Trying to keep the output up while editing is ongoing. Hope you are all well out there!
The mages have achieved a strange dichotomy that can largely be attributed to the identities of the Council members who came to lead them. The two not only differ in the magics that they choose to employ, but also the tactics. Where Propellant favours direct, forceful action, and the application of excessive force to achieve a goal, Coolant is more subtle and desires efficiency o...
2022-07-18 06:45:02 +0000 UTC
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Dig, dig, dig, dig, DIG, DIG, DIG!
The mountain shakes beneath us as a catastrophic BOOM rips through the nest and the temperature skyrockets again. The tunnel opening behind us glows brightly before the first hint of lava is seen.
[Invidia! Block it off, quick!]
Another BOOM shakes the stone around us as Invidia quickly weaves stone to protect us. Experience notifications are starting to pour in but I don’t have the time to pay them any attention. Instead, my foc...
2022-07-17 12:21:34 +0000 UTC
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We warred for survival. That was our driving motivation for so long that when we eventually reached the point that survival wasn’t threatened, we almost didn’t know how to act. We had established enough power, enough allies, that the forces who sought to exterminate us were unwilling to pay the cost, and thus secured our ongoing existence.
Some theorise that it is only when one doesn’t have to struggle day to day that their true personality can shine through. In that ...
2022-07-14 11:35:45 +0000 UTC
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Twenty skeletons. That was the following that Tyron had managed to create after his desperate struggles to master his Necromancer class. He was proud of what he’d achieved. He didn’t want to be boastful, but he felt certain that under his circumstances, most would struggle to do what he had done, or learn what he had learned.
Each of the minions stood armed with simple weaponry, swords and axes, though only eight had shields. As the skeletons gathered in the bottom floor of the farm...
2022-07-13 10:54:09 +0000 UTC
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Big ‘ol chunk of mass, surrounded by many more, smaller chunks o mass. Huge amounts of toing and froing. It has to be the queen’s chamber. There’s not way the termites would allow egg production to cease, not even during a crisis. Especially during a crisis.
How is a social insect supposed to overcome its challenges? With overwhelming numbers! I didn’t come here with a half of a million of my own siblings because I love their company!
Although I do…
[Can y...
2022-07-12 07:11:28 +0000 UTC
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Down in the darkness we plunge. It’s strange. Normally this kind of environment would be so familiar, so welcoming to me, it’s a social insect nest after all, but it just… doesn’t. Instead, it feels alien, and twisted from everything it should be.
There are no comforting pheromones of my family spread across the walls and floor, no warm messages or encouragement or friendly reminders to get some rest or they’ll come for you. Instead there’s an omnipresent, suffocating stink ...
2022-07-11 10:07:35 +0000 UTC
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It is difficult to say how the Colony’s attitude to the pets raised by the eldest came to be what it is today. There was always a level of respect afforded to them, naturally, they were allies and assistants to the Eldest, and therefore allies to all of us. Some of the dignity and power of the most august ant, the first among equals, attached itself to them, for sure.
But that began to change as we and they continued to develop. Our society grew more sophisticated, our un...
2022-07-10 07:06:01 +0000 UTC
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Another one today I hope.
Overhead, the rock face of an entire mountain rushed down to meet them, the roar of tearing stone deafening to all in the mouth of the nest. Advant looked up, her mandibles set in grim determination. What happened next wasn’t up to her, but she would believe in her sisters.
“Ignore the mountain!” she spread the message with confidence. “Drive the enemy back into the nest! Push!”
As good as her words, she dove back into the...
2022-07-09 05:02:30 +0000 UTC
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Just a quick update about the health situation with the family. Lot's of people have made very kind comments and I've read and appreciated them all.
The kids are fine and dandy now, no more covid, no more symptoms, living the high life. Somehow my wife and I managed not to catch it, which was a minor miracle. Despite me coughing spluttering and feeling generally garbage, I still haven't tested positive for covid and ended up going to the doc and getting treated for a chest infection.
2022-07-08 05:34:11 +0000 UTC
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Sloan watched the fighting from the backlines, though she desperately wished she could surge forward to battle alongside her siblings. As the general in charge of the field, she couldn’t afford to be so selfish, but with the hated nemesis of the Colony so close, it was hard to hold herself back.
Her mandibles itched to crush the termite foe.
Alas, she was more in control of herself than some idiot like Leeroy. Her fellow generals had to bake a wreckless charge from the Immortals...
2022-07-06 11:31:21 +0000 UTC
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“So you had a chat with the bandit leader and told him to fuck off?”
“Pretty much,” Tyron confirmed.
“You really intend to die for a group of women and children? I mean, noble as hell, admirable even, but I didn’t think this was your goal. Didn’t you have some shit you wanted to do?”
Dove sounded exasperated, and he was. He sympathised with Tyron’s position, he wasn’t a monster. The poor widows they’d found had been abused, raped and forced to watch the...
2022-07-05 08:15:18 +0000 UTC
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It's a Rust reference. Keep your mind out of the gutter.
“Eldest! What are you doing up here?” Leeroy complained.
“Hah. Thought you had a nice final stand setup here, did you? You thought you’d run far enough from the rest of the Colony that we wouldn’t be able to catch up and keep you alive? You should know better by now, Leeroy.”
“But don’t you need to rush deeper into the nest, Eldest?” she asks, hope still alive in her scent. “W...
2022-07-04 04:36:56 +0000 UTC
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Having the collective Will of over a hundred thousand sentient creatures flowing through you at once is… heady stuff. When all hundred thousand of them are baying for the blood of their ancestral enemies… it’s… difficult to stay level.
When Leeroy rocketed off like an idiot it was all I could do not to race in after her. If I’d actually joined in on the predictably suicidal charge of the Immortals I might never have lived it down. The last thing i want is for more of ...
2022-07-02 11:27:06 +0000 UTC
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Rassan’tep watched with cold, reptilian amusement as the armoured shock troops of the Colony dove forward, seemingly at random. He had hoped the stand off between the two sides would last longer so he might further study the ants and the disposition of their forces. Knowing what he did now about them, it was far easier to recognise the amount of thought and effort they put into all they did, and the selflessness with which they acted.
Even at rest, the column had been busily working. ...
2022-07-01 12:03:15 +0000 UTC
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Been tough to get anything done with the fatigue and headaches. Hopefully this isn't too much of a mess but I don't want to delay it any longer.
Sorry to all the Chrysalis readers. It's coming.
Tyron pushed the fatigue away and worked through the night. He pushed his magick relentlessly, examining bones, checking them for leaks, repairing any damage he could and then trying to work out how the Bone Armour spell worked.
He hadn't had much tim...
2022-06-30 12:02:46 +0000 UTC
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Hey all, still alive.
All things considered, we are doing pretty well here in the RinoZ household. Both kids have caught covid now, but the youngest is through the other side. The eldest still has a while to go, but he's doing alright.
I, somehow, managed to avoid covid, but caught the flu. So I have the headache, the sore throat, the runny nose, cough, the works, I just don't test positive. I couldn't believe it and went to the hosp...
2022-06-28 08:32:37 +0000 UTC
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Cardigant, the one who fell, and in falling, achieved true immortality. Her existence, or rather, the lack of ongoing existence, was something amazing to the Immortals, something precious.
It was, Leeroy decided, something that could not afford to be lost.
She and her sisters had come so close to losing hope! They had come within an antenna’s width of letting go of their dream. The rejection of their creed by the Colony, the ire and condemnation of the Eldest, the crushing failu...
2022-06-23 09:40:31 +0000 UTC
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It was somewhat embarrassing to have forgotten he had this ability. Tyron had been so focused on perfecting his ability to assess, prepare and Raise Skeletons that his other abilities had dropped almost totally from his awareness.
Specifically, his ability to speak to the dead.
The spell was certainly an interesting one, and something he’d love to study in further detail, but as it didn’t directly lead to the creation of superior minions, and therefore wouldn’t help him to l...
2022-06-22 02:49:30 +0000 UTC
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or something.
Just a quick update and a warning that my schedule might be even worse than usual this week. One of the kiddly winks has tested positive for covid, which means isolation and all those other great times that come with it.
We ducked and weaved as long as we could, but finally one of us got stung!
On top of that, I have THREE books currently being edited. Book 2 and 3 of Chrysalis are being worked on right now. There's a bit of a rush on them as we want to get the...
2022-06-22 01:26:27 +0000 UTC
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Tyron leaned back from the table with a sigh. He moved to wipe the sweat from his brow, but hesitated when he caught sight of his hands. He looked around for the bucket of water he’d drawn, then grimaced when he noticed the decidedly red colour of it.
Were there chunks floating in it as well?
Once upon a time, such a sight would have sent the Necromancer running for a nearby bush. Now it merely caused his stomach to gurgle in protest. Progress.
“And yet, I can’t find i...
2022-06-21 04:49:21 +0000 UTC
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Under the soft light of the fourth stratum, with a soft mist rising from the glittering blue waters on the shore, the might of the Colony assembled. They had gathered in strength before, huge armies of ant soldiers, alongside smaller groups of human and golgari, but not quite like this.
Half a million ants emerged from beneath the ground and sorted themselves into neat ranks. They blanketed the shoreline. Between those inmoving chitinous frames, no trace of sand nor soil could be seen, ...
2022-06-19 06:40:34 +0000 UTC
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Fanatics aside, there was plenty of stuff going on and not much time in which to get it done. With so many ants furiously working, I decided the best place for me was out of the way on the surface.
Well, I say surface, obviously I'm not climbing all the way out of the Dungeon. I head up until I break through and find myself sitting under the shade of the enormous Mother Tree, her branches and canopy spread out above me.
The fourth stratum really is a beautiful place to be. The mou...
2022-06-17 08:53:37 +0000 UTC
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Hah!
Felt like something just walked over my grave. Can ants even shiver? That's weird! Almost as weird as having bones on the inside. I can't imagine how I ever put up with it.
Holy moly, I feel a little weird. I'm jazzed up. Got the shakes. I've got so much energy I just don't know what to do with it.
This must be what it feels like to be Vibrant. I feel like standing still is taking all of my focus! I will point out that I can actually manage it, unlike her.
<...
2022-06-16 04:05:41 +0000 UTC
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A cold wind blew. It cut through the empty street, and through the lone figure who staggered through the chill, a package tucked under one arm. The small person pulled a tattered coat tighter around their slight frame as they looked around, seeking something that they soon found.
A familiar sight, a familiar door, though it had looked different in years passed.
Back then, a family had lived here, some of the time. The Father, frequently away, the Mother distant and cold, like a wi...
2022-06-15 10:11:14 +0000 UTC
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With his captors distracted, Tyron knew it was time to make a move. If they decided to remove a potential complication, namely him, before dealing with the new threat, then it likely wouldn't go well for him. That meant he needed to deal with the rope. He had a method in mind, though it wasn't his favourite.
Magick Bolt was a simple and versatile spell. A ball of arcane energy, shaped and directed to fly and discharge its force into whatever it hit. It was common for a Mage to point or ...
2022-06-15 02:36:25 +0000 UTC
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The countryside rolled past, slowly. Every now and again, Tyron would lift his head from his notes, or the chunk of bone he was working on, to glance at the ruined landscape and sigh.
It wasn’t a pretty sight. The hordes of rift-kin unleashed from the break had likely been concentrated to the east, but that didn’t mean none had come south to these plains. In the shadow of the Boundary mountains, small villages dotted the landscape, farming communities spread out like a patchwork bla...
2022-06-15 01:41:59 +0000 UTC
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Cover for book 2 is done folks. Check it out!
2022-06-11 01:07:33 +0000 UTC
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Double chaps? Whoo! That's five for the week people. I'm desperately trying to get back into the groove and hit my targets, starting with getting all five chapters of Chrysalis out before the weekend hits.
Enjoy!
The Colony has distinguished itself in battle across its existence, displaying sharp tactics, excellent training and sound strategy at all levels of warfare. Such a thing is highly unusual for a swarming monster type, but the irregula...
2022-06-10 05:43:33 +0000 UTC
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Still no idea what to do for chapter 1000. How much a truth bomb do you want? I could do a Gandalf chapter, but that'll uncover some secrets. I'm kind of nervous to drop the lore, I was planning to save most of that stuff until right at the end. Might be fitting to put it here at the halfway point though.
Victor can feel a headache coming on. She paces around the model the carvers had made, studying every intricate detail over and over again as she ponders the upcoming ...
2022-06-10 02:28:11 +0000 UTC
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Finally!
"You sure you got 'em all?"
"Ten was what you asked for, ten is what you've got."
Mr Allop, the gruff and balding mayor of Ridgerton knuckled his moustache and nodded slowly.
"Thass true," he said, "I'll be thankin' ya then. Tho I can't see how ya did it."
Tyron looked down at the row of ten skulls on the ground before turning back to the mayor.
"Mr Allop, I'm fairly sure you don't want to know."
There was a hint o...
2022-06-09 10:11:15 +0000 UTC
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