Though little more than animals, they were sufficient. As long as the pheromones were distributed evenly and the overseers posted, the labouring masses could usually be ignored.
What interested you far more were your new consorts. Insectoids weren't a race to mince words about pointless ceremonies or customs, at least not something as insignificant as an exchange of consorts. That said, they were quite interesting consorts.
The Arcanist was your mother's Lord-Ritualist, Kyroke. The Insectoid art of magic was a curiosity to many foreigners. In its very base form, it was the application of ceremony to draw power from the Hidden Things of the world. Gods, demons, monstrosities, laws of creation and many other terrible things are forced by arcane contract to gift the ritualists power, often at great cost at life...which suited the insectoids just fine, considering the vast population of the average hive. Lord Kyroke, having survived many great and terrible rituals, was an insectoid of much power. Marked by scars of many botched rituals, runes of various entities and the tell-tale violet hue that seemed to follow with repeat rituals, Kyroke was a master at the arcane art. He had even spent a few decades learning the rituals of other broods, and even the magicks of other races. That said, Kyroke had little employment in your mother's service. Magic was always viewed with some skepticism by the Mooncursed Hives, both because they were cursed by magic and because of every hive preferring to rely on their own strengths. As such, Kyroke was most pleased to journey forth under an ambitious and hopefully open-minded Princess. He spoke much about the many opportunities to be found in the southern lands, especially about the many magical materials one could find beyond the Mooncursed Peaks.
Your other consort, the Engineer, could only agree with him. Drekov. Cautiously and with a great deal of tact, of course. The brood of the Claybroken Lakes, as you know, are a slave-brood of the Peaks and openly hating the Peaks, its literally damned geography notwithstanding, was a cause for death. Even a consort. That said, he was quite an
impressive consort. Compared to the Mooncursed, your double-horned biped beetle consort
mountained over the Mooncursed and he certainly had
certain endowments worthy of a
few glances. Of course, that did not change the fact that like the rest of his brood, he was a slave and only his status as your consort saved him from mockery.
Regardless of that, he was an interesting gentletoid by any standard. Mostly busy working on all sort of contraptions and systems, the harem's engineer saw a great deal of work optimising the hive's various machinery deep beneath the Peaks. The chance to continue working and moving out of the Peaks was a godsend to him. Indeed, he seemed to be boring your consort Oglor with all sorts of ideas. Something about a mill, from what you could tell.
"
...And I could go on and on about how cold the Peaks are. Like I said, you couldn't make this system work up there cause you'd need to ensure that the arms stayed dry all year-long.
Now its true that you might be able to eliminate that little flaw with a little bit of magic, but could you imagine the maintenance costs for an enchanted mill? Not to mention you'd need some elves..."
You knew he wouldn't be finished for quite some time. Still, Drekov was a master engineer and he knew his profession well. Of course, Oglor seemed to not be listening. Not a toid of machinery, you knew well.
Your third consort was a subdued and quiet gentry. That said, Oglor was the hive's Breeder of Creatures and he took his task quite seriously. He was from the Blackcanopies brood, supposedly from the distant west. Like the Mooncursed, he too was a formian in shape. Unlike you, he had a bright green shell and several rows of small spines on his limbs, as well as what you could only describe as 'hair' growing out of his abdomen. It was quite odd, no matter how you looked at it. While you knew little about the Blackcanopies, Oglor and his followers had said that they were renowned amongst for living in the deep woods of the west where monsters and the sort dwelled. Apparently, they had a good reputation amongst some of the orcish realms for that.
Unlike Drekov, Oglor had come to the Peaks by choice, offering his abilities to the hive for gold. After years of useful service to your mother, he had been honoured into the harem as a reward for his duties. Indeed, your mother was the first of the Mooncursed Peak queens to make use of dragonflies or stirrups.
Hopefully, with the expertise of these men, you could make a hive worthy of your name.
...
After several months of travel under the mountain and beneath the non-cursed sky, you finally arrive. The Land Between Two Rivers, or Longwaters in the native language, is a breathtaking sight. While you had seen rivers before, Longwaters was nearly beyond comprehension. Two gigantic rivers emerged from the desert sands and along their banks, great swatches of greenery grew. Greenery, you noticed, that was occupied. Your general, Lord Mekekes, had reported a great many cities and towns along the rivers but had told you that this part at least was sparsely populated. You needed to have a conversation with the dear general about the definition of 'sparse' for what lied before you was what seemed to be walled city that seemed to be big enough to hold 10,000.
10,000 was not 'sparse' by any means.
"A commendable guess my Princess. Closer to 4000. Elves require a higher amount of space per individual in comparison to the average Insectoid."...Regardless, that was a great deal more than what you expected. Mekekes himself was quite a bit...perturbed. "
My Princess...when the scouts told me of what they had seen, I nearly had them executed. Your Mother had quite clearly told me this region had little more than a few villages and from what the ritualists tell me, we are in the right place."
Kyroke seemed relatively calm, considering the situation. "
It seems my dear, we have a great deal of trouble on our hands. Perhaps some reconnaissance is in order. But tell me general,
what of the surrounding lands, are they also occupied?"
"
Yes but there seems to be a great deal of warfare upriver. Razed farms, bands of warriors, cities under siege. This was expected, at the very least. Downriver is much like here, as was expected."
"
And the deserts?"asked your usually quiet Oglor.
"
Scouts haven't reported back yet."
You, Alixtaktek Tantorek, can now perform actions!
Court
Lord-Ritualist Kyroke Tantorek: Consort and Grand Magician of the Mooncursed Peaks. Mooncursed Peaks Brood.
Lord-Innovationist Drekov Tantorek: Consort and Inventor of the Mooncursed Peaks. Claybroken Lakes Brood.
Lord Oglug 'Bogseeker': Consort and Beastamer. Blackcanopies Brood.
Lord Mekekes: Expedition General and Queen-Mother's Representative. Mooncursed Peaks Brood.
Soldiery
4 Force Units of Mooncursed Soldiers.
2 Force Units of Black Canopies Dragonfly Riders (highly mobile)
1 Force Unit of Mooncursed Bombardier Hellbeast (*3 against stationary targets/settlements, *.5 against moving targets)
2 Force Units of Shackled Bogmoose (*2 if it has initiative, *1.5 in marshland/forests, causes *.8 reduction in opponent unit.)
Labourers
20 Labour Units of Workers
12 Labour Units of Artistans
3 Labour Units of Engineers
3 Labour Units of Ritualists
Nobility
50 Control Units of Gentry [5 individuals]
5 Breeders
Hive Resources
Food: Expedition Rations!. The mother hive has set aside exactly enough to ensure your survival. The Various foodstuffs used to support members of the hive. Soldiery consume 1 unit of food each month whereas all others consume 0.5 food per month.
Dew of Eternity: 30 (+0/month). A golden liquid created from the intensive labour of a queen, this is necessary to produce intelligent members of the hive, with each intelligent unit requiring 1 portion of Dew to be produced.
Wealth: 0 (+0/month). Gold, silver, coins and other commodities that can be used in lieu of other trade goods.
5/7 Castes Filled. Additional Castes may be created/chosen at a later time.
Worker. Non-sapient labourers and gatherers, the workers form the majority of any Hive's population. Traits: Subservient, Labourer, Non-Sapient, Pheromone-Controlled.
Artistan. Responsible for a Hive's crafts and labour outside the mental capability of a Worker, Artistans form an obedient but somewhat intelligent labour pool for the Hive. Traits: Subservient, Intelligent, Crafter.
Soldier. A basic warrior insectoid grown for superior durability and strength, their lack of intelligence is made up for by their innate discipline. Subservient, Soldier, Non-Sapient, Pheromone-Controlled.
Breeder. An insectoid dedicated to producing more members of the Hive, their whole adult lives are spent in a state of pregnancy. Traits: Intelligent, Breeder, Immobile.
Gentry. An intelligent insectoid with the independence and intelligence to perform a variety of duties, they are necessary to continue controlling the less intelligent members of the Hive. May reproduce to contribute new genetic attributes to the Hive. Traits: Intelligent, Overseer, Versatile, Frail.
Known traits are listed here.
Breeder: Dedicated to the all-important task of producing new members of the hive.
Crafter: Capable of producing crafts and tools for the hive. Has 0.5LU.
Frail: Weak in combat and unsuited for labour. *.1 in combat and incapable of physical labour.
Immobile: Incapable of independent movement.
Intelligent: Capable of complex thoughts and learning.
Labourer: Functions as a resource-gatherer and builder for the hive. Has 1LU.
Non-Sapient: Animalistic and lacks higher thinking. Unable to perform complex tasks without aid.
Overseer: Increases the Control Capability of the hive. Each workable unit produces 10 Control.
Pheromone-Controlled: Kept in line via pheromones. Each unit requires 1 Control.
Subservient: Loyal to the Hive.
Versatile: Capable of a variety of activities.
Author
Topic: Insectoid Ambitions [SG] (Read 2749 times)