[I really don’t think this is appropriate, Anthony.]
[What do you mean? You used to be a merchant didn’t you? You’ve negotiated for us a ton of times and been fantastic at it. What’s the problem now?]
[I was negotiating with towns and cities that you’d conquered! It’s not exactly hard to force a fair agreement down their throats when there’s a set of mandibles locked around them!]
[I’m fairly sure there weren’t ants standing around with ...
2023-08-23 10:31:48 +0000 UTC
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Got possessed by BG3. Sorry!
Perhaps there is no species on Pangera more suited to mass industry than the ants. They’re addicted to work and have an endless level of focus when applying themselves to even the most mundane of tasks.
Combined with their numbers, it’s little surprise they were able to achieve what they did.
- Excerpt from ‘The Antdustrial Revolution’ by Niahm
“Clear the crucible!” Smithant roared.
2023-08-22 10:29:42 +0000 UTC
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These chaps really take it out of me. Hopefully I've ironed out the errors with the help of my incredible editors!
Enjoy!
He’d done everything he could think of, but Tyron was still unbelievably anxious. What if it went wrong? What if his Advancement options were terrible?
For the millionth time, he cursed his lack of a proper Class guide. Without any clue of what was even possible for a Necromancer to grow into, he was tota...
2023-08-17 05:32:55 +0000 UTC
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Sorry I kept posting Chrysalis to the wrong tier!
“There’s obviously a Skill you’re missing,” Dove groaned for the eleventh time that day. “If it were possible to do what you’re trying to do without it, then you would have figured it out already.”
Tyron ground his teeth as he tossed aside another shin bone. Shins made the most sense for swords, since they, along with the bones of the forearm, namely the ulna, were the hardest in the bo...
2023-08-16 10:02:41 +0000 UTC
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Negotiations were always a delicate matter. There were many things to consider, after all. What was culturally and economically acceptable to both sides? What did each side want from the other? It was around these things that discussions would focus.
The first thing Eran Umizan needed to discern was what it was the Colony desired.
“Do they need food?”
Clearly they had an interest in foodstuffs, as evidenced by the tea and scones. There was a brief con...
2023-08-14 08:28:33 +0000 UTC
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BEHOLD! Brilliant invents gate travel!
2023-08-14 04:55:30 +0000 UTC
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The ability to create functional gates was perhaps the greatest leap forward in magical technology since the time of Rending. Safely securing travel, even at significant expense, between stratum, between cities, and finally connecting the civilisations in a meaningful way, changed life on Pangera forever. No longer where the civilised races forced to huddle in their cities, with only the mightiest of warriors able to leave or travel with any reliability.
Trade fl...
2023-08-14 04:51:35 +0000 UTC
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The best way to ensure peaceful cooperation with your neighbours, is to make sure it's far more profitable to continue living together than it is to go to war. Wars are expensive, messy affairs after all. Pay for arms and armour, pay for training, pay for wages, food, transportation and shelter. And after you’ve paid for all of that, what does your soldier go and do? Dies! They die! Investment is lost on so many levels that it makes my heart bleed.
And for what...
2023-08-14 04:51:04 +0000 UTC
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To be honest, I find the thought of my three pets evolving more exciting than my own prospect of evolution. I can’t wait to see how the three of them turn out. Especially Invidia. The demons are super weird in the way that they evolve, and the little dude has been stuck at tier six for a heck of a long time. His Skills have come along really nicely, since he grinds a heck of a lot more than Tiny, and more than Crinis even.
His mastery of mind magic in particular is stunning...
2023-08-12 05:53:48 +0000 UTC
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The System is responsive to changes in environment and circumstances, that much is known. What is less understood, is why.
Many have tried to predict how the System will adapt to new circumstances, but to my knowledge, they have been confounded every time. Kingdoms rise and fall without ever seeing a unique Class develop within their territory, whereas some people are given access to one for seemingly innocuous reasons.
Famously, Dillip Crant, a sh...
2023-08-12 00:30:57 +0000 UTC
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“Did I pass?” Tyron asked, glancing between Regis and Gilden.
He thought he’d been quick, but honestly couldn’t say how much time had passed. Getting absorbed in a complex piece of magick to an unhealthy degree was one of his flaws, and one he didn’t know how he could work on.
Magister Gilden chuckled.
“Well, if we had any doubts as to your talent, those have been assuaged. You certainly figured that out a lot quicker than I did.”
“Oh, are yo...
2023-08-10 11:06:59 +0000 UTC
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“Lord Regis Shan, a pleasure to see you again,” Tyron bowed.
The young master of the Shan family, resplendent in his Magister’s robes, nodded slightly, almost succeeding in hiding his contempt.
“Master Almsfield. Thank you for coming on such short notice. We’ve made an area available for you to work, if you could come this way?”
“Of course.”
The Necromancer straightened, a professional smile on his lips, and burning anger in his heart. One st...
2023-08-10 05:11:34 +0000 UTC
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Jern woke with a start.
“What was that?” he mumbled sleepily.
It’s me.
“Who’s me?” he wondered as he rubbed at his eyes.
Anthony.
“Who’s Anthony? Can I go back to sleep, Anthony?”
You were asleep? Sorry about that. I don’t sleep much.
“So…. Can I?”
No. Well… you can in a second, I just need your attention for a minute. Two minutes. Look, I’ll be honest with you, five minutes...
2023-08-08 08:43:59 +0000 UTC
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Ah, it’s nice to see everyone looking so lively in the fortress.
“You’re looking good there, siblings! Such gleaming carapaces!” I greet a squad of ants moving to the frontline.
They duck their heads in shame and rush past me, trying to conceal the beams of light reflecting from their exo-skeletons with their antennae.
Gweheheheh.
Everyone is metaphorically shining with good health while also literally shining from the torpor police’s pate...
2023-08-08 07:58:35 +0000 UTC
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“This… ‘Colony’. I don’t like it, Theraz, but it’s new, and new can be either good or bad for business. What I need to know, as soon as possible, is which it’s going to be.”
“Well, the first thing I can tell you is we aren’t going to be able to dislodge them easily.”
“Really? That mountain has changed hands so many times recently I was starting to think it was impossible to hold. First that tree had her roots all over it, then the ka’armodo sei...
2023-08-08 05:21:46 +0000 UTC
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If you're the person stealing my patreon content and posting it online. Could you not steal from me? That'd be great, thanks.
The publisher has been alerted and I'll leave the paperwork for them.
2023-08-06 00:01:52 +0000 UTC
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The sub-surface Conglomerate is a loose confederation of brathian cities, kingdoms, merchant houses and roaming caravans that live in the waters of the Fourth Stratum.
The Endless Lake.
Brimming with life and water mana, the Lake is the ideal environment for the brathian to dwell, though they are capable of living on land as well as beneath the waves. Historically, their people lived in or around freshwater sources outside the Dungeon, and the more...
2023-08-05 05:48:13 +0000 UTC
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Back to Chrysalis. BoD readers, you've had enough!
It was strange to be able to smell death. It seemed like the sort of thing that shouldn’t have a smell. Sure, things like decay and rot, they had a distinct scent, an extremely potent one, but those were distinct from death itself. A function of death, in a way. When a person died in front of you, or around you, there wasn’t a discernable odour, as far as Jern could tell. It wasn’t like the soul ...
2023-08-04 06:25:31 +0000 UTC
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Finally, new minions!
“So how does it feel to have a legion of mindless slaves at your beck and call once more?” Dove asked.
Tyron blinked. He was tired. Very tired. Constantly emptying and refilling his magick to use the Annoint Skill, as well as casting a long and complex piece of ritual magick twenty times, was draining, to say the least.
But he’d done it.
Almost a full day of constant spellwork. His mouth was as dry as a bone and his...
2023-08-03 09:13:17 +0000 UTC
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“It kind of looks like you're marinating them. Have you gone full canine? Your hunger for sweet bones can no longer be contained?”
“Didn’t I already explain this to you?”
“You did, but I’m bored.”
“I’m working on your fucking hands right now, and you’re distracting me?”
“I understand that you want me to feel bad, but I’m still pissed off I had to sit here for two days before you started.”
“You’ve been undead f...
2023-08-02 08:58:50 +0000 UTC
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The acknowledgement of the Unseen was more than just a number on a page. It was more than just recognition from one's own progress, the advancement of knowledge and execution of a Skill.
It was both of those things, but it was also a measure of support the Unseen, whatever it may be, offered to a person. The higher his Skills levelled, the more power the all encompassing entity that swallowed this world would push alongside him.
Secure in this knowledge, Tyron ...
2023-08-01 07:41:22 +0000 UTC
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“Is it just me, or does Master Willhem look happy today?”
“Happy?” Victor scoffed. “I’m not sure if the old man even knows how to smile.”
He leaned closer to his fellow apprentice, Artin.
“In fact, I heard a rumour that he pushed all the knowledge of joy, happiness and love from his mind, purged it from his brain in order to become a better Arcanist.”
Artin shoved him off.
“Don’t you have work to do, Vic?”
“Me? I complet...
2023-07-31 05:17:43 +0000 UTC
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“We didn’t really mean to burn Torpin’s rest,” Alis protested. “People just got a bit carried away.”
“We were lucky the Colony was there to keep casualties to a minimum and help rebuild. Things could have gotten very nasty,” Jern said.
“They provoked us!”
The gentle giant next to her frowned.
“Just because someone teases me, doesn’t mean I should punch them in the face. You’re the one who told me that.”
“That’s… true. Of...
2023-07-27 12:48:14 +0000 UTC
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“Do you really think the ants are protecting us because the Great One approves of our holy pilgrimage?” Alis wondered.
Jern looked at the ranks of ants marching alongside them, guarding the pilgrims on both sides.
“I think… they probably just came along to make sure we’re safe,” he suggested.
His friend looked up at him irritably.
“That’s all? Priest Beyn says it because they are guiding us along our blessed path and into enlightenment.”
2023-07-27 08:28:35 +0000 UTC
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“What’s going on?” Jern asked, confused.
“Something’s happening in town, I’ve no idea what though. People just started running!”
That did indeed seem to be the case. Wherever Jern looked, people were poking their heads out of their houses and wandering toward the centre of town, or jogging down the streets after coming from the fields.
“Come quickly!” he heard a voice calling from somewhere closer to the square. “There’s big news to hear! Come to the ca...
2023-07-27 02:28:23 +0000 UTC
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Church of the New Path.
Faith of the Great One.
The Colony Way.
The faith that sprung up around the seemingly miraculous advent of the Colony came to be known by many names. I want to emphasise I’m not being dismissive by describing the existence of the Colony as ‘seemingly miraculous’. A sapient monster collective that chose to cooperate with other species rather than consume them is as close to a miracle as this non-believing...
2023-07-26 12:57:09 +0000 UTC
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So much progress in such a short amount of time, it was dizzying. With the knowledge Tyron had gained from the vampiric text, along with the treasure he had received from the Dust Folk, he was finally in a position to develop the most difficult aspects of the Raise Dead ritual.
Naturally, Tyron threw himself into his work, feverishly scribbling and theorising in his study, only emerging when he was forced to.
Several social engagements demanded his time. One with Filett...
2023-07-22 11:59:24 +0000 UTC
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Work continued in a flurry of activity for Tyron. After Yor returned with Dove, he slept for two days before he awoke, feeling like a dead man. With some food and drink in him, he felt much better, but noticed as he pulled his clothes on he was looking dangerously thin.
Once upon a time, he’d had his Aunt Meg and Uncle Worthy chasing him down and shoving delicious tavern meals down his throat. Since his Awakening, he’d never really settled into a healthy routine, not even...
2023-07-20 08:36:55 +0000 UTC
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Yor couldn’t sense Tyron inside his little shop, which was usually a sure sign he was locked in his basement, fussing over bones and running experiments. It would have been amusing, watching him struggle to unlock even the most basic knowledge she had been taught in the first year of her apprenticeship, but it wasn’t, she knew what kind of mind was housed in that skull.
Still, it would be years before he could build his knowledge to the point where she couldn’t consider...
2023-07-20 05:02:25 +0000 UTC
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Solant knew, of course she knew, how could she not? But the task before her didn’t change, no matter what was going on behind her back.
“Focus your fire forwards! Don’t pay any attention to what’s going on behind! Hold the line!”
The fighting was still intense, though it had slackened thankfully.
“Are you sure, general? Things are… rather dire back there.”
“Leonidant, I don’t care if the fortress collapses behind us, we will
2023-07-19 09:01:09 +0000 UTC
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