Races of Elderwood

Most sapient insectoids on Ross lived in scattered Nests and Hives that dominated only their local area and preferred to be left alone in the grand scheme of things. Such races would come and go on Ross across the millenia, but in the modern day the foremost representative of this particular group of races were the Mantis Hives.

Unlike their marginally more peaceful brethren, their Hives spread out below ground until it ran into so many obstacles that it became more efficient to build upward. Then they created giant artificial mountains in which they could tunnel and construct their abodes as usual–forever.

Once regional dominance had been achieved the potential for growth was infinite; only the distance to more worthy resources was a challenge.

But none of this was a problem to be dealt with by the spiritual caste that was found at the very top.

The 'Mantis' Hives were called precisely that because they were led by hordes of ants controlled by towering Mantis commanders, but that was a label made up by their enemies.

Those commanders displayed varying degrees of intelligence and strategy throughout history. But only the absolute rarest and most elite generals showed any inkling of personal magical ability; it was therefore quite the mystery why so many of their lower level commanders so commonly carried items that clearly held powerful enchantments.

The open secret of Mantis Hive civilisations was that there was a secluded upper caste, even above the leadership other races were so often forced to contend with. These insects held a tremendous spiritual power, nearly from birth, and were therefore the only ones to display true magic prowess even at lower levels.

If Livia had ever seen them she would have dropped her jaw and described the creatures as 'Giant ladybug-people'.

Of course, the comparison was ridiculous, the mighty Coccin were much more graceful, much more slender in form. Even if they did happen to share the same stylish pattern of shell on the back.

This mighty insect civilization held on to regions dominated by a multitude of Hives, that were the equivalent of kingdoms, and spanned a huge area on Elderwood; despite how they originally came to Elderwood as invaders from one of the lesser continents.

In the modern day the lower castes could be distinguished and traced back to their Hives by the colour schemes painted on their shells, although the actual patterns were individual.

The brighter the colour the higher the standing of the Hive; and likely the higher the prestige of the faction in their internal hierarchies.

The Coccin had their much superior version of a society, but the Mantis' cheap imitation were made up of various social classes, who all contended for more prestigious tasks and grew their populations to breed bigger and stronger, hoping to spawn the next great military leader, to earn all the accolades that usually entailed.

But despite the impressive size of the Coccin holdings they were not at all known as makers; other than the great magic tools that enabled their lower castes to cooperate, which some of the Coccin schools competed at creating.

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When it came to gathering and putting to use building materials for their great underground mansions, or the rare cuisine that was demanded each season, or even the supplies that empowered their military forces, it was all organised by the rare intelligent individuals among their lessers in the Mantis caste.

In all but a few Hives they were handed careless and relentlessly increasing quotas to fulfil, told to spawn more servants and get them Assignments from the Coccin mandated System, so they would be empowered to get the job done; and then the Mantis were left to their own devices with but a few guiding laws in place to prevent conflict with other powerful species on Elderwood.

Of course those laws then often got ignored when a new deadline approached and the heads of entire Societies found their career-life was on the line, but this was by design, in a sense.

The Coccin are not however one of the races to make claims of having invented the System, but they do insist their elevated state was what made them deserving, and what keeps it from disappearing again, in the first place. The distinction being a simple matter of which stance is more likely to endure scrutiny.

To the neighbouring races it simply looks like the Hives are governed by greed incarnate, when in fact a distinct detachment from reality is the far closer explanation.

But it was not like the Mantis commanders were about to explain any of this, and the few idiots who had brought the issue up with the upper caste over the ages had not been seen again, they were added to the ever-growing list of malfunctioning servants.

Nevertheless warrior ant raiding-parties continued to be deployed, with the same unreasonable demands come winter or spring, and only when things turned truly desperate, and the ant warriors started dying like flies, would the Mantis caste go out themselves and engage in warfare directly, until they were either killed off or a surplus of resources had been achieved.

This was the way of things in the Hives; and when resources were finally plentiful–it was the one time when the ant populations were well fed and left to grow their families–which often led to a golden age where new standards within their race were set.

Before inevitably hard times arrived once more with the ever increasing quotas, and the lower caste was told to tighten their belt straps for a desperate bid at having the resources last them another season of ranging further and wider, leading to inevitable losses and decline.

Most of the Mantis never made the connection, but kept demanding the same efforts that had been noted down as possible, regardless of the condition the lower caste was in.

Meanwhile the Coccin jaunted around their great society–which the lesser castes did their best to emulate up above–and engaged in heated debates regarding everything from civic reform to identity politics and the temperaments and inclinations of various Great Spirits.

It was a good life at the top, even if there was a risk of becoming too pampered to know it.