Southern Realms and Those Who Dwell Within
Findings of Iyo, Mechanist Lorekeeper
The Southern Hive does not barter. It does not trade, nor does it welcome outsiders with open arms. It is a kingdom of chitin and hunger, where the will of the Hive Queen is absolute and her children obey without question. In the depths of the Southern swamps, beneath the twisted roots and thick vines, stands Royal Hill. A pulsating, breathing fortress of hive towers slick with resin, their walls alive with the scuttling of countless drones.
For generations, the Southern Hive has been an enigma, spoken of in whispers by traders who dare not venture too close. Unlike their Western kin, they do not tolerate independence. To a Southern Hiver, there is only the Hive and those who serve it, or those who are consumed by it. Their Praetorians, massive warriors bred solely for war, patrol the swamps, dragging captives back to the hive to be broken, reshaped, or devoured.
Legends tell of a time when the Southern Hive and Western Hive were one, but when the Queen of the South declared herself sovereign, she severed the connection, turning her Hive into something alien, something predatory. To this day, those who flee the Southern Hive speak of the Overmind, a relentless presence in their thoughts that whispers commands even from afar, calling them home, calling them back into the fold of the Hive.
Legends tell of a time when the Southern Hive and Western Hive were one, but when the Queen of the South declared herself sovereign, she severed the connection, turning her Hive into something alien, something predatory. To this day, those who flee the Southern Hive speak of the Overmind, a relentless presence in their thoughts that whispers commands even from afar, calling them home, calling them back into the fold of the Hive.
The few who have encountered the Southern Hive Queen and lived, claim she is not like any other ruler. She does not speak, she only stares, and her thoughts invade your own. The longer you stand in her presence, the harder it is to think, to remember who
you were before you stepped into her domain. Some say that the strongest-willed can resist, but most simply fall to their knees, accepting their fate as another drone in her ever-growing empire. The Southern Hive does not conquer with banners or armies. It conquers with inevitability. You are either with the Hive or consumed by it. And the Hive is always hungry.
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