[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pXKrMIJ.png[/img][/center]

The Mordukai spent much of the tail end of the monsoon huddled in the low-altitude caverns of Skyrender, until the rains finally began to dissipate. It began once more on that second-most fateful of days, the day when all seemed right with the world once more, but not until late. With the rains apparently finally ended, and the Mordukai pent up and anxious, the Queens decided to begin moving the Hives back towards the lands they first colonized.

A hundred insectoids picked up camp and began the hike back down the foothills of Skyrender, merry that calm times had finally come again. They set down much of their belongings not far from where they once made camp, though this time the Mordukai decided to settle at higher altitude. They began to set about rebuilding home as the day ended, and the rains once more began in the night.

At first it seemed little more than some errant droplets, irritating a few sleeping Mordukai, but slowly, it became a very clear sprinkle. The Queens were made aware of this issue, and watched for hours as the rain slowly increased, until it was clear something must be done. Before the Sun rose, the Mordukai grabbed what they could and began heading back towards Skyrender.

Yet it was too late. As noon approached, the storm became so intense it was difficult to see. Finding themselves on a forested hill surrounded by rain and the sounds of what may have been creeks become rivers, the Mordukai huddled close together, interlocking their limbs, ensuring no one would be lost.

With lightning crashing down repeatedly not far away, thunder deafening them, winds pummeling them, the Mordukai began to shiver and shake, losing hope. In desperation, the first Queen begins muttering to herself quietly, "End this storm," over and over. As the minutes grow into what feel like punishingly long hours, her fervency grows until her closest Soldiers hear her and begin repeating the mantra. Soon, all ninety-nine Mordukai are chanting together, though to describe it better would be more like ninety-nine roaches hissing and humming together in a giant clump in the middle of an ultra-hurricane. The Drone, meanwhile, was some distance away, yelling at the storm and fighting it with four stone blades.

At the peak of the storm, the strangest thing occurred. Shadowy figures began appearing in the rains, popping in and out of existent around and sometimes between the Mordukai. Panic began to sweep through the Mordukai, for this was something that was truly unearthly and impossible to them. Seeing this, the first Queen understood the Mordukai could likely do little to fight this figures, but she could still steel their souls, as she gripped those who held her hands tighter, declaring with her loudest voice, "This storm will break before we!" A second mantra that spread like wildfire, a mantra to hold themselves against the darkness that surrounded and enveloped them.

Ninety-nine insectoids hummed so loudly and in unison together that it is said that day that even the thunder could not drown them out, the vibrations even moving their bodies as shadows danced between them.

But finally, the darkest seemed to have past as the storm moved east. As the first rays of light began to fall upon the huddled Mordukai, they lifted up their heads towards the sky, relieved. The first Queen looked around and told them, "Sisters, let us pray until we are sure the storms have gone!" As none challenged the first Queen, the Mordukai returned to their 'chanting' as the day wore on.

When the night came, there was a new display awaiting the Mordukai through the branches of the trees; a great display of newborn light stretching from horizon to horizon. It was utterly marvelous to the Mordukai. The first Queen looked upon this display and felt in her heart a message, declaring, "This is the reward for our efforts! We have broken the storm!"

Her closest Soldier raised up her fist, "You lead us through the storm, you told us what to do. You are the Stormbreaker, leader of the Mordukai! Do any stand with me?" Rapidly, the entire peoples of the Mordukai, save for the Drone doing who knows what, stood and raised their fists. The great display above, the Mordukai declared to be the Stormbreaker's Crown, as the new stars appeared to be a crown atop the earth, and through weird logic, a crown atop Stormbreaker's head. And so the first Queen was anointed as Stormbreaker, First of Names, Breaker of the Great Storms, Crowned of the Earth.

To ensure their victory, Stormbreaker ordered, the Mordukai would return to their prayer until they were certain the storms were gone. And thus they prayed for three days and three nights until delirium and exhaustion forced them to slumber. It was then that Stormbreaker received a dream that has been recorded through time as,

[hider=Delirium]Darkness encroached all around. Shadow marauders danced between ghostly Mordukai, fighting with strange tools. Fires rained down from above. I sat in ash and bone adorned me. The color was gone, my people hungered. I drew breath, focused, prayed. The world shifted into peace, prosperity. Carry the prayer.[/hider]
When they awoke, Stormbreaker declared that there would always be at least one Mordukai praying to ward off the darkness, lest they risk the return of the shadows. She further declared that they would build their homes here, naming the spot 'Adamant'. This was now their home, their holy land, the land where they had stood against the storms and the shadows and won, in their opinion.

[hider=Adamant's Location] [img]https://i.imgur.com/GBZaKyT.png[/img][/hider]
This caused some minor issues. Pottery had been refined not long after the storms ended, so storing food, water, and goods was much easier, but Adamant's relative distance from the rivers resulted in some inconvenience. This inconvenience pushed the Mordukai to begin pondering how to move goods around better...

With the air growing colder by the day, the Mordukai begin building their homes of stick, stones, leaves, and mud. They reconstruct their irrigated fields, hunt, gather, and spend more time working on domesticating the Lepus and Ovis. Their objective until they reach what their instincts tell them is winter is to store up as much food as possible and become established, and to those ends they focus.

[hider=Summary]The Mordukai weathered being trapped in the middle of the storm by repeating mantras together and became convinced that the storm broke because of their fortitude in the face of impending doom, calling the new display in the night sky Stormbreaker's Crown, or 'the Crown', for short. Stormbreaker being the first Queen, who has become the established leader of the Mordukai. Her full name is Stormbreaker, First of Names, Breaker of the Great Storms, Crowned of the Earth. On the spot the Mordukai broke the storm, they build their homes, naming the site 'Adamant'. There is always at least one Mordukai praying at the center of Adamant to ward off the darkness.

They discovered Pottery and now working on Fermentation/Wheel.[/hider]