In most cases, a sect head would want to continually recruit more disciples. As long as they had enough resources and those disciples met their particular standards, why wouldn’t they?

That wasn’t true for everyone, however. Devon would be quite pleased if he never got another new disciple in the Shattered Chains. That didn’t mean he disliked being a sect master. While it had certainly taken him a while to get used to it, he ultimately found it quite fulfilling.

The issue was that the disciples of the Shattered Chains, or at least those who were most fit for the cultivation techniques, were all former slaves. Devon preferred nobody was enslaved to begin with, and if that was the case nobody could be ex-slaves.

Of course, the method wasn’t restricted to those who fit some technical job title or the like, but the techniques were most functional when people had faced some form of massive oppression and lack of agency. For the most part, the Lower Realms Alliance did quite well to prevent that within their borders. They hadn’t encountered any new occupied systems since the Numerological Compact, so there had been one large wave of new disciples followed only by smaller trickles as people sought out the proper developmental path for themselves.

Enough time had passed that they now knew through actual data that the hiveminds were stable. Well, it wasn’t even so much separate hiveminds anymore. The deeper connection didn’t stretch between planets or systems, but there was enough movement between the hiveminds that they had sort of fused into a single thing.

After the initial birth, the hivemind had grown slowly. There had even been a period of decline, not from deaths but from significant numbers choosing to disconnect from the hivemind. Ultimately, many of them returned, having found independence less fulfilling. Many others, however, chose to stay apart.

Devon didn’t blame either. Until they had gone through more than a century, it hadn’t been clear how everything would work out. Nobody had chosen to be in a hivemind, and whether people could truly leave voluntarily had been up for debate. The small portion of those who remained separate proved that case, though ultimately very few of them were resentful for the experience. The ability to break apart, even if it was a slow and somewhat uncomfortable process, was sufficient.

In recent years, Devon had observed a significant amount of immigration to the systems, only a small portion of the vast population of the Alliance but there were many curious about the hiveminds, joining for their own reasons.

A majority of the population of the various planets still remained as individuals, as the only ones who had fallen into the hivemind without intentionality were the former slaves. They weren’t a small minority by any means, but there were still more who had been from the free population. And a very small portion of the Numerological Compact who had been judged ‘acceptable’.

There was still some tension between the two populations. The unity of the hivemind meant that their political opinions were amplified. Devon wondered how things would have developed without the influence of the Alliance. As it was, the hivemind recognized that they couldn’t only push the agendas of their own members. Instead, they exerted their influence in ways that were meant to benefit the population as a whole- which of course included themselves.

The hivemind was able to internally debate complex topics in a rapid manner, with everyone being well informed as long as they had enough individuals dedicated to learning. Devon couldn’t say that they always produced the best possible plans, but they were quite decent.

After a surge of early activity, the hivemind served as a stabilizing force for the systems. It had taken the majority of the Alliance a long time to develop their structure, both their laws and their various policies promoting growth. Along the way, there had always been those who tried to exploit things to their own ends, finding loopholes to benefit just themselves. The rules and laws for an interstellar people could grow quite complex… and the hivemind helped simplify things, at least in the systems where they were present.

Of course, some of their simplifications required the presence of the hivemind- any incident of note was generally observed by numerous members. Despite what a few paranoid individuals said, they didn’t cover things up for their own. Instead, for the most part they stopped people from getting in trouble to begin with.

Devon hadn’t just taken their word for it, of course. But a long time of observation had proven them sufficiently reliable. He wouldn’t say they were perfect, but it was difficult to say that about anything.

With the systems physically separated from the rest of the Alliance, they still felt somewhat like a separate thing. Devon had lived among the main body of the Alliance for longer, though he found himself quite attached to his sect for obvious reasons.

There was always some expansion within the Alliance, but at the current moment it was cautious. After the end of the cycle? Well, there were plans in play to greatly ramp things up. They didn’t believe the upper realms would be able to detect new colonies, but they didn’t want to risk it, and focusing development on their current planets would improve their survival rates.

Frankly, Devon couldn’t see any of their planets being wiped out. They were strong, well coordinated. But there were many levels short of complete annihilation that were unpleasant. The faster they could repel incoming invasions and the more of the enemy they could eliminate, the better off they would be. Then in another six centuries? The might of the upper realms would mean little to them.

Of course, they couldn’t be careless. That was in part why they had the void ants… both in the lower realms, and the upper.

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Though Crossed Antennae had not grown up among humans but instead the people of Akrys, she understood that non-insectoids tended to share certain ideas about life and survival. With the development of some of the more special void ants in her brood, she had personal understanding of them.

Individual people meant something. Not just she and her sister. Nor simply the queens she gave birth to. There were others like Snips, Chops, Bullet, and Fire. More now, but they were the first. Crossed Antennae didn’t know whether it was the influence of humans that made void ants more likely to develop personalities, or whether those who could develop personalities would seek out humans. Either way, she’d seen the spark of growth among her people.

Crossed Antennae recognized that she had more people serving under her day after day. She also understood that they would probably be annihilated if and when the upper realms discovered their presence. These people who she was responsible for, and likely Crossed Antennae herself.

If they went forward with their plans, they risked all those lives. And she found it acceptable. Because, after all, they were still void ants.

Simply because she had her own personality didn’t mean the communal nature of void ants suddenly disappeared. Moreover, even with the new void ants in her founded colonies developing personalities… there still weren’t that many of them. Throughout everything, she doubted they could even match one city on Akrys in number. Maybe a large town, and that was by number.

Not that considering the importance of people by mass was a fair metric. That would make that big turtle in the lower realms the most important individual, even though he was just one individual.

In short, Crossed Antennae considered the personhood of herself and all of her descendents, and still felt confident it was right and proper to risk them all for their allies. And her friends, since there were indications that one of the planets was likely going to attack Akrys. That was sufficient reason such that she could stop her calculations there without considering the rest of the Lower Realms.

Ultimately, the numbers simply demanded that she maintain her course of action. They just had to do it right.

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Communication between the void ant colonies was difficult, with humans living on their planets and all. Their planets. Crossed Antennae wondered when she’d started seeing them that way. She didn’t think it sounded wrong… though she would have preferred to share. Just not with the particular humans there.

Bullet and Fire had proven to be excellent infiltrators, especially once they learned to fly. The Scarlet Alliance had provided void ant sized ships as well- enough to carry a million of them at once, mostly because there was a minimum engine size and they built the shell to match. It was still smaller than would usually be used to carry a single human.

Those ships were left at the periphery of systems, hidden by their insignificance among other things. Bullet and Fire had learned to fly- through space as well, which was a trick the Great Queen had been the progenitor of. Not that they could compare, but the point was they could get down to planets and back up. A difficult task, for an ant.

“What do you think of the positioning?” Crossed Antennae asked her council.

“Many planets will need to move their colonies closer,” Bullet said. “They were well enough placed for the previous plan, but now…”

Crossed Antennae nodded. “Tell them to remain cautious. If we are unable to assault the enemy forces originating from a particular planet, it is better than giving away our presence. Though optimally, we would destroy a portion of each invasion ourselves.”

The plan had changed. Not in its goal, but in certain practical matters. It might be possible for them, with the numbers they had built up, to overwhelm the enemy forces. They could likely even coordinate an assault to within a small enough window that communications wouldn’t reach neighboring groups in time to matter. However, that almost certainly meant messages would get out to their greater factions. Just because Crossed Antennae was willing to risk the annihilation of her people didn’t mean she would accept it.

A better plan… was to infiltrate the enemy ships. That meant monitoring enemy movements for longer, but if they could assault their enemies between realms, they could lose their opportunity to retreat. Of course, that came with its own risks. Ships that were destroyed would lose all of the void ants on them. However, they would be able to survive any trip where life support functioned at any capacity, making use of minimal food, water, and air.

That was the plan. Crossed Antennae expected it to go wrong. There was just one area where they maintained the utmost caution, which was the technology of the upper realms, and their ships. They couldn’t afford to have anything traced back to the Scarlet Alliance. If something like that happened… well, it would have been better to colonize all of their planets to fight with them. But it was too risky, and the people of the upper realms might not all have been on board, despite those from Ceretos finding them acceptable.

The council discussed various possibilities. Moving into the ships early with some of their own supplies, packed into unknown pockets of emptiness. The same, but feeding on the ships supplies. Alternatively, going hungry for the first week or so until they were well committed- but that required better understanding of when the various ships would depart.

Talking about all of the possibilities made Crossed Antennae nervous. The only thing that kept her from going crazy was one simple fact. She could trust her people to make their own decisions. Though she was still ultimately responsible for what plans they made, and indeed deviations from the plan maybe should have worried her, it was actually comforting. She wouldn’t say that she always approved of void ants acting on their own initiative, but at least more often than not it was because they saw opportunities not planned for, resulting in better results.

Trust… trust was an odd thing as an ant queen. Normally, she shouldn’t need trust. Her orders would simply be obeyed. But there was something nice about knowing that even if she messed up, someone would be there to try to put things back on track. Or maybe come up with an entirely new plan, somehow.

The waiting was a problem. She almost wished to skip ahead a century and more, especially since many of the colonies were at maximum safe capacity. But alas, she would simply have to wait the normal way. At least she wasn’t alone.