Mala.
Mind's Eye Brood Mother.
Sorcerous Rogue, Psionic Stalker.
Druidic Warlock, Oculus Branch of the Genetica Dominium.
Artificing Witch, Genetic Analyst.
***
The minds of drow had always been a web. So it was still. Only… diffuse. Free.
No longer were we a mess of minds tangled in a web of chaotic scrutiny. We were an empty canvas, three dimensional and pocked with points of light and motes of material. Different and yet still the same. Still drow. Still linked by indestructible threads- webs connecting us to our creator.
The daughter of the Creator's Champion.
It was they who were different. Different from us, and yet the same being they had always been. Thus, we were different; and yet remained the same.
Having honed our skills in the room of darkness, that was made apparent to my brood. We drow craved chaos and uncertainty on a genetic level, and there was no greater uncertain chaos than war. Becoming paragons, werewolves, sky orcas, Undying Fae, or even a brood mother did not change that. Thus, Eotrom served to be a place of… discomfort.
This was something known to our creator- our God. Yet, unlike our former Goddess, he gave us stations that would give us that comforting chaos we needed; and he did so in ways that benefited all of his subjects.
There was found something glorious.
For the first time since Telin's intervention. All drow were united on a single goal: to make these Legions truly worthy of marching behind our creator. On top of that, our ambitions had only risen; our futures were things we could decide, and we were making those decisions in our own ways. Not by the influence of those accursed webs influencing our minds like puppet strings, but by our own volition.
Me and my children found such a purpose.
The Legions, creatures from across the realms, and even Eotrom; our purpose was to research them all, allowing our mother to create the perfect life forms to befit our creator and perfect the genetic code of his agents. We even gave our genes to some of them. And yet, we each developed our personal interests, field of study, craft of sorcery.
Ulile, my eldest, first began using her psionic abilities to project and paint her thoughts and mental images on not just other minds, but on reality itself. Thoughtography, she dubbed it. In her spare time, she began wandering to paint her imagined cities and landscapes into the sky above mundane lands, thus awakening a passion for ecology and architecture and creating a new style of art for our residents. Or, as our creator called it, Arcology. And yet, ecology by itself still.
The ecology of sentients. Each species, she studied how they lived, thrived, formed cities, and died. If only to make her mental images- and thus our creator's arcologies, capable of housing any species known to the realms.
Haelra followed a similar route. Her power was honed to create illusions and false thoughts in the mind. Once we became druids of flesh, however, she used this power to reflect her findings in her floral studies, developing better means to understand the many compositions and natures of plant life across the realms.
Bure went about a different route. She learned the Druidic arts from our mother before anyone else. But it was only after she evolved when she made significant use of her psionic abilities. In merging them, she greatly increased her shape shifting abilities, allowing her to take on the form of any living creature she knew of or could design. And with that, she made fauna the focus of her studies.
Isstra went with what was most familiar and focused her power around emotions and feelings. Yet it was done the opposite way to what was enacted by the Spider's high priestesses. Her power focused on empathy. Understanding the minds and feelings of others, for she developed an interest in the field of study known as psychology. And with these things combined, she developed a new field of study to analyze the minds of beasts.
Zessysn developed a unique method of casting. Though, in hindsight, she always enjoyed touching things. At least more so compared to us, who only moved things with our minds. Once we became more, though, she focused her power through her tactile sense, developing something our creator called Psychometry: the ability to perceive information through touch.
In an effort that left many of us bemused, she turned around and used this power to study fungus. Once we saw her mind flow through a vast mycelium network, however, we knew she made the right choice.
Briztin, the most zealous of us all, naturally tuned her power toward divination. She used her power to scry and dowse. She practice precognition and clairvoyance. And all the while, she prayed to our mother and gave worship to our creator. Thus, when she evolved, she turned her focus to their creatures. And others. Flora, fauna - divine biology in its entirety, was Briztin's field and passion. Worship was her hobby.
Belal, my first son, spent the most time with Daulery's children out of all of us. In doing so, he developed an interest in the Mycodroids' technology by wriggling his mind inside their machines, thus awakening his Technopathy.
With us being Flesh Crafters and Druids, he served as the link between our world and the world of our mirror. And yet, he also provided us a means to increase the functionality of our creatures by having them mimic the processes of this technology. As Lady Iris had beasts to purify liquids and melt metals, so too could we.
My youngest and second son, being more dedicated to his monastic way than his brother, sought to meld that with his psionic abilities. And so, once he evolved and became one of the Nebulous Way, Viclin saw his psionic abilities increase many times over. Being affiliated with Etan meant he was affiliated with the Halls of Excellency; and thus militaries and guilds. And so, Viclin turned his studies toward the analyzations of military minds.
With these fields, practiced and mastered during our training, we emerged with the intention of doing the same with these legendary legions. However, our creator was generous. Our divine effort in the Darkroom was rewarded with divine boons and blessings once we emerged in Eotrom.
They came in the form of his creations. Clothes made from his divine materials, stitched by the hands of his most exceptional artisans to fit the feathers and bones of our mother's dress perfectly.
Like everyone in his Zed Legion, our clothes were dyed in blacks, silvers, golds, and the sea green shade of our creator's arcana. Like everyone in all legions, we bore the Nox's mark over our chests. The legendary leafless tree was limned in gilded threads to denote our connection with his Twilight just as the silvers, blues, blue-greens, and other hues denoted the domains of him and his pantheon.
As the feathers and bones in our clothes marked us as our mother's children in the Legion, our beak-hooded cowls marked us as a family- a division. Copied by the Grandmaster Artificer's touch to be like our mother's esteemed cowl, it was altered to bear the symbol of my division- my Mind's Eye Brood- marked by a great horned owl, black with a skeletal skull boasting a third eye.
And so it was. Our mother rewarded us with a great boon. Our heart and home, born from the unhatched egg of a Dusk Owl and a Brood Heart using the prey from Zimysta's Fall. Placed as the third eye of our mother's Uma, it merged with me and my family to become our factory of flesh; our center of life.
Though it made no changes to our bodies, it placed us within the Administrator Caste, granting us the highest station within the factory and the means to control to make caste members as we saw fit; or even new broods.
By large, that was the Brain Caste. Appearing as us as children, they were our researchers, boasting immense intellectual capabilities with little ability for anything else. And there were dozens of them. Dozens for us and the Legions beyond.
Each Noctis Legion got at least a full set of our eight brains to study all things: sentient ecology, architecture, flora, fauna, magic biology, fungus, divine biology, biotechnology, and militaries, both within and beyond their respective territories; just as we were with our creator's Zed Legion.
And in his name, we devoted to creating new instances of life for the 11 Noctis Legions; born from the traits of their rulers. New ecologies, architecture, flora, fauna, magic biology, fungus, divine biology, biotechnology, and military aids.
Long may his feather's rain; forever may the Legions march.