Cyclone

Hivemind

While preparations were being started for a much larger and well supplied caravan of explorers, complete with a portable "tent" built from papery mesh, we sent a drone to ask the bees about the surrounding lands. They know quite a bit as their flying nature and a desire for variety in their nectar has led to them exploring a wide area. Though it was difficult and slow for them to convey much about the outlying regions through gesticulations, we eventually gleaned some knowledge. We're getting better at communicating, too; a sort of pidgin language is developing.

They warned us that the grasslands eventually give dry up and give way to a bleak and sandy landscape out west. It seems to extend quite far, but as there are hardly any flowers to pollinate, the bees rarely venture in that direction. Perhaps there is something beyond the desert, but they've never tried to go out so far. They also warned us of the presence of dangerous predators, confirming our suspicions of what might have happened to that fateful scouting party that vanished in the northwest so long ago. They described one type of lizard that lurks still and hidden in plain sight with natural camouflage, and which likes to stalk the various flowers or edible plants. In light of these revelations, perhaps the expedition and colonization efforts should be focused elsewhere. There still is a reasonably large patch of land between our central hive and the swamp that is both habitable and seemingly rarely frequented by frogs.

But the bees told us of more than just the west. If we can ever manage to cross the river, they have claimed that the land there is lush and rich with a natural bounty of fruits and berries. However, there is a forest much denser than the woodland near our own home, and within those trees lurk all manner of other insects and creatures that would prove to be competition.

The queen that we spoke to surprisingly knew little of the lands south and the rest of the forest. It turns out that the various beehives are all independent from one another, and that we've only ever been in communication and good relations with one--that one nearest to the forest's edge. By longstanding agreement with the other bee colonies, our friends do not venture south or very deep into the forest, as those lands sustain the other colonies. Presumably they're rich enough, though, as the other two beehies seem to be getting along fine.

The beehive nearest to the beetles' former territory has been somewhat skittish near us, which probably doesn't come as much of a surprise seeing as they were a front-row witness to our invasion and conquest of the beetles. But after seeing our dealings with the other beehive, they don't seem to feel overly threatened or fearful, just a bit cautious. Perhaps we should investigate establishing relations with them as well.

The continued usage of the mutated spitting workers has led to their saliva gradually becoming an even more powerful adhesive agent. Our two hives have finally been completely coated and built with our biological concrete, but now they are being fortified with additional layers and built even taller. Some attempts were made at developing a breed of flying warriors, but the effort was in vain. Our warriors have evolved to be much larger and better armored than the rest of our species, and it's gotten to the point that any wings are just vestigial. They are too bulky to actually take flight, and perhaps we would achieve better success by starting with the princes or even the workers. But then we would face the issue of having flying insects suited perhaps for scouting, but without the stingers, strong forelegs, armor, or mandibles of the warriors that make them adept at combat. They would need to gradually develop those weapons again, or else adapt a new means of fighting.

Hivemind

@LogantheCat

Lol thanks, it's actually the artwork for an obscure Hearthstone card.



Basically what Gentleman said; I'm trying to preserve at least some element of realism (so no mind control or telepathic powers), but if there's some way to use a bunch of scientific jargon to explain away an ability (like maybe hallucinogenic venom that makes a creature receptive to commands, instead of outright mind control) then it might slide. No harm in trying, though. Your suggestion might get taken and just get toned down a bit if I think it's too far out there.

Hivemind

In response to the threat of large creatures, the warriors developed stingers on their rear ends. While their mandibles still contain a light paralytic agent, their stingers inject a venom that denatures proteins and effectively "melts" flesh. It is somewhat slow to act and usually only lethal in quite large doses, but quite painful. The threat of being stung has begun to deter most animals from our berry bushes, but the bees have agreed to help us by giving warning when larger beasts come near.

Additional evolution of the warriors has lead to them now possessing latent receptors for a certain hormone found in the saliva of princes. It has no effect upon young warriors, but the bodies of more mature ones react quickly to it. Upon receiving the hormone, they become incapacitated for some time as their bodies once more enter a state of rapid growth usually associated only with the larvae. At the end of their vegetative state, they are much larger and stronger with thicker armor. Their minds are somewhat enhanced, and their lifespan is elongated as their age is practically "reset" and old wounds are regenerated during the growth phase. In this way, our princes are able to find the most grizzled veterans among the warrior drones and "promote" them that they can continue to serve the hive in a greater capacity.

No new notable threats seem to have emerged, which allows a brief respite where we could look inwards or perhaps focus on expansion.

Hivemind

The foremost general prince responsible for the conquest of the beetles was stationed at their nesting grounds with an occupation force. As it turned out that the fungi on and around the log and its surrounding area was edible and nutritious enough to have long been a staple of the beetles' diet, as part of his role he oversaw its cultivation and harvesting. That fungus, along with the occasional berries, was given to select male beetles. In time their eggs would hatch and their diminished numbers would rise, but in the meantime a breeding program was underway. Because the beetle males were expected to offer the females food as part of their courtship ritual, it was easy to identify the docile ones and ration them much larger portions of food so as to allow them a much better chance at mating.

Experimentation into bringing the beetles into the fold of the Hivemind hadn't achieved success (and neither had any attempts at making hybrids between our species and the beetles), but at least through controlling their females and influencing their breeding we were able to discourage the overexpression of negative traits like individualism and rebelliousness. The beetles overall seem to be somewhat less intelligent than us to begin with, which probably helps our cause because we don't think that they fully understand what we're doing to them or that the prince now placed in charge of their home was responsible for the deaths of so many of their peers. For the most part, they actually seem reasonably happy and content with the accommodations that we allow. We found some success training them to utilize their greater size and strength to assist the worker drones in harvesting berry or fungi crops and in cutting, carrying, and pulverizing twigs into wood pulp that's used in construction. With the beetles' help, construction of the much larger and reinforced hives was expedited.

The beetle captives that we kept in our own nests with all their limbs severed were finally killed and eaten, given that they are no longer of any particular use to us. The others of their kind need not know, and hopefully never shall. What few troublesome elements that arise in the remaining beetle population are being similarly dealt with by a few vigilant princes working on the breeding project.

On the topic of other projects, more berries were planted in the open space east of the main hive, and some of the closer ones forming a ring around it have begun to bear their fruits. This great increase in food supplies is allowing us to sustain a larger population, but it's also begun to draw the attention of colossal creatures from deeper in the forest and from the grasslands to the northwest. This increased attention from the giant animals is becoming a real problem, as it means we have to devote even more resources towards protecting the food supplies. There's also the issue that nothing less than a swarm of warriors is capable of killing such large creatures. In small groups, they end up being eaten or just proving to be minor annoyances despite their paralytic venom presumably causing muscle cramps and minor pain in small doses.

Before we needed to resupply him, the prince leading the exploration team retreated back to our territory. He, as well as all the bugs under his command, looked haggard and worse for wear, and at least half of the warriors that had accompanied him were gone. He detailed having discovered a horrible land far to the east, where the grasslands ends and the river widens and bends. There pools of stagnant or slow-moving water breed all manner of horrors, the tall reeds shelter predators, and what looks like solid ground is sometimes a muddy slurry that traps any who steps into it and leaves them doomed to slowly sink and suffocate. Inside of this swampy fen were water moccasins, giant snakes that helped contribute in part to the expedition's diminished numbers, but also frogs. The frogs had not only eaten numerous warriors, but they'd actually pursued them some ways beyond the edge of the wetland and hunted them until they'd gone almost a full third of the way back! Such a savage land also bred savage insects; the scouts reported having seen tiny flying bugs with long, needle-like mouths. If for some reason the hivemind ever decided to try and conquer that swamp, those mosquitoes would probably be the only ones with which diplomacy could even be attempted.

The Land

Hivemind

One of the gigantic beetles received its tribute at a location that left it almost perfectly between the satellite nest and one of the lost bunkers. Having selected that particular one as an ideal target for capture, we waited for the next beetle raid on the berry bushes, offering some token resistance so as to throw off any suspicion. The raiders began making their escape, but lo and behold, the gigantic beetle was leaving the treeline and coming toward them this time, chased by a host of our own warriors that had emerged from under that one bunker behind and moved to flank. They'd quickly overwhelmed and killed the bunker's occupants before rushing the giant beetle, who had no safe direction to flee. Moving into the berry bush clearing brought the beetle closer to the raiders that could protect it, but that maneuver also left it completely surrounded as the berry bushes' guards as well as reinforcements from inside the satellite hive now had the monstrous beetle completely surrounded.

Its monstrous size allowed it to kill or maim several warriors. Some worker drones on hand helped by spitting sticky globules at the giant beetle (as well as any others that got too close) and eventually the giant beetle succumbed to a combination of warriors pinning her down, adhesive spit awkwardly making her limbs clumsy as they stuck to one another and to the dirt and leaves around, and finally paralytic venom as a few warriors were able to find vulnerable spots in her armor. The now-helpless beetle was picked up and slowly carried back toward the hive as a prisoner, and as predicted, other beetles from the treeline saw this and tried to charge to her rescue. It was in that time, where they had fully exposed themselves and ran out of their spots in a disorganized scramble, that the warriors underneath all of the other bunkers and ambush points burrowed upward and struck.

Sure, there were enough of the beetles rushing to save the giant one that they managed to kill and drive off the warriors holding it captive, but it was still so thoroughly incapacitated that it couldn't even move, much less try to escape with the would-be rescuers. As more and more of our kind emerged from behind and from the nest and from hiding spots in the upper reaches of the berry bush, seemingly everywhere, the chaotic battlefield started to devolve into a massacre. At least two hundred of the beetles were slain or captured around the clearing. A few managed to escape, but the princes led the warriors in pursuit. We followed them back to their nesting site and continued pressing the attack there, storming the leaf pile and fallen log. We experienced much greater casualties there as we fought a cornered and determined foe and no longer had the advantage of surprise and overwhelmingly superior coordination that we'd had in the previous surprise attack, but in the end it was still a victory.

Upon raiding the beetles' nesting site, we discovered numerous hatching ideas filled with countless eggs and occupied by the giant beetles. It would seem that those large ones were simply the females, and the smaller beetles males that would try to curry favor by bringing offerings of food. Well, that was one mystery solved.

With dozens of males and a few females captive, studying the beetles was easier and we began to understand the basics of how they communicate. Maddeningly enough, they seem to be inferior organisms that lack a hivemind. Unlike the bees and us, each beetle runs around trying with its own thoughts trying further its own goals, and though they live together in communities and do care about the welfare of the collective, they don't truly become one with the collective. They lack unity and coordination, and that was ultimately what left them so disorganized in their battles against us and ultimately caused their downfall.

Now some questions arise, like what we should do to all the live beetles and eggs that we captured, whether we should move into this newly opened territory that had been theirs, and whether we should try to search for the inevitable few that would have managed to escape.

Hivemind

@Dusty

Getting the cold feet now?

Hivemind

Whilst we were rebuilding the hives with our new material and deciding upon how to react to the beetle incursion, the beetles began to grow bolder. A series of skirmishes broke out, with each starting when large groups of the beetles would suddenly emerge from behind their lines and charge to the berry bushes. There they would quickly battle with whatever guard force was present and in the midst of the fighting, some of them would seize berries. Then after about only a minute of carnage, before more of our own warriors could arrive as reinforcements, they would begin to make off with their looted berries. Pursuit was futile, as more of them would be lurking in the trees and the fortified posts beyond.

A few of the beetles inevitably fell during these assaults, and though they tried to fight to the death, the warriors were able to take some live captives as requested. When placed near one another and observed, they can signal one another through twitching and clacking. Some patterns have been observed by the princes studying the captives, but the work in deciphering the beetles' language is probably quite hindered by how the warriors had to bite off numerous limbs and large chunks of the beetles' mandibles to subdue them, and being maimed like that limits the beetles' ability to communicate. The beetles don't seem to have possessed any secrets that helped them to fare better in the rain; we presume that they simply don't mind the mud, live mostly above ground where flooding is less of a concern, and can swim better than we can anyways.

While all of this nonsense occurred, we were naturally tunneling in preparation for our surprise attacks on the ambush points and bunkers that they'd stolen from us during the rainstorm. That plan had its merits, but it also necessitated a fair amount of time and caution. Fortunately the beetles seemed content to maintain their tactic of encircling the satellite hive and occasionally raiding the berry bush; no doubt they thought that this siege tactic was weathering us down, but of course the satellite hive's underground connection to the main hive meant that secret supplies and reinforcements kept coming in with the beetles none the wiser.

Interestingly, on a few occasions the warriors spotted gigantic beetles waiting behind the siege lines to receive the berries as an offering. These beetles are easily twice the size of their smaller peers, which range from equal to slightly larger than our own warriors, and they sport extra thick armor and even larger mandibles for it. Their bulk makes them quite intimidating; however, these giant beetles have never tried to partake in the raids and have never engaged us, which seems to rule out the initial suspicion that they'd developed a warrior type of their own.

The bees buzzed overhead throughout this entire standoff much as they always had; however, now that the hivemind understood the creatures' mannerisms better, it was clear that they were much more observant than we initially assumed. Though the drones always seem to be busy and occupied with their own tasks to the point of being oblivious to the ground, they in fact seem to break up their regular patterns and fly in different paths to investigate any battles or movements of interest. So they are certainly aware of our conflict with the beetles, but thus far have neither said nor offered anything.

Our preparations are now done. We've finished the tunnels and bred more drones to help replace some of those lost in the flooding, and numerous princes are standing by to command waiting armies of warrior drones to breach the last little bits of dirt separating them from the beetles' positions on the surface above. We could either give them the affirmative now, or stall a bit longer to do other things like request aid from the bees or reconsider our plans given this new knowledge of the mysterious giant beetles.

Hivemind

When the rain finally ceased, loss assessment and preventative measures for the future could begin. Despite damage control, there were hundreds of drones that drowned or died in collapses while parts of the food stores and other supplies were waterlogged, but the queens and the vast majority of the eggs and larvae were relocated and kept safe.

Good ideas had at least been generated for how the Hivemind should move forward. A great deal more berry bushes were planted in such a way as to form a ring around the central hive; the satellite one already had a good deal of foliage cover, and planting more berry bushes would have been difficult in such a densely forested patch of land. Following the earlier talks, the bees had greatly increased their presence around the berry bushes; they now seemed to feel more comfortable doing so. And they took notice of the new berry bushes sprouting, and to that they buzzed in delight; it seemed that we had inadvertently done what their queen had been trying to ask of us. In hindsight, it seemed rather obvious that she was trying to tell our prince that they wished for us to plant more bushes.

The new worker drones used sand and wood pulp to make their papery mortar, with the occasional pebbles stuck into the goop. This new biological concrete was being used to coat the walls of the underground tunnels and build up the above-ground mounds. It would take quite some time to finish, but the end product would one day be hives that were much larger and sturdier. They'd not just be less prone to weakening and collapse when wet, but also almost entirely resistant to wind erosion.

As our species recovered from the disaster, warriors and workers once again began leaving the hives in droves; however, the warriors found a nasty surprise when they tried to take up their old posts and patrols. While they had expected the various bunkers and ambush points along the border with the beetles to have been washed away and ruined, the posts had seemingly been repaired and occupied by the enemy! Beetle warriors had taken advantage of our vulnerable state to press their borders a good ways farther, forming a tight circle around the original patch of berry bushes and the satellite hive that protected them. Our own efforts to entrench that border had also been turned against us, for even though we obviously knew where we'd built all of those ambush points and redoubts, they were naturally in defensible spots that were now being manned by a vigilant and formidable foe.

There was at least some good news, though. Some messengers from the scouting expedition had finally made it back to report that our prince had ventured a long ways east and encountered no other creatures of note. There's just wide tracts of open grassland ripe for the taking, and while it seemingly lacks any new resources of note, it would make a fine place to direct future expansion. He is intent upon pressing farther east for a while longer before turning back.

The Land

Hivemind

At a modest yet reasonable pace, the princes were growing more mentally capable, and with that increased brainpower came something very unusual for insects...boredom. When faced with little to contemplate or do, they started to find things to occupy their time. Often this took the form of strange hobbies, like having the worker drones organize gathered sticks and pebbles by size or scour the riverside for pebbles of unusual colors. Sometimes it acted as a much more productive driving force, though. The thought of exploring the lands east of the forest and the central hive arose, and no sooner did it reach one restless prince's mind than he was rallying dozens of drones. Within an hour that prince was had launched the scouting expedition. To ensure that this group did not vanish into thin air as had that fateful group that ventured the other way into the grasslands, the prince was accompanied by mostly warrior drones and had made plans to send back small groups of messengers back at regular intervals.

Meanwhile, the prince that had been assigned to treat with the bees began attempting to explain the Hivemind's role in the creation of those new berry bushes, but the bee queen seemed to be well aware. Perhaps the drones that served her weren't as oblivious as they seemed. She brushed past the topic and kept pointing at the new bushes as well as their surrounding area, though the prince wasn't sure what to make of that. He in turn tried to express a receptiveness towards allowing the bees to drink the berry bushes' nectar (though he did also at least try to solicit some sort of favor in return) but communication was difficult and after the better part of a day, the queen grew tired of the talk and retreated back into the beehive. The prince was brought back onto the ground where his bodyguards waited, and then he made his way back to the central hive.

A period of some heavy rains followed. Flooding killed many drones and damaged parts of both hives, as well as made it quite difficult for the drones to leave the hive in search of food or to patrol the borders. The bees were not seen either, and seemingly were waiting out the bad weather in their nests and consuming stored food. On the other side were the beetles, who didn't seem so disturbed by the rain at all. They maintained an active presence patrolling in the forest even as our own hivemind's warriors hunkered down in their small outposts or retreated back to the nests for shelter.

The newly mutated worker drones that possessed the capability to make the papery material proved quite valuable. By coating the most vital tunnels and chambers in the nests with their biological building material, they were able to stop large parts of the nests from caving in. Still, large parts of both nests did collapse. That was the folly of living inside of dirt mounds.

The rain probably also explained why no word had come from the prince leading the eastward-bound scouting expedition; they too were likely rendered immobile by flooding, but unfortunately they probably had even less shelter than everyone else.

Hivemind

Official Discord