Hive

Hive is a planet in the Bright Star system, moderately close to the sun, Elariel. It is referenced in the Prologue, as it is the home-planet of narrator Lord Pious Skor. It is a rather small planet, and rather unlucky. Until the recent reign of Hive Queen Ves Per, it was entirely destitute, and its people suffered immense strife, only occasionally helped by neighbouring planets; on the whole, it was rather neglected. It often fell victims to Cthyllen pirate raids, due to the weakened defenses of their exports and imports. Only when the Hive Queen rose to power, defeating corrupt and lazy leaders, did prosperity and peace come together as she implemented an entirely new way of functioningーeven to the point the name of the planet was adapted to fit her new philosophy and laws, where it had previously been known as Ecferve.

## Celestial Bodies

It has no known moons, though several planets can be seen in the night sky, such as Neo, Apoc and Kha'on.

## Religions

After Ves Per gained power and respect throughout the lands, she brought alongside prosperity her faith. It was worship of the Goliath, whom she referred to as what would become a common epithet, *the Spider-God*. She believed she had been touched by a vision of an aspect of the Goliath, and had become rapturous with the knowledge that Genesis had not fallen; it had risen, and with it the Hollow Star star system became a web-realm of an eight-limbed God. What had been seen as an apocalypse of the most epic, tragic proportions was actually a divine transcendence as all were absorbed into the singular mind of the Goliath. Blessed with this vision, Ves considered herself a prophet, and it was this absolute self-belief and righteousness that lent her the power needed to conquer such a divided, weakened planet.

This religion conquered as she did, filling the minds and hearts of such a desperate people. It formed the foundation of what would become her practise, as sheーusing learnings from her time as an apprentice of Kha'onーimplemented a strain of technology that used empathy to bind its followers into a singular Hivemind. With this, they could understand the emotions, desires and thinking of their peers; their instincts, their reactions, their needs. An added boon was the lack of destruction of the individual mind, though as the technology became integral to every-day life and its benefits witnessed (easier relationships, a downfall in crime, productivity and a decrease of depression), many do not refer to their individual mind often. Along with this came the alterations to their bodies, being remade in the "image of God" through insectoid cyberkinetics. This altered the shapes of skulls, of limbs, of organs and eyes. This technology was so advanced as to have its own biology, and it was noted it grew with age, responsive to needs and growths. As such, it became the common shape of Hive denizens; their mortal bodies were forgotten, they were now made divine.

But when it came to their beliefs, this religion bestowed upon them an image of rapture. Should they increase the Hivemind through inoculation, and should they please their God, willingly devoting knowledge and lives upon it, then they would be rewarded with utter transcendence and absorption into the Spider-God's soul. They would know a world of sheer *limitless*, a dissolving of all boundaries. They would know only bliss, and be ecstatic with endless knowledge, until they were entirely and utterly at One with the universe and beyond. To a world that had nearly died of being without, this was the crux of what they desired most: abundance, in all things. Safety. This became their Heaven, and so began the inoculation process.

This was ultimately the plan when Hive agreed to an arranged marriage between a noble of their ownーLord Pious Skor, a loyal priest close to Queenーand Prince Hideko Ametsuchi, daughter of the High King and noble of Neo. However, while the engagement did not pan out, they succeeded in planting a seed of faith. Unfortunately, this faith would not be quite what they expected.

## Notable Characters

* Lord Pious Skor
* Ves Per
* Vo Sem