Senani and Patricia continued to organize matters in Grishnar while he awaited the arrival of Zurin and her sanctuary members. Senani was surprised to learn that many of the first men desired to become vampires so that they could venture beyond the clouds and see the suns. The four anomalies were likewise considering embracing vampirism. In their case they desired to increase their survivability. All the humans were rather impressed with the strength and agility the vampires possessed.
The hours passed quickly with the two chatting amicably. Soon, the large chunk of dirt could be seen moving toward them. Senani said his farewells to Patricia and moved toward the chunk of dirt. Zurin flew down to greet him.
As the duo arrived at the chunk of dirt, Percival let his frustration be known. "We have arrived in Grishnar Senani. As we were not allowed to bring anything at all, and we are being forced to move here, where will you be imprisoning us?"
Senani chuckled as he pointed to the sanctuary. Percival found himself eating his previous words. His face now became a mixture of confusion and joy. "How is this even possible? You moved our entire sanctuary here? What are you?"
Senani had the Queen fly out with all the wasps in the hive. They quickly covered the sky around the dirt chunk as Senani replied with amusement. "I didn't allow you to pack as I did not want any of you to waste your valuable time. Your sanctuary now lies at the heart of the city of Grishnar. We will keep that name as a reminder to all who hear it of what will happen to any who try to attack the Deviant Faction. The man wasps you see above you will also be aiding in the protection of this great city. More will soon follow as my new Champion recruits more hives to our cause. As to what I am, I consider myself a Draco Vere, though the term anomaly is often used as well. Zurin is the first to join me as a member of the Draco Vere species. Do any of you desire to join us? You will retain your abilities and gain the strengths my body possesses. Who here has never dreamed of flying? Is it not time to make that dream come true? Who fears the next blow against your skin? Would it not be easier to deflect the blows with a body covered in dragon scales? Who wants a change?"
The group had become speechless. Their homes had now become the safest place on Greshem, and now an anomaly offered them the chance to become members of his unique and powerful species. No longer would they struggle to survive. With the excess honey the man wasps would have in their nest this small sanctuary could easily survive the year whether they evolved or not. How did one respond to such an offer?
While each member of the sanctuary would have to respond for themselves, Percival was the first to regain his tongue. "Senani, I severely misjudged you. I have never considered being more than human, but I must admit, being a Draco Vere appears to have a far higher chance of survival on Gresham than being a human. My ability is Geomancy. I can control small chunks of dirt or rock. I typically use this as form of transportation for our group, though I can also use it to attack when needed. Would you truly allow me to become a Draco Vere?"
Senani did not hesitate to reply, "There are a mere 10 of you. I welcome you all to become Draco Veres, though Percival if you are the only one that dares to join us, I would still welcome you with open arms. You will each be valued additions to the Deviant Faction regardless of your choice."
Each of the sanctuary members decided to take the plunge and become Draco Veres. Senani used the same process that he had with Patricia for each of them. He took a day to recuperate between each turning. The month went by extremely quickly for Senani. Now that he had expanded his species, he again sought out Patricia. She had clearly seen the new Draco Veres flying through the sky of Grishnar. She spoke before Senani had the opportunity to greet her.
"Senani, I am sure you are here to give me the opportunity to become a Draco Vere. While I admire and in some ways am jealous of your strength and abilities, I am proud to be a vampire. I want to raise the Deviant Factions vampiric members into something all the Covens will envy. I am sorry Senani, but I must decline. All four of the anomalies do wish to become Draco Veres though. Would you be willing to have them?"
Senani was taken aback by this conversation. He had never dreamed of making such an offer to Patricia. She was needed to command the vampires and the undead. If she were to become another species, Senani did not know if she could continue to do that. Of course, Patricia had declined the offer that he didn't intend to make. This made the situation slightly less awkward
Senani carefully replied, "I am glad you feel that way Patricia. I would be afraid to attempt to turn any undead, especially you as your leadership skills are undeniable. The Draco Veres are mostly living creatures. I don't think it would be possible to create one from an undead creature. The anomalies however are living. If they desire to become Draco Veres, I will allow it. Send them to my Pyramid and I will turn them as I did the others. Inform them that if they do become Draco Veres, they will move to the sanctuary by my pyramid with the other Draco Veres, and they will be transferred into the Deviant Faction Hive mind rather than your own. Are you sure you're willing to part with them?"
Patricia laughed as she formed a reply. "What you say makes sense. How do you make a living thing from one that is undead? As to the anomalies, they will be more useful in the air with the defense of dragon scales than they are currently. Their abilities are useful, but their current bodies are far too weak. They will make better Draco Veres than they would have vampires. You will be doing the faction a favor by converting them."
When Patricia finished speaking, she turned and walked away. Senani was left to watch her retreating figure and try to figure out what he had done wrong?
Soon he gave up and returned to the Pyramid to wait on the four anomalies arrival. They arrived within the hour, and he again repeated the process he had used on Zurin.
Thus, another week passed by in Gresham.
Many things had happened in the time that Senani had been creating Draco Veres. Queen and Argent had managed to bring in three new hives. Sending the image of what had happened to her and what Senani could do to the members of the hives proved extremely convincing. One hive now lies in each corner of Grishnar city. Patricia's undead had managed to build through the cloud cover. They were currently building a platform on the top of the building so that they could absorb the suns energy. Patricia also had them begin construction of her new palace in the sky.
Argent had been exploring the areas nearby. Aside from the occasional nest, he had yet to see any signs of living creatures. He imagined that was due to the fear that Draco-Lich's could instill in the living.
The first men had managed to till a large plot to grow food and had brought many seeds out from their ancient storage areas in the city. They no longer needed to consume food, but they knew that others would, and they enjoyed the art of farming. Grishnar city would be able to sustain life for a vast number of creatures once they were able to harvest the crops that would grow. They also began discussing the types of creatures that live on Gresham with Patricia. There were many that could be domesticated and add meat and milk to the diets of those on Gresham. With the addition of milk, a great many new food groups could be created.
Zurin and the other Draco Veres began exploring Grishnar city. With Patricia's permission, many things were brought out of the buildings and into the sanctuary to improve the quality of life they would enjoy. Patricia had also granted them many of the buildings near the sanctuary for future growth of the species. The city could easily house hundreds of thousands. Currently they were nowhere near that quantity of inhabitants.
This time of peace was greatly enjoyed by all the members of the city. Unfortunately, peace rarely lasts.
On the fifty-third morning since they had taken Grishnar City, the man wasps issued an alert that great flying devices could be seen moving toward Grishnar city.
With the alert issued, Patricia, Percival, Zurin, and Senani gathered to discuss the implications. Percival recognized the bloody flag that flew above the flying devices. The knife and butchers block in the center was unmistakable. This sanctuary called themselves the butchers and they would do anything for food. They would often eat the corpses of those that opposed them and would enslave those that did not resist. Those few that didn't resist would be treated as cattle. The bodies of them and their children would often be harvested for food when supplies ran low.
When supplies were not low, they would be used for entertainment in many sick and twisted ways. The butchers were a brutal and evil group on Gresham. Hearing this, Patricia smiled and called the Queen bee to her side. (Patricia had spent a great deal of time in the past month befriending Senani's new champion. The queen had taught her a great many things about the use of a Hive Mind, and they had become close friends.) She promptly climbed on the back of the queen and flew out to greet the new visitors of the city. With the Queens flying abilities, the pair quickly managed to arrive at the large technological wonders of the Butcher Sanctuary.
When they arrived, Patricia was amazed and disgusted. The Butchers numbered in the thousands and controlled hundreds of platforms; they had clearly sent most of their fleet for this harvest. Each platform contained pens to house the slaves the group managed to capture. The unlucky souls that resided in those pens were being poked and prodded with spears. Each scream they made amused their captors greatly. Many other slaves were clearly being led around by leashes to unknown destinations. Some were even chained in the center of the platforms. Clearly moving them with their technomancy.
Patricia released a swarm of her parasites into the midst of the platforms. Within moments, every living member of the Butcher Sanctuary screamed in pain as their flesh began to melt away from their bones and their souls were taken to the Shadow Realm. Those that possessed abilities dropped their ability stones to the ground. The newly created undead looked up at Patricia and awaited her commands.
"I am Patricia, and I am honored to command Grishnar City for the Deviant Faction. You who were slaves are now freed and may join us if you desire but be warned. If you attempt to deceive or harm any member of the Deviant Faction, a worse fate will await you than that of the Butchers." As she spoke, the undead began to release the bindings and open the cages of the slaves present. She continued, "Those of you that control the platforms, please bring them into my city. My leader will wish to speak with some of you. Is there any among you that can represent your group to him?"
None of those present volunteered. The events that had occurred thus far scared them far more than being taken by the Butchers had. This "Patricia" that flew before them was clearly not human and while they did not know what manner of creature she was, her powers were beyond anything they had ever seen.
Those present were used to taking orders. The tecnomancers quickly moved the platforms toward the center of the city and Senani's current location.
Percival, Senani, and Zurin knew the situation had been resolved when they saw Patricia leading the platforms into the city. Patricia's new efficiency was a terrifying sight to behold, and she had broadcast the event across the Hive Mind to all the members of the Deviant Faction. This was a massive boost to the morale of the faction. They knew that Senani was powerful, but now in their eyes, Patricia had become equally as strong. It was a good day to be a Deviant.
When the platforms arrived in range, Percival, Senani, and Zurin flew into the air above them. Seeing yet another clearly inhuman species, the now freed slaves were even more terrified than they were before. The Butchers had eaten their kin, what would scary looking creatures that were not even human dare to do to them? Would they even allow them to live?
Senani broadcast his voice out to the platforms and spoke. "I am Senani, the leader of the Deviant Faction. We offer each one of you here and back at the Butcher Sanctuary the option of joining the Deviant Faction. For those that decline, we will allow you to stay in the outskirts of Grishnar city until a suitable home can be found for you. Clearly some of us are not human. I will also be offering the opportunity to some of you to become Draco Veres like me. Patricia will be offering the opportunity for some of you to become vampires if you desire to. We also will provide homes to those of you that wish to join and stay human. I assure you; you will not find a safer home in all of Gresham."
The newly freed slaves were clearly confused. They were being offered the chance to join. They could choose to leave and be supplied housing? While they considered what this meant, they were led by vampires and Draco Veres off the platforms and moved into some of the massive buildings toward the edges of the town. There they would be visited by Senani or Patricia personally if they were to be offered the opportunity to become something more than merely human.
Once the platforms were emptied, the man wasps and the Draco Veres flew under them and moved them up into the clouds. There the undead would remove any useful resources and attach the platforms to the growing walkway above.
With the resource stockpile added to their own, Patricia, Percival, Queen, Senani, and Zurin began to fly to the base of the Butcher faction. Once there, Patricia released what few necromantic parasites she had remaining. The undead created from the parasites moved to attack more members of the Butcher Sanctuary. The numbers of Butchers affected grew exponentially until the entire Sanctuary had been consumed. Senani then placed his hand on the buildings and moved them into Deviant Home, this did not alleviate the fears of the slaves that were now being freed by the skeletons of their former captors.
The group then returned to Grishnar city in the night and placed the buildings from the former Butcher Sanctuary at the outskirts of Grishnar city where the other freed slaves were now housed. Senani and Patricia repeated the same offer that they had previously made, and Senani returned to his pyramid to sleep. Patricia began to explore the platforms that were added to her domain. She decided they would make the perfect foundation for her palace. With the mobile platforms as the foundation, her palace would be able to relocate anytime anywhere she desired. This was of course assuming she could recruit enough technomancers. With her display of power, she felt recruiting should be easy.
The following morning, the freed slaves were astonished to see that those that had remained at the Butcher Sanctuary were now among them, and that the buildings from the sanctuary itself were now present. Collectively they were unsure whether to be afraid, or proud to have their kin join them in Grishnar city. Soon, the vampires and Draco Veres arrived and began recruiting for their ranks. Patricia focused on the technomancers and offered to provide them a position among the vampire palace guard. Most accepted her offer graciously. She then moved to a more general recruiting. Offering to turn everyone, as she merely sought to bolster her ranks. (With an already established social structure, this was far easier for the vampires than the Draco Veres.) While the Draco Veres evaluated each person individually. If they possessed a strong character or an impressive ability, they would be recruited.
By the end of the day, all but 20 of the 1200 slaves were recruited to either become vampires of Draco Veres. This was because all of them had suffered greatly at the hands of their fellow humans. Thus, most sought to become something more and leave their human lives behind them. The 20 were moved into the city near the First Men. They would be taught to farm and provide food for themselves.
1,140 of them were to become vampires and were quickly turned and transformed. Only the technomancers were turned personally by Patricia. Of the technomancers, Patricia chose the strongest to become her Champion's and form the palace guard.
The remaining 40 were to become Draco Veres. Each of these possessed useful abilities. While only one possessed the technomancers ability, Senani found himself rather pleased with this recruitment. He now would have 56 Draco Veres, with each one possessing an ability. Four of these were also anomalies and possessed a high-grade version of their ability.
The next two months passed similarly to the previous ones. Senani took the time to turn each Draco Vere personally. Patricia continued to oversee Grishnar city and explore and gather the resources Grishnar possessed. She ensured that all ability stones that were gathered made their way to Senani's Pyramid as that was his one stipulation in the recruitment. She also had her undead scrub the new buildings clean from the Butchers taint and remove all but the flags the Butchers had possessed. The Butchers resources would be separated and stored appropriately.
Argent continued to grow his power in the skies above Gresham and explore the vast planet. He had begun exploring the functions of the hive mind and found that every time a member of the Deviant Faction explored an uncharted area, it would automatically be mapped and stored in the Hive Mind. He immediately shared this information with Senani and Patricia and increased his efforts to explore the planet. With the wings of a dragon, and the fear his status as a Draco-Lich exuded, this would prove a significantly less dangerous task for him than it would for any other members.
Zurin and the other Draco Veres continued to welcome the new members every other day. She and Percival began to discuss what type of societal structure that they should create? The vampires were a Monarchy with Patricia as their undisputed queen. The Draco Veres were different. Senani allowed Patricia and Percival to make the decisions for the group. With their numbers growing, this was a decision that the two would soon have to make.
Once Senani finished creating the Draco Veres, he reviewed the notifications he had received.
· Congratulations. The Draco Vere species is formally recognized. "As there are now 50 members, the species of Draco Vere has formally been created in the universe. As their founder, you may now make Draco Veres your champions without having to turn them into full-fledged undead. Further, Champions of the Draco Vere species will evolve as you do and may choose to pass the evolutions along to the rest of the species if desired. Each may also grow their own Heart Scale in the center of forehead to enhance their abilities. The color of their Heart Scale will determine the coloring of their bodies."
· Congratulations. The Draco Vere now hold a position amongst the species of vampires.
· Congratulations. The Draco Vere now hold a position amongst the species of Dragons.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction now hold a position amongst the hive.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction has revived the First Men. They will now be known as the Transcended First Men as they have exceeded the boundaries of the initial species.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction now possesses 2 species of vampires and possess 6 vampiric anomalies. As such, the Deviant Factions status in the Vampiric Hierarchy has increased to that of a Noble Faction.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction now possess a vampiric population of over 2,000 with over 100 possessing abilities. As such, the Deviant Factions status in the Vampiric Hierarchy has increased to that of an Elite Noble Faction.
· Congratulations. The population of the Shadow Realm has now exceeded 100,000. It is now formally recognized as a resting place for the souls of the dead.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction has unlocked the ability to formally challenge factions of the same categories to increase your standing amongst your species.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction has unlocked the ability to formally challenge other resting places for the souls of the dead to increase the size of the stream of souls you currently receive.
· Congratulations. The Deviant Faction must now choose a Galactic Headquarters to be listed on your Official Faction Registration page. This is required to issue and receive formal challenges. Failure to do so within 60 days will result in disbandment of the Faction.
§ Please select your Galactic Headquarters from the following locations:
· Planet Gresham, City of Grishnar
· Galactic Pyramid of the First Men, Artifact ship of Wagu
· Planet Orion, City of Yebin
· Planet Orion, Drarm Shanty
Senani was blown away by the number of notifications he had received. This was further increased when he realized that he had 4 options for placement for this Galactic Headquarters. After some consideration, he made the Galactic Pyramid his Galactic Headquarters. While he did not realize it was an Artifact ship (He had no clue what that meant.) He did know it housed his shadow hearth. If others sought him out, they could not harm his faction from the shadow hearth, and yet they could add themselves to his candelabra. To Senani this made the most sense. He was also pleased that this option did not list the planet. Perhaps that meant it would be harder to find…