Diacamma XV-CIV

Diacamma XV-CIV is a Demon born in the Demon Territory. She takes on the appearance of a half-humanoid, half-insect creature known as a Formicidae Demon. She seeks to regain meaning in her life, after retreating from her own home town.

## **Appearance**

Diacamma CIV takes the appearance of a demon from some unknown location hidden deep in Demon Territory. On her head, a pair of horns, particularly similar to that of demons, albeit long, thin, and pointing upwards. Her jaw has located on them a pair of insectoid mandibles, a pair of axes laying from the back of her jaw, the sharp edges resting on her chin. Her eyes are black, and largely compounded. She has razor black hair, shoulder length, proper pulled-back hairstyle.

Covering her entire body are chitinous armored plates, black-blue in color, and with a wavy texture to it. Unlike most demons, CIV has 6 appendages: 4 arms, 2 legs, each with the same sort of armor quality to them. She does not appear to have wings. In place of a tail, she sports a large, bulbous abdomen, equipped with a thin, needle-like stinger at the end of it.

CIV can extend her arms and legs to lengthen and increase in size, a trait that marries the idea of a segmented and bipedal limb. In essence, her extended form makes her grow a good foot taller.

## **Character Background**

### **Early Life**

Diacamma XV-CIV was born from the depths of the demonic underground, a being made to become a soldier. Her and her batch were the last line of the current Diacamma Gamergate, a hardworking woman who worked with her subjects, putting in as much effort as her kin. XV-CIV grew up diligent, and was always willing to follow orders. In these societies, it had been only recently that a hivemind system was broken in the genetic code, and all the demons roamed rather freely under the service of the monarch. The Gamergate found XV-CIV's obedience quite endearing.

CIV grew up rather introverted, as she appeared starkly like a soft-faced human in appearance, in a society wherein your intimidation speaks loudly to your ferocity in battle. This caused her to get bullied rather often, yet she took it, as she was never one to complain. She grew up with a certain mentality, that *because the colony provides for me, she has no reason to complain*.

As one singled out on several occasions, yet was one in a position of privilege, she grew a liking for the helpless and impoverished, a trait clearly not shared with her family, who preyed upon such on a regular basis. While this did cause her not to make any big scenes regarding the barbaric rules of the Demon Kingdom, it did grate on her, thinking that if the weak get punished for being who they are, and they cannot improve, they are simply left out to die. Because of this, when CIV was nearing maturity, she always decided to assist these less fortunate folks with their endeavors, be it through manual labor or otherwise.

She had grown old enough to work. CIV was sent day after day to do various tasks for the colony. Her four tasks for the week included excavating extra ground for more colony chambers, gathering food above ground to feed the colony daily, spend time training and learning to use her innate huntress abilities, and make sure the children’s chamber was empty, safe, and secure, for the possible next Gamergate’s arrival. CIV did all these tasks with care for perfection.

CIV started noticing a lull in the atmosphere. There was an unknown force, one that seemed to cause two large scars on the side of her fellow demons' abdomens. No one seemed to be telling her what the problem was. Frustrated at the lack of information, CIV could only think of ways to help her force. She began to work harder. She excavated more, grew in vigilance, started bringing in bigger hunts. Soon enough, she was one of the most effective workers in the system. This was, in essence, the discovery of her Strength Maya.

### **Meeting with the Gamergate**

CIV was called in to the main chamber of the Gamergate. As she stood in the royal quarters, she took in the scenery of the large stone pillars, the lush lifestyle, and the large amount of guards posted around the area. The matriarch informed CIV that her efforts were not in vain, that she had been tracking the movements of CIV for a reasonable amount of time. Her additions to the clan were very much appreciated... and this kind of attitude would well befit a leader of the colony.

CIV was shocked. She retorted immediately, *soldiers cannot be promoted into queens.*

That's the funny thing about Formicidae Diacamma, explains the queen. The Diacamma come from a culture wherein any demon would be able to become queen, unlike other ant species, where one has to be born into glory. All of them are born with the capacity to bear children, and with that privilege comes the title of Gamergate. It is a rather prestigious title, one that the current Gamergate holds dear. However, it is a title with a cost.

To stay the Gamergate, one has to defend her position. There are two glands located on a Formicidae abdomen, glands called *gemmae.* These are to be ripped out of the adult female abdomen, as to render the working soldier infertile.

...It clicked in CIV's head. The plague. The unforeseen contagion that seemed to pass over her head, the one that was a complete mystery, only noticed by *two scars on the abdomen of the demon.* It wasn't a disease at all. It was just politics.

CIV made a break for it. She booked it, as soon as she saw the evil intent in the queen's eyes. She wasn't here to make her the Gamergate at all, this was a neutering. As soon as she began her sprint, the stationed guards began to give chase. In a ruckus, CIV pushed over one of the large pillars vital for keeping the sanctum up. The cavern collapsed, the fate of the Gamergate unknown.

### **Post Defecting**

CIV trotted far away, as far as her legs can take her. She felt a small neurological tie seemingly cut itself in the back of her mind. She felt lost, as if she lacked a purpose. Such is a social insect without a colony. She now wanders the world alone on an unknown path. Without a community to serve under, and the order found in a social hierarchy, CIV sheltered herself in her own body, keeping to herself, and becoming more hopelessly introverted than she may have been before. What is a worker to do without orders?

She had a relatively difficult time trekking through the vast land of the Demon Territory. It was easy to get food, yes, but she had trained all her life to share with her sisters, and without sisters, she grew very lonely. Over time, she began to detest her origins, too. She was part of a monstrous clan, who deviated from the other, seemingly stable communities of the Formicidae race. Her own Kingdom’s traditions opposed her own moral compass. She grew ashamed to be considered Formicidae.

###

### **Warwick**

CIV stumbled into Centrus City, in hopes of first finding a place to think. A wanderlust can only drive you so far; without a destination, you end up lost. As soon as she entered the city, she began to map it out through landmarks, as if examining a scene, finding the best nooks and crannies. It was on this quest that she met Warwick, a man seemingly determined to find the time. Together, the quest soon became find the day, time and date of today, a quest the two found with varying degrees of success.

The two stumbled into a bar, where they eventually got the date and time from a portly fellow, one who had become slightly annoyed with the pair's presence and constant poking. He called the pair "freaks", which Warwick did not seem to enjoy. This set him off, displaying a rather boastful showcase of his fire maya. Unbeknownst to him, *literally every patron in that bar only used Yura.* The rotund man's friend warned them that the pair were approaching rather disreputable levels of tension, and the two left before any harm was done.

CIV grew interested in the concept of Maya. Prior to this, she did not know what the term was, or what it meant, or where she could find it in the world. She also found interest in Warwick's story of being blessed by a god, earning him the nickname *fate-touched.*

Warwick eventually roused the question of where CIV was situated, to which she had no answer. She was nomadic until that point, not very picky about where she chose to rest. Learning this, Warwick offered to help her find residence in some place nearby. He also offered her a chance to clean herself up at his place, wherein he does well for himself, at least.

...Fast forward slightly, and CIV is now living in Warwick's living room. She has appointed chores for herself to keep herself busy, such as cooking lunch if she were in the building, cleaning the furniture, and feeding the stray cat that visits every seven in the evening. On her free time, she frequents the library, and has apparently established quite a rapport with the cast inside.

## **Formicidae**

A subspecies of the Demon race, Formicidae are a hybrid between regular demons and ants. Appearance wise, they sport deviations from the regular demonic features. Their horns may stay rugged and sharp or evolve to be thinner and more flexible antennae. Their skin hardens and becomes more like armor, and keeps a certain shine to it, and deviates in design. They grow to have 6 limbs rather than the usual 4, with 4 arms and 2 legs. It appears only a few species of Formicidae Demons which have wings, most winged Formicidae being queens. Their wings may deviate, as well, but most wings tend to be more insect-like rather than skeletal or bat-like, as with the rest of the demon kin. Rather than a long, hooked tail, Formicidae have evolved to grow a large, bulbous armored abdomen, a few species with stingers at the end of them. Lastly, rather than regular eyes, these demons have evolved the usage of compound eyes, a feature that allows them to be more perceptive than regular demons yet make their eyes more sensitive than usual.

It is unknown whether Formicidae produce eggs or live offspring. It seems the reproductive process has not yet been revealed through research and the like. As of now, it can only be assumed that it is the queen who produces eggs, as with their ant parallels, however this has yet to be confirmed.

In terms of society, these demons have adapted a social hierarchy, a trait they’ve adopted from their animal cousins. In their community, there is one or more queens, followed by hundreds of workers. The society tends to be highly structured and composed of mostly women. Males are forced to wander the world, and only be of service when a queen needs him to procreate. It seems these societies are made to revolve around the queen and her offspring. Formicidae are born to be queens, too; in regular colonies, a worker cannot promote into a queen (aside from special conditions, such as this Diacamma subspecies).

While Formicidae may be classified into species, there doesn't seem to be any "purebreed" among them in recent times. It seems that with the addition of freewill into their genetics, crossbreeding was introduced. Thus, one cannot be fully considered as one species. Species, therefore, are classified by which queen the Formicidae originate from, like a family tree.

This subspecies of demon tends to be rarely observed outside their territory. They seem to be very secretive and can only be seen sometimes hunting for prey in their own isolated zones. One can assume, however, that they make their communities underground.

## **Personality**

Due to her background and diligence in studies, CIV is very secretive, quiet, and introverted. She keeps to herself and prefers to follow a plan if a plan may be formulated. Because of her upbringing in an all-female society, she tends to get confused over certain social practices, and has barely any understanding of men. This may cause her certain problems in the future, depending on who she talks to, or who she allies herself with in her adventures. She also has a no-nonsense attitude over her entire lifestyle and doesn’t particularly fancy humor and hijinks. She has an obvious weakness to the poor and misfortunate, always doing her best to offer aid. She also kept a small bit of naivety from when she was younger and keeps a cool head (plus an optimistic outlook) whenever she sets her mind on a task that needs doing.

CIV likes following rules. As a formerly devout follower in a society, she looks upon those in charge with respect, as they are able to make quick and confident decisions, a trait she doesn’t have. She slightly envies people who think on the fly, because all her life, she was always trained to follow, and barely has any ability to create her own strategies and original ideas. This was only exemplified by the isolation she underwent. Along with this came her complete meticulousness for perfection. If a task needed completion in a perfect way, she always strived to do it to the letter. All in all, she tends to despise random variables, and prefers her tasks be predictable and complex.

In contrast to this, her isolation did help her in some ways. Due to being alone for a few months or so, CIV has learned to be an excellent hunter, even on her own (though she does prefer to hunt in packs). Her prey tends to be bigger and slower than she is. She thrives off of their confusion and her naturally savage hunting abilities. In this form, she is a megalomaniac who enjoys being in control of all aspects of a situation.

## Abilities/Maya

* **Death Maya** – CIV has incorporated Death Maya into her own fighting style. It is the stinger on the back of her abdomen which secretes a dangerous sort of sensation, one which produces an effect similar to that of Raw Death. She uses this to effectively weaken and damage her enemies by injecting parts of the skin with this ability. Because she is only a novice at this power, and has no idea what Maya is or how to effectively learn how to wield her innate Maya, she has not learned to make use of any other ability of this kind.

* **Strength Maya** – CIV tends to be a bit more antlike than her other siblings and relatives in this sense. She naturally uses this Maya to imbue her hands with strength, to carry heavy objects or push away enemies. She uses her Speed Enhancement powers to trot along rough landscape, imbuing her legs with the power to run fast and dart from surface to surface, faster than any of her kin, as if she had tapped into her antlike ability pool. Similar to her Death Maya, she doesn’t know that this is, in fact, Maya, and is uncreative with the uses of this as well, if not to better hunt for prey or scavenge the grounds for food.

* **Ant Traits** – CIV shares many traits with her animal kin. She has inhuman amounts of strength, along with her Strength Maya. This makes her able to be passively strong, and be physically capable of heavy lifting even without the use of Maya. She also has chitinous exoskeleton armor, a layer of skin above her own which protects her from light slashing damage. Finally, a trait she does not share with ants (more like cicadas) is her ability to regenerate lost body parts. If kept safe for a long period of time, she is able to regrow parts of the body she had lost, such as limbs or cut skin.

* **Pack Tactics** – CIV is knowledgeable when hunting by herself or hunting with a party. This is a trait she learned from being within her colony. She is skilled in flanking opponents and blocking off escape routes for prey. This allows her party and her to corner opponents and finish them off quickly, if ever they try to flee. In other occasions, she knows what to aim for when fighting a creature, yet can only rely on this information before a fight. If she were to discover an opponent trait in the middle of the fight, she’d use her new knowledge to try and get an advantage, but cannot fully create new battle plans on the fly.

## Relationships

* **The Diacamma Gamergate** – CIV holds a deep respect for The Gamergate, being very loyal to her decisions when she still served under her. However, with the recent revelation of what The Gamergate must do to secure her position, she discovered a newfound hatred towards her, possibly due to the forceful and barbaric nature of the entire process. Even now, she still holds her image with high regard, and regrets having destroyed Her Highness’ royal chambers.

## Trivia

* CIV does not have a conventional name. Her full name, translating from Roman Numerals, means Formicidae (Ponerinae Ponerini) Diacamma Rugosum, Batch 15, Number 304.

* CIV enjoys raw meat and has never tasted a cooked meal prior to her adventures in Cantasia.

* CIV tends to curse in Latin.

* Aside from her skills learned from her community, CIV knows a few other skills not so vital to her upbringing, due to being favored by a more intelligent crowd back home. These include household chores such as cooking and house upkeep, singing, and reading.