Seguerial Hordas

The **Seguerials** are rat people like Luden in the far west, but signifficantly more feral and more antlike in their social structure with great broodmothers and all. Located between the landlands and the Land of Changing Waters their land is unappealing for their true civlisation lays underground. All aboveground (looser) clans are vassals or moreso slaves to the gnolls and half of the underground ones are too on paper in reality paper does not matter.

Anyway the Seguerials have this odd ability of being able to perform alchemy in their very gut and mouth. Healing potions poisons complicated alchemical concotions as long as you give them the ingredients they can chew on it a bit and puke it out perfect for use.

As all potions theirs are toxic to the drinker and thus can't be drunk indefinitely. Notheless the everbickering ratmen are a great source of cheap potions for the Gnoll empire and in fact are the most sought after slaves after elven sex-slaves for the most famous alchemists with all their fancy equipment fall usually short of producing the grand alchemical concoctions a few rats chewing on random herbs can.

Sadly the Seguerial are also spelling their own extinction. Their constant infighting provides ample food for Gnollmaggopts which breed in their midst and plenty of feral Gnoll clans call the Seguerial underground their home unaware of a wider empire existing anywhere above.

## The land above ground

At first glance, the lands west of the Changing Waters would seem unremarkable. Dry grasslands with low-density vegetation makes for a very idyllic view, with plenty of wild fauna, such as rabbits, foxes, snakes and hawks. The vegetation is composed of dozens of different species of herbs and aromatic plants, which can show many different colors depending of the time of the year. The nearby mountains from the Suritas Range bring most of the water of the region, with moderate floods during spring and even some fires during summer. These summers, caused by the increased temperatures and the dryness of the air, leave many plants dried up, which feed the fires caused by summer storms. The vegetation of the area has evolved to deal with this: many flowers time their germination until after a major fire, and some have even become flammable, to reduce the competition as much as possible. Many of the species have adapted to the fires as well, being quick to move and run from the flames, and even digging underground to avoid the worse of them. However, the land is also covered in great towers of dirt and rock. Measuring up to ten meters long, they have multiple openings wide enough to let a small man fit in completely. These are openings to the underground world of the Seguerials.

## Biology

The **Seguerials** are sentient species of humanoid rats who live in the underground beneath the grasslands west of the Lands of Changing Waters. Their bodies are quite small, around 1m tall at the most, with their bodies being quite prepared for the life in the dark. Their arms are legs are both equally capable of digging through hard ground and rock, with strong claws at the end of each. Their head is quite reduced, with a reduced snout full of white whiskers, which are able to detect vibrations around them. Their ears are also quite big, used for both listening and to thermoregulate themselves, and are able to retract at will, to minimize the space taken by the individual. Their eyes are quite small, but surprisingly for an underground creature, their vision is not bad, though they are colorblind. Their skin is a huge of clear yellow, with little to no fur, and highly wrinkled. It is highly sensible and able to detect not only vibrations, but also the composition of the earth by just entering in contact with it. They have a long tail which can be used for grabbing certain items, though it takes a lot of practice and effort for a seguerial to learn to use their tail as a prehensile tool. The seguerials are able to live in areas very deep underground, where the oxygen levels can be dangerously low.

The seguerials are well known in the area for two reasons. First, they have an innate ability to produce certain alchemical concoctions within their bodies. It is believed that, due to their need to dig up underground, they developed the ability to generate within their bodies certain chemical components, which they can mix to generate alchemical potions. These can range from healing potions to some acids and poisons, which they regurgitate and save in specially made containers. They make these substances out of the many underground life in their homeland: roots, mushrooms, tubers, insects and other critters… They can store them within their bodies for a while, but it is generally not recommended, since their effects will take hold within their bodies. This has led to cases of sudden explosions and combustions, with the concoctions taking effect while still in the gut of the seguerial in question.

The other particular element of the seguerials is that their society has evolved into a situation of near eusociality. Every group will have a couple of queen seguerial, much bigger than the rest of the group (about three times the size of a regular seguerial), dedicated exclusively to birthing new seguerials. In general, most of the colony is female and is, in theory, fertile, but this fertility does not activate until the number of queen seguerials goes below a certain number. Once that happens, the youngest and technically healthiest adult female member will begin swelling in size until it becomes a queen seguerial. The rest of the colony has to work to maintain the queens well fed and in good health, with the few males born having to move around the land in search of other colonies, to avoid consanguine problems.

The level of individuality within a colony is highly complex. Colonies measure up to 100-200 individuals, with 10 queens at most. In general, most individuals will live within the colony, knowing nothing outside of their burrows. However, it is not rare to see certain female drones moving away from the colony, either to explore the world or to try to create a colony of their own. However, this will cause different reactions in the rest of the colony: some of the drones will not care, or will actively join the departing individual, and some will actively try to attack them, seeing them as a threat to their own colony. Other species talking to seguerials will quickly notice that the seguerial language has no form for “I” or “me”. They do not talk in terms of individuals, even when they leave the colony, and this has been theorized to mean that they cannot think in individual terms, only in collective terms.

## History

The history of the seguerials is poorly understood by the other species of the world. Across the underground, thousands of different colonies play a never-ending game of dominance over the land below the surface. The underground wars of the seguerial are a thing of myth, hundreds of different colonies warring each other for the control of the resources, changing alliances and territories, and constant danger of the ground beneath their feet suddenly caving in to reveal an ambush. Thousands of years of internal warfare have turned the seguerial colonies extremely distrustful of other colonies, while also strengthening the bonds between the members of the family to fanatical levels. Over the years, the biggest colonies have reached numbers of hundreds of seguerial queens and hundreds of thousands of members, but usually those colonies tend to crumble away due to outside pressures, the colonies gladly collaborating with each other if the goal is the destruction of certain competition.

Around 1.000 ABE, there was apparently a major war between all the major colonies. A tectonic shift caused the collapse of some of the biggest underground caverns and breeding chambers, which broke the very weak stability into all-out war. Out of all of the colonies, the colony known as Alegnawiga managed to slowly but surely gain a certain advantage over their enemies. This caused the other big colonies to turn against it to counter its growing numbers, but in a surprising battle, the alegnawigans crushed their opponents’ armies. While they were trying to dig up the alegnawigans’ supposed breeding chambers, the leader of their forces managed to accumulate great amounts of explosive alchemical corrosive substances. Once the enemies tried to come out of the ground, she flooded the chambers with poisonous and flammable acids, melting down half of the forces that were trying to come out from underground, while also crumbling down the entire cavern over them. After the battle, the alegnawiyans charged with their own ambushed, tearing apart the enemy forces. They quickly overrun the enemy’s burrows, cementing themselves as the singular power of the seguerial. During the next 600 years, the **Alegnawigan Dominion** would unify the underground tunnel system to a degree never seen, both in terms of order and in terms of complexity. They created massive areas where trade and culture could have a space to flourish, a period of extreme prosperity for the seguerials, all while being hidden from the rest of the world. The only real show of power the Alegnawigan Dominion was an increase in sea trade along the Tiyali Brum River, with many travelling merchants seeking the alchemical products of the ratmen. Many human settlements would pop up above the surface, functioning as hubs for trade with the underground, as well as for gathering many of the local plants, highly valuable for medicine and cuisine.

However, all came crashing down in the year 2.303 ABE. A plague carried by fleas suddenly wiped around one third of the seguerial population, breaking down the stability of the dominion. This plague was especially bad for the seguerial queens, many of which either dying or becoming infertile. This reduced the population drastically, and caused famine and poverty due to the lack of available ratpower. This would cause severe tensions with the minor colonies, less connected with the great alegnawigan underground, and thus less hit by the plague. Once the disease died down, the minor colonies ravaged the old alegnawigan holdings, causing a massive civil war that lasted for centuries. The allied colonies vs the alegnawigans seemed like a battle that could go either way, and the absolute destruction it brought made the human cities above ground flee to some other places. Fear that the floor beneath their feet would cave in and swallow them into the dark, which actually happened to some of the cities that chose a side or another.

This was the situation the seguerial civilization found itself when the gnoll arrived. The rising power of the gnoll moved towards the grasslands of the Seguerials, not really knowing what to find there. They razed the few remaining human cities they found, and took many slaves who told them about the world underground. Interested, but surprisingly cautious, the gnoll send many small patrols to explore the dark tunnels of the seguerial. And while at first glance one may think that this fight would favor the ratmen, with them having much more experience and skill in underground warfare, the reality would prove much different. The complex organization of the seguerials were beyond anything the gnoll could do at this point, but any attempts to break the gnolls’ movements failed due to how simple the gnolls’ plans were: advance no matter the cost, eat and capture everything they could, destroy the rest. The gnoll were able to push forwards against the seguerials with sheer numbers, overwhelming the ratmen even when ambushed, thanks to their much aggressive nature and strength. When they died, their bodies would spew out many maggot gnolls, which could survive in the dark for a long time while they matured into hyena gnolls. This turned the areas where big battles happened into extremely dangerous places for the seguerial, due to the risk of both disease transmitted by the gnoll and by packs of hyena gnoll hunting down in the dark. The maggot gnolls also destroyed many of the foods the seguerials needed, increasing starvation and forcing many of them to go above ground to find food, where they would be easy prey for the gnoll. And of course, the seguerials were still immersed in a massive civil war, which allowed the gnoll to advance near unopposed against the ratmen. Even when facing near extinction, the seguerial colonies were more worried of their own kind than the gnoll.

Thankfully for the seguerials, the complexity of the underground would make the gnolls’ advance much more difficult once they started reaching the deeper levels. The rise of the Nameless would put a stop to the operations in the Seguerial Hordas altogether, but the area would end up being scarred forever by the arrival of the gnoll. Even now, gnoll raids to capture slaves and treasure from the ratmen are frequent, which stops them from really recovering altogether, not to mention fighting between the colonies is still a common sight.

## The society underground

The world of the Seguerials revolves around the rigid social structure of the colony. The highest echelons of power belong to the seguerial queens, who hold all power within the colony. Without them, there can be no colony. They are the ones deciding near all aspects of the lives of their subject daughters and sons, and are revered with all honors. Their place in the colony is heavily fortified, with many soldiers guarding the tunnels that connect their chambers to the rest of the hive. However, once every two months, the queens will enter in heat, and it will be the work of the seguerial males to continue the bloodline. Seguerial males stay in isolation from the rest of the colony after they are born, and are well fed and taken care of. Once a male reaches maturity, it will be traded between colonies as a diplomatic tool, with the healthiest and strongest males being quite sought after. Their job is easy, but it is believed that the mating process is highly violent, and there are known cases where a seguerial male has not survived the mating process. The males will stay with the queens until al become pregnant, at which point the males will go back to their private chambers. Once the queens are expecting, the maintenance caste is called to take care of the queens, and to make sure the queens are not lacking anything.

Each queen can birth up to 10 seguerials every time. Once the babies are born, they are taken from the queens (who have no maternal instincts, no any real way to take care of them) and tenderly cared by the maintenance caste. The members of the maintenance cast will instruct them in everything they will need from the future, since their jobs are selected when they are born. Their education is strict and thorough, and destined to create highly specific workers. Those jobs are dealt depending of the predicted needs of the colony, trying to think what the colony will require by the time the babies reach maturity. Once they reach maturity, each of the seguerials join their designated caste: workers, maintenance, soldiers and diplomats.

The **worker** caste is the muscle of the hive. They form the majority of the colony, with activities such as agriculture, hunting, tunnel building and upkeep, exploration, cooking, cleaning, crafting… Most tasks fall upon their shoulders, and are by far the most numerous group.

The **maintenance** caste functions as a number of social services for the colony, from medical services to administration to education, but they will mostly center their energies on the queen and the newborns. They are the thinking brains of everyday life, and have an essential role in their economy.

The **soldier** cast is the shield that protects the hive. They are in charge of keeping the hive secure, forming both security forces and the armed forces. They canquite the fierce warriors, with a discioline and an organization unmatched, though they are not that physically strong.

The **diplomat** cast is needed to slow down the many confrontations between the different hives. Their tendency for conflict forced the colonies to try to slow down the clashes as much as possible, but this is not always possible. The diplomats usually take great risks for their own safety, since if war starts, they will be the first ones to be killed by the enemy colony, offing them before they could raise the alarm.

The colony spends most of its time tending to their underground farms, while also searching for any valuable minerals they can use. The seguerials are good artisans, but metallurgy underground can be hazardous, with their forges being highly reinforced and ventilated. Woodworks are also an important part of the seguerials’ artisanship, using a certain species of trees near the mountains of the Suritas Range. This special wood is incredibly resistant to humidity, something very important when working in the sometimes incredibly damp underground. The underground itself is formed of thousands of different tunnels that do downwards into the earth. In the past, these systems of tunnels and caverns were not connected with each other, due to the absolute distrust between the hives, but after the Alegnawigan Dominion became the dominant power of the underground, many of the hives under its rule joined together, creating an underground labyrinth that expands for kilometers around. While this system has been pretty damaged after the fall of the Alegnawigan Dominion, it still represents the biggest area inhabited by the seguerials. The hundreds of hives that live interconnected through the old Algnawigan holdings have to live sharing the same space, which helps with maintaining the sprawling underground, but this tends to generate conflict. This was especially true when the gnoll invaded, and each colony reverted to defending their own spaces. Once the gnoll gained access to the general algnawigan systems, they could easily reach each the many hives connected to them, instead of having to carve their way from the surface to the depths.

Most seguerials are content with their lives within the colony, but once in a while, a seguerial is born with the need to break away with their hive. Not to create their own colony (that happens too, and it is heavily watched over by the maintenance caste) but to explore the outside world. These seguerials are called **anomalies**, and are quickly expelled from the hive once their maverick behavior is discovered. They frequently end up moving southwards, through the Tiyali Brum River, staying in the coast selling their potions and alchemical concoctions. In general the waters of the Sea of the Frog are much safer than moving deeper inland, since the surface of the region is frequently raided by the gnoll, and a seguerial surprised alone above the surface is very vulnerable. Seguerial anomalies cannot return to their hives, under penalty of death.

The relation between the seguerials and the surface humans used to be quite amicable, since trade between them was quite a lucrative business for both. However, with the disappearance of the humans after the gnoll invasion, certain groups of seguerials have occupied the cities’ remains. This range from communities of anomalies living together under the sun, trying to restore the human cities for themselves, or certain colonies trying to fortify their underground connection with the surface to prevent gnoll raids.