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[h2]The Singing Hive[/h2]
[b]Government Type:[/b]
The Singing Hive could be considered something of an autocracy, but with an emphasis more upon individual merit rather than any silly notion like 'blood' or 'divine right'. The Singing Hive is divided into a number of different castes, such as warriors, artisans, scholars, farmers, builders, etc. and within each caste their is a hierarchy of individuals, with members of the next tier in the hierarchy governing over those below them. Some castes, such as the artisans and farmers, have few tiers aside from common citizens and the highest tier who sit upon the Grand Council which rules the Hive itself. However, the name 'caste' can be rather misleading as it is not a position one is born into; there is a special caste with no political power for nymphs who apprentice themselves to skilled members of real castes and upon becoming a true adult they are allowed to choose which of the castes they join for themselves. In addition the tiers of the hierarchy are based upon one's merit; individuals will be promoted when their superior(s) feel they are ready. The exception to this is the highest tier which governs the Hive itself; the Grand Councillors of all the castes are voted upon by all members of their caste from among the penultimate tier. The Grand Council is the body that debates on matter effecting the hive as a whole, and chooses what action to take. The word of the Grand Council is law, and none may oppose them unless the Grand Council rescinds the decision. However, for the most part the Grand Council does little to limit the personal freedoms of the hive members. Most are free to do as they please so long as it does not harm another, and they do their jobs and are not a burden to the hive. As mentioned previously, things such as blood or divine right matter little as the Hives raises children communally and none can trace their lineage and the only ones with a true claim to divine rule would be the extinct Queens. That is not to say, however, that cronyism is unknown within the system but it is technically a crime; though one that can be difficult to actually prove.
[b]Faction Species:[/b]
Nearly all member of the Hive are Nyr'kiin, with the exception of foreigners temporarily staying and the (extremely rare) non-aboriginal who decided to join the Hive's society.
[b]Species Descriptions:[/b]
As Nyr'kiin itself refers to a variety of insectoid aborigines, the people of the Singing Hive can differ fairly widely. However, despite this the Nyr'kiin do not see such differences as important or mattering in the the slightest. As different as they may look from one another, they are all the children of the Great Mother. In truth, the only time when it matters is when it comes to mating, since not all varieties of Nyr'kiin are able to sexually reproduce with one another.
[b]Location:[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/cAQF2K4.jpg[/img]
[b]Faction Religion/Ideology:[/b]
The faith of the Singing Hive is the faith of the Queens; they revere the extinct Queens as having been living Gods whilst the Ghuls were nought but devils and demons. However, these are not their only beliefs and are hardly indicative of Nyr'kiin religion as a whole. They believe in a pair of great sibling deities, the Great Mother and the False Father. In the beginning there was nothing but a great swirling chaos, but from this chaos the two Gods were born. It was they who shaped the oceans and the and and the sky into what is now Azoth. But it was not enough, and so the two mated and gave birth to the first people of the world: the Old Ones. And the Old Ones were great, but the Old Ones were flawed for despite their greatness and power they warred with one another and broke the land and destroyed themselves. And so the Great Mother wept for the children she had lost to themselves. 

However, this would not be the end of the creation. For though the Great Mother mourned the loss of her children, she could always make more. However this time she would give birth on her own, without the False Father's seed. And what she gave birth to was perfection; from her body came the great Queens who in turn gave birth to the Nyr'kiin themselves. And when the Great Mother saw what she had made, she was overjoyed and wished to show her brother. But when the False Father saw the Nyr'kiin he was overcome with anger at the Great Mother for making them without him, at them for even exiting, but most of all at himself for having been unable to create perfection himself. And so the False Father stormed off, intent on creating his own children without the Great Mother. And, unfortunately for Azoth, he succeeded. His efforts gave birth to creatures that ranged from imperfect, like mankind, to the foul, like the Dratha and Red Gods. But worst of all, his misguided efforts led to the birth of the Ghul.

The Ghul, born of the False Father in his time of greatest rage, burning with hatred with the Great Mother and her Children. While the False Father came to regret his anger the Ghul had already been born and waged war upon the Nyr'kiin, slaughtering them and devouring their Queens. And this was a sin the Great Mother could not forgive, and in a fit of rage and anger she slew the False Father. And when his corpse fell to Azoth it tainted the land, the blood seeping out and becoming a second source of the ichor, creating the Poisoned Sea and Sour Fens. But then her rage subsided and she saw what she had done; she had murdered her brother for an action he regretted and poisoned the world of her children. And so the Great Mother wept for the brother she had lost to her rage. 

But the Great Mother knew she could not weep forever, and she returned to watch Azoth, only the find that the war between the Nyr'kiin and Ghul had already raged and ended. The Great Mother returned to find her Children devoured and her grandchildren motherless, but the Ghul likewise killed or forced to flee to the ends of the world. She watched as her beloved grandchildren's hives decayed and fell into disrepair, as the imperfect children of her brother came to dominate the world. And she blamed herself; so caught up in her anger at the False Father she had failed to protect those she cared about most. And so the Great Mother wept for the children she had lost to her inaction.

And so the Great Mother continues to weep to this day. However, those of the Singing Hive believe that one day the Great Mother shall cease her weeping. And on that day she will birth new Queens for the Nyr'kiin to lead them back to greatness and dominance over their land. The Nyr'kiin, with the aid of their mother, will take back their place a rightful rulers of Azoth and they will make certain that their Great Mother shall never weep again.
[b]Faction Description:[/b]
Located near the eastern coast of the Bay of Teeth, the Singing Hive is one of the few Ancient Hives which remain inhabited by the Nyr'kiin. It is a place where the Nyr'kiin wait until the return of the Great Mother and the Queens to lead them to greatness and dominance once more. They are considered by many to be xenophobic, and this is not entirely true and most have a patronized view of the 'lesser' races born solely of the False Father. However, it is more complicated than that. Despite being mostly self-sufficient, a necessary thing in this world, completely isolating oneself from the outside only invites death. They deal with the wandering bands of the Ashlands as well as the Salished Empire to the east. However, they are right in the middle of the Drathan Union and relations with them have been notoriously chilly. Warriors constantly patrol the lands of the hive for Drathan intruders, and often raid into Drathan lands to free their Nyr'kiin slaves and put the Drathan there to the sword. But there are also rare occasions in which an individual who is not Nyr'kiin wishes to join the Hive as a true member; usually such requests are denied as a matter of course, but if the individual is truly gifted and willing to conform to their society the Hive will accept them as one of their own with less discrimination than one might expect (though it will not be entirely absent).

However, there has always been a movement in the Hive that believed that simply waiting for the Great Mother to cease her weeping is a path only to ruin. They believed that they must go out and prove they are truly worthy of inheriting Azoth once more, which will make the Great Mother take notice and cease her weeping. For much of the Hive's history they have been a small minority, even surrounded by their sworn enemies, but lately their retoric have been gaining traction. As the Salished Empire to the east shows signs of faltering and the Hive's hatred of the Drathan around them continues to only grow, their jingoistic attitudes are becoming increasingly appealing to the Nyr'kiin of the Singing Hive.
[b]Faction History:[/b]
TBD
[b]Important Characters:[/b]
TBD
[b]Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions:[/b]
[i]The Singing Hive[/i]
The major holding of the Singing Hive is, well, the Singing Hive itself. It is quite typical of most ancient hives in many ways, appearing similar to a massive termite mound. It has many towering spires towers, though the hive extends a fair distance beneath the earth itself. However it differs from most other hives in one major detail, that which gives it its name. In eons past it was the pinnacle of Nyr'kiin architecture; its spires were built with numerous extra holes and tubes whose function is not immediately apparent. But according to legend, in times past when the wind blew it would pass through these tubes and the hive would function similarly to a massive musical instrument and create beautiful songs. However, the millennia have not been kind to the Hive. While not the most deteriorated ancient hive chunks of it have cracked and broken, spires have collapsed, and tubes and holes have deteriorated. The result is that with a good wind it simply sound out of tune or just as the wind, but it's not uncommon for the wind to blow in such a way that the hive sounds like it is screaming or howling. Because of this only the Nyr'kiin themselves refer to it as the Singing Hive; most refer to it by less flattering names such as screaming, howling, screeching, wailing, or shrieking. Aside from this, the hive is mostly self-sufficient with fungal farms within the hive itself and wells that dig deep. Unfortunately the water is not always clean, and they must important metal and ores since they have but a single settlement outside of the Hive proper.
[i]Zar Onctes[/i]
Zar Onctes is the only other major settlement in the land claimed by the Singing Hive. Despite its name, it is not actually a city of the Dratha. At least, not anymore. It was originally founded by exceptionally adventurous Dratha and was, for most of its history, left alone by the Hive unless they caught wind of enslaved Nyr'kiin being used in the city. However, in the great war between the Dratha and the Singing Hive it was the first casualty. Conquering and sacked by the Nyr'kiin any Dratha living there were put to the sword and the slaves freed, albeit forced out of the Hive's land and left to the whims of the Ashlands and its denizens. From there, it became the Hive's port and thus an important part of the Hive as it was its major connection to many of the lands outside of the Ashlands. However the Nyr'kiin of the Singing Hive have something of a disdain for the ugly structure of men, and so they simply left the ruins to rot. Instead, they burrowed deep into the group creating a network of tunnels and chambers not unlike an ant colony. The only structures above surface still in use are the docks, and the occasional old structure someone has fixed up to house foreign sailors uncomfortable with the tunnels of the Nyr'kiin.
[b]Relation to other Factions:[/b]
TBD
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