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IDWTBTHQ Chapter 108 - Scaroused
🕑 Added 2021-12-15 01:41:15 +0000 UTCA storm was raging over the Grimdale countryside.
Black clouds covered the sky, making the day as dark as a moonless night, with only the intermittent flashes of lighting providing any sort of light. The wind howled, carrying waves of raindrops which flogged the earth with violence, flattening the grass and ripping the remaining autumnal leaves from the trees while the ground itself was turned into a quagmire.
It was certainly not a good day for marching, Marcus thought, draping himself in his coat while watching the rain fall. He was fine on a personal level, since the little mold-wax house he was travelling in protected him from the elements, but he still felt the fury of the storm on the bodies of his drones. His Warriors and Heavies were struggling to free their feet from the mud with each step and the Fliers were all resting on top of the other drones, since the strong winds made it impossible for them to fly. Still, it could be worse. At least the chitinous armor of his drones protected them from the brunt of the storm, something which couldn't be said for the goblins and the humans following the Vex.
And indeed, from what he could overhear through his copy-drone riding in the couch with the marquis, it seemed that the non-Vex elements of the army were just about to reach their limits. In fact, the nobleman was currently discussing the matter with the goblin general.
“We can't go on.” Eisen was saying. “This storm is going to last at least one day, and our men are going to collapse if we force them to march through it.”
“Well, we can't exactly set camp here either.” Trakk replied calmly. “These fields are going to become a swamp soon, so we might as well keep moving while we try to find a suitable shelter.” The goblin turned to the copy-Marcus. “Did your scouts find any such place?”
“No.” The drone replied. “But they haven't gotten far either. This weather makes it difficult to move even for them.”
“By the Lord!” The marquis cursed in a tired voice. “We should have stopped at the last village and wait there for the storm to pass.”
“Maybe.” Trakk agreed. “But that was many hours ago and we had no way of knowing that the storm would be upon us so fast. At the time, proceeding to the next village seemed like a perfectly sensible decision, especially because we are in a hurry to catch up with the orc army.”
“I know, I know.” Eisen replied in a frustrated tone. “But this doesn't change the current situation. If we spend the night marching through this storm, by tomorrow morning we'll have to scrape our soldiers from the mud.”
“Then let's hope that we can find the next village.” The goblin said, keeping his calm as always. “If the map is accurate, it should be nearby.”
“It is.” the copy-Marcus suddenly said. “One of my drones just found it.”
“Excellent!” The marquis nodded, looking really relieved. “How far is it?”
“About four kilometers from here, I think.” Marcus replied. “Three kilometers from here there is a crossroad, and the village is about a kilometer down the road on the right.” He paused for a second before adding: “It's a bit hard to see with all this rain since there are no lights. I can't say for sure without getting a closer look, but it seems to be deserted.”
Trakk quickly looked at the map he carried and nodded.
“That should be the village of Hirm.” He said. “It is near the route that goes from Fendel's Mines to Treval, so it was probably evacuated because of the threat of the orcs.”
“Well, even if the inhabitants have fled, it's still going to be better than standing here in the open.” Eisen said. “I'll send a rider to check if there is anyone still there and eventually inform them of our arrival.”
“You should tell your rider to be careful then.” The goblin general suggested. “For all we know, there could be orcs hiding in there.”
“I can have a few of my Warriors wait nearby while the rider enters the village.” Marcus offered. “In case he's going to need help.”
“Good idea.” Trakk nodded approvingly.
“Yes, that would be helpful.” The marquis said. “Just don't make them get too close... if there are still humans in there, the appearance of your Warriors could scare them.”
The nobleman then opened one of the windows and gave the necessary instruction to one of the cloaked knights riding across the coach. The man immediately rode away, and in just about fifteen minutes he came back, knocking at the coach's door. He seemed to be unharmed, but he looked terribly pale and his expression was beyond grim.
“Milord...” He said. “The village is currently deserted. However...” He paused, trying to get a hold of himself. “It seems that the place has been raided, and it wasn't empty when that happened.”
About half an hour later, after having dismounted from the Dreadnaught drone, Marcus, Klara and Felix were staring at eight ravaged bodies lined up on the muddy ground of the main road of the village. It wasn't easy to determine their exact age at first glance, since their heads and most of their upper torso was missing, but two of them were clearly very young, and in particular there was what looked like a little girl in a now bloody and dirty azure dress.
The ways the three friends reacted to that sight were wildly different.
“Why didn't they run away?” Felix asked, his voice trembling with rage. He was radiating a furious heat, to the point that the mud around his feet had started boiling and raindrops evaporated as soon as they touched him, enveloping him in a veil of steam. His eyes also shone of fiery amber light. “They had to know that the orcs were around!”
“I don't know.” Klara replied. She was as pale as a ghost and had a sickened expression on her face, as if she was about to throw up. “There could have been many reasons. Maybe they didn't hear the warnings. Or maybe they did but didn't think that the orcs would get to this village. Or maybe they couldn't move because one of them was too sick.” She looked away, biting her lips in frustration. “This isn't Brettholz, where there are a lot of wild beasts coming from the forest and people are ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.”
Marcus said nothing. He just kept staring at the bodies on the ground, eyes wide, as a horrible realization creeped in his mind.
He felt nothing in particular.
No matter how hard he tried to be horrified by the spectacle in front of him, no matter how much he searched inside of his heart, all he could find was at best a slight annoyance at the wastefulness of the orcs for leaving behind so much meat.
And, quite ironically, this was what really disturbed him.
“What the fuck wrong with me?” He thought as he kept staring at the body of the young girl. “There is a literal half eaten dead child here in front of me, and all I can think is how much of a sloppy eater the orcs that bit her head off were! I should be trembling with anger and swearing vengeance like the hero of an opera right now, not be as calm as dead fish!”
He kept trying to get himself to be upset about the deaths of those people, but while he was perfectly able to intellectually see it as a tragedy he could elicit any particular emotional reaction. There was... something like a block inside of his mind that prevented him from seeing the bodies on the ground as more than discarded pieces of meat.
He was silently wondering the reason for this, when a few men approached the bodies and started taking them away to bury them. After that, not having any more reason for standing there in the rain, Marcus and his friends went inside one of the village buildings, in order to find out where they would be sleeping tonight.
As it turned out, finding a place to sleep wasn't so easy, something which was to be expected since they had to accomodate an army of thousands in a village meant to house two hundred people at most. Luckily the Vex Drones had no trouble staying outside, since they could easily tolerate even the most extreme weathers, but still ten thousand goblins were more than enough to fill every nook and cranny. Even the marquis had to share a room with the rest of his men.
Only one exception was made, for the sake of decency, for the women that accompanied the army, who were given an entire bedroom for themselves. And this group happened to include Marcus.
The Vex Queen would have normally objected to that categorization, but in these circumstances he decided to let it slide. After all, his control over his telepathy wasn't still at the point when he could comfortably sleep in a room full of strangers, while with his current accomodation he'd only have Klara as his roommate since the only other female currently in their army, the wolfwoman called Alya Vilka, had been scouting the territory ahead since the previous day and had yet to come back.
The room they would share was also rather nice, having a big bed they could comfortably sleep together in and even a stove in a corner, which Marcus immediately lit. The temperature in the room then quickly went from chilly to pleasantly warm, and the two started changing for the night, with Klara wearing her nightgown and Marcus simply undressing down to his underwear. As they did so they did not exchange a single word, but the Vex Queen could easily feel the turmoil inside of the girl's head. She quite clearly was still under shock from seeing the bodies of the inhabitants of Hirm, something which made Marcus feel guilty and upset about still not feeling anything about them.
After a while, he decided that he had enough and started speaking to try and distract the girl —and himself— from those morose thoughts.
“Sooooo...” He said. “Have you ever been in the city of Treval before? And if so, could you tell me something about it?”
“I've been there once, but it's been many years so I don't remember much about it.” Klara replied in an empty voice. “If you want to know more about it, you should ask someone else.”
Marcus sighed. It was quite clear the girl wasn't in the mood for idle chatting, but at the same time he just didn't want to spend the night with a literal source of depression right besides him.
“Well, if I'm being honest, I don't really care about this Treval city.” He admitted. “I'm just trying to cheer you up a bit. You seem to be really down ever since we saw those bodies.”
“Shouldn't I be?” Klara asked, starting to sound a bit angry. “Those people were literally eaten alive, Marcus! Who wouldn't be down after seeing them?” She sighed and calmed down. “Anyway, I appreciate the thought. But I’m afraid I need to process this thing by myself. So just let me be for a bit, alright?”
“Fine.” The Vex Queen replied awkwardly. He then turned away, trying to relax and deal with his own internal struggle, when all of a sudden, through the eyes of his drones, he saw a cloaked figure approaching the village. Alarmed, he immediately sent a few Warriors towards that newcomer to identify their identity and make sure they didn't have any hostile intention, but they stopped when the stranger started speaking in a familiar voice.
“Stop right there you bug bastards! It's me, Alya!” The figure raised her hood a bit, revealing her wolf-like features. She also looked quite pissed. “Take me to the marquis or get out of the way. I've got no time to lose standing here in the rain!”
Mindful of the slaughter the thulian had inflicted in his forces a few days before, Marcus immediately made his drones back off save for one, which gestured for the wolfwoman to follow him. At the same time, the Vex Queen also made her copy-drone move, making it go warn the marquis about Alya's return.
Five minutes later, the wolfwoman entered the cramped room where Eisen, Trakk and Marcus's copy were waiting for her, together with most of their bodyguards. She was literally dripping water when she stepped in, and after she took off her cloak she started shaking like a dog, sending droplets flying on everyone around her.
“Welcome back, lady Vilka!” The marquis greeted her. “How did your scouting go? Did you find anything out there?”
“First, don't call me lady.” She replied. “Just Alya will do. And second, I did find something alright. Mostly rain and mud. But between those two, I also found the orc army.” She smirked. “Not that it was particularly difficult, even in this rain. They left a really easy trail to follow. Empty villages, stomped cultivations… the work.”She sneered. “They’re sloppy even in their pillaging.”
“Where did you see them exactly?” The marquis asked, as Trakk took out his map.
“Quite far from here.” The wolfwoman said, shaking a bit of mud from her feet. “At least three hours to the north, at my pace. Double or triple that time for you.” She stretched her arms. “They were camped inside a small wood, near a village they had recently pillaged, probably waiting for the storm to end.”
The goblin general studied his map and nodded.
“If Alya is right, they should be near the village of Thurhall, about thirty-eight kilometers north-north-west.” He said, pointing at a specific spot on the map.
There was a small pause as everyone in the room processed this information, and then the marquis said:
“That is not really that far... could we perhaps march out right now and engage them while they are waiting for the storm to pass?”
“I don't think so.” Trakk replied. “Unless the weather gets better going north, we will exhaust ourselves on the way.”
“It gets worse.” Alya replied, using a towel to clean herself up a bit. “Even for me, it was quite an annoying journey.” She yawned. “Speaking of which... is there someplace I could dry up and get some sleep? I have nothing else to add to what I already said, anyway.”
“Well, as you can see we are a bit cramped right now, but we left a room for the women accompanying our army that should have a stove inside.” The marquis said. “If you don't mind sharing a room and a bed with Sir Marcus and Miss Klara, you could sleep with them.”
“I don't think most people would complain about sharing the bed with two girls!” Alya replied with an almost predatory smile, something which for some reason sent a chill down Marcus' spine as he listened through his copy-drone.
“Ehr… that’s good then.” The marquis said, turning towards the copy-drone. “I hope that’s alright with you as well, sir Marcus.”
The Vex Queen wasn’t really ok with that, but he nodded anyway.
“Yes.” He said, managing not to sound reluctant. “I’ll tell Klara and we’ll make room for her.”
“That’s for the better.” Alya commented with a smirk. “I do need a lot of room, after all!”
Cackling a bit, the wolfwoman then started heading towards the bedroom and at the same time Marcus, in his actual body, towards Klara, who was still silent and staring into the flames while sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Uhm... Klara, do you remember the wolf woman from before, the one called Alya Vilka?” He said. “Well, she has returned and she's coming to sleep with us.”
The girl blinked, and for a moment her surprise took over her depression.
“What? Really?”
“Yes.” Marcus replied. “She has just finished reporting to the marquis and she's heading here as we speak.”
Klara looked at the bed, and sighed.
“Well, I thought we had room to spare, but now we’re going to be a bit cramped too, aren’t we?” She smirked. “From what I saw, Alya is really big.”
“That she is.” The Vex Queen nodded. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he asked: “By the way… what do you know about her?”
“Not much.” The girl shrugged. “As I told you a few days ago, I know that she is an Aura Master of great renown and she is considered the strongest fighter in the Federation.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Marcus said. “But don’t you know anything about her personality or what she’s like?”
“Not really.” Klara shook her head. “I mostly only know what the newspapers tell about her, and they mostly cover just her achievements and victories.” She paused and added: “That is, if you don’t count those newspapers that focus on baseless gossip, but I don’t read that garbage.” She shook her head and asked: “Why do you want to know, anyway?”
“Well...” The Vex Queen hesitated for a moment. “Mostly to know what kind of person I would share the room with, I guess.” He paused, looked at himself and at Klara, and then added, in a rather embarrassed tone: “Ehm… also, you really know nothing about her? How about… whether she likes men or… women?”
Klara raised an eyebrow at that question.
“Uh… I’m afraid I don’t know that.” She said in a rather confused tone. “Why do you want to know? Are you going to make a pass at her?”
“What? No!” Marcus cried, feeling blood rushing to his face. “I… well, I was just asking because of a comment she made.”
“What kind of comment?”Klara asked.
“Wellll… I don’t know if she was joking or not, but after being asked if it was a problem sleeping with us, she replied that sleeping with two girls would be anyone’s dream.”
Klara remained silent for a moment, processing that information.
“Well… she could have been joking.” She said. “I mean, nothing I’ve heard about her suggests anything about her sexual preferences, one way or the other.” She smirked. “But well, even if she does like women, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” She looked at Marcus. “I mean, we share a room even though you used to be a man, don’t we?”
The Vex Queen stared at her for a moment, but then he sighed.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m just overthinking this.”
Just as he said those words, the door opened and Alya marched in the room like a hurricane, without knocking or announcing herself in any way.
“So this is the girls room, uh?” She said, inspecting the room. “It’s nice enough, all things considered.”
She walked to the stove, and she quickly started undressing herself in front of it, throwing her wet clothes on a chair.
Marcus and Klara exchanged a long, confused glance, both too surprised to even try to speak. And in the Vex Queen’s case, he was also a bit intimidated. This was the first time he was close enough to the wolfwoman to really feel her aura, and it was really overpowering —maybe not as much as that of the dragon, but still strong enough to make him feel uneasy. He felt as if being near a vicious wild beast, who could turn on him at any moment.
Meanwhile, Alya was now undressed down to her two-pieces costume, and turned to her two new roommates with a wolfish smirk on her face.
“There is no need to be so scared, you two!” She said. “I won’t bite… not right now, anyway! I just want a good night of sleep before tomorrow’s march!” She paused and added: “Also, just for your information, I sleep in the nude. I hope this won’t be a problem, but if it is then feel free to get out and sleep somewhere else.”
She then took off her top, and her breasts seemingly exploded out of it, taking Marcus completely by surprise. Somehow, the dark, elastic top squeezed Alya’s chest to the point that she didn’t seem particularly endowed… but now that her torso was naked, he could fully appreciate the magnitude of those titties. Even Klara, who was no slouch in the chest department herself, seemed to be impressed, letting out a soft, surprised whistle.
Alya then took off her shorts as well, remaining completely naked in front of the stove in order to dry herself up, and Marcus was now able to fully study her body in detail.
She was, as he had noticed from his drones, very well toned, with her short white fur doing nothing to hide the definition of her muscles, but at the same time she was also very definitely feminine, with wide hips and, as he had just seen, a very wide chest. All in all, she looked like a classical marble statue of some ancient wolf-goddess or something, as her animalistic features were somehow perfectly harmonized with her humanoid structure.
While Marcus kept staring, Klara cleared her throat and asked:
“Uhm… so, how are we going to sleep in here? I mean, there is only one bed in this room, and while it’s quite big I don’t think it can comfortably fit all three of us.”
“Oh, I’m going to sleep on the bed.” Alya replied. “I don’t mind if we’re a bit cramped, but I refuse to sleep on the floor like a dog when there is an alternative.” She shrugged. “If you’re not satisfied with it, you are free to sleep elsewhere.” She touched her fur, which was now dry, and added: “Also, I’m coming to bed right now. Make room for me.”
And before they could protest in any way, she walked right in front of the bed and let herself drop on it, right between Klara and Marcus. And only a second later, she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep, snoring slightly with her head between the pillows.
The Vex Queen and the girl exchanged another glance, and this time Klara shrugged.
“Well, a cramped bed is better than the floor for sleeping.” She said. “And at least this closeness will keep us warm. So I’ll stay here.”
“I’ll stay as well then.” Marcus replied. “Luckily, this body of mine is small enough to fit comfortably pretty much everywhere.”
“Good for you!” Klara said.. “We better get to sleep now. It’s gotten pretty late, and we have to catch up with the orc army tomorrow!”
“Right.” The Vex Queen agreed. “Goodnight Klara.”
“Goodnight Marcus.”
The two of them then lied down beside Alya, trying to make most of the little space the wolfwoman had left them. A deep silence fell on the room, interrupted only by the noise of the storm outside and the crackling of the fire in the stove, and only a few minutes later Klara’s breath also turned into a light snoring as the girl fell asleep.
Only Marcus remained awake, trying his best to relax and sleep, but for some reason he couldn’t. Alya’s presence besides him was terribly distracting. And to make things worse, that wasn’t just because she found her intimidating, like trying to sleep beside a lion… it was also because a new feeling had also creeped inside of him, making him experience a tingly sensation in the lower parts of his body.
“So this is what they call being scaroused.” He thought with annoyance.
After another hour of being completely unable to close his eyes, he finally gave up and went to sleep on the floor in front of the stove, using his clothes as some improvised bedroll. Only then, despite the rather uncomfortable accommodation, he managed to fall asleep.
Comments
Pawzom Lz
Peregrine: A medium sized flying unit, named after its inspiration, given significant eye and speed adaptations, from birds like the peregrine falcon(max dive speed is 242mph), coupled with powerful claws makes it a dangerous unit that can kill most things caught unaware with casual ease. Its feathers are adapted with that of an owls, allowing it to dive soundlessly. Shrike: A lot like the Peregrine, but its pitch black. This combined with its speed/sight makes it a deadly assassin that can harass enemies at night, giving them no sleep. Once its attacks are noticed, it will start to shriek out a terrifying sound, doing its best to scare its prey as much as possible to prevent a night of rest, while simultaneously grabbing as much attention as possible onto itself. This is to make the enemy think the Shrike is the real threat, when its in fact the hell mosquitos, carefully flying around enemy ranks and stinging them. If an enemy noticed its sting before the shrikes are noticed, the shrikes will start to scream to direct the enemies attention onto themselves.
Pawzom Lz
Royal Guard: Larger than the heavy warrior, but unlike the heavy warrior, this one will look like an armoured hutt from star wars, with a ''head'' shaped like a shield(https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Phragmosis). The Royal Guard have no brain, eyesight, sense of smell or hearing in its head as these weaknesses would be far too close to its ''shield''. The brain is moved into its body, the hive will feed it sensory information from other drones/structures nearby to compensate for its lack of any. Its extremely fat body, including its lower snake body and 6 limbs, makes it near impossible to move this thing an inch if it does not want it to happen. Its Chitin, scales, skeleton, weapons and ''shield'' are reinforced with adaptation of the strongest DNA that comes from species that can reinforce their body parts with metal, like certain spiders, scorpions, crabs, worms, parasitic fig wasp(all have metal in their natural weapons), The Scaly-footed Gastropod(iron-sulfides in its shell) AND Beavers(iron in their tooth enamel, which can be used as a coating all over the weapons and shell for further defence/structural integrity). Because of its large head, size and fat, it almost, if not outright loses its ability to dodge and pounce. It has the ability to regenerate, and if it gets any injury that prevents it from doing its job, it can burn its fat reserves much faster than normal to quickly heal. Its extreme fat reserves(this thing is always feeding when not in combat to become bigger and heavier, which also serve as an additional layer of defence layered on top of its chitin but under its scales) will allow it to keep functioning for quite the while, despite its absurd energy requirements. This thing will serve as a last line of defence, whose job is not first and foremost to kill the enemy, but to stall so other forces can come to reinforce them and increase the queens chances of survival. Not that this thing does not have offense, it has it in abundance. Its head alone appear like a large boulder, big enough to block passageways in the hive, reinforced with iron/metal and this size, coupled with long limbs gives it impressive reach for anything that manages to get under it or to its sides somehow while its ''shield'' and body makes it able to crush most enemies with casual ease if they give it the opportunity. While its body is slow, its limbs has got all adaptations that the other warriors got, and anything else that can be used to increase the offense of its limbs, no matter how little, is thrown in for good measure. As it fights, it will become lighter and lighter as it burns through its fat reserves, at which point it will detach its head and any scales that gets in the way, transitioning from a big, slow tank unit to a fast suicide unit, attempting to do as much damage as it can before it runs out of energy, or die ''intact'' and remain there as an obstacle.
Pawzom Lz
Ovipositor Drone: In one of the movies from the alien franchise, where Ripley is cloned, and there is a queen made from her DNA, it makes something similar to an Ovipositor so that it can give live birth instead of eggs. Also, in some other movies we see the queens already having something similar. While I don't think the live birth part should be replicated, the egg/s could be kept inside till they are ready to be laid, which would make the egg laying of certain drones with an unpleasant egg size to be much easier to make. Ofc that is not taking into account the part where Marcus will have to be connected to this drone for the transfer process(if made properly, a needle could just enter her stomach and suck up the egg while its extremely tiny). This could be compared to when a woman who have issues giving birth due to her immune defence being too strong or similar/different circumstances, can have an egg extracted, and then have another family member, friend or someone she pays to bring it into the world for her. This will be extremely useful for when she comes up with new drones for a current problem, but do not have the time to make a broodmother for them. Logistics Drone: A snake, a GIGANTIC one, that just swallows things that does not require careful handling into a long secondary ''stomach''. The way snakes move means going off the road into the woods and over small hills and such is no problem for it, unlike carts. And since the goods are inside there is no risk of anything falling off. Snakes can go 2 weeks without being fed, which is ideal for a transport beast, and its ability to sense heat and hear can be removed to make it require less energy. Maybe also copy the feeding habit into other vex drones? Tho that will make them susceptible to cold which is a big downside. Scrambler/Infiltrator: A drone that can both control and extract information from non Vex organisms(does not work on creatures with Aura maybe to make it more balanced?).
Pawzom Lz
The most powerful sperm whale clicks will not merely deafen you, they can vibrate the fragile human body to pieces. Rhinoceros Beetle, this tiny creature can lift 850 times its body weight. Dung beetles can pull over 1000 times their own body weight. The structure of the diabolical ironclad beetle's exoskeleton is capable of supporting 39000 times its own body weight. It can even be run over by a car without being affected. The pistol shrimp has a claw which snaps shut so fast it builds a cavitation bubble nearly as hot as the sun’s surface. It creates a noise of up to 218 decibels when the bubble collapses. Chiton, this mollusk generates its own set of magnetite teeth that are the toughest, solid thing ever formed by a living organism. Peregrine falcons max speed when diving is 242 mph. Dragon millipedes can shoot cyanide. Flees can jump 200 times their body length. Swifts have been known to fly nonstop for nearly 200 days. The trap-jaw ants mandibles can close at speeds of 126-230 kmph.
Pawzom Lz
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BjYuDhzVKQ&ab_channel=SmithsonianChannel) Also have some interesting animals. Vampire bat(echolocation and heat sensors), glass frog(would work well for fear tactics, just imagine having to watch as one of the enemies you are fighting are digesting a still living, struggling friend of yours. Could also be useful for camouflage) and last but not least, the bobbit worm. While it effectively works like a trap in the ocean, I'm not sure if that could be replicated on land, but the fact it has no brain probably makes it the most valuable. Being able to acquire this trait, and just moving creatures through the hive network and their nerves without having to equip them with a brain, would free up immense amounts of energy that can be used on other traits instead. Would also freak out enemies if they try to dissect them to learn more only for no brain to be found.
Pawzom Lz
Found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUYoUCnR-c&ab_channel=LoveNature). The first fight shows the value of coating enemy weapons in slime, which would be useful against most foes. Second one shows my favorite animal. Third one made me think about logistics. If Marcus finds herself opposed enemy nations at some point, she can design large amounts of small bugs/locusts/termites/ants etc to simply fly past armies and target farmlands, granaries and such. Ofc they should also be highly toxic so that killing them taints the food.
Pawzom Lz
What would be the point in getting rich tho? To buy a mansion? She got the hive and because of her vex nature she will feel more comfortable there. She does not need to pay her drones. She only got 2 ''servants'' and she can easily get the money she needs to pay them from her future wyvern business and then a ton left over.
Alex
Interesting ideas, also glad I am not the only mulling the possibilities over. However you seems to have focused more on military applications. Me personally, think that if Marcus ever wants to get rich the going for the Honey Bees and Silk Worms/Spiders would be the way to go. Vex honey and Vex silk. Hell depending on how customizable he can make the Vex. Making a silk-metal fiber compound wouldn't be out of the question.
Pawzom Lz
(https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp) This have been in my bookmarks for years. Just be careful about about how and when(if) you implement the Tardigrade(most op), Mantis Shrimp and The Star-nosed mole(least op) as they each have essentially maxed out one or more branches of the bio tech tree.
Valentino Conti Angeli
That would be really useful! I will gladly read all of your suggestions! Thanks!
Pawzom Lz
Love your idea. Marcus does not need a parrot tho. She already made a clone capable of speech so she can just attach the vocal organs onto something capable of flight. She prob got it from the early goblins she killed. Soon she will get orc, and maybe sneak eat a human hair so she can pick the best vocal organ from them? The things I suggested was not so much for this orc war, but for afterwards once she has time to reorganise her drones and the far off future. 2 other things I would like to see now that the subject have gotten to organs, is remove her drones sense of hearing and smell after the orc war. Ofc specialised drones like hunter drones and such should be exempted from this. They are valuable organs requiring a lot of energy, so removing them will free up a lot of energy that can be spent elsewhere while also getting rid of some weak spots, and with hunter drones around they hardly need them.
Boreal117
Considering the situation, the creature Marcus needs most is a lot simpler: A Parrot. It’s a small, mobile flying creature capable of human-like speech. That gives it exceptional mobility on the battlefield, minimal biomass and food requirements, and by giving it to allied human and goblin officers, it can coordinate troop movements in a giant radius near-instantaneously. Being capable of flight also lets them be quickly replaced, should a few get killed during battle. Much more effective at handling battlefield communication than the full humanoid body double, which only has the advantage when it comes to diplomacy.
Nilbog
Are you ou expect ING a rematch with Yassen? I think he's going to do his job evacuating villages and that's it no more e fighting. It up to Alya, Marcus and the troops they brought to actually defeat him
Pawzom Lz
Will Marcus send over some drones to gather pieces of whatever remains of the forest dragon that Blueskin killed to get the DNA eventually? Even if the only parts remaining are bones that would be enough, and even if they would be to hard to chew she can just find some way to grind some bone dust away from it and swallow that. And while on this topic, will she send out any drones to collect anymore DNA, like at all? She seems to have put a complete stop to this after entering human territory and made Golam her sole means of acquiring any. She should have at least 1 Broodmother dedicated to this.
Boreal117
So if Yasen goes down, that leaves only Alya to deal with Blueskin. I’m not sure how Marcus is going to be involved in the whole encounter, but with the reveal of Blueskin’s new compulsion ability, it would make sense for Marcus to deal with Tiny somehow, possibly by finally figuring out how to use telepathy against an opponent.
Pawzom Lz
Owls make no sound when they fly, this combined with black feathers, the right eyesight and vex's lack of aura signature due to not having any, would allow for some extremely deadly nightly ambush flyers. Also, any combat drones with a tail, can use DNA from rattlesnake and scorpion so that the end of the serpentine tails end in a stinger.
Pawzom Lz
The Detector looks kind of like a tree that has been struck by lightning and has got cracks all over it, but is made of grotesque flesh covered in eyes wherever the cracks are not. But instead of a crown on the top there is instead just a hollow inside of which most of its sensory organs are located(except the eyes which are outside). The hollow on top and cracks all over it will allow sound and smell to pass inside from all directions while simultaneously making it more sensitive to vibrations in the ground while the branches covered in micro hairs are designed to make it more sensitive to vibrations in the air. Any excess nutrients it absorbs either from the mold wax or from anything that died close enough will be converted into nutrient sacks that will grow along its branches, which will drop down to the ground like fruit once it reaches a certain size. Due to how covered it is in sensory organs it has got barely, if any chitin/scales or other forms of defence. Arag is the reason I came up with this thing as the chapter Marcus notices him and then loses track of him pointed out to me how she got a serious weakness against assassination. The fruits are just for flavour so as to give it an even more Lovecraftian feel.
Pawzom Lz
Detector: A living building that has got eyes on it, many, many eyes with every enhancement Marcus has got, allowing it to see extreme detail not only up close, but at extreme distances, and in all kinds of different spectrums(copied from the Mantis Shrimp or similar creatures), Electroreception from sharks(the platypus also has electro receptors), sense of smell like a dog, ability to sense heat like snakes, echolocation + all different kinds of hearing enhancements, ability to sense vibrations in the earth like Marcus' diggers and vibrations in the air. While Marcus's hunters has got quite a few sensory upgrades and some of her flyers has got good eyes, she needs something more specialised in her territory to prevent infiltration. This ''building'' will root itself into the ground like a tree, but instead of the roots digging as deep as they can they will instead spread sideways along the mold wax in all directions so that it can acquire the absurd amount of nutrients it requires from a large amount of mold wax. Cannot move on its own but can uproot itself and be moved by big and strong enough drones, though during this time it will have to enter something akin to hibernation as otherwise it would burn through its energy reserves too quickly.
Pawzom Lz
Living Buildings: Eggs that ''evolve/grow'' up into buildings/turrets/fortifications. Absorbs surrounding mold wax to sustain itself and regenerate damage. ''Dead'' Buildings: Eggs that ''evolve/grow up into buildings/fortifications and then die. Cannot absorb surrounding mold wax to heal but doesn't require it to remain standing either. Advantage of these is that even if they require extreme amounts of food to maintain themselves while alive, they do not while dead, and if they are made up mostly of chitin with bone underneath while having as little flesh as possible, it will take a considerable amount of time before structural integrity is compromised after death. I believe this would also allow Marcus to flex her knowledge as In her former life she were studying to become a civil engineer.
Pawzom Lz
Not sure how this last one would even be possible. Marcus would have to somehow make drones that are microzised, those drones would then have to locate and capture Tardigrades and gather them in large enough amounts that Marcus would actually be able to consume them. If they can even be consumed by a vex queen that is. The tardigrade is an organism that can survive in any type of scenario. In space, underwater, a nuclear blast, etc. Problem is they can probably easily survive her stomach acid or her micro drones attempts at cutting them apart, seeing as they are nigh indestructible.
Pawzom Lz
There is a bug called the Whitefly(B. tabachi), which is the first known instance of plant DNA being absorbed by an animal. Getting her hands on a bug like this eventually might allow for the incorporation of plant DNA into the hive. This could allow for oxygen production, which could allow for underwater hives(that Marcus might be able to visit?) or maybe even orbital space hives, as all energy requirements can be acquired from mold wax.
Pawzom Lz
Spiders don’t have flashy metal fangs, but they do rely on metal deposits to make their fangs extra strong and fracture resistant. Scorpions, crabs, worms and other creatures also have metal atoms in their claws, jaws and fangs. These deposits are an evolutionary feat of engineering; they make the structures significantly stronger and longer lasting. Rather than occurring in organized clusters of atoms—a shiny strip of tin foil is one example—they are single atoms held in place by non-metals. This is part of the reason that no one discovered these deposits until about 30 years ago: it is difficult to detect a single atom unless you are specifically looking for it. Moreover, the metals—mainly iron, copper, manganese and zinc—are present only in very small parts of the animal. This may include the very tips of scorpion or crab claws, the tiny fangs of spiders, or the jagged teeth on the mandibles of ants. The structures are small but undergo proportionally large stresses as they come into contact with the environment. The Scaly-footed Gastropod is a snail with iron-sulfides on its shell. Beavers have iron in their tooth enamel. A parasitic fig wasp, this insect's strange ovipositor, its egg-laying syringe, is partially metal-plated with zinc.
Pawzom Lz
Regeneration: Salamanders can regrow tails, Axolotl can do this + limbs, starfish can do this + regrow a new body from a limb, Sea cucumbers can regrow damaged parts, and critical injuries in as little as a week, and has the ability to jettison organs to serve as distraction. Being able to regenerate organs would allow for a drone that can work as artillery, quite literally shooting out entire organs filled with explosive chemicals, acid/poison mist, etc. Shark are impressive when it comes to replacing teeth, but might be to costly to fit into the average unit. Regenerative Armor: Armor containing something similar to sweat pores, but not on the outside, inside. Inside of the armour this liquid will be pumped into cracks/holes in the armour, and quickly harden after contacting air, allowing for high speed ''regeneration''. This particular idea is from the Chrysalis novel(where the Protag is an ant named Anthony).
Pawzom Lz
Maybe give Marcus drones Acidic blood? Normally this would not be possible, not because acidic blood itself is impossible but because the slightest injury would then introduce the acid into the organs, but after having acquired the Piraca DNA, Marcus should be able to make this work. This means that not only would The Vex taste like absolute shit, they would harm/kill most who tried to kill them from the inside out due to the acid. On top of this since they have no aura, species who benefit from eating creatures with aura like Orcs wont be interested in eating them either. The warriors, before battle, could even injure themselves and coat their natural weapons in their acidic blood. How Acidic is the Xenomorph Blood from ALIEN? (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill) Some interesting tidbits about this kind of thing in this video.
Pawzom Lz
The Star-nosed mole only requires 120 milliseconds(average: 227ms) time to identify and consume individual food items. Its brain decides in approximately 8ms if a prey is edible or not. This speed is at the limits of neurons. Combine this things reactionary speed with a mantis shrimps attack speed and you got yourself something unstoppable. Laysan Albatross have the ability to travel thousands of miles on wind currents, without ever flapping its wings. Add this ones DNA to medium/large flying drones and their energy efficiency will skyrocket.
Pawzom Lz
Lampreys have a second mouth inside of their mouth in place of a tongue, Chameleons(1.5 times their body length) and Toads have long tongues they can use to catch prey with, combine these traits, add them into most drones and they all gain an additional weapon. The woodpecker has a tongue so long it wraps around its skull, protecting it from harm while pecking. Combine this with the beak from the dead forest dragon and other strong forms of beaks and all drones suddenly gain 2 additional weapons(no reason why the inside of the beak cant also have teeth, right?). On top of this, certain animals have a really high PSI(Pounds per square inch) bite, Megalodon(40k), Deinosuchus(20k), T-rex(10k) and Saltwater Crocodile(4k), and with Marcus having already acquired DNA from something akin to a t-rex, creatures similar to the other ones could also exist. There are other animals that also have a high PSI but these are the most impressive. Combine many traits from all of these creatures and you start to get something truly horrifying.
Pawzom Lz
Another couple useful traits to give to all drones would be from Locust and Beaver DNA. Just to massively improve the drones ability to consume vegetation and wood when they lack prey and mold wax to eat in case of long distance deployment or something similar. Horned Lizards can squirt their blood, which could make for something decent if combined with acidic blood.
Pawzom Lz
I mention Mantis Shrimps a lot here, and there is a good reason for that. But simultaneously I don't necessarily want Marcus to get her hands on it anytime soon as that would just be way to much of a powerup for her. Its something I hope she will think about and make a goal, maybe try to make a hive by the ocean and make drones for hunting/gathering DNA and make acquiring its DNA a long term goal. On the hunters, if the third set of limbs on its back are covered in wings with spikes on the joint(Similar to that one zergling variant from heart of the swarm), if you combine this with mantis shrimp dna, it will be able to either get a very powerful penetrative strike or a burst of speed in most directions, avoiding enemy attacks or get around/over terrain. Similar things can be done on many other drones.
Pawzom Lz
Siege/Shield Beast/Beetle: Eyes, nose and hearing are sacrificed so more resources can be used towards armour, muscle and maybe regeneration. It wont rely on its own senses to move around but be moved by the hive itself which will use the senses of all other drones to properly guide it. Like a spider that falls on its back and legs contract, this one will be designed in such a way that its ''death position'' will keep it upright with its massive shield like ''head'' faced forward. The head does not necessarily contain the brain, which will instead be inside the thickest and safest place of the body. The different spines and bones on its tail-back-head both below and above will be able to fit another of its same kind, effectively locking them together. This will allow them to essentially become a big ramp when stacked on top of each other, and even if they die their muscles will lock into that position. Because of the way the ridges along its tail-back-head is the Siege Beast is effectively a ramp from behind. If the wall is too big they can climb atop and slot onto each others ''spikes and form a bigger ramp. Killing them will not be enough for this ''ramp'' to fall apart and will require specific body parts to be outright destroyed, which will not be easy due to its absurdly thick/dense chitin, compressed musculature and large, dense internal skeleton, as all 3 will have to be destroyed since its ''resting position/death position'' for each equals the position it can be used as a shield from in front and ramp from behind.
Pawzom Lz
Artillery Drone: Bone spikes or something? Essentially the ranger above just on a much bigger scale. Oil Artillery Drone: Designed around just producing large quantities of highly flammable, long lasting oil which it can shoot quite far into the distance, which Felix or another sorcerer can set on fire. Chemical Artillery Drone: Add DNA taken from Bombardier Beetles for chemical explosions and boiling, toxic liquid to the current Chemical Artillery Drone Marcus already have.
Pawzom Lz
Discombobulator: The Water Boatman is a tiny bug that can make sound blasts at 99.2 decibels, which is insane as its as tiny as a human fingernail. Make large scale versions of these, take away the hearing of all drones except those that requires them to fulfil their tasks(which will have the added benefit of making those drones not having to waste energy on hearing organs, and with the Marcus clone she does not need them anymore to listen to and communicate with others from a distance). There are certain creatures like the tiger, the roar of which vibrates the bones in its prey and can make them lock up in instinctive fear. Large scale aoe of this but also to the point where it causes actual damage to the ears, which will result in difficulty staying balanced, could cause serious damage on a battlefield.
Pawzom Lz
Zapper: DNA from electric eels, modified to be able to hold significantly more charge than an eel. Traits from electric eel is also given to the melee drones, trapper and ranger Arachne to make them immune to shocks. This enemy will not necessarily be designed to personally move up to enemies and electrify them, but to work with trapper/ranger Arachne drones, which will attach one or more strings of webs onto it which they will connect to enemies with their ranged attacks.
Pawzom Lz
Ranger Arachne: Traits from Spiders/Arachne(will be shaped like an Arachne), porcupines and eyes from species with very good eyes for long distance sight(eagles/falcon). One of its arms will end in a large bone like protrusion shaped like a bow instead of a hand, the ends of which can be connected by extremely powerful silk. This drone rely on porcupine DNA to grow quills on its back the tips of which are serrated bone/chitin. Much higher rate of fire and regeneration of the ''quills'' than the normal ranger drone due to the smaller arrow size, but damage per shot is lower. This will be a very large drone, relying on its massive back to have an abundance of ammo, and when dealing with large, powerful enemies it can attach powerful strings onto the arrows and try to ''harpoon'' it. While one by itself might not succeed, a large number of these drones can make up for it. This in combination with the trapper will allow them to deal with some very nasty enemies relatively easy. After a lot of experimentation Marcus might even be able to figure out how to make it so the bow becomes a compound bow. Parts of the ''bow'' like appendage can be unbendable chitin while other parts can be bendable bones, with a means of attaching a replaceable wheel at the ends made out of bone or chitin, something like this should be possible, but probably quite difficult. Would mean a much lower rate of fire but a high damage boost and increased range, allowing each arrow to do more damage overall. Maybe a specialised bug, which will attach itself onto and cover the bow, grow the ''wheels'' where they need to be then it detaches itself.
Pawzom Lz
pouncing on foes, and having a large frontline of these pounce like that would be like a charging shield wall, which could be extremely effective. Trapper: Traits from just spiders really. Just have it behind the backline, it can throw webs over the frontline onto the enemy immobilizing them with webs making it much easier for warriors/hunters to land successful attacks. Ranger: Get Mantis Shrimp + Porcupine DNA for a long range ''Javelin'' shooting combatant, as while Marcus does have some long range combatants in her Artillery Drones, they are limited to acids/poisons, and something with more stopping power could be useful. And while Artillery Drones are more useful for large amounts of opponents, the speed of their acidic vomit is just not fast enough to hit something highly mobile from a distance. The ''porcupine'' could be its own standalone unit, alowing for more specialised ranger and porcupines(quiver).
Pawzom Lz
Hunter: Modify eyes with those of Mantis Shrimps for ability to see into many different spectrums, ability to sense heat from snakes, sensitive hairs all over its body allowing it to sense vibrations in the air and sensitive pads under its feet allowing it to sense vibrations in the earth. Electroreception from sharks(the platypus also has electro receptors). It shouldn't be able to have all of these, or if it does it should have a weaker version as the sheer amount of energy requirements would be to large to be sustainable with this many costly organs. One thing I really don't like about Marcus' hunters is that despite the fact that they seem to be about the size of a dog, she claims they aren't very good in frontal confrontations, which would be true for most dog like creatures, but these are part of a hive. They should be able to weave in-between the legs of the warriors with near perfect coordination. If the warrior is attacked it will defend and the hunter will attack from below, if the hunter below is attacked the warrior up top attacks. If she gets the hunters in large enough numbers they could even just climb on top of the warriors not in the first line but second and jump over the frontline, trying to either be a distraction or outright swarm the enemy. Warrior: Get Mantis Shrimp DNA for the extreme attack speed they have (for all 3 warrior versions). Have it use all 4 arms instead of only 2 for weapons, with 2 of them always being the ''basher'' ones since these can be used not only for blunt damage but also as an improvised shield by simply moving them in the way or hitting anything dangerous heading for it while the other pair focuses on damage. 1 pair of arms purely for grabbing makes no sense. Better to use them for offense, defence or better yet, both, which 2 large club like appendages can do Heavy Warrior: Similar to the normal warrior above but larger, uses all 6 arms instead of only 4. Will have 1 pair of arms for the 3 different versions of attacking(cleaver/spearer/basher versions), making it highly versatile, its lower body will be large and that of a serpents, giving it some serious bracing power while its 6 arms gives it high offence, both at the cost of dodging, which lets face it, doesn't come into handy very often for warriors anyway as they tend to rely on chitin to block damage instead. The large, powerful lower body of a snake will make it look like a grotesque, armoured naga, and give it the ability to wrap around and constrict its foes while shredding them with its 3 pairs of arms and/or bite off large chunks of flesh with its serrated fangs. Sacrificing the ability to dodge easily and gaining the powerful lower body of a snake will make it possible to give its chitin a serious boost in thickness and density despite the massive amount of additional weight that would mean. Snakes are very good at poun
Pawzom Lz
Collector: mosquitos, tiny(like our worlds) medium ones like the ones she already made and large ones the size of large birds that collects DNA. Hummingbirds are the fastest animals in the world relative to their size. Could be useful for both mosquito types. While EXTREMELY energy intensive, it would make them a lot harder to kill, but in sufficient quantity they do not need this. Hell Mosquito: Just tiny mosquitos, but in extreme numbers which will try to inject poison and/or acid. In the case of armoured opponents(or those with particularly thick skin), they will try to climb into ears or other orifices. Due to their small sizes Broodmothers should be able to lay massive quantities of eggs at a time. Blueskin took advantage of his smaller size in order to kill the dragon from the inside. It bugs me(pun intended) that Marcus have yet to design drones to do something similar. While you are fighting warriors/hunters under acidic artillery fire, having a swarm of mosquitos trying to inject poison/acid into you or outright crawl inside you themselves would be a recipe for panic for most creatures. Scout: flying drones made as small and stealthy as possible with skin of a chameleon to help them blend in, transparent insect wings, extremely keen eyesight(modified with mantis shrimp and eagle/Falcon DNA), Electroreception from sharks(the platypus also has electro receptors), and high speed.
Pawzom Lz
Worker: Some way to spit the mold wax further distances, allowing them to use it on roofs without actually having to climb there? Make it so their hands are capable of holding a pen? In chapter 95 it is mentioned they cant do that, and with them being workers I, up till this point, just assumed they had opposable thumbs that would allow them to work with at least some precision when in the beginning as she made them she made them with centaur lower bodies I believe and human ish torso with arms. Just seems weird for a Civil Engineer to forget that opposable thumbs is a good thing? I mean, they even got fingers but in the process of designing their hands with fingers she just forgot to add the thumbs?? Even if their hands are bulky they can just make a fist around the pen in a fist and hold the bottom of the fist above what they want to write on and write that way?? Digger: Modify with workers ability to make mold wax from its pores, slowing down digging speed when it uses this option but the tunnels will be completed by it alone. Can be turned off for normal digging speed. Could also make a much larger version of this thing. Transport: Something for the ground? Could be anything really. A bit strange that Marcus completely jumped over this part and went straight for wyverns. The Heavy's and Dreadnought she has used so far doesn't count as they weren't designed for it. Maybe something like a deer/camel with a very soft fat sack on top with plenty of luxurious fur, making for comfortable seating.
Pawzom Lz
I just finished re-reading the novel again, and the following posts I will write down all kinds of ideas for new drones, modifications to existing ones and other things that could be incorporated into the hive in different ways. There is a lot so for those who are not interested dont bother checking here. I'm mostly just writing this down as possible ideas for Vale in case any of it can be found useful for the story ahead.
