Nynye

Nynye are a sentient ant-like humanoid race that have reached an iron age level of technology. They are primarily characterised by their strong bodies, large numbers, and social structure. They can be found on both sides and the north of the northern section of Avernus' Spine but not directly under them, due to the caverns.The Nynye mostly live in underground cities, and are so far the only one of the peoples of Avernus that you have encountered to mostly live underground. Thanks in large part to the connection provided by the strong friendship between Jacob Oakheart and the Nynye Queen Lulana of the Alanti Hierarchy, relations with the Nynye are very good, with the Nynye having willingly taught you the deepest secrets of their Alkahestry in exchange for you providing them with the advanced technology of the Tau.

## Physiology

Are a six limbed insectile species divided into three social and biological tiers known as castes: the Thrall caste, the Notable caste, and the Royalty caste.

All Nynye are very strong, far more so than their size suggests. This lets them easily wield weapons too heavy for humans to carry and enables them to wear thick armour without undue encumbrance. On top of this strength is their strong natural toughness that comes from their exoskeletons, making them difficult to hurt. Nynye suffer when it comes to speed, their sprint being about the same as the run of a human of the same height. They also lack a similar amount of flexibility, making it more difficult for them to dodge. Nynye have four arms and two antennae which they use to sense motion in a short distance around them and to communicate.

### Thralls

Members of the Thrall caste - simply called thralls - make up the vast majority of the Nynye race. On average, they are a little smaller than humans. In terms of mental capacity, they are comparable to servitors. They have no minds of their own and are essentially biological automata who follow the orders of the higher castes. They perform the menial labour of the hierarchy and act as the backbones of their warhosts. Their large numbers, combined strength, and immunity to psychology make them excellent - if unskilled - foot soldiers. Thralls are controlled by the higher castes with an instinctual mix of biological process, biomancy, and telepathy, making subversion of the Thrall caste extremely difficult even by other Nynye despite their mental simplicity. When thralls are left without a controller, they revert to instinctual behaviour until they are taken control over by another Nynye. Thralls cannot breed.

### Notables

Notables are the next caste up from the Thrall caste. Notable Nynye form the bulk of the Nynye's sentient population and are mentally comparable to humans. It is with the Notable caste that we start seeing examples of the Nynye race's psychic powers. Notables have an instinctual ability to control thralls, like learning to speak or walk for humans. This ability can, however, be practiced and trained, allowing a notable to be able to control greater amounts of thralls and make them perform more complex tasks. There are three sub-divisions - called classes - of the Notable caste: hiveborn, warborn, and drone.

#### Hiveborn

Hiveborn are the Nynye's "civilian" class and are about as big as regular humans. Food, infrastructure, healthcare, and other such things are their domain of expertise. They keep Nynye society running by overseeing thrall labour or by becoming skilled professionals such as artisans or healers. In addition to learning to control thralls, hiveborn can also learn to focus their psychic abilities to better cooperate and coordinate with other hiveborn, leading to greater performance and efficiency when working as a group. While the hiveborn might be equated to civilians, it is important to keep in mind that they are still *Avernites*. Each hiveborn is an excellent combatant in her own right and is capable of ordering around thralls in a tactically adequate manner. In proper battle of the likes in which warborn participate, hiveborn do not participate except in one major way: it is they who handle and ride the various warbeasts which they breed and train.

#### Warborn

Warborn are the Nynye's "soldier" class and are on average a little smaller than ork Nobs. They are literally bred for personal combat and they also make up the generals of Nynye society, leading both thralls and other notables, including fellow warborn. Warborn share the same ability as hiveborn to use their psychic abilities to strengthen their ability to work together, but use it to much greater extent on both the macro and micro scale. In addition to the large increase in battlefield coordination, the ability for warborn to psychically connect means that morale boosts get spread across the entire warhost while morale drops get dissipated by it. On a squad level where psychic connection can be deeper and more personalised, things like seeing through each other's eyes can become normal and willpower is strengthened greatly.

#### Drone

The third class in the Notable caste is the drone. Drones are the males of Nynye society; all other Nynye are female. Drones are roughly the size of thralls and are the only Nynye outside of the Royalty caste to have wings. In terms of Nynye society, drones are something of a jack of all trades. Drones can be found fighting in warhosts, working in hives, and conducting trade with other Nynye . Drones travel to other hierarchies to reproduce and it's because of this that Nynye hierarchies rarely come into conflict with each other.

### Royalty

Finally, there is the highest caste in Nynye society: the Royalty caste. The Royals are the leaders of Nynye society, responsible for the operation and survival of a hierarchy as a whole. Furthermore, while Notables have psychic abilities in the same way that many other Avernite species do, members of the Royalty caste are true psykers in addition to having stronger versions of the Notables' abilities. There are two classes within the Royalty caste: Princess and Queen.

#### Princesses

Princesses are slightly larger than warborn and have flight-capable wings. They have the second highest rank in Nynye society and act as direct agents of their hierarchy's Queen, speaking with her authority and conducting diplomacy with those outside the hierarchy. Within their hierarchy, their primary duty is to ensure that everything runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible, even being capable of overriding the control of thralls from notables. In combat, their psychic abilities and strong bodies make them fearsome opponents.

Only Princesses can become Queens. There are two ways for a Princess to become a Queen. The first is to ascend to Queenhood after the death of the previous one. Typically the new Queen is chosen in advance by the previous Queen prior to her death, but otherwise the Princess who is collectively the most accepted by the other Princesses in her hierarchy will become Queen. The second way for a Princess to become a Queen is to cut herself off from the hierarchy and venture out to found a colony of her own. Once it grows enough in terms of population, the Princess will ascend to Queenhood and the colony will become a proper hierarchy.

Princesses can only be born to Queens. A hierarchy with no Queen and no Princesses will cease to exist.

#### Queens

At last, there is the highest of all Nynye within a hierarchy: the Queen. Queens are the absolute rulers within their hierarchies and are psykers of extraordinary power. Standing at half again the height of a warborn and bearing flight-capable wings, Queens are powerful warriors even discounting their psychic powers. They have stronger versions of the natural abilities of Princesses.

Queens are the nucleus of Nynye society. They are not only the leaders of their people, they also form the centre of their culture. The culture of the hierarchy a Queen is raised in is reflected in them (just as with other sentient beings) but in a large way their hierarchy also becomes a reflection of them. This is facilitated not only by the importance and influence of the Queens in their hierarchies (psychic or otherwise), but also their long lifespans in comparison to other Nynye. Even as traditions and culture in a hierarchy forms and solidifies, it continues to evolve and adapt as the centuries go by. In some hierarchies, Queens are religiously important.

Queens are extremely powerful psykers, but they possess a certain trait that makes them even more dangerous: a Queen can boost her psychic power by expanding the numbers of her hierarchy. This boost is not immediately accessible to her, however. Instead, this boost is only given when a Nynye in her hierarchy dies. The psychic power given by an individual Nynye's death is negligible, but in large enough numbers it has a major effect. Notables and especially Princesses grant greater amounts of power than thralls. The power boost gained through the deaths of Nynye is temporary.

## Powers and Technology

### Powers

All Nynye notables posses some level of psychic power, mostly focused around the biomancy and telepathy that they use to control the thralls. This is supplemented by their unique psychic tradition of Alkahestry, which is one of the most efficient methods of creating psy-active items that you know of.

Members of the Royalty caste are true psykers able to use a wide range of psychic powers, with Queens also having a set of powers unique to them which allows them to affect their hierarchies. The natural ability of Nynye to connect to other Nynye is strongest in the Queen, allowing her to connect with every Nynye in her hierarchy to a basic extent. On its own the connection doesn't really do anything, its purpose instead being to give the Queen's other abilities a "channel" to flow through. Such abilities are as follows:

**Wind of the Queen's Will** - A mass "nudge" that informs the hierarchy as to the general tone, tempo, and mood the Queen desires her hierarchy to operate at. Nynye feel it as a constant though minor presence in the back of their heads, one that can be easily ignored if desired. It is, however, advantageous for Nynye to follow it as it acts as a kind of "wind in their sails" (hence the name), making it easier for them to perform their tasks.

**Queen's Watchful Eye** - This ability gives the Queen information as to the general mood of her hierarchy, as well as allowing her to see pockets of particularly strong emotions or thoughts.

**Queen's Burden** - In cases where a Princess suffers considerable psychic strain, a small amount of that strain passes on to the Queen, easing the burden of that Princess. Greater amounts of that strain can pass onto the Queen at the risk of injury if the Princess is still yet unable to handle her portion of the strain. Overall, Queen's Burden makes it a little easier and safer for Princesses to use psychic powers.

**Tutelage of the Hierarchy** - This has both a passive effect and an active effect.
The passive effect begins immediately after the Queen's ascension. Over a period of about a decade, the Queen will slowly reach the average level of skill in all skills in her Hierarchy, divided by class. For example, she will become an average warrior by warborn standards and an average diplomat by Princess standards. (Tutelage of the Hierarchy will not downgrade the Queen's skill, so if she is an above-average warrior by warborn standards she will stay above average.)
The active effect allows the Queen to greatly speed up the training of Nynye she is personally teaching, up to the average level of skill of whatever class is best at the skill she is teaching.

**Path Home** - Nynye will always know the direction of their Queen's location, allowing them to get back to their hierarchy if for whatever reason they are separated from the hierarchy and become lost.

**End Fraternity** - This ability lets the Queen cut off Nynye from her hierarchy. This might be used to banish Nynye who have committed serious crimes, release drones so they might join a new hierarchy, or to give a Princess looking to found a hierarchy of her own future subordinates.

**Select/Disavow Heir** - A sufficiently old Queen may select a Princess to become her Heir, ensuring that she and no other Princess within the hierarchy will become the new Queen after she dies. If the Queen changes her mind, she can deselect that Princess as Heir. If an Heir were to die, they would no longer be Heir and another Princess can become Queen.

### Alkahestry

Alkahestry is the art of manipulating biological warp-reactive materials (which are rather abundant on Avernus since everything on it is psychic). It is a discipline that requires a rigorous degree of study to learn about the various materials one must work with, the formulas and recipes they are used for, and the manipulation of the materials via means both mundane and psychic. Those who practice alkahestry are called alkahesters.

Alkahestry is used primarily to create potions, poisons, and grenades. Embryos of creatures can be mixed into these solutions to either enhance the effects on those creatures or to create unique effects. This is especially useful for Nynye as thrall eggs are cheap and expendable, meaning that all Nynye have cheap access to boosted potions.

Alkahestry is also used to a lesser extent in the breeding of animals, but it's an imprecise art where only minor changes can be made with any degree of effectiveness, and even then results aren't reliably consistent.

One way to use embryos in alkahestry is the creation of Nynye biotitans called Titants. They are created by collecting a number of thrall eggs whose mass is in excess of the to-be-created biotitan in a large pit, whereupon the eggs are liquefied and become a slurry of biological potential. As nutrients carried in by thralls are fed into it, an alkahester will shape and manipulate this slurry over a long period of time to create a single gigantic thrall - a Titant. As Titants are not a natural extension of Nynye psychic abilities, an alkahester will have a fraction of her psychic power inaccessible as it goes into animating the biotitan. Control can be assumed or withdrawn freely and takes a moderate amount of time. (It can also be withdrawn instantly, but at the cost of the life of the Titant, making it unusable.) Alkahesters can have more than one Titant.

### Technology

Until recently the Nynye were on the upper end of iron age level of technology, being able to make good steel and simple mechanisms but still below anything that the Mechancius would call even simple technology. This has changed in recently years due to them being gifted with the technology of the Tau, and training to understand it, in exchange for their knowledge of Alkahestry. These days the Nynye are still working on integrating the massive new technological windfall that they have been given, and it will likely take a century or more before they master it.

## Hierarchies

There are many Nynye hierarchies, each with their own distinct culture and even minor biological differences from one another. These hierarchies do occasionally fall because Avernus does not stop being dangerous just because you live underground, but some have managed to stand strong and become particularly notable. Here are a few of those hierarchies.

Nynye Hierarchies are split into three main categories, the Protectors, the Protected and the Independent. The Protector Hierarchies are generally the most militarily powerful hierarchies, either due to their particular field of expertise or simple numbers. They protect other hierarchies, the Protected Hierarchies, in exchange for tribute. The exact relationships between a Protector Hierarchy and its protectorates varies greatly, ranging from a simple business arrangement, a close alliance or even a case of conquest. The final type of hierarchy is the Independent Hierarchy, which stands alone. In many cases this is a temporary situation, which the hierarchy being between protectors or in the middle of transitioning to becoming a protector but in some cases it is permanent. The reasons for this vary, ranging from physical isolation to philosophy and culture.

### Alanti Hierarchy

The Alanti Hierarchy under the Queen Lulana is the hierarchy that has the most contact with humanity due to the close friendship between its queen and Jacob Oakheart. While recently rebuilt after near total destruction between the incredible skills and the blessing of the Radiance that its queen possesses the Alanti Hierarchy was always expected to rise quickly. Due to the fact that it was the Alanti Hierarchy that you taught the secrets of technology they have risen far faster then expected. While Queen Lulana has been generous in sharing her windfall with the rest of her species the Alanti are the only hierarchy being directly taught by humanity, putting them a step ahead of the other hierarchies who are being taught by the Alanti. Queen Lulana has utilised her own reputation, her generosity and her greater industrial capacity to quickly bring the Alanti into the ranks of the most powerful of the Protector Hierarchies, and one of the dominant forces within the species as a whole.

### Masozi

Nynye of the Masozi Protector Hierarchy are faster and more agile than Nynye of other hierarchies. Their drones are superb fighters as a result and easily outclass other drones. The Masozi are big fans of competition and sports. Hunting in particular is rather popular. Masozi drones used to also do a great deal of exploration and cartography, but do so significantly less now than in years past due to the increasing human presence in Avernus' aerospace, something which they are resentful for.

### Andile

The psychic ability that all Nynye share to connect with others of their own hierarchy is a large part of the race's success. With a higher capacity to form such connection, it is no surprise why the Andile Protector Hierarchy can be considered a notable hierarchy. Granted, to reach and maintain those higher levels of connection requires a lot of meditation, but the drop in efficiency is easily made up for by the increased ability to coordinate with other Nynye, resulting in a net gain in efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, the meditation requirement actually had a rather positive side-effect. As certain types of dance, visual art, and music serve to aid in meditation, the Andile have become rather proficient dancers, artists, and musicians.

## Fourth Daemonic Incursion

The Daemonic Incursion by the forces of Nurgle in retaliation for the rescue of Isha brought the Nyenye to the brink of extinction, with only three Hives surviving intact. You are told that while the three Hives that survived intact will be able to make a full recovery given some time, and that enough notables of the Tinashe Hierarchy survived that their ability to spit fire should be able to be learned. While there are survivors from most of the other hierarchies they are few enough in number that what made them special has been lost. Currently, it looks like the scattered survivors of the battered hierarchies and ambitious Princesses will be able to form around half a dozen Protected Hierarchies under each of the three intact hierarchies. Given how weak they will be it will be centuries at the least before any of the Protected Hierarchies can stand by themselves, which may result in the Nynye having cultural shift towards empires rather then city-states.

### Lost Hierarchies

#### Tinashe

The Nynye of the Tinashe Protector Hierarchy have glands which let them shoot blasts of fiery acid from their mouths. All Nynye in the hierarchy have this ability, from thralls to the Queen. On the battlefield, the hierarchy prefers to field large numbers of thralls and Titants due to the potential for massed fire and bombardment. Life within the hierarchy is pretty normal, all things told, its culture not being particularly divergent from other hierarchies.

#### Ama

Unique among the Nynye, the Ama Independent Hierarchy is a fully nomadic one, not settling down into a hive but instead always on the move from place to place, staying in one location only for a short period of time. The Ama have a relatively small number of thralls and the highest proportion of hiveborn among the hierarchies, allowing them to maintain more beasts. Their lack of infrastructure means they don't produce much in the way of technology or advanced alkahestry, instead trading with other hierarchies to get such things. The experiences they gain from travelling and their contact with other hierarchies means that the Ama Hierarchy has a great many stories to tell, pushing arts such as song, poetry, and storytelling to new heights among the Nynye.

The Ama Independent Hierarchy is willing to assist you with any efforts to enhance animals in exchange for manufactured goods.

#### Makena

Relatively new among the Nynye race, the Makena Protector Hierarchy's territory lies at the northern tip of Avernus' Spine. The Makena Hierarchy is noted for the psychic strength of their Princesses and their Queen, something rather noteworthy as deviations that affect psychic powers are quite rare among Nynye. The Makena Hierarchy is also noted for its extreme hatred of Chaos.
The hierarchy was founded shortly after the First Daemonic Incursion. Its Queen was the sole surviving Princess of a hierarchy that committed mass suicide to empower its Queen enough to defeat the powerful daemons she was fighting and losing against. The Queen won and destroyed the rest of the daemons her hierarchy had been fighting, but by the time the next daemonic force arrived she was tired, wounded, and no longer had the Hierarchy's power. Before she met her end, she cut off her sole surviving Princess (who had been sent away with a detachment to bring help from another hierarchy) in the hopes that she would become Queen of a hierarchy that would not fail as hers had.
The Queen of the Makena Hierarchy is a ferocious warrior who fights with four swords - a common Nynye fighting style. Uniquely, however, is that the swords are telekinetically linked to four Titant-scale swords which follow the movements of the regular swords precisely, with the end products being four massive swords swinging at very high speeds that do an absurd amount of damage. This is possible thanks to the immense psychic power of the Queen. She has to concentrate very little to maintain the effect and will typically only fail if she outright falls unconscious.

The Makena are willing to fight beside you as mercenaries against the forces of Chaos, even offworld, in exchange for advanced weaponry

#### Imani

The Imani Independent Hierarchy is not very divergent from "baseline" Nynye biology, having a slightly higher number of thrall eggs produced per clutch and little else. Societally is another matter. The focus of the Imani Hierarchy is alkahestry. Collecting, cataloguing, and experimenting with new reagents as well as generally advancing the art is what the Queen has dedicated her hierarchy to doing, leading to things such as more Princesses leaving their traditional duties to hiveborn to become alkahesters. This makes the Imani Hierarchy the most advanced of the hierarchies in alkahestry.
The Imani have developed a way to create a Princess Titant - a Titant with functional wings paired with the mind and psychic powers of a Princess. The process is known to be very long and complex, requiring a ring of Princesses to complete. Also known to be needed is that the Princess who intends to gain her new body must be included into the biological slurry, as must a Princess egg. However, there are some downsides to the procedure, as the Princess Titant becomes incapable of breeding, cannot become a Queen, and has up to half her lifespan lost. It's even possible for the procedure to fail entirely, leading to the death of the Princess.

The Imani Independent Hierarchy is willing to assist you with any Alkahestry in exchange for exotic reagents