Mar was weaving their web, this was not a new experiment or anything of the like but rather a fact-finding mission. They were progressing at a snail's pace compared to previously and that was in spite of objectively having accomplished far more than they had done in their short campaign against Hor.
Yet, Mar was stuck on Tier 5 on Rank 2, and even that tier increase had only come a month after they had passed into rank 2. Maybe it was just a simple matter of decelerated progression due to the increase in Rank, but that didn't really sit right with the Sovereign Swarm. Why would it take so much more time comparatively speaking, when the resources that Mar could bring to bear had increased far more than the actual power Mar had received?
They did not know why and after having dealt with various divine messengers sent their way, it was time to divert their attention away from social matters and into the nature of their network. It had not been a disastrous affair, but instead, a rather tedious one as the local pantheons and similar groupings sent lesser messengers to proclaim that they wished to establish further contact with "the nascent Thrall-King".
Mar was not one thing, which admittedly was not that dissimilar from most lifeforms. After all, life was usually composed of cells and while each individual cell was alive they usually constructed a greater whole that did not register the building blocks used to create them. Similarly, Mar was made out of hundreds of thousands of fragments inhabiting and connecting all manner of living beings together into one glorious whole.
What made the Sovereign Swarm different was that they could directly interface with the individual parts. It grew more and more difficult as their Mastery attribute was outstripped by the exponential growth of the entire Swarm. Mar was not attempting to do that this time, no Mar was attempting to unravel the mysteries of the entire web by trying to look at the binding elements that animated their very being.
In some ways, it was easier to attempt such difficult work rather than dealing with administering the growing problems that they had sensed within the Swarm. The restlessness among the Subjects, the growing independence and squabbles among the Collectives, the dangerous amount of influence that the Avatars held. Mar was in a dangerous position as the growing tensions within the Swarm could easily lead to them being fully warped into a different personality entirely.
"Even now, the Collectives are incomplete. And if I do not find a way to tame them again, I could easily become a prisoner to one of my own aspects."
Mar grumbled to themselves as they attempted to penetrate into the deeper principles underpinning their soul. As they simultaneously tried to push the thoughts that had cropped back when Mar was young and a similar issue had arisen when the early Collectives fought and threatened to unbalance the whole network.
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Queen Meath was finally free to fly after over a month of producing spawn. She had been stationed in a burrow outside of Hor and had primarily squeezed out Workers and Soldiers to add to the growing needs of the Swarm. New settlements being founded or converted needed staffing and repairs the armies of the Antmite General were in constant need of "manpower" and then there were the various projects that Mar and the Collectives were engaged in.
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She almost bemoaned the fact that she couldn't smirk as she passed through a cloud while moving towards her chosen destination. It was very amusing that the Logistics Collective thought that their little scheme was a secret, while Mar themselves was presently not "aware" insofar that they had not deigned to care about it. Meath had her means to learn things even if she had been largely confined over her short lifespan.
Breeding and unleashing artillery strikes were just her most obvious abilities, she had early on learned that independently of their fragments. All Units that came from her loins, reported back information to her. A nifty trick when one stood for a large percentage of the Unit production in the Swarm. And it was through that trick that she had discovered that there had been an interesting find in the mountainous region to the north of Chilvale. Mining and ore production was soon going to begin and Meath thought that it would need a woman's touch to be properly managed.
Nasi and Old Yoss did not need to bother themselves with something so trivial, did they? And could begrudge her a vacation, she had left enough eggs that the immediate spawning needs that the rest of the Swarm needed could be maintained for a time. And when they were spent she would already be established and back on track with spawning...just from a new location.
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As Yora raged and felt the power of her state change her into a new being, the Hearth Father of the Woven City Soulda considered the changing smoke before his eyes. It was a deep crimson at first before changing into a sickly green colour that made his stomach want to turn. The flames in the hearth were sparking and crackling with an intensity that worried him.
"What is coming?"
He asked aloud while not really expecting an answer. The flames could only tell him so much after all and while it was his duty to read them, without any more concrete leads to go on he could not exactly begin formulating enough of a prediction that he could bring it to the city council.
It had begun with a simple notice, he saw and sensed in the flame that yet another Atoner had been created and he did as the customs dictated. He sent the message out that every home needed to hang a mourning shroud on their wall to mark the passing of a grandfather. It would strengthen the Souldas of the Loria as a whole, but it was still a despicable thing and a loss that the very world itself would feel.
But, after that prediction, he had then seen the rapid changes in colour which he could only take to indicate that danger was afoot. He would also need to go and consult the record of the Hearth Parents deep in the lair. The knotted scriptures would perhaps hold something that he could use to interpret the warnings. But so far he was not willing to leave the hearth until he was sure the message was done.
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The Dungeon was chaos, Nasi slashed his way through hordes of cow-sized chickens with inky tentacles erupting out of sickly pustules sticking out between their feathers. He had gone alone into the Dungeon after having arrived in spite of the warnings given to him by the feeble Collective previously in charge of the operation. Nasi was the greatest warrior and individual within the Swarm, if he could not survive in such a place by himself then the entire mission would be doomed to failure.
Nasi was no fool, he could sense that these initial enemies were not the great threat that Mar believed resided within this little pocket dimension. Yet he needed to test even these outer defenses so that he could learn how to fight against the true threats hidden deeper within the mad Dungeon.
A wave of burning tar, feathers, and straw engulfed Nasi while shrieks from living pits of tentacles and beaks clawed at his mind. The distractions were unwelcome but he persisted despite being buried in the scalding and burning liquid while the eldritch shrieks tried to drive him mad. He mostly ignored them as he went to work, the juggernaut spider had survived a thermite bomb so this was a light trip into a sauna by comparison.
He did not have the sheer explosive power of Queen Meath nor the more civic and esoteric abilities of Old Yoss, but Nasi had learned a few things about himself. These things did not matter, as the firstborn of the Avatars he had gotten something far better than those. Infinite adaptations. His body would change itself to be the best it could for any fight and he spent his time in the Dungeon to prime that ability to the fullest. Soon enough, he could lead his forces in to slaughter and conquer as he saw fit. But for now? He endured and learned.