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AR Chapter 376
🕑 Added 2025-04-29 04:00:22 +0000 UTCCome here and listen, come here and learn
‘Ere you be taught ‘bout the one who spurns.
There are many who’ve learned a mite
On how to live in a world ruled by spite.
Yet the future spread out before you
Can be loved ‘thout paying suffering’s due.
Yes, come and listen, come and learn,
Let every on come take their turn.
–Common call to study rhyme in the New Empire, as popularized by the Superintendent.
The long winter months passed with little to do more than to work on improving New Nievtra. A Priesthood was quickly established, with Shraal happily serving as their leader. It hadn’t taken too long for him to join the ranks of Keel, though I was surprised by how few actually evolved to Keel through the winter. Even some of those who had followed me from the swarm in the Veratocracy’s lands had yet to qualify for evolution. Some were obviously bitter about their inability to progress, but it was obvious that becoming Keel was much more difficult than Khatif. It seemed to me that one of the greatest stumbling blocks was Speaking the Words of Power, but that was something that couldn’t be forced.
It was somewhat humorous, though, when I walked in on the hatchlings getting schooled on the Words. Their high-pitched voices struggling to enunciate each word brought me no small amount of joy. Wisterl in particular shot me a look when she’d repeated, “we are the blade bared at the throat of those who dare oppose us”. She didn’t hate me, it was obvious she looked up at me, but as she grew into a Khatif, she saw me not only as the Zaaktif, but as an obstacle to overcome.
Most of Siik’s pack had become Khatif without much trouble, with just a few left behind as Kha that grew to adulthood. They were pulled from his pack and shuffled into places where they wanted to be, ready to serve the Empire wherever they’d decided to. In fact, it quickly became apparent that much of the hatchlings would splinter off into different packs and organizations as the Empire shifted further and further away from being a swarm.
Months passed, and the Kha reached adulthood while the Khatif slowly continued to grow. The Kha’Tal and Kou’Tal spent more and more time with their older counterparts, learning the skills necessary to integrate themselves into their desired niches in the Empire. As a result, the herds were happier with more attention and the Council of the Kha’Tal was pleased to be able to spread themselves more evenly through the constantly growing aspects of the country. Creating new and more effective latrines, cleaning roads, making clothing for the citizenry of the country, and so many other things multiplied much more quickly than our workforce could.
Meanwhile, the other requirements for the establishment of my country in the eyes of the [System] continued apace. The nursery had truly become a school, as another brood of Kha hatchlings filled the space. On the other hand, the Khatif eggs hatched around that same time, but the Khatif obviously developed much more slowly than their lower-caste counterparts. In the 40 days or so it took for most of the Kha to proceed towards becoming Khatif, those born as Khatif had only progressed to infantile sentences and uncoordinated walking. On top of that, they didn’t show any of the hallmarks of one of the castes.
Interestingly enough, Trai enjoyed spending time with the Khatif young, but not the Kha. Perhaps it was a kinship or something else entirely, but she, when not out looking at whatever struck her fancy, could frequently be found just sitting in the Nursery and listening to the stilted comments of the little ones. Beyond that, the parents of the Khatif were much more interested in their young than the Kha. When I’d asked, the answers had been unsatisfying.
“We want to see them.”
When asked why, there wasn’t any real answer. They just wanted to. Perhaps that was because of the Khatif’s significantly greater need for care than Kha hatchlings, but I couldn’t find an absolute answer. Nievtala didn’t seem to care, and though she could have learned that, she impressed on me the unimportance.
What does it matter why mortals act differently? I can exert what little influence I have over the [System] and gain that information, but what would that serve us for? We would gain meaningless knowledge in exchange for power. Some knowledge is power, but so much of it is inane and mere trite. I won’t exert myself for the trite.
While I didn’t fully agree with her stance, I agreed that it didn’t matter why the Khatif felt more “parently” than the Kha. Sybil and I both checked on her eggs frequently, feeling the movement inside of them through my [Tremorsense].
In that same vein, there had yet to be any other Keel eggs. Shemira continued her attempts to have her children be the same age as ours, but she remained stubbornly not gravid. Joral’s many females enjoyed his attention, and two became gravid, but the eggs were obviously Khatif and not Keel. Most of the Keel had, at least in the search of personal satisfaction, mated with others, but there were no results so far. The only two who hadn’t were Brutus and Took, due to his interest being singleminded and hers being anywhere else but reproduction.
The wyrms continued to approach maybe once every other week, each time in somewhere from five to ten pairs. They were completely unaware of how to work together, though, and each time, we were able to kill a single pair before their death keens drove off the rest. The ants, which we supposed they were trying to hunt, remained largely immobile through the winter, and I worried about how everything would change once the weather turned and they became more active. Our Kou’Tal continued to learn how to influence the simpleminded insects, but there would be no guarantee that they would continue to happily send tributes of a hundred or so ants every day without any real fighting.
Sybil, of course, had also been busy, and the fighting pit had been erected only a couple months into the winter. Given that there had been additional buildings created to cultivate plants, and every single member of the herds now had an indoor resting place, it was a miracle that she’d finished the pits so quickly. Of course, Ytte had been more than invaluable in directing the Kha’Tal to do so, but the second I or the Zaaktifi spoke, the Empire fell in line. Though I’d implemented other leadership positions and this was a civilization I was building, there was no doubt that I was the absolute leader of my people.
Of course, Wisterl had been one of the first to use the fighting pit, where she’d challenged one of the oldest Khatifs in the Empire. When she’d finally succumbed to unconsciousness, the older male nearly collapsed himself, having been forced to deal much harsher blows than he’d expected to get her to step back. The pits remained an active place, with any formal challenges for leadership being required to take place within them to be considered official.
Shemira’s work in establishing a militia had been interesting, given that all of the fights and disagreements in the city were swiftly dealt with in the pits. So, her focus was changed to more of a force for acquiring more resources for now, instead making her people ensure that the Kha’Tal’s supplies never ran completely dry.
Even so, with all this peace, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something that was swiftly going to change. As the snows melted, that feeling continued to grow.
Comments
No_Creative_Name
Edited in both. Thanks!
Veldorn
Not a mistake but "the Kha reached adulthood while the Khatif slowly reached adulthood." Feels a bit repetitive. Also, I am really unsure what "sourcing force" is meant to mean.
