Fated Antagonist

Recap

To the various races of Pangera, the rise of the Colony has been somewhat meteoric, a terrifying ascent in the eyes of many. We went from nothing to a millions-strong society capable of standing amongst nations that have stood for centuries, all in less time than one of their “newborns” needs to take their first literal step. Given that perspective, what the Colony achieved must undoubtedly seem impossible.

Naturally, the one most responsible for our success is the Eldest. Without that one ant, not only would we have never gained sapience, we most likely would have never survived the first Dungeon wave.

Details of those early days are sparse; only the Eldest themself was truly aware then, and their time is far too important to spend on something as inessential as an interview. Even so, the basic history has been pieced together from survivors of those times, faint though the interviewees’ memories are.

The Eldest first appeared some time after the nest was raided, the egg, larva, or pupa containing them having been taken far from the Colony. By the time they made it back to the family, they’d already fought their way, alone, to tier two. The implausibility of such a feat can hardly be overstated, and yet the Eldest did it, for that is what they were when they first appeared and joined a three-way battle between two relatively powerful monsters and the Colony, then composed largely of simple hatchlings. Upon arriving, the Eldest fought furiously to not only bring the dangerous foes down, but also to ensure as many of their sisters survived as possible.

However, they were a mere tier-two ant, and only intervention by The Queen prevented the worst from happening. Even so, their contribution was significant, reportedly finishing off one of those monsters themself. The Queen, having a relatively high Cunning for a pre-sapience ant, saw fit to save that monster’s core for the Eldest. And from that core came the first pet in the Colony’s history: the guardian, Tiny.

As with so many of the Eldest’s decisions, reconstituting the lightning-empowered ape proved doubly inspired. Not only did it secure a powerful combatant to aid themself and the Colony, but it was also the inaugural step down the path of core shaping, both for the Eldest and the Colony as a whole.

In fact, the Eldest took the inaugural steps for many of the Colony’s castes. The Eldest already understood that each role needed to be filled if the family was to survive and thrive. And, as the only ant with the necessary faculties, they had to do all of it personally. Barring the two that The Queen already had well in mandible, of course: healing and egg-laying.

Every family member knows the Eldest is the Colony’s foremost scout, greatest soldier, and most preeminent mage. It is all but impossible to believe otherwise when they constantly range the farthest and bring back the most crucial information, fight at the very front of our lines to protect the family from the danger which they take upon themself, and cast the most astoundingly potent spells, by far. These things have always been true, and they always will be true.

What is far less known is the roles they filled when no other ants were capable of the tasks.

Soon after evolving to tier three, when they and The Queen were the only ones with pheromone language, the Eldest took on the role of general, planning and leading the Colony’s exodus to the surface in order to keep us safe from our first Dungeon wave. That we emerged directly into a church at the outskirts of the capital of a small frontier human kingdom called Liria ultimately proved to be rather fortuitous, as those present eventually became vital allies.

The human priest, Beyn, completely misread the situation and attacked the Eldest. Naturally, he immediately lost the offending arm. It’s a tale Beyn tells repeatedly, proudly reiterating his refusal of Healing Magic to regrow the appendage as a reminder of his mistake, despite how it impairs him. This he often does in the ‘church,’ preaching about the sacredness of the Eldest and the Colony in general, while wearing robes with imitation-antennae sewn onto the hood.

Humans can be very strange.

Determined to leave all the humans alive, the Eldest led us a short distance away from the city and to a spot where the Dungeon just barely touched the surface. While the Colony set about creating a temporary nest, the Eldest excavated the nascent Dungeon vein and directed a slow stream into the new chamber, thus creating the very first monster farm and providing much-needed Biomass after the long journey to the surface.

It was the Eldest’s second large contribution in their role as the Colony’s first carver, the first being the simple pitfall traps they’d built for us before the exodus.

While the Eldest did the work that only they could yet do, the Lirian ruler appeared and tried to fight her way through the Colony as she fled the city. Despite the deaths they caused us, she and the Eldest came to an agreement. They, together with Beyn, now understanding his error, and many other members of his congregation, fought to take control of Liria back from some usurpers.

However, she and her forces were unable to hold what the Eldest had won them.

While the Colony subsequently travelled to what would become Anthome, the kingdom of Liria fell to the giant, lava-spewing crocodile monster called Garralosh and the army of lesser monsters she’d dominated into serving her, including her own spawn. Refugees soon fled toward the Colony seeking protection, and they were directed to set the foundations for the new city of Renewal a short distance from the anthill.

Meanwhile, the Eldest was hard at work building farms for the budding nest and doing the brunt of the fighting against the wave with the help of Tiny and the second guardian, Crinis, who excels at combating large numbers of weaker enemies thanks to her many shadow tentacles.

Crinis was the Eldest’s first foray into actual core shaping, though we have no idea what modifications were made. Whatever the refinements were, the process surely proved edifying, as immediately after reaching tier four, the Eldest used the experience to help make the single greatest conceivable contribution to the Colony: modifying The Queen’s core and thereby changing our species to formica sapiens.

In addition to building the nine castes into the family’s evolutionary paths, the Eldest also gave hatchlings a longer incubation period and lower physical stats in exchange for the Cunning and Pheromone Language glands necessary to allow them to properly think and learn. However, when the first clutch of formica sapiens emerged, numbering only twenty, there were of course not yet any Brood Tenders to teach them. Thus, during this brief window, the Eldest pioneered that role as well.

Naturally, the Eldest lacks the auras of proper Brood Tenders, but they still take pains to personally mentor young Champions when they arise, as they did with speed-obsessed Vibrant even before the species change. They are the only one truly capable of guiding such individuals, after all, and will likely remain so unless a Brood Tender Champion ever emerges.

Once the Council graduated from the Eldest’s lessons and started to hone and pass them on, the Colony could begin to grow in earnest. The work they had once done alone to care for the Colony was soon done by hundreds. By the time the Eldest completed their final great contribution as a core shaper by creating the Aphid Queen, and thus providing a steady source of Biomass, which no other ant would have ever thought to exploit, the Colony had already multiplied its farming and martial capacity and started working toward a full map of the System’s Skills, Skill fusions, and mutations.

But even as quickly as we grew across every dimension, it was very nearly not quick enough, for Garralosh soon brought her horde to attack the human refugees and everything in their vicinity. Naturally, preparations began as soon as the Eldest returned from their scouting mission with the news. Most notably, the carvers built walls and traps around the anthill while the martial castes accompanied the Eldest to chip away at the enemies’ numbers. From those early battles, the generals gained valuable insights, every combatant gained much-needed experience and Biomass, and, most importantly, the Eldest gained the Levels needed to evolve to tier five ahead of Garralosh’s arrival, though the ka’armodo and setsulah cultists aiding the giant crocodile took pains to stymie their efforts.

Ironically, it was one of those setsulah who provided the Eldest with their fortieth Level.

Only with the evolution of the Eldest did the Colony have any chance at all of survival. We did well to defend against the countless lesser monsters Garralosh directed at us, but we were powerless against the great crocodile herself. Only The Queen, newly evolved, could harm her in any way, and even then, only just barely. The Eldest’s evolution into a Rare tier-five monster took a great deal of time, almost too much, as they arrived to the battle mere moments before Garralosh could deal a fatal blow to The Queen, and the Colony with her.

The Eldest also nearly died in the ensuing battle, and would have, had Grant, one of the Council, not tackled them out of danger at a critical moment, at the cost of her own life.

Soon after that existential threat was dealt with, we all faced a new one: the Eldest disappeared, abducted by some golgari for their Cult of the Worm. The Colony naturally mobilised every possible member for search and rescue the moment Crinis returned with the news, for where would we be without their leadership? Our efforts were stymied by the abductors’ use of a teleportation gate, but eventually, we prevailed and found the Eldest shortly after they escaped their captors.

They were not alone. Tiny was with them, along with their third and final pet, the Envy Demon, Invidia, and another escapee: the vile worm, Jim.

Once reunited with the Colony, the Eldest was determined to return to the golgari outpost to retrieve another captive, the Asura Bear, Sarah, who was nearly forced into a “tournament” with monsters the cult had groomed to become a new Ancient, as the Eldest had been before escaping. While there, the Colony ransacked the compound for knowledge and other valuables while keeping collateral damage to a minimum, with the exception of the other monsters, which were slaughtered, though the Eldest did order the cult’s leaders be taken hostage.

They all made it out of golgari territory after fighting off a pursuing force, and from that force, they also took two thirds of the golgari triad who had been advising the Eldest for their tournament matches, and had since been pressed into helping hunt them down: Corun and Torrina. Their triad’s leader, Granin, would not rejoin them until later, after being impressed into the far larger force the golgari subsequently sent to exterminate the Colony.

Had the golgari attacked us alone, we may have managed without too much trouble. The carvers of the Colony had already built a new nest in the second stratum, directly under the first, and had fortified it as best they could with what materials and knowledge they had at the time. But with the involvement of the Abyssal Legion on another front, which took all of the Eldest’s attention, the Colony was barely able to hold out against the Siege long enough for a new Dungeon wave to force both armies away. Had the human friend Morrelia not allowed herself to be taken hostage in order to prevent her father, Titus, commander of the Legion, from participating more than once, we surely would have failed.

The final hours of the Siege were when Jim betrayed the Colony by digging a tunnel that brought the golgari directly into the brood chambers. It cost the family dearly, though not as dearly as it could have, thanks in large part to Sarah’s assistance in driving the invaders out.

The near-annihilation the Colony faced showed us that the strength we’d gained was far from sufficient. To survive against the enemies we found arrayed against us, we had to grow much stronger. The Eldest determined that the antcademies should train new members to the fourth tier, where previously they would graduate upon selecting their castes at tier three. Though doubling the resource requirements was a daunting prospect, the change was immediately implemented, as the benefits of a tier four were more than double those of a tier three.

With the lessons of the Siege freshly learned, the Colony turned all of its efforts toward expansion almost as soon as the wave subsided. We went outwards in every direction, including straight down into the third stratum to conquer our first demon city: Roklu.

Though we succeeded in that conquest, the Eldest rightly admonished the Council for pushing too hard too fast, to the point that there was little room left to work around unexpected problems. One of which was the city lord, Grokus, a tier-seven Gluttony Demon with a devastating aura effect and instantaneous regeneration. The Colony foolishly invaded without the Eldest’s involvement, as they were busy training the new Champion, Brilliant. Had they not returned to Roklu in time, that one demon could have likely defeated the whole invasion by himself eventually, to say nothing of the other tier seven rampaging in the city.

Almost as bad, a neighbouring city lord declared a “formal war” directly after Roklu’s conquest. We had just finished working ourselves to the brink in preparation for the first demon city invasion, and now we had to immediately work toward another.

The Colony could not sustain this pace. Fortunately, the Eldest understood the problem for what it was and corrected us before it all fell apart.