Savox

"What is at war is healthy, what is at peace is sick. This is my inheritance, my estate: eternity, infinity, the whole universe beneath my sword. This is what I rule: forever and a blade. I will go on forever. I will understand everything. There is only one path and that is the path that you make. But you can make more than one path. Break your cell’s bars. Make a new shape, make the shape from its path, find your cell’s bars, break out of the bars, find a shape, make the shape from its path, eat the light, eat the path. You will become me and I will become you, each of us defeating the other, correcting the other, alloying ourselves into one omnipotent philosophy. Thus I will live forever. I'll make sure."

-Savox in the Books of Sorrow, Entry LIII

**Savox** is a recurring character and main antagonist in the World of the Exceed. He is mainly known as the Gargoyle King and has been the Hive King for generations, with his siblings Savathun, Xivu Arath, and Torak, as well as his children Kryet and Krota.

## Appearance

Savox is a large, dignified Hive with two Horns protruding from the side of his head, three green eyes, a pair of large, dragon-like wings, and various armor-like structures fused with his body. As a powerful Hive, his magical aura is exceptionally powerful, giving anyone who encounters him a sense of immediate dread.

## Personality

Savox is cunning, intelligent, calculating, and destructive. As the King of the Hive, a race already associated with darkness, death, and destruction, it isn't surprising that Savox was born with such a ruthless outlook on life. True to Hive culture, Savox is extremely loyal to the Sword-Logic, a deranged and heretical form of social Darwinism that believes that only the strongest survive.

## Relationships

Savox only maintains relationships with his siblings and fellow Hive, although they are mediocre at best. Because the Hive view death differently and are always competing with each other, Savox maintains a somewhat distant relationship to others of equal power to him, and only closely associates with his brother Torak and the serpent God, Uktena.

Savox does not remain close to even his sisters as they once used to, partially in the fear they may see him as weak and kill him, and partially because he wants to be the sole ruler of his operation. However, he will communicate with them when necessary, especially when either he or one of them has a problem that could potentially threaten all of them.

Savox also has many daughters and sons, but associates closest with Krota, Eater of Hope, and Kryet, Soul Absorbant. Otherwise, he spends most of his time alone. As of recently, hungry for tribute, Savox has been raising and taking in Xenos and children from other powerful races to raise as his own, teaching them the principle of the Sword-Logic, therefore making Savox a father figure for many.

As a Hive, Savox does not truly love any of his subjects, but does admire those few who prove themselves to be the strongest or the most loyal.

## History

Savox has a very long history, born at the very beginning of Adrioth.

The Hive were a weak race back then, but were among the first "experiments" the Excersians created to see how to maintain Exceed races on the planet. It was in this early era, a time where Alta had not even been born, that Savox was birthed into existence. Originally a weak thrall, the first life stage of the Hive, Savox was like any other member of his race, but his brood was directly connected to Oryx, the first Hive King. Yet Oryx paid no attention to the tiny thrall, seeing him as nothing but a weakling.

Savox wanted his father to love him, and wanted to be loved in return. He shared this desire with two of his sisters, who were also looked down upon. So the three grew over a few years until becoming Acolytes, and sought recognition. Still, Oryx refused to grant them an audience, turning instead to Alak-hul and Torak, the most powerful of the brood. Savox especially despised Torak, and both were rivals towards each other.

At this point in time, the Hive had not yet adopted the Sword-Logic, so the three siblings continued to study and understand the darkness, and became its disciples in the process. As with CEVA, the darkness was another paracausal entity that was never supposed to be introduced to the Exceed.

At the behest of Malkor, he directly communicated with them, urging them to become ever stronger and kill their father, for only the strongest survive. They ended up excelling in their technique, mastering the art of destruction and death. Eventually, they killed Alak-hul and Torak, proving themselves a valuable asset to Oryx.

Impressed, he allowed them to his throne and rule alongside him. They shared the concept of the Sword Logic amongst the Hive, growing ever stronger. But Oryx was not one to share his rule. Blinded by his generosity to recognize them, Oryx killed Savox and his sisters and sent them to the Ascendant Realm, which turned out to be their upbringing.

Shortly after, the Quantriux were born, and they destroyed the Hive, slaughtering them and killing Oryx in his own throne room. Outraged by the loss of his races, Malkor sought revenge. He knew upon Alta's punishment that she would return one day, and likely bring the Quantriux back. They were a threat to him, especially because their logic was incomprehensible. The Quantriux believed they were the end of existence, and needed to eliminate all living things, all light and all dark, so the universe would be reduced to its simplest form. Redgardless, Malkor created the Serpent Gods and cohort Wyrm Gods, a gift to the Hive, his beloved and first race, from the darkness. By breaking the very rules he helped to create when building Adrioth, he gave the Hive the power to do more.

The three siblings had met the Serpent Gods in the ascendant realm, gaining power beyond existence. Savox took the King Morph, becoming more powerful then ever. He had bonded with Uktena, the most powerful of the Serpent Gods. Now granted the power of the Whyte Wyrm, he learned the ability to Take, and renamed himself to the Gargoyle King. His sister Savathûn bonded with the Serpent God Akhekh, becoming the Witch-Queen of the Hive, and his younger sister Xivu Arath bonded to Kholkikos, becoming the War-God of the HIve. The three set out with newfound vengeance, ever-hungry to fulfill the goals of their new patron gods. They rebirthed the Hive from the depths of destruction, creating new brood, and a newfound Hive. And now following the Sword-Logic, Savox set out to make sure only the strongest survive. After many millennia of securing his empire, Savox and his sisters transported nearly all the Hive to the Ascendant Realm, except for a few.

The ages of war and destruction were coming to an end, and Savox needed time to figure out what to do next. He consoled with Uktena to grant him more power, but the Serpent refused, saying that Savox has yet to achieve such power. Enraged, he demanded that he be granted a direct audience with Uktena. The Serpent God decided to grant him his wish, but instead Savox was forced to confront Akka, the Wrym of Dread. He fought with the Wrym God for three days and three nights, but prevailed in the end. Seeing him as a true successor for its power, Uktena then enhanced Savox's ability to Take.

Despite this, Savox remained in his Ascendant Realm, watching as new races appeared. Mechanical races bursting with firepower. Magical races that could make wishes reality. Other races who grew massive empires, some of peace, and some of war. There were also many like the Hive. Those races fought for dominance over others with a logic much like the Hive.

Savox continued to watch everything from his throne, until there was peace. It was the moment he waited for. But by this time, Savox was weaker. He didn't have enough power to feed Uktena's will to destroy, to evolve. At this rate, he would become snakefood before he could conduct his reckoning, so he released his many sons and daughters and thousands of Hive out into the world, to pay him tribute and feed him with destruction and death. This would satisfy Uktena's hunger, and grant Savox the power to enter reality again.

Savox then revived his former rival and long dead brother Torak, and gave him a pact of tribute, forcing Torak to obey Savox. Torak and Savox's brood then led a massive assault on nearby nations, to pay tribute to their father, their master. But it wasn't enough, and Uktena was growing hungry with greed. But it wasn't the only one. Savox was growing ever powerful. His goals were going from dream to reality. He needed more. An army. Utilizing his power to Take, he created a game. A game that would be worshipped by its players, a game where the players would pledge loyalty to the Gargoyle King.

Savox was thrilled by this dilemma, and went forward with it. He allowed all those who "died" in the game to become better versions of themselves. A perfected, undefeatable, pure form. A form where weakness no longer existed. That form was the embodiment of the darkness itself, the act of becoming Taken. Savox had sat happily in his throne, fat from tribute, while Uktena glistened with the power of a thousand souls. The reckoning had just begun for them.

## Significance

Savox is by far one of the most evil characters in the history of the Exceed. His reach is powerful, and the activities of the Hive begin to run rampant as they prepare rituals to bring him back into reality. At the same time, Gryphons and Gargoyles, a game made by Savox, rises in popularity and becomes a way for Savox to gain more power through tribute. While working behind the scenes at the start, it becomes more and more obvious that a darker plot is at hand. At his eventual release back into Adrioth, Savox rallies his followers, giving them the powers of the Sword-Logic, and becoming the Taken. It isn't long before he becomes a threat to the entirety of the Exceed, as many G&G loyalists prove themselves to be worthy of ascension. Some even transcend, becoming even more powerful. Savox sent many of his Hive Broods across the planet, terrorizing cities and forcing many smaller towns and villages to leave. There, the Hive would continue to perform rituals to pay tribute to Savox. At the same time, he used his shadow form, what many believed was his true form as the Gargoyle King, to interact directly with his most loyal followers and give them orders in order for them to achieve ascension. Despite this, Savox intended for more than just an upbringing: He needed to wage war. He released Neurocyte Worms, the larvae of the Worm Gods, into the air as microscopic beings. These worms would invade the minds of even those resistant to playing G&G, and allow for Savox to gain more followers. To prevent any disloyalty, Savox would take away the free will of those who ascended once they became Taken, and only those who proved their loyalty above and beyond would be able to keep some of their own free will. Eventually, Savox appears in shadow form in Springdale, allowing for the town to become enthralled by G&G. After killing all the inhabitants through G&G, he intended to use the site as a summoning point to bring his son Krota into the world, as the very first of Hive Royalty to do so, but he was met with an unexpected resistance from a young human boy named Vlad, and Mostima, a strange Xenos girl