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Cyclone male Member

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Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like 12 years ago!

I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.

Discord: VMS#8777

Most Recent Posts

In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay
After eating the berries, the bugs spat out the seeds. Some worker drones gathered these and ported them a short ways outside the main hive before dropping them onto the ground, and after continuing this for a long enough time, we managed to get a patch of sprouts to emerge. There are green bushes poking out of the grass, but so far they have yet to bear much fruit.

As the new generation came of age and grew to their adult sizes, the Hive became very crowded with the presence of no less than a thousand of our species. So it was split up, with hundreds of drones as well as a new queen establishing a satellite hive on the other end of the tunnel to the forest, further cementing control over the berry bushes and allowing for the Hivemind to project more of its power into that region. Using the new hive as a base of operations, more troops of bugs were sent out to scout the forest.

The Hivemind was conflicted and so the warriors have not yet agitated or attempted to capture the bees, but they did note the creatures' presence and report back the exact location of three beehives. There was of course the one that the Hive had previously seen and long known about, up in a tree near the forest's border, but the drones also found another two beehives deeper into the forest. It's unclear if the three beehives are independent or if they work together as our Hivemind, but in either case, it would be easy enough to send warrior drones up a tree to storm one of the hives using the element of surprise; the bees have never really paid attention to us or seen us as a threat, after all. Of course, one expects that there would still be quite a few casualties when attacking a beehive.

Scouting troops also managed to figure out where all these beetles are coming from--deeper into the forest is a huge fallen log covered with fungi, and next to it is a pile of fallen leaves and sticks. The beetles swarm out from burrows under the log and the leaves. It's impossible to get an accurate count, but there could easily be 300 of them in that nest and the surrounding area. This information didn't come freely though. Despite trying not to engage, several small scouting groups were attacked by the beetles, and some were wiped out altogether. It seems that those bugs have grown quite intolerant of us, and any presence in their territory is met with immediate aggression. Skirmishes along our border are somewhat rare, though. The beetles still keep to their side of the forest. It seems as though they've wisely ceded the berry bushes to us, and all the beetles that we see skulking around the edges of our territory are more akin to border guards than some raiding force.

Directed by the Hivemind's will, the warriors have develop larger mandibles with more crushing force. They still retain the paralytic venom, which has been useful against larger foes like spiders and snakes. We've long since rooted out the population of spiders and snakes that resided within the vicinity of the berry bush and our forest nest (and the spoils of that were spidersilk, snakeskin, meat for it, and knowledge of their various traits), but occasionally some of them still wonder in from outside and need to be dealt with.

In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay
Those drones that ventured off into the grasslands never do return. They were expendable and so not terribly missed, but their disappearance was still foreboding enough that no further expeditions were sent in that direction.

The Hivemind dispatched a sizable troop into the forest. Usually the drones didn't go much farther than the outskirts (or fell prey to snakes, birds, or any other manner of terrors if they did) but that was when they went alone and had no warriors to protect them. This time, the troop ranged deeper into the forest than the Hive had ever dared to go before. Along the way, they were attacked by a giant spider, but through the use of sheer numbers and a newly evolved paralytic venom inside the warriors' mandibles, they were able to slay it with only a few casualties taken. Bees buzzed obliviously overhead as the spider was dismembered and sent back to the Hive in pieces to serve as food. Waste not, want not.

After that was sorted, the troop pressed on and they found a great thicket filled with berry bushes. There was immediately a skirmish between the troop and several beetles that had been inhabiting the area. Despite the beetles having a nasty bite of their own and being like tanks with shells too thick to be pierced by the warriors' mandibles, they were defeated. The beetles simply were not as numerous or coordinated as our species and so they were easily pinned down and rendered helpless while their legs were bitten off.

Some of the beetles scurried off and retreated deeper into the forest. Instead of pursuing, the troop of drones began gathering huge quantities of berries and carrying them back to the Hive. More expeditions followed, made easier by a winding tunnel that was eventually dug from the nest all the way to the edge of the forest. More beetles were seen skulking around in the following days, and though they've been driven away from the berry bushes, they probably have a nest somewhere and the Hivemind can only wonder at what other resources they might still control.

With the berry bushes now solidly inside the Hive's territory, the food supply has massively increased. Things got frisky back at the Hive, and the Queen spawned an unprecedented horde of larvae. There are currently only about 250 drones and one queen, but there's about to be a population boom of hundreds when the new generation grows. This opens up the possibility of establishing more Hives, or perhaps even launching a full invasion into the forest or somewhere else.

In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay
With time, some of the Hivemind's drones begin to diverge into a warrior caste. They have grown larger than the generic drones and developed a thicker carapace. Their mandibles are larger and more exaggerated, and while they still retain those as their only true weapon, with greater size has come the ability for them to use their foremost legs to pin down enemies. They have had some opportunities to practice this and train together, and have developed a strategy of using a team of warriors in which several work together to pin down a larger foe while others try to bite its exposed limbs.

Three worker regiments are sent out into the surrounding land. One group ventured into the forest and retrieved some small twigs, while another regiment brought back some pebbles from the riverside. The third group was supposed to head further into the grasslands, but they still haven't returned yet...
In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay
As an OOC note, I meant to imply that an order like "evolve wings" is fine when I said IC, "Perhaps in reaction to some sort of selection pressure or with a conscious effort, the Hivemind could change these characteristics."
In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay
The Hivemind has a moment of introspection, contemplating the situation. The species is large by the standards of most insects, but still rather small. The queen has grown to be about the size of a tree leaf, with all the others ranging from tiny larvae just a bit bigger than grains of sand to the size of cockroaches. The species has minimal polymorphism, with just three types of members: a singular female queen, a few male princes, and two hundred of a generic breed of sterile drones. The drones are not noteworthy in many aspects; they can act as a group to defend the hive, but are prone to wander out alone in search of food and are thus prone to being preyed upon by larger (or more clever) insects or animals. Their only weapons are their mandibles, which they can use to bite and tear off the flesh of smaller creatures, or simply annoy larger ones. Perhaps in reaction to some sort of selection pressure or with a conscious effort, the Hivemind could change these characteristics.

The nest is rather humble. It is little more than a mound of dirt hollowed out by a system of tunnels and warrens, with the queen and the larvae kept safely in a large chamber at the bottom. The only resources that the Hive has to speak of are a few days' worth of food stored inside the hive, as well as the one queen, three princes, and two hundred eager drones. The nest isn't very tall, so the weeds and grass help to hide it.

The nearby forest is known to have berries, which have always been a good (albeit unreliable) source of food., Recently the drones have seen bee nests up in the trees.

In Hivemind → 4 yrs ago Forum: Free Roleplay


In this RP, we all collectively control a hivemind of big bug creatures. The hive of bugs has only just achieved a rudimentary level of sapience, and while great things might be coming for it, the Hivemind is unfortunately somewhat divided and schizophrenic. What's going on inside the bugs' heads sounds more like a party full of screaming kids than anything resembling organized directions.

And you can be one of those voices! Just step on in and start shouting out orders.

Periodically I will post a prompt that says what the Hivemind has been up to (which might include a few suggested courses of action and/or a picture) and then everyone can post on the IC to say what they want to happen next. For instance:



And that's basically it! It's not very complicated, so let's get started.



With a start, the Hivemind sudden realizes that it is aware! Its species has probably existed for a long time, but they have only just achieved sapience and have very little memory or knowledge of anything except for their immediate surroundings. The Hivemind has a few hundred drones and a single nest located in a grassy area between the edge of a forest and a small river.



The Hive has long been stagnant, sending lone drones to forage for food in the forest (risking death by the hands of predators) and gathering just enough to sustain itself and scrape by. Now that the Hive has an intelligence, perhaps things will change.
In Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™! → 5 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay


&


Cyclopes


It was atop a mountain summit that Synros was born once again.

This was neither the greatest nor the least of the Qiangshans’ many peaks, merely the first one that the cyclopes had stumbled upon when they’d first marched that way so many years ago. There had been some great and fiery scaled beast nested up there, but it had been no match for Atlas; the giant had lifted an entire hillock, carried it up the mountain on one shoulder, and then used it to crush the waking beast. Or so the tales went; Atlas had been the first to reach the mount, and the beast’s skull had already been reduced to splinters by the time his smaller brethren caught up. Some suspected that Atlas had merely pummeled it to death with his fists or hurled boulders at it, but the giant insisted he’d crushed it beneath a hill.

In the time since their conquest of the peak that had become their camp, the cyclopes had continued to go about gathering meteorites from far and wide. By Synros’ decree they brought their prizes back their mountain and heaped them up, slowly raising a small pyramid of the black sky-stones. Atlas would have none of it, though. Instead he prowled the mountain range, wandering up and down the slopes in a journey half to satiate his curiosity and the cyclopes’ longing for exploration, and half to appease his now infamous bloodlust. Many a dragon was driven from its nest by the giant’s brawny hands and the massive rocks that he threw.

Decades passed, though the cyclopes had neither concept of years nor sense of time. In those days they roamed their faroff mountains in packs mostly unopposed by and unknown to the rest of the world, and very few perished. The fear of those earliest days began to fade from their hearts, but so too did some of that grim and whetting determination that had accompanied their uncertainty. They were beginning to grow soft, the meteorites were trickling in slower than ever as they’d already scoured many hills a dozen times over, and Atlas was ever more restless, so Synros finally decreed that they had gathered enough. He summoned them all to the peak and they waited days until every last band had returned. Once all of them were accounted for, the demigod spoke. They all watched attentively--all of them save for Atlas, who instead sat down and toyed with a boulder in his hand near the back of the crowd.

"In the dark of night and the stillness of my eye, I have seen visions of the glory and might that is ours to claim,” his great and powerful voice resounded, recoiling off the distant mountain peaks.

It was punctuated by a thunderclap of a crash as Atlas tossed his boulder off the mountain slope. “Then why you tell us to run aroun’, picking up rocks? No glory in that. No strength in scurrying down there like bugs.”

The colossus stood up to his full height and raised his chin to look down on Synros and the whole crowd. He somehow seemed to grow another three hands taller, looming over them like that. Synros frowned and crossed all four of his arms. At first he had thought that he’d found a staunch ally in Atlas, but the so-called Might of the Cyclopes had been an obstacle and an adversary at every turn despite how he’d once proclaimed his friendship-

Atlas wasn’t done. “And why is it that you all listen to him, anyways? Just ‘cause he has four arms makes him better than me? Than us? Just one of mine could hurl him off this mountain!” The giant flexed his arms overhead, and it seemed as if even more rocky flesh erupted out from the gaps between the chiseled muscles. There was freakish muscle upon muscle upon muscle.

The display sent an icy lance of fear into Synros’ spine, but with an indomitable will he fought it off before it could creep into his expression. He is like stone, a mountain made flesh, but stone is not strong, for it will shatter where steel only bends. I must be Steel!

"Brother, I will show you strength,” he finally said. Atlas grinned, and he charged forward, pushing his way through the throngs ever closer to his next battle, with the lusting light in his eye seemed to roar, ’Finally!’

Synros advanced too, but he stopped right before he reached the line of cyclopes, and he stooped down to lift one of the fallen meteorites from its place at the bottom of the pyramid stack. He held it high into the air for all to see, then set it down upon a bench-like flatten rock and struck it with his fist. Then he struck it again, and again, his back to the crowd even as Atlas blindly tried to push forward. Synros knew not what he was doing, but he felt a calling, as if this was just right, and he chose to trust his instincts. His four fists rained down upon the dull grey rock so fast that they were a blur, and the meteorite groaned and glowered with a soft heat, and then it surrendered and was finally broken and shaped to his will. He held up the product for all to see, and it was a great helmet with short, ornamental spikes atop its otherwise functional form. The front was open and gave way for his eye and face to remain unobstructed, so perhaps it was more like a crown.

He held it high, and when Atlas finally broke through the crowd and stood right before his rival, he looked down in confusion. Synros seized the moment and placed the crown upon his head before an awed crowd. And then he took into his hands an even greater meteorite, and he began to forge the rounded end of a mace. "This is my strength, the might I have seen. Watch, and I shall give it to you too!” he proclaimed, and suddenly the throng was rushing forwards to engulf Atlas once more as they crowded as close to Synros as they could be.

And then Atlas knew that he had been tricked and bested, for this was not a contest of true might at all.


In Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™! → 5 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
@AspenIvan for Apademi
In Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™! → 5 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay


&



Cyclopes




The endless night splayed out across the sky and bared all its majesty to those beneath it. The cyclopes, children of that sky, gazed upward with reverent eyes and beheld the anvil of their maker. They knew not what dwelled at the end of those faint little stars that lit up the sky, nor thought to question it, for those things were of their father’s realm and out of reach. Instead they looked to the great meteor shower raining down upon the horizon, and they chased after it.

Between the steady groans of the earth as it shattered beneath his every footfall, Atlas proclaimed, “Make ready! Great light sent from the Father, to battle and test. The strong will crush those lights!”

Following in the giant’s footsteps, what had been a ragged and disoriented people mere hours ago found their courage and their will. Their pace increased with their determination; their wounds and dead and exile all forgotten, it became a steady march. There was enough heat burning in Atlas’ heart to fill the whole horde of them, and so it did. Fire filled their eyes, and what was only a march soon started to morph into a blind charge. But then Atlas drove his heels into the ground and came to a sudden halt. A meteor made its impact no more than a stone’s throw away, and Atlas stood still with arms outspread and eye cast upward.

What was he doing? Daring the heavens to try to strike him down? Trying to catch one of those falling stars? Preparing for an attempt to strangle the night sky itself?

There were hundreds if not thousands of meteorites in this shower, but strewn across the sky as they were, their landings were far apart and few even came close to the massed cyclopes. Synros looked at the first of his brothers standing there with unflinching resolve, and at all the others milling about in confusion, and then he shook his head.

With a steady pace, the demigod made his way to the closest of the fallen meteorites and examined the shattered heap of slag as it laid smoldering upon the ground where it had struck and broken. With one hand, he scooped up the superheated chunk (for its warmth was nothing for a cyclops’ hands of stone) and moved to carry it back to Atlas.

"Atlas, there are many trials to come, but this is not one of them,” Synros preached loud enough for all to hear. "Be at ease, for there is more to this world than battle. Look at how this fallen stone shines!”

The demigod raised his hand, and all looked at the twisted chunk of meteoric iron in awe as it gleamed in the starlight. "This is beauty and power! A gift from the heavens! A Spark of the Maker’s Anvil! These fallen stars are our heritage, and so we must gather them and claim them as our own.”

Atlas reached for the meteorite, and Synros made no effort to stop the giant from snatching the thing out of his hand. The Might of the Cyclopes stared down the tiny lump of iron, then snorted and tossed it back. The others ran off at once to chase after those meteorites that still streaked through the sky and search for the crash sites of those others that had already fallen, but Atlas entertained himself by cleaving apart a hillside and throwing boulders across the landscape.


In Civilization IV - Empires Reborn → 5 yrs ago Forum: Nation Roleplay
The “Cleanup” Crew


A flustered Keylock took off his spectacles and began rubbing them in a bid to stall for time, his near-blind eyes looking at the blurry outline of the dwarf (which now, to him, rather resembled a lumpy boulder) and betraying a hint at the incredulous attitude that came about when anybody questioned one going about party business. Fortunately, a smooth talker was on hand to defuse the confrontation.

Steelwin, a gentlemanly lad raised as the third son in an old-money aristocratic family back in the Kingdom, had made of himself a fairly successful paralegal. In time he expected to move up a few notches in the Red Cap Party’s bureaucratic totem pole, so to speak, especially with his uncle Delfus there to oil the gears. But for now, his youth and inexperience had held him from attaining any senior position. He was left to do the dirty work, like oversee expeditions out in the savage mountains and negotiate impromptu right-of-passage agreements with the local barbarians...

“Ho there, and good morning,” he called out to the guard as he walked a little ways up the path so as to be able to maintain a conversation without the barbarian being made to shout through his beard. “Be at ease, my good fellow, for we come not as intruders but as friends. You see, I have yet to make the acquaintance of this king, but you may rest assured that the various debris and rubbish scattered across this mountaintop was our property. Not to be troublesome, our Director has generously sent us to pick through what is left. We’ll salvage what’s to salvage and dispose of the rest; you may think of us as a clean-up crew. So come along now, surely your king and kith would not object to us sorting out this here mess? I should hope that this friendly encounter doesn’t need to turn into a prolonged litigation, but if it need be, I assure you that my knowledge concerning property rights is-“

There was a faint clink as Keylock started tossing the first of the red crystals into a small sack, taking care to add plenty of other stuff to pad it before he tried to cram in the rest...Upon feeling the stares of those around, he offered a sheepish grin and claimed, “Figured your talking was nice and all, Steelwin, but isn’t it about time we got back to work?”

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