Tsar Vasily Pavlovich
In the beginning, there was the swamp, and from the swamp was birthed all life, and out of the swamp was raised the Eternal Colony on the Hill into whose Ancient House You were hatched, and for whose Queen you have given all of Your life and for which You have been justly rewarded.
The colony of Queen Celia, long a true and helpful partner in trade and mutual defense, is collapsing. Her daughters may not see it yet, and they scramble to prevent it, but it is as true as it is inevitable. In the end, all lesser empires sink back into the swamp, and their ruins are Yours to scavenge. In the end, only the Hill at the Center of the World remains.
Aims of the Consort
Claim the western industry of Celia’s colony for the tsarina. Ensure the rest of the colony is weakened and divided into several smaller states that are no threat to your colony. Eliminate the locusts and bring the liberals to heel. They are threats to all royal rule, and these revolts may inspire uprisings in your own colony.
The Pheromone Net
This colony, much like your own, is laced in layer after layer of pheromones; it is the primary mode of communication between queen and her subjects, however distant. All ants and termites can near-instantly communicate with all other ants and termites in the colony through pheromone trails relayed by bug after bug, though it is only the queen and her consort who possesses the force of will and religious right to broadcast.
The Others
- Queen Cecelia. Daughter of Celia who has cloistered herself in the Celian nursery with a brood of larvae. She is protected by her royal guard—a formidable asset you do not have, but would not mind capturing for your queen. Here is what you know of their breed: ancient giants, all, whose heads are formed in the shape of great shields. If they position themselves correctly, they can block whole tunnels with their heads; but behind the shield, each is spindly and delicate. Queen Celina. Daughter of Celia who has brought the majority of the workers and soldiers under her control, having fallen in with her consort Hofmann. A dangerous duo. She has the right way of things, choosing one consort over all others, but her choice in consort is compromised—surely she has not truly fallen for his liberal lies? Does she not know she is a queen?
- Consort Hofmann. A breed-male who has entranced a good number of his fellow males, as well as some workers whom he has fooled into thinking they might be deserving of royalty themselves—abhorrent. It is good to have a royal duo in himself and Celina, but this man as consort? Laughable. He has no breeding, no genetic training—he is entirely generic. Or rather, you wish he was generic. He is too dangerous to be generic. He and his coalition have taken control of much of the industry in the colony; he has great influence with the factory overseers and engineers, and even the millipedes have taken a liking to him, for he has bewitched them all with promises of parliament and liberal economy. Such things are tributaries in the river of total revolution.
- Chancellor Karolina. An upstart aphid who has forgotten her place in the ant colony. Does she not understand how good the aphids have it? Does she not understand how vital they are in the colony? She and her fellows have grown spikes, entrenched themselves in the aphid gardens, and are trying to force the ants’ hand by preventing access to their nectar. Socialism. An ugly word. They cannot get a further taste of independence, lest the aphids in your own colony get any more ideas than they already have—lest you need to put down more rebellions than you already are.
- Melchiorre. An animal unchained. He and his fellows rampage throughout the colony, screaming their desires for all to hear. Their greatest demand: the death of royalism. They are few in number, but each of his locusts is gigantic, larger than Cecelia’s royal guard and rivalling the millipedes. They must be destroyed, lest they proliferate and breed enough to rival your own colony.