Awoken

The Awoken, sometimes referred to simply as “The Hive” is a gestalt nation primarily located on the continent Issaden, with other territories scattered through Valeon. The largest of these territories being The Menagerie located to the south west of the main Awoken territories on the continent of Fjordal. The Awoken Capitol of Origin Spire, located at coordinates -3543, 172, -1529, also serves as its most populous city, hosting many of the nations festivals and being the center of its influence in the Wailing Jungle.  Of this population the most numerous are the beings made of sculk referred to as Sculklings.

The Awoken was originally founded when a group of explorers and scientists that referred to themselves as “The Archivists” launched an expedition into the jungle and discovered the sculk that was harbored in the center of it. According to the state's religion Archivism, this is the reason for the sculks sentience and ability to perceive the world around it.

## History

Originally, the sculk was just a mindless growth of biomass, one that many were skeptical of due to fairy tales they’d been told. However, believing this growth to have extraordinary regenerative properties, the first Archivist, Terek Iraano gathered a group of friends and explorers to set out for discovery. On their journey The Archivists would discover many things, and although that information has been lost along with their journals, we do know what happens next. An incident in the digsite would cause all of them to fall to their demise. Laying on the floor, their bodies broken they gave themselves to the sculk, and thus The Awoken were born. The consciousness of each of them being transferred to the sculk, and their bodies reconstituted.

## Geography

The core Awoken territories are found in an elevated jungle, with a deep dark in the center that is commonly referred to as “The Wailing jungle”. The range of temperatures that the tropic and subtropic regions of Issaden has allowed for the successful farming of certain exotic crops nearly year round. This has allowed The Awoken to be able to easily export in demand crops such as sugarcane, and cocoa beans. In addition to it’s tropic territories, The Awoken also has control of a small portion of arctic land on the continent of  Fjordal. Although this doesn't give access to any exclusive crops, The majority of the mineral output of The Awoken has been traced back to this region's high density in emeralds. The deep dark surrounded by mountains has also proven to be a suitable home, as well as a strong foothold in the south of Valeon

## Government

The Awoken being a gestalt nation gives an outward appearance of a direct democracy, where all voices have an equal say. Despite this most information gets passed through the collective up the collective to Hive Central Intelligence. Hive Central Intelligence (or HCI) for short acts as the brain for The Awoken’s gestalt. Once information is passed to HCI a decision is made on how to react. If the decision is not considered critical to the continued survival of the collective, then it is passed back down to the rest of the gestalt. From here each member of The Awoken may directly vote on if the decision should be enacted, this is the part that most resembles a direct democracy. In order to assure that information is properly communicated to HCI, a network of catalysts are set up. Catalysts are members of the collective who act as regional leaders of groups of nests, as well as ways for the wider gestalt to communicate between vast distances.

## Ethnicities and Cultures

The Awoken are primarily composed of sentient beings made from sculk known as Sculklings. However, there are some members who are not naturally made of sculk. When a particularly curious individual wishes to join the collective they undergo a process of assimilation that slowly attunes them with the other members of The Awoke. Despite the term assimilation sounding very hostile, The Awoken are commonly known to never force someone to undergo this process against their will, citing that it would be a waste of biomass to allow a spirit to disrupt the harmony. Despite sharing one mind, many of The Awoken still maintain some degree of autonomy, and as such have formed a religion around their origins called “Archivism.” From this religion stems the majority of The Awoken’s cultural festivals.