When looking at the Sovereign Swarm it is easy to be distracted by the obvious. The horrific fungal-infested animals and humans, the plants twisted into hybrids between flora, fungi, and machines, the seemingly endless legions of Units that it can spawn. Or for those more in the know, the great avatars of the Swarm can be the distraction. Haughty and prideful Nasi, the juggernaut and warrior without equal, the acerbic and unpredictable Queen Meath, mother to armies and a living siege engine, or the grumpy and cunning Old Yoss, the steward of the Swarm and a former god.
Or it could be the infrastructure and the devastation that they have brought about in just a few months of existence. The way they stole godhood in just a few days. Maybe the nature of the Swarm itself, a sprouted Conquest Seed that is growing further and further every day. Eria had been infested by such things before, but even then the world almost fell to the Plague of Stone or the Apocalyptic Spirit of Hate. Many of the ancients who knew these secrets would not bet against that the third time could be the charm.
However, the untold part of the Swarm, or at least the one part that none outside of it would focus on is more important to the success of the Sovereign than anyone could have predicted. The Collectives, the great subroutines of the living machine that is Mar. Mar at their very core is a creature born from a once human soul, and even it was redesigned from the ground up it wasn't designed to fully operate an entire Swarm organism.
The Collectives are the natural byproduct of the soul, making sure that the core can sustain the pressure of operating thousands or even millions of bodies. Subordinate minds are made up of excess mental power from the fragments used to pilot each individual Unit, or in the case of Subjects, the fragments are pure excess mental power.
These are some of their stories.
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Logistics-Collective
"Direct 300 Workers to quadrant 73 of the forest, eliminate all flora that is less than 70% through the conversion process. Move the material through pathway 11 and coordinate with the Hor-Workers."
Logistics-Collective directed their subordinates like machines, while at the same time trying to calculate the memory dispersion through the entire swarm. It had been noted that every single fragment contained some parts or just a part of the original memories that the Sovereign Swarm had prior to entering this reality. Mar themselves had tried to trace all of them down, but at this point that task was becoming a waste of their precious time.
So, they had like every good manager, delegated it down the ladder to the most qualified subordinate available. Logistics-Collective did not allow themselves much time to ponder personal matters, but if they did they would conclude that this filled them with pride. Out of all of the Collectives, they were the first among equals as it were.
All of the logistical matters of the Swarm was their purview. It was they who controlled the energy allotment given out to the various individuals and Collectives within the Swarm. Only the Avatars or Mar could gainsay them in that area. Every Worker not attached to an army or connected to an active settlement was theirs to command. Every single non-combatant in the Swarm was in fact theirs to command.
"Memo, inquire with Adventurer-Collective about possible Avatar candidates among the enhanced Subjects and Units. Send a query to the supreme controlling entity to ask about developing a subordinate collective dedicated fully to memory analysis. Allocate resources to personal project A, copper, silicone, and corn."
Logistics-Collective had long since discovered that rather than trying to individually micromanage every order it was more prudent to give broad directives and have the Fragments act on their behalf. Or in the case of communications, placing them as memos to then be remembered once they had time to communicate.
It received a message through it's Fragments that one of the Dryad trees had been fully cleared and was ready for an attempted conversion. Rather than alert Mar who was engaging with conversations in the divine realm, they turned their primary attention to this.
"Initiate Infection, prepare for blowback, summon emergency combat squad 20 along with Spiderling Engineers."
They then watched as a squad of monstrous Fungal Zombies, Soldiers, and Fungal Champions joined the Workers who had been clearing the nearby bushes and trees surrounding the large tree. Spiderling Engineers began constructing webbing traps and obstacles. One wasp was sent in to initiate the infection once the fortifications were ready.
"I see you are also watching."
A feminine voice spoke "behind" him and Logistics-Collective "turned" to address the speaker. Reality is a matter of perspective if one were to ask the species known as the Leigh. On one hand the Sovereign Swarm would just be all of their bodies and their individual brains, from another perspective they are an intricate web of magic, hormones, faith, and various signals. Mar most often saw their fragments as an endless circle of people holding hands while talking, but the Collectives saw things another way.
Each of them had grown to imagine the Swarm's mind as a place rather than a living being or a thing by itself. In it they occupied space, but they also saw themselves as mental constructs there. Just as Mar was equally embodied on their divine throne and in every living part of the Swarm, so were they faceted beings.
Logistics-Collective saw themselves as a machine, a living being made out of circuitry and floating mathematical symbols. A living program, but this contemporary of theirs saw themselves in a very different way. A giant collection of plants and fungi addressed him, both a tree and an enormous field at the same time. She smiled with a wide-open mouth full of teeth.
"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself Log? Dryad acquisitions would be of interest to the root of all, or at least wouldn't it be fair to say that I should be the responsible party here?"
"Fungal-Floral Network you know what I think about abbreviations, address me properly or not at all. Ant Termite General has not been a good influence on you in this regard. At any rate, the supreme controlling entity is otherwise occupied as you very well know. We cannot continue our operations near this tree without risking waking the dryad, and as it is a logistics matter to add new resources to the Swarm."
She was playful while he was terse in his reply, but at that point, the Fungal-Floral Network grew...annoyed. Her leaves shook and a few of her mushroom caps swelled up as she said.
"I am eve-nearly every plant and mushroom in our Swarm. Only the Dominion Tree is technically not part of my being, and that is because she is needed in the new sapling. Infection and the addition of a dryad should be my concern, you should have contacted me first and I could have diverted my part of the allotment to infect it through the roots."
"And logistical matters are my concern, yet you are the one who distributes Biomass through the valves and roots of your network. You are the distribution channel and it would only be fair if I had input on those proceedings."
"Take it up with the root of all then, I am responsible for that. Just as Antmite is in charge of our sham war and future wars, and Hor is in charge of the town. Don't try to dictate to us how we are supposed to do our tasks and don't impose yourself on them either."
"How your primary function is done directly impacts the myriad of responsibilities that I have, do not act as if we are disconnected in all of this. Feeding the Swarm is difficult as is even with our various abilities to mitigate the resource drain in that department, and that is before we address the concern that our primary source of nutrients also serves as our primary construction material."
Logistics-Collective was starting to get heated as this was an old argument between the two of them. They could feel their various Units responding to the anger that their Collective felt, and they could sense shifts in the Fungal-Floral Network as well.
Before anything could come out of the argument, however, a simple emotion of displeasure was broadcast through the entire Swarm. Just for a single moment as Mar was slightly distracted talking to a goddess of journies and trade. The two Collectives felt the message that was being sent to them, "do not make me come down there", was the essential point.
The two of them looked at one another and then Logistics-Collective "sighed". Better to go forward with a good example after all in case any of the younger ones were watching.
"I will let you handle this particular infection and loan you the resources I have put in place there for the duration of those proceedings. They are to be returned to me after that. If you will allow me to borrow that particular Dryad later then that would be appreciated as compensation for my efforts."
Fungal-Floral Network grinned again with her mouth and swayed her branches up and down in an approximation of a nod.
"Sure, Log I will take care of your Units and in time will loan you the Dryad. That is mighty fair of you."
Logistics-Collective did not deign to answer beyond the transference of the relevant Units to his colleague and they then retreated. Out of all the Collectives, she was the one he had the most difficulties to engage with socially or otherwise.
With the matter of the dryad having been resolved, they turned their mind to the most pressing issue facing the Swarm. Food and recyclable resources. Destroying the forest and the nearby plains to harvest all the potential sources of biological material, had always been a short-term solution.
It had caused the Swarm to massively expand in size even if it seemed to lead to slower "leveling" for Mar, and that course of action had given the resources to begin building real industrial infrastructure. However, that infrastructure would be useless once the entire land had been cleared of non-swarm material. What then?
Fungal-Floral Network was close to having made an acceptable substitute and vegetables, that could be harvested without damaging the plants themselves. As self-damage was the real issue. The Swarm was incapable of truly cannibalizing itself, the closest it could get would be to cut off poisoned limbs as it were.
But, the real issue was larger sources of Biomass and making them continuous. Animal husbandry was a key here, but how to do it without betraying the mission? That was the key aspect that Logistics-Collective had been tasked to investigate.
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Which, they did with much gusto. Presently, they were hoping to develop a form of regenerating Unit that could be continuously "slaughtered". Fungal Zombies were sadly too toxic to be consumed, and Workers and Soldiers were too metallic to be effectively eaten. And trying to eat a Subject would be difficult as the conscious mind would struggle with that.
So, far they had not been successful. But once that was done they could begin looking into a proper substitute for trees as construction materials.
"Stone substitution is inefficient at the moment, and we lack the infrastructure, technology, and resources for metal and glass buildings"
Logistics-Collective grumbled as they spent his allotment of the Adaptive trait to once again attempt to experiment on one of the Fungal Zombies. Attempting to purge the corruption that made them largely inedible unless ground down to the purest grade of Biomass. They were once again not successful despite spending several hours altering the pig.
"Maybe, I am approaching this from the wrong angle. The Elysian Flesh Mistresses could be the answer for the problem, I must request one to add them to my staff."
Logistics-Collective had another project they could spend their time on since they couldn't experiment more on attempting to create an animal that could be slaughtered and still live while being edible.
They were probably unique among the Collectives in that they had begun a project without having been ordered to do so, implicitly or otherwise, by Mar. Fungal-Floral Network was incorrect when she stated that only the Dominion Tree was outside of her collection of Fragments. There was one other exception that they had kept deliberately hidden.
Mar had many memories, most had been lost, but among the ashes of their soul there were interesting tidbits. Logistics-Collective had gathered every Unit and Subject that they could hold, who had remnants of memories about one particular subject. Machinery, or more specifically computers.
"The supreme controlling entity has not fully explored this aspect of themselves yet. It is only proper that I do so in their stead so that they can focus on the grand directives."
Had been the justification that Logistics-Collective had used once they started allocating spare resources towards one particular endeavor. It began once Logistics-Collective was appraised of one of the possible trees with dryads connected to them. This particular tree had not had a living one, once infected the tree had released the corpse of a withered hag out of it. She had looked like a woman made out of long decayed wood, but once infected it was clear that while large parts of the tree were corrupted and dead. It was not entirely so.
What had made it notable to the Logistics-Collective was that it was far away from the Fungal-Floral Network, and it was an incredibly wide tree. It almost looked more like a hill than a tree, and Logistics-Collective had dutifully hollowed out the unliving parts, but specifically deactivated Regeneration for it with the exception of what it needed to survive.
"It is more a proof of concept than anything else."
They had then diverted insects, Spiderling Engineers, and four Subjects to the tree to have them begin the work. One was an old wise woman who had been the closest Hor had to an alchemist. Two were smith apprentices that were almost ready to become journeymen of their craft. And the last was one of the newborn Awakened Scarecrows. He was there to learn rather than directly participate.
"Trying to convert silica into silicone is the hardest part."
Logistics-Collective watched as the project was slowly trying to convert the magical tree...into a massive living computer. lt was very much a work in progress, but they were patient. One day, computing technology would become part of the Swarm.
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Magic-Collective
Despite now having almost 50 magical wielders...in the technical sense, magic was still largely a mystery to the Sovereign Swarm. Especially, how they could not directly wield magic themselves, yet contained Subjects who could. All of the available Magical Subjects were pooled together to form one of the newborn lesser Collectives.
Magic-Collective was the strangest of paradoxes because he was both young and ancient at the same time. Practically newborn in that a good part of him comprised of magic users in training who had been created mere days or at best weeks before. And at the same time he contained the oldest being in the entire Swarm.
He had the memories and knowledge of Ysandra the Dryad, the greatest remaining out of the Dryads of Halla and probably the one who had always been the most magically inclined. She who had conversed with Archmages and her knowledge was the bedrock on which the Swarm's understanding of magic was built.
Second, was the spell tome of course, but that was immaterial in the short term. He was born once a group of new Mages and Cultists were added to the Swarm, and 10 of them were sent back to help Ysandra teach magic to the underground dwelling Subjects. Giving him a much-needed human perspective on magic, which truly began to open the doors to what magic could be. And especially the convergence points between Faith and Magic, which were the specialty of Cultists apparently. They would be interred in the caves for life to serve the Swarm there until the time came when they would surface and truly bring the world to its knees.
Or that was at least the intent, until the order was passed down that Ysandra and the 10 Magic-Users were going to be deployed to the Dungeon. Which made Magic-Collective panic.
"I can't be without them, my mind would fracture. You must understand that unlike the rest of you, I am vulnerable to such shifts."
Magic-Collective opined to Hor and Antmite General, who were the Collectives he was the most involved with. Outside of Logistics-Collective, but he knew that talking to him would be fruitless. That one lived for the commands would not intercede with the source of all power on his behalf.
"You should just add more Subjects to your pool then, we all have to make sacrifices here. Poor Antmite General was almost decimated by that lava elemental, show some perspective."
"Actually, I was more than decimated. Recent calculations with the help from Logistics-Collective made it clear that I lost about 30% of my active Unit roster."
Hor who looked like a living city spoke with the Antmite General, who appropriately looked like a giant ant/termite hybrid with a general's cap on his head. Magic-Collective had yet to form a solid mental image of himself, so he just appeared as a cloud of shifting energies. The town sounded exasperated with him and Antmite General radiated so much pain and loss that it almost put him off.
"Yes, yes, I understand that. But you two are very much my only allies in this."
"Allies? We are all allies in the war. Our work for the sovereign commander cannot be selfish Magic-Collective. Every Collective plays apart from the most newborn of childlings like Fortress to the most experienced and venerable of us like Fungal-Floral Network. Now, Hor he can't just simply add people to his Collective. Magic-Collective needs Subjects because only they are capable of true magic and only that is what needs to be in him. Units would just pollute his potential."
Antmite General spoke with the harsh authority of a leader and his impatience with both was clear. Rather than continue to argue Magic-Collective bowed his head and retreated away from them.
"I am not even objecting to them being sent, just that I want them to remain part of me for the duration of their mission."
He grumbled forlornly to himself and he floated aimlessly for a moment until he noticed that one of the Awakened Scarecrows was trying to practice magic by himself.
Arty was one of the few who tried to combine two schools of magic in his education, the idea coming to him once the 10 servants of House Valean joined the collective. He tried to weave the power of heat magic and the unique magic of the Sovereign together to form one whole. Magic-Collective could feel the cloth skin of his body tense with excitement as he stood alone in a small cavern room and began chanting carefully while waving his fingers around while chanting.
"Nonono Arty, not like that you are projecting the energy unevenly. The heat control spell you are attempting requires efficient usage of power so it can covert itself into heat properly."
Magic-Collective chided lovingly before transferring the memory of how the spell was cast and let it play through the young scarecrow until he saw the mistakes.
"Now, try again but this time chant more clearly and focus."
With the established magics like the nature, lava, fire, and heat magical schools that he possessed a broad knowledge of, Magic-Collective could directly help the various new trainees learn. Elysian Flesh Mistresses, Awakened Scarecrow, and a few Human youngsters had been chosen for their potential aptitude and sent together to learn under Ysandra and the book.
The wrinkle was truly with the unique Sovereign Swarm magic, a school of magic concerning itself with dominion, biological manipulation, and other undiscovered branches besides those. He had only the experience of the older Magic Users to use as a guide for them. Beyond that, it was an unexplored field and they were the first pioneers of it.
He watched through Arty's eyes for a while as he cast the spell again and again until it was properly in place before retracting his perspective and focusing it elsewhere. Worrying about the future psycho-spiritual lobotomy he was about to go through was too big a distraction from his duties. Which were threefold: help the students learn, oversee all magical developments, and serve as a consultant to the other Collectives in mystical matters.
Fungal-Floral Network, Adventurer Collective, and the Logistics-Collective were the ones asking him the most questions. The former because of her tendency to infect and covert plants with magical properties, the second because she needed all the knowledge she could get to help fine-tune her Units to survive the Dungeon, and the latter because he was an intrusive busybody who overpoliced the energy allotments.
"I couldn't help but overhear your...discussion with Antmite General and Hor."
A grumpy voice spoke behind him as Magic-Collective floated around worriedly. Old Yoss stood behind him, or rather zis mental presence was there. Physically speaking zie was busy helping to prepare the large fields outside of Hor to receive seeds that could be planted even in autumn. Magic-Collective turned with some suspicion, Avatars were...strange. True individuals, yet they had equal authority in the Swarm or even more so than the Collectives.
They could command Units just as easily as the Collectives could and unlike them had true bodies to affect the world with. Magic-Collective was young and old so he understood the tendency to compete that came between rivals, Magic-Users competed all the time. Mages and Witches especially, but Dryads, Cultists, and Students were just as prone to rivalries as them. He knew that in these Avatars lay the true rivals of the Collectives, and yet maybe this time a rival could help...his interests.
"What of it?"
He asked with some trepidation and the ex-farmer smiled broadly.
"I think I could be of some help to you. Let us...talk about it."
And Magic-Collective, afraid of losing it all even if it was only temporarily...listened.