The Tome of Exalted Ponies

The night breeze stylist pins all solid bits in her soup with expertly tossed needles, making for tasty snacks

…

Moving through the city of Port Calin was strange. The city guard had been largely pacified – though there was still the odd patrol trying to keep the peace, and the trio of solars did pitch in more than once to help stop looters.

At a burning house Speaker rushed in, his elemental immunity charm on, hauling out two trapped ponies – much to the adoration of some nearby onlookers, at least right up until they realized that Speaker’s caste mark was glowing.

The instant they saw that, their cheers turned to jeers and fearful shouts of “Anathema!” – but Cash was on them in a heartbeat, eloquently pointing out the heroism of Speaker’s act. He would have gone on to rewrite their minds so that they were at least neutral on the topic of solars and lunars, but that was when Sully spotted something passing at a nearby intersection.

“Cash, isn’t that the unicorn you said outed you at Cripple Creek?” Sullen Hoof said, not sounding entirely sure, but enough to warrant inquiry.

Speaker looked, seeing a large cart loaded with scrolls, tomes and other books – and the large group of immaculate monks huddling around it, for it appeared that their cart had broken or hit something, which prevented them from moving on. Among them was that unicorn they had seen at Cripple Creek, the same black-maned unicorn with his rich purple silks.

The biggest difference this time was that the unicorn did not look happy at to have spotted the circle – oh he looked terrified.

Cash quickly ignored the ponies he had been talking to, instead turning for the unicorn and monks: “Oh hey you – I’ve got beef you little shit!”

Of the monks, only a few were unicorns, and they were pushing and pulling with all their might – which was strange, considering immaculate doctrine regarding striking down anathema… so what were they trying to make off with, that was so important that it meant ignoring the anathema who were in sight?

Cash cared less for the content of the cart, instead chasing after the unicorn noble in his fancy purple silks – who was galloping away as quickly as possible, dodging Cash’s launched hoof-claws to the best of his ability.

Leaving Cash to chase after the unicorn, Speaker and Sully instead approached the cart and the monks – of course, the monks seemed to know what the two were, so they were terrified. The three unicorns among them also seemed to be struggling to muster the courage to defend their peers, one of them appearing to be desperately chugging the content of a gourd-bottle, while the two others were arguing about who should go first.

“We don’t have to fight, you can go in peace – but we would like to see what’s in the cart” Sully said calmly, sounding quite sincere, like a no-bullshit chef talking plainly to kitchen staff without a hint of deceit.

Several of the mortal monks took the offer, running off, while what appeared to be a handful of true believers stayed on, along with the unicorns. Speaker figured that Sullen Hoof had the unicorns handled, so he went for the cart, opening a chest that turned out to be loaded with scrolls and even more books.

The two mortal monks tried to stop Speaker, but he barely had to put effort into wresting them to the ground – and at that point, simply giving them a stern “Stay down” was enough to make them cooperate. Leafing through the scrolls and stacks of papers, Speaker first observed that quite a lot of the documents appeared to be very old – like, many centuries old.

It took a bit of effort, and no small amount of essence, to accurately date the oldest of the documents, which made Speaker curious at what was actually written in them: “Sully… these are genealogy records – and the oldest pieces here are almost a thousand years old! This stuff dates back before the great contagion, before the fall of the shogunate!”

Looking over to Sullen Hoof, Speaker saw him politely talking with two of the unicorns – the third one was apparently missing, but there was a uniquely unicorn-shaped hole in the wall of a nearby building.

Cash returned a bit later, looking quite annoyed: “I chased the unicorn down to the docks – he had some kind of first age or shogunate era magic ship he got on, sped off before I could catch him… he did impress me with his swearing though, that was quite impressive”

“A shame – I would have liked to have known how he knew who you are – but the way, did you see if the rest of the legions had sailed of yet? Or have they figured out the orders I gave were false?” Sullen Hoof said, taking a brief pause in his conversation with the two unicorn monks.

Thinking for a moment, Cash nodded: “They were boarding the ships – the troops didn’t look happy about it, but it seems that your trickery at the legion command is working. They should be gone in a few hours”

“Excellent, then we just need to hold the city until Lookshy shows up – Speaker, can you message them to encourage them to hurry up a bit? And Cash, it looks like they were guarding some really old genealogy records, what do you make of that?” Sullen Hoof said, sounding satisfied in hearing that his trickery had worked out, but also eager to wrap things up.

Looking over the two unicorns Cash had been talking to with inquisitive eyes, Cash’s caste mark lit up – and that was when his expression changed, as if he had just spotted a honey-lathered prostitute sitting on a massive chest of silver: “No way…”

The unicorns shied away from Cash’s hungry eyes, as he quickly dove into the cart and its stacks of books and scrolls. Speaker looked on curiously, as Cash withdrew an ancient scroll that contained a family tree with names, basic descriptions of what noble houses the listed unicorns were from, plus a few notes in the margins: “Speaker, do you know what this is?”

“The genealogy records needed to trace the bloodline of the late shogun up to today?” Speaker said, having had the time he needed to fully piece together the implications of the information he had read himself.

Cash nodded eagerly: “No wonder these idiots were trying to run off with this – if we can track down the heir to the shogunate… oh this is huge”

“Lookshy would love to get these records” Speaker mused, trying to think of what other parties would be interested in this information.

It honestly surprised Speaker when Cash whacked him of the head: “No! Whoever can be found via these records would have the single most legitimate right to the imperial throne”

“I know – but Lookshy, the seventh shogunate legion, their last standing order was to protect the river provinces and await further orders from the Shogun” Speaker said angrily, giving Cash a look that clearly communicated that he didn’t understand why he had been struck.

Sullen Hoof pulled the cart harness over himself and gave the whole thing a yank, sending Cash and Speaker tumbling off the cart: “Cash, behave – Speaker, Cash has a point. Whoever this heir to the shogunate is, would have a legitimate right to rule over both Lookshy and the realm – and I’m pretty sure it’s not any of us, which means this heir would be a threat to all of us if such an heir turns their power over the realm and Lookshy against us. We cannot let this information get out, not to the realm, not to Lookshy – honestly, we should just burn it”

“No, you mustn’t – its priceless historical records!” one of the two unicorn monks, a skinny pony who did not look happy at all that solars were bickering over whether to use or burn the things he had spent his life protecting.

With a mix of an aggrieved shudder and a sigh Speaker simply nodded: “I get it, whoever this heir might be would have a lot of power, if they could seize the realm throne and get Lookshy to agree to its leadership – but what then? Should we seek out this pony and turn them to our side?”

“No, we should burn this and be done with it – letting the possibility of such a revelation be is foolish! There is no way that finding this mystery heir would benefit us” Sullen Hoof argued, appearing to operate from a very immediately utilitarian perspective.

Cash – already spotless thanks to his self-cleaning collar – cleared this throat: “No, we find whoever this is, turn them to our side, which would let us control the future emperor and leader of Lookshy – we can turn Sunhill from a city state to an empire overnight! We would be foolish to abandon this. See it like a long- term plan!”

What annoyed Speaker the most was that Cash wasn’t wrong – being able to control the legitimate heir to both the realm and the seventh legion would be a hilarious boon to Sunhill… or anyone else who had that information.

That made Cash somewhat curious at why these monks had been sitting on the information – and he needed but a glance at them to learn that it was because they were quite sure that such information would only destabilize the realm further, especially since the heir’s bloodline would predate any current major realm noble house… but the two unicorn monks did not look happy to see their secrets laid bare by the anathema before them, though they were also helpless to stop it.

The three finally resolved to bring the matter to Sunrise, Cash sure that she would support his point of view. Repairing and hauling the cart to the satrap’s palace, the trio found Sunrise still speaking at the satrap’s court, lecturing the nobles and courtiers there. Speaker quickly picked up on the charms she was using, instilling in the court a shared desire to reject the realm and work towards their own independence.

While at the palace, Cash organized proper steel-reinforced oaken chests for the genealogy records, Speaker using his mending and repair charm upon the records to restore them where the ancient documents had crumbled, imbuing them with the permanence of his latest and greatest crafting charm, that the documents would no longer decay – ensuring that they could be easily read in the future.

Sunrise came to the circle once she was done, finding Cash looking quite satisfied with the sturdy jadesteel locks that he had gotten fitted on the chests. A quick explanation of the discovery later, Sunrise agreed that Sunhill could without a doubt benefit from keeping this information – though she understood Speaker’s reluctance to wield the information against Lookshy: “I understand. Your love for your homeland is admirable, and Lookshy is already a great ally. Equally, Roseblack is looking to hopefully become a reasonable and fair empress – so perhaps it is not needed to use this information at all, if we’re lucky”

It was strange to hear Sunrise speaking of not using power now that they had access to it, but it fit her own understanding of power, following her ascension to solar circle sorcery: She wasn’t afraid of power, but her relationship to it had also become more relaxed and cordial – she did not feel the need to exercise power simply because she could. Cash had to agree to this, saying that they could keep the information as a backup in case Roseblack turned out to no be friendly.

Over the next two days, before the Lookshyan occupation troops showed up, the circle rounded up the city’s city guard and put just enough mind control upon them, that they would keep working as normal and keep the peace until relieved by Lookshyan forces. Sunrise similarly handled the civilian population, ensuring that the peace was maintained and that Speaker wasn’t obstructed while he went around and committed rampant acts of building repairs and restoration, applying his repair and crafting charms left and right, restoring much of what he’d trampled with his magic warstrider.

A curious thing that Cash discovered regarding the genealogy records they had captured, was that on the second day while talking with the unicorn monks about their involvement with the records, both of the previously shy and demure unicorns suddenly seemed to… flip? It was as if entirely different ponies had suddenly emerged, and Cash found himself in a desperate fight against two immaculate unicorn monks he had not prepared himself to battle.

The fighting first stopped when Sullen Hoof suddenly appeared, wrestling down one of the unicorns. In the absolutely smashed up – and partially on fire – office within the satrap’s palace, Cash quickly moved to strike down the grappled unicorn, but then the other one cried out: “No, don’t!”

The two unicorns surrendered, but Cash couldn’t help but see how the two unicorns before him were completely different than the ones he had talked to earlier. They were bitter, argumentative and quite angry – not just at him and Sully, curiously enough, but at the pony they claimed had put spells on them, to bind and constrict their minds, rendering them meek and quite agreeable, in order to pack up and make off the with precious genealogy records they had sworn to protect.

“The unicorn in purple silks we caught you with?” Cash wondered, quite curious.

The unicorn monk glared at Cash with murder in her eyes: “That anathema scum – he might have looked like a unicorn, but the charms he used on us certainly were not…”

“Really? Can you describe the charms he used?” Sullen Hoof inquired, eager to know more about this strange foe.

The two monks couldn’t say much – only say that it wasn’t normal for a unicorn to be able to so thoroughly trounce and dominate the minds of others, especially without even saying much: “It wasn’t as if he talked us into anything… or hypnotized us – he just walked up to us at a small manse shrine outside the city a week ago and then… then we couldn’t think freely until a few moments ago”

Reporting this to Sunrise and Speaker, the circle agreed that this reeked of abyssal or perhaps even sidereal dickery. Would explain how the same ‘unicorn’ had recognized Cash in Cripple Creek.

They all agreed that if spotted again, this pony was to be either killed or captured.

When the Lookshyans came marching and demanded that the city gates be opened to them, the citizens of Port Calin didn’t quite seem to know whether to cheer or grieve – it wasn’t realm relief forces, but it wasn’t anathema either. It was rather amusing, at least for Cash, to see the conflicted expressions in the faces of the locals.

Before the circle left, their work ostensibly done, they learned that the Lookshyans would be permitting the resumed trade between realm river-merchants and the oceanic merchant shipping going to the blessed isle – though they would be levying a quite frankly hilariously oppressive tax upon cargo going through the city’s port to the blessed isle – and Lookshy didn’t seem afraid to confiscate anything that looked like weapons or military supplies being sent to the isle. The three warstriders the circle had captured during the battle for the city were also gladly received by the Lookshyans, though they were a bit surprised that Sunhill didn’t want to keep at least one…

Returning to Sunhill, with their cargo of historical genealogy records and their honor guard which had kept their yeddim safe outside the city, the circle breathed a sigh of relief. On the flight back they wondered if they should check in with Shimmer.

What they found when they returned was a messenger from Lee, The Bodhisattva of the third breath, waiting for them.

“Ok… we just have to find a secure way to hide these things away, then we can go chat with Lee – any suggestions?” Cash said, looking mainly at Sully and Speaker.

Speaker’s immediate idea was to use his singing staff to bury the large chest into the stone roads of the city – there would be no visible trace or marker, and only he would know where the chest was hidden, and the solid stone roads didn’t exactly permit anyone to dig around without someone noticing.

“That sounds a lot better than my idea – go for it” Sullen Hoof quickly said, leaving Speaker to do his thing.

The next day the circle zipped to Great Forks via the light rail network, finding Lee of the Third Breath at his office once more.

“Ah my friends, good to see you” Lee proclaimed, his office looking quite… packed up. Everything was either in crates, or being taken down and put into crates – no shipping crates Cash noted.

“Nah it’s just for local storage – I’m planning on go away for a while, to aid An-Teng, and that’s where I need your help” Lee explained, saying that he needed the circle’s help moving a large amount of mercenary troops he had organized, to An-Teng, to help them liberate the place from realm control.

“Ok, that’s not the worst of ideas – your part-demon buddies there calling on you?” Sullen Hoof asking jovially.

With a content smile, Lee said that such was indeed the case: “It has proven exceptionally difficult for them to recruit forces for their rebel army while avoiding detection. The ponies of An-Teng are brow-beaten and cowed… and are being worked too hard in their rice-fields to have the spare energy to run off into the jungles”

“Very well – that is certainly a worthy cause that we would gladly help with – seeing as we have nothing better to do at the moment. But tell me, you’re not doing this just out of the goodness of your heart – what are you getting for this?” Cash said, having sensed something else.

Pulling out a notebook, Lee leafed through some pages: “Here – the circle with the strange demonic appearances, they have been trading notes and believe to have useful information on the topic slaying primordials – and I’m thinking I can use that to terminate the neverborn. That what I’m getting from them”

“Interesting – but why the rush to help them now? Has something changed?” Sunrise inquired, recalling what Speaker had told of Bitter Copal’s cult and rebel activities.

Pulling out a note from the notebook, and unfolding it to reveal a map of An-Teng, the fire mountains to eastern territorial borders and Gem far to the south via that mountain chain, Lee groaned deeply as his brows furrowed: “Bitter Copal and the others there feel that they must move soon, lest other forces beat them to it: The demons that took Gem have apparently started to move – or are preparing to move, towards An-Teng… and they’re equally worried that local realm leadership will ask for more legions to be brought to combat that, which will complicate their bid for freedom greatly”

“With how the civil war on the isle is getting worse, do you think anyone will send more legions to An-Teng?” Sunrise wondered, finding the idea of one of the larger houses sending legions away from the isle to be rather silly.

Pondering the question for a brief moment, Lee considered his answer: “Oh certainly, because control of An-Teng would be a good consolation prize for a house that loses the bid for the throne – especially with the demons that control Gem, because then it could become an excuse to move on Gem… and if a realm house takes that, then… oh dear”

“Right, that kind of money would be difficult to pass up on – and the excuse to invade Gem would be right there” Sullen Hoof chimed in.

It was thus decided that the lords of Sunhill would aid Lee and An-Teng, but Lee was quick to point out a problem: If the circle was to help him, then he would likely quickly run into problems with the guild mercenaries he had hired for the operation.

The circle agreed that this was an issue – but Cash was quick to ask: “Lee, between you and Speaker, you two could probably train up the An-Teng rebels in no time – why do we even have to bring mercenaries?”

Lee could only refer back to his notes and the messages he had been sending and receiving to Bitter Copal: “I suggested that myself initially, would have made this much easier – but in the coded messages I have gotten from these rebel leaders, then they claim that they can’t organize or squirrel away enough rebels to form an army on their own – the realm overseers are keeping everyone on a tight leash, especially in the rural districts they would like to recruit from”

Ok, that actually made sense – but Cash still looked doubtful: “Oh come now – why not simply ask us to do our managerial magic for that? I can make a hundred ponies do the work of five hundred – that should easily let us set up a hidden army in the An Teng jungles”

Speaker wasn’t quite sure if Lee had engineered the situation so that Cash would present such a suggestion himself, instead of making Lee make it – but it seemed that Lee was quite happy to accept the proposal regardless, plus it saved him a fortune in not having to hire an eastern mercenary army.

It certainly made setting up transit down to Admiral sand a lot easier.

Lee did require a few days to basically cancel the contract he had signed with the guild mercenaries – and they were of course quite upset to later hear that Sunhill had basically sniped their bid, as much of the money Lee had budgeted for them were instead spent on buying rail pillars, to fully extend the rail pillar network down south along the Gray river. It was no small amount of money, but the way Cash set it up then as an investor Lee was going to be collecting percentages on the fees and tariffs from the traffic moving along that line.

Cash had apparently been planning extending the rail network down to Admiral sand, but Sand hadn’t been able to muster the funding – nor secure transport for transferring such funds – to Sunhill, for investment into the network.

“Hold on – wouldn’t it be faster to fly all of us to An-Teng on your yeddim?” Lee wondered, as they packed up their luggage and kit, along with quite a few crates of weapons and armor on a yeddim in Sunhill.

Cash said it would make sense when they got there: “…it’s all part of a greater plan we have – but these network expansions are expensive, no doubt about it – and sadly we can burn through such funds much faster that Sunhill’s economy can handle”

Lee did not look terrible impressed.

“It also permits us to call in troops much easier if we can set up a rail network connection to where we’re going – you’ll be able to ship in mercenaries by the pram-load once this is set up, if need be”
Lee accepted this – plus he liked the idea that if the network could reach An-Teng it would permit trade with the east, bypassing the realm-patroled waterways otherwise required to get there.

All of this didn’t mean that Sand hadn’t been preparing for the rail networks arrival though.

At a large river-side clearing, upon which a large stone platform had been constructed well in advance – an ideal location for a rail pillar – the circle arrived, along with Lee, on their flying yeddim to a welcoming party consisting of Admiral Sand, who stood alongside a mix of jackal troops and… half-bug half-pony creatures.

“Ah my friends – good to see you, and it looks like you brought a friend” Admiral Sand announced loudly, as the circle came in to land.

Lee of the third breath, who did not know fire-tongue, couldn’t understand Sand, but Cash and Speaker were able to translate.

Sand had apparently been having a grand old time influencing the pandit caste priest kings of the Varang city states, to the point that he had been able to request a number of predictions – such as when a light rail pillar would appear at this very choice location, letting him know when to be ready with payment for pillars to spread the network west over the summer mountains.

Once all of that was explained to him, Lee of the Third Breath found himself quite perplexed – but also positively surprised – finally understanding why he had only been asked to fund the network expansion down south, but not westward.

This led to the introduction of the insect-creatures that Sand appeared to be hanging out with: “May I introduce the venerable Grandmother Whami”

Whami bowed her head politely, her half-insect half-pony form appearing strange but you could at least still read her face. Flashing her changing moon caste mark, she revealed herself to be a lunar: “It is an honor to meet the esteemed lords of Sunhill – I am certain that my people will have many goods to trade with you from here”

Cash was already looking giddy at the prospect of a new strange trade partner, as Sand invited the circle and Lee to join them for tea.

What the circle hadn’t quite expected, was that this tea was served within a city cleverly hidden within the south-eastern jungles. It was built mostly underground, though through clever use of giant lenses and prisms of amber and glass, did these underground cities spread a pleasant warm light around everywhere inside of it.

The citizens of the city that the circle was guided to, was entirely made up of insect-people, creatures that Whami had bred forth from local bugs, augmented and enhanced through her lunar breeding charms to give them intelligence and nice things like thumbs to enable tool usage – and under the jungle canopies the city was a bustling hive, complete with space for flying insect people or other flying things to land on, such as a yeddim.

“Fascinating… a whole civilization of bug people” Sunrise marveled, looking at the various shrines they passed on their way from the landing platform. It seemed that the local divinities of choice were the usual fare of fertility, good health, harvest and fishing, nothing out of the ordinary if it had been a pony city, complete with old-looking insects dressed as monks and priests.

Admiral Sand appeared to have gotten used to the bug-people of the United Chimerates long ago, speaking well of the quality of their woven rugs and other wicker products as they crossed through a market area: “It’s still a bit of a challenge to get my jackals to accept their presence – but they enjoy their products just fine, and for me these people are the trade gateway to the wealth of the east”

Whami in kind appeared to be well aware of both the risks and benefits of having her people connect to the light rail network: “We are largely self-sufficient, but there are several city states along the grey river not that far from our territory – and right now they have no idea we exist. Joining the networks will expose us to the rest of creation… and based on what I’ve heard from river merchants coming down the river, then at every pillar you set up a merchant haven blossoms, which will attract attention to here from far and wide, not just our neighbours”

The circle could see how revealing such a civilization could be troublesome, though Shimmer was quick to ask exactly why: “Are you afraid of your neighbours attacking you, or of your own ambush plans being ruined?”

“This place was originally a thousand streams project meant to set up expendable self-replicating forces to destroy the realm presence in the satrapies in this region… but I grew to love them” Whami freely admitted, as they headed into a well-built if not odd-looking tea-house, though all the structures they had seen appeared made from bricks of ground and baked mushroom pulp and thick locally sourced resin used as mortar.

Speaker found the local architecture quite fascinating, for it was clearly inspired by whatever local resources that were available – and yet he could see several products made from the same baked mushroom material, including lanterns and candle-holders, making him think that the stuff was fire-proof, perhaps a bit like baked clay: “I can see why you grew to care for them – they are clearly more than just warriors”

With Whami expressing worries of what her immediate neighbours might do, once they learn of her bug-people, the circle negotiated and advised her on how to mitigate these challenges, Sand pitching in here and there. Whami’s greatest challenge was that her various bug-people species were quite specialized, as insects tended to be – there were a lot of worker insects, of course, but also speedy messengers, strong and tough warriors, expert swimmers used for fishing in the great lake bordering the northern edges of their territory… but while each species were very good at certain things, then they each also had their shortcomings, case in point her warrior species would need to eat quite a lot and rest for days after a fight, to restore themselves after their exertion: “This makes it difficult to move troops around for me, because they are slow walkers, but can fly – which equally tires them”

“Sounds like you need some light rail pillars to facilitate moving troops around to defend your lands” Cash said, his salesman spirit undeniable.

Sullen Hoof poked Cash a bit “You’re not getting a proper read on the locals, are you”

“They’re a bit hard to read, but if Sand vouches for them then I’m ok with this” Cash casually replied, sipping his tea.

Sullen Hoof, who’s profiling charms were much more powerful and direct than that of Cash Charmer’s charms of social cue detection, could only sigh: “I’ve checked dozens of these bug people we’ve walked past on the way here – they are terrified of us, terrified of what the rest of Creation will do to them once they learn of this place”

Looking to Whami, the old-looking bug lunar could only shrug: “I have tried many times to broker relations with nearby jungle tribes – but it’s been rough… and the hostile responses from the primitive tribes have coloured the views of the Chimerate populations quite hard”

“I’ve been using jackals – well trained ones – to act as intermediaries when selling Chimerate wares. They are very afraid of ponies and what they might do, so it’s difficult for them to send out trade delegations” Sand commented.

Sunrise put down her cup of tea: “The rail network will let you move troops around to defend your territory – making friends with your neighbours, or trade relations with parties further afield, that’s something they’ll have to learn on their own. Alternatively, we can simply route the rail network south around your territory towards the Summer mountains”

With an expression that spoke of much inner conflict, Whami ultimately agreed to have the major cities of the Chimerates connected via light rail – and to have her nation connected to the greater Sunhill network. Sand was pleased as punch, promising funding for a further network extension west over the Summer mountains: “I have spices and glass from Chiaroscuro, goods that I know sell well throughout the east”

It took several weeks to clear pillar locations throughout the dense steaming south-eastern jungles from the Grey river to the Summer mountains. Local Chimerate work-crews that looked an awful lot like termites grown to the size of ponies, chewed through the dense undergrowth while Sunhill work crews laid the foundations. The greatest hurdle for each pillar was moving the heavy carved stone pillar segments through the jungle to the pillar sites.

The circle aided as best they could – Cash using their flying yeddim to carry pillar segments around, but each pillar had to be quite tall to reach above the canopies, so the quarries around Sunhill worked hard to produce enough rock fast enough, Speaker using his singing staff to meld the pieces together into singular pillar segments.

In the end, Grandmother Whami – a title she bore not because she had a lot of grandchildren, but because at certain times she would retreat to the spawning pits of the Chimerates, and shapeshift into a heavily gravid bug-people female, and lay quite a lot of eggs. Apparently, the hatcheries of the Chimerates were busy places after each of her visit, which was how she kept their population afloat, as they didn’t breed fast enough on their own to sustain their population.

This came as a bit of surprise to the circle, their first assumption being that the bug people couldn’t reproduce on their own at all. Whami quickly explained upon her return: “Oh heavens no, they breed as they’re able – but it’s their lifespans. That’s the problem”

It turned out that the average life expectancy of the bug people were around three or four years. It was a ‘quirk’ of having been made from charm-enhanced insects, which usually had lifespans measured in days, weeks or months. To her great shame, Whami lamented: “It is the biggest flaw of my design – one I am working hard to rectify. I’m breeding them more and more long-lived, but it’s not a process that goes quickly… because it takes longer and longer to see which of my broods carry the most long-living modifications, which I would then mate with to make the next generation”

“You know, we met another Lunar not that long ago, who goes by the name of Crashing Wave – crab totem – he is working on creating mindless plant people who can replace the east’s endless hunger for slave labor – he’s doing a lot of work in genesis crafting new life forms. You and him should compare notes, I’m sure he could help you in your quest to grant your people a full lifespan” Sunrise commented, finding Whami’s quest quite admirable.

Whami was quite happy to hear of this, even more so when informed that Crashing Wave could be found at the recently liberated Sperimin campus.