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Description

This was a piece done by @ArrtMan a while back of my OC Azett from my Scarlet Horde series I did a while back and haven't worked on in quite some time. Decided to crank this story out just to get it out of the way.

When King Zharr'gna first informed Azett she was to go to Idpa, she was insulted. As if she wanted to spend any measure of time in the same room as a Khikek, let alone visit their home planet. But of course she held her tongue, she still wasn't sure if he was above eating ambassadors. On her way out Qh'ourr , of all present, caught her ear. She didn't think much of the whisperer but he did have something useful to say from time to time. She was hoping for an extermination but a tithing? What could the bug Emperor have to offer? She knew the Vh'aalthir made a pastime of collecting resources and artefacts from diverse worlds, but what did they want with grubs and secreted resin? She had collected tithes before as part of her duties in the Menaj-hett, but those were offerings from the coffers of Arcanea colony lords, tariffs on monolithic organizations. This was no more than digging through a dirty hole in the ground. The fact the King had made this a matter of the major-viziers to begin with was already far more complimentary than the pests deserved. But Qh'ourr's words shed light. The Khikek despised outsiders, and while they swore allegiance to the Vh'aalthir, they were no less suspicious. To force them to swallow their pride and present their offerings to an Arcanean, he insisted, would be most enjoyable for her. But that was not her only task, the King needed an envoy he could trust, to report on the situation inside the hive, anything useful to the Vh'aalthir and against the Khikek. But when she asked what she should be looking for, Qh'ourr only told her that she would know it when she saw it. So the bugs aren't the only ones being tested.
The smell wasn't as bad as she had thought, the Khikek had actually burrowed tunnels all throughout the planet, some came in one side of the planet and went out all the way on the opposite hemisphere. It kept a good circulation of air throughout the hive. When she finally came face to face with their "Emperor" she was about as disappointed as she prepared herself to be. Timid, frail, Sek-Len K'abb was more fearful than angry at the presence of a foreigner. He immediately vacated his throne to approach and greet her. They're doomed. It would seem previous tithings had instilled a sense of subservience to his visitors. Perhaps collecting the bugmen's taxes wouldn't be as insufferable as I thought. He was polite, courteous even. Perhaps his only positive quality. He then introduced her to his court.

Shuffling, shambling, bloated, wrinkled. Old. Weak. Councilors to the old emperor, all past their expiration date. Mementos the Emperor was unable to part with... They filed in and congregated to one side of the room, a huddled mass of wretches wrapped in ragged, stained silks as dated, ill fitting and useless as them. Then filed in another group, frial, sickly, but youthful, a sense of vigor in their eyes which their bodies lacked. Where the elders were developed yet decayed, this new group was lively but unrealised, their development restrained in many ways. These descendants, the products of the now profligate advisor's prolonged existence, congregated on the opposite side of the audience chamber. They eyed her, attacking her with everything in her arsenal from behind their retinas, but beyond that their machinations were unmanifested. They identified her, an outsider, a symbol of change as a threat to their lives and the future of their species. The guards, however, the strong and fit eyed the councilors. The weak, ignorant and self serving, as the threat. And then came the royal family. The Empress was first to enter, and it was evident no part of her movement, perhaps even her every bodily function, was unaided by replacements, enhancements and modifications. The result of a lifetime of indulgence, assasination attempts and spawning the royal offspring. Said offspring accompanied her in a skulking, repressed and self loathsome train of princes and princesses who had grown pale in their brother's shadow and their mother's skirts. The herald called out the many royal names she did not bother to remember, or even register for that matter. The court bowed. Azett moved not a muscle. The sow took her place beside her husband, the brood lined the back wall of the chamber.

The next one she heard long before she saw. Clanking metal, thumping footsteps, whatever it is must be twice the size of the others. She would be proven wrong and perhaps, impressed, for the first time since her arrival. The General, Ges-Gur Ja'el, as the herald announced, looked closer to three times the size of any Khikek in the room. Though perhaps his armor lended to the image. His name stayed in her mind, lingering as long as his corpus colossus held her eye, but long enough to engrave itself into her memory. Now he, instead of the court, bowed to his emperor before announcing the final arrival, the crown prince Sek-Ten L'akk. If she hadn't thought she was hearing double, she was most certainly seeing it now. The crown prince was a mirror image of his father, not as runtish as his broodmates but in all ways unremarkable, clearly shy of his species' full physical potential and a jittery, uneasy motion that reflected self importance and lack of self discipline. The court bowed to this weakling, many strained or simply half bowing, showing clear distaste for the next in line. The General held a faint smirk as she and his eyes locked. Perhaps this is what Qh'ourr said I should be looking for. She noted the militaristic theme in L'akk's garb, ceremonial but clearly designed to resemble armor.

"Sek-Ten! What did I tell you about bringing that thing in here!" The Queen Mother snarled, thrusting a boney, quivering finger past the prince to the entrance of the audience chamber. Standing there was an emaciated creature Azett almost didn't recognize as Khikek. It stood hunched, almost squatting, and Azett estimated it barely came up to the shoulders of the prince if when standing up straight, that is, if it could even manage to do so. It pawed its face with forearms which lacked hands, its wrists ending in sharp ends stained red. The teeth were gnarled, the mouth barely contained them, be that due to size or nature of the beast. It jerked its head side to side in a panicked motion, allowing all to see its lack of eyes and the point at the back of its head, also stained red, where other Khikeks had rounded craniums. What was this ghoul?

A thin chain led from the thing's neck to the hand of the Prince, who tugged on it, forcing the ghoul closer. The Prince began to speak but was stopped by the General, who spoke for him. "Sincerest apologies, majesties," he paused and turned to Azett, gesturing a slight bow, "most honored Ambassador. The fault is mine, I neglected to instruct young lord Sek-Ten to have the beast stowed." As he said this, he motioned for a guard who took the leash from the Prince and led the thing away. That was planned she thought he wanted me to see that. The Emperor nodded, addressing Azett with a voice she could tell would annoy her before he even used it. “My lady, we are all humbled and honored by your presence. My high counselors and advisors have pledged every ounce of attention to ensuring the aid we grant our benefactors is of the greatest possible quality.” Yes I’m sure whatever pungent, worm-infested waste you’ve prepared for me is the best you have. It was at this point it occurred to her she hadn’t the slightest clue what she came here to claim.

She hesitated for a moment before Ges-Gur Ja’el stepped forward. “Sire, perhaps the ambassador would wish to inspect the Duumar herself? I will happily offer assistance in her duties.”

“If that is the ambassador’s wish,” Azett gave a curt nod and turned to follow Ja’el before the Emperor had time to go on, yet he did. “In that case I shall make preparations for inspection of the processed materials we have to-” “No need, Lord K’abb, I trust it is all of sufficient quantities” She called over her shoulder as she exited the audience chamber.

“Politics, how tiresome,” Ja’el murmured as he walked, not bothering to face Azett as he did so, “That charlatan court that seat-warmer K’abb maintains consumes any time, talent and recognition this planet has to offer. His amusements stagnate our entire people!” He walked with a quick shuffling, side to side, as if he were marching. He took her on a brief tour of some of his private facilities, a military demonstration, a testing field of Khikek rocket technology, a star chart showing exact placement of planetary bodies in their star system and those surrounding, Azett knew these were just fillings, bits to lead to the main course. Now is the time for things to be laid bare, Azett thought, she knew Ja’el had something up his gilded sleeves and she would rather him be out with it. “And what solutions do you propose, General? I am simply here to observe.” He stopped at that and gave a sharp glace around them. When he found their isolation satisfactory, he turned to her and produced a holo-transmitter. Activating it displayed Idpa, in all its decrepit mediocrity, the slight expression of anger on the general’s face told her he agreed. He pointed a yellow-stained claw to a hole in the south-western sector and turned the transmitter so Azett could see that it cleared straight through the core of the planet and out the other side. “This… profligacy… is a stain on our people. The courtesans have been content to keep the emperor in power so long as he maintains their positions, titles, praises and notoriety. This has come at a cost no Khikek could ever repay, look what has happened to our home at the cost of his blindness. I have no issue with fulfilling the quotas of our pact but to cannibalize our planet? To lead us into an early grave, discarding our culture, our heritage? I cannot allow this, and I have taken measures to right this. I assure you, I make no move against our masters, simply those left in charge that should not have been.” He paused to activate a door panel, revealing a dark room illuminated with bright orange globes. As the two entered Azett realized what she beheld, a broodroom, the bioluminescent egg sacs of the Khikek young. Though their full form was not much to look at, the sight of such an unformed creature full of potential enraptured Azett. Though as Ja’el resumed speaking, she turned away as though nothing held her mind. “I’m sure you saw that… creature of mine in the audience chamber, that was my first step, testing the waters, setting things in motion. That is the rightful heir, Sek-Sen L’akk, though most dub him ‘Pincer’. He was the first born and by rights should have claimed the title, had I not intervened. I knew all that followed in the brood would be weaker, lesser, more easily manipulated. I ‘compromised’ his first meal, made him tainted, unsightly, malformed. This was more than enough to cast him down and make sure he never developed, he might have even rivaled his grandfather, much more difficult to unseat. Now he is a pet, a mindless dreg I parade around to remind the emperor of his weakness, that his time is limited, while I feed his new heir another poison. You see how they both parade behind me like infants to their mother? Disgusting. The final manifestation of this wretched word and this wretched empire. I have been gathering minds loyal to our ideals, to the might of the worthy, to heritage. We have made preparations, at first to replace the Emperor, but as time went on, as damages became irreparable, we began looking for alternatives. We have studied surrounding bodies, our natural satellites and planetary neighbors, but found no suitable candidate for a new home. However, more pleasing results came from looking outside our heliopause. Neighboring systems proved to house suitable candidates and our vow of exodus was forged. This fools bureaucracy, our original target, is now little more than a disposable tool to us. If the emperor wishes to mine Idpa until it is a pebble, so be it, we shall do no such mutilation to our new haven.” Azett had to admit she was impressed. Not only was this coup more complex than she had anticipated but it would provide a seamless transition of power that would do little to impede their tithing.

“You would doom this planet?” she asked. “Is it not already doomed?” the general queried, “look around us! The sun no longer shines, broods shrivel and die before hatching, people starve and cannibalize themselves! This situation is untenable, but granted our new haven it is the perfect crucible to return the Khikek to their martial prowess! We will maintain mining here on Idpa, its moons, its planetary neighbors. we will let the Emperor have his games and think he rules, we can fabricate a campaign on our new home to explain our absence while this world slips into chaos. We will organize recruitment, to chariot away those worthy, who rise above the rabble, to our new home and let the rest suffer and toil in their false-king’s filth!”

Another step Azett had not considered, and now she knew this plan would pass her by if she did not take the reins now. “A population of loyal, militant Khikek? A fine tithe I’m sure, how many regiments can I expect in ten rotations?”

“Our figures indicate we should be able to provide some 20 regiments ready for you in half that time, more so if you allow us to colonize more worlds in the name of our mast-” “let us not get ahead of ourselves, general.” she stopped him “20 in 5 years you say? That does sound good to me, I think. Very well, you shall have my blessing, my say so, whatever you were hoping to hear, now go, inform the emperor I am pleased with my visit and that I will be taking my audiences with him in the future from here. I find the light rather agreeable, don’t you?”

The general bowed and left swiftly.

Description

This was a piece done by @ArrtMan a while back of my OC Azett from my Scarlet Horde series I did a while back and haven't worked on in quite some time. Decided to crank this story out just to get it out of the way.

When King Zharr'gna first informed Azett she was to go to Idpa, she was insulted. As if she wanted to spend any measure of time in the same room as a Khikek, let alone visit their home planet. But of course she held her tongue, she still wasn't sure if he was above eating ambassadors. On her way out Qh'ourr , of all present, caught her ear. She didn't think much of the whisperer but he did have something useful to say from time to time. She was hoping for an extermination but a tithing? What could the bug Emperor have to offer? She knew the Vh'aalthir made a pastime of collecting resources and artefacts from diverse worlds, but what did they want with grubs and secreted resin? She had collected tithes before as part of her duties in the Menaj-hett, but those were offerings from the coffers of Arcanea colony lords, tariffs on monolithic organizations. This was no more than digging through a dirty hole in the ground. The fact the King had made this a matter of the major-viziers to begin with was already far more complimentary than the pests deserved. But Qh'ourr's words shed light. The Khikek despised outsiders, and while they swore allegiance to the Vh'aalthir, they were no less suspicious. To force them to swallow their pride and present their offerings to an Arcanean, he insisted, would be most enjoyable for her. But that was not her only task, the King needed an envoy he could trust, to report on the situation inside the hive, anything useful to the Vh'aalthir and against the Khikek. But when she asked what she should be looking for, Qh'ourr only told her that she would know it when she saw it. So the bugs aren't the only ones being tested.
The smell wasn't as bad as she had thought, the Khikek had actually burrowed tunnels all throughout the planet, some came in one side of the planet and went out all the way on the opposite hemisphere. It kept a good circulation of air throughout the hive. When she finally came face to face with their "Emperor" she was about as disappointed as she prepared herself to be. Timid, frail, Sek-Len K'abb was more fearful than angry at the presence of a foreigner. He immediately vacated his throne to approach and greet her. They're doomed. It would seem previous tithings had instilled a sense of subservience to his visitors. Perhaps collecting the bugmen's taxes wouldn't be as insufferable as I thought. He was polite, courteous even. Perhaps his only positive quality. He then introduced her to his court.

Shuffling, shambling, bloated, wrinkled. Old. Weak. Councilors to the old emperor, all past their expiration date. Mementos the Emperor was unable to part with... They filed in and congregated to one side of the room, a huddled mass of wretches wrapped in ragged, stained silks as dated, ill fitting and useless as them. Then filed in another group, frial, sickly, but youthful, a sense of vigor in their eyes which their bodies lacked. Where the elders were developed yet decayed, this new group was lively but unrealised, their development restrained in many ways. These descendants, the products of the now profligate advisor's prolonged existence, congregated on the opposite side of the audience chamber. They eyed her, attacking her with everything in her arsenal from behind their retinas, but beyond that their machinations were unmanifested. They identified her, an outsider, a symbol of change as a threat to their lives and the future of their species. The guards, however, the strong and fit eyed the councilors. The weak, ignorant and self serving, as the threat. And then came the royal family. The Empress was first to enter, and it was evident no part of her movement, perhaps even her every bodily function, was unaided by replacements, enhancements and modifications. The result of a lifetime of indulgence, assasination attempts and spawning the royal offspring. Said offspring accompanied her in a skulking, repressed and self loathsome train of princes and princesses who had grown pale in their brother's shadow and their mother's skirts. The herald called out the many royal names she did not bother to remember, or even register for that matter. The court bowed. Azett moved not a muscle. The sow took her place beside her husband, the brood lined the back wall of the chamber.

The next one she heard long before she saw. Clanking metal, thumping footsteps, whatever it is must be twice the size of the others. She would be proven wrong and perhaps, impressed, for the first time since her arrival. The General, Ges-Gur Ja'el, as the herald announced, looked closer to three times the size of any Khikek in the room. Though perhaps his armor lended to the image. His name stayed in her mind, lingering as long as his corpus colossus held her eye, but long enough to engrave itself into her memory. Now he, instead of the court, bowed to his emperor before announcing the final arrival, the crown prince Sek-Ten L'akk. If she hadn't thought she was hearing double, she was most certainly seeing it now. The crown prince was a mirror image of his father, not as runtish as his broodmates but in all ways unremarkable, clearly shy of his species' full physical potential and a jittery, uneasy motion that reflected self importance and lack of self discipline. The court bowed to this weakling, many strained or simply half bowing, showing clear distaste for the next in line. The General held a faint smirk as she and his eyes locked. Perhaps this is what Qh'ourr said I should be looking for. She noted the militaristic theme in L'akk's garb, ceremonial but clearly designed to resemble armor.

"Sek-Ten! What did I tell you about bringing that thing in here!" The Queen Mother snarled, thrusting a boney, quivering finger past the prince to the entrance of the audience chamber. Standing there was an emaciated creature Azett almost didn't recognize as Khikek. It stood hunched, almost squatting, and Azett estimated it barely came up to the shoulders of the prince if when standing up straight, that is, if it could even manage to do so. It pawed its face with forearms which lacked hands, its wrists ending in sharp ends stained red. The teeth were gnarled, the mouth barely contained them, be that due to size or nature of the beast. It jerked its head side to side in a panicked motion, allowing all to see its lack of eyes and the point at the back of its head, also stained red, where other Khikeks had rounded craniums. What was this ghoul?

A thin chain led from the thing's neck to the hand of the Prince, who tugged on it, forcing the ghoul closer. The Prince began to speak but was stopped by the General, who spoke for him. "Sincerest apologies, majesties," he paused and turned to Azett, gesturing a slight bow, "most honored Ambassador. The fault is mine, I neglected to instruct young lord Sek-Ten to have the beast stowed." As he said this, he motioned for a guard who took the leash from the Prince and led the thing away. That was planned she thought he wanted me to see that. The Emperor nodded, addressing Azett with a voice she could tell would annoy her before he even used it. “My lady, we are all humbled and honored by your presence. My high counselors and advisors have pledged every ounce of attention to ensuring the aid we grant our benefactors is of the greatest possible quality.” Yes I’m sure whatever pungent, worm-infested waste you’ve prepared for me is the best you have. It was at this point it occurred to her she hadn’t the slightest clue what she came here to claim.

She hesitated for a moment before Ges-Gur Ja’el stepped forward. “Sire, perhaps the ambassador would wish to inspect the Duumar herself? I will happily offer assistance in her duties.”

“If that is the ambassador’s wish,” Azett gave a curt nod and turned to follow Ja’el before the Emperor had time to go on, yet he did. “In that case I shall make preparations for inspection of the processed materials we have to-” “No need, Lord K’abb, I trust it is all of sufficient quantities” She called over her shoulder as she exited the audience chamber.

“Politics, how tiresome,” Ja’el murmured as he walked, not bothering to face Azett as he did so, “That charlatan court that seat-warmer K’abb maintains consumes any time, talent and recognition this planet has to offer. His amusements stagnate our entire people!” He walked with a quick shuffling, side to side, as if he were marching. He took her on a brief tour of some of his private facilities, a military demonstration, a testing field of Khikek rocket technology, a star chart showing exact placement of planetary bodies in their star system and those surrounding, Azett knew these were just fillings, bits to lead to the main course. Now is the time for things to be laid bare, Azett thought, she knew Ja’el had something up his gilded sleeves and she would rather him be out with it. “And what solutions do you propose, General? I am simply here to observe.” He stopped at that and gave a sharp glace around them. When he found their isolation satisfactory, he turned to her and produced a holo-transmitter. Activating it displayed Idpa, in all its decrepit mediocrity, the slight expression of anger on the general’s face told her he agreed. He pointed a yellow-stained claw to a hole in the south-western sector and turned the transmitter so Azett could see that it cleared straight through the core of the planet and out the other side. “This… profligacy… is a stain on our people. The courtesans have been content to keep the emperor in power so long as he maintains their positions, titles, praises and notoriety. This has come at a cost no Khikek could ever repay, look what has happened to our home at the cost of his blindness. I have no issue with fulfilling the quotas of our pact but to cannibalize our planet? To lead us into an early grave, discarding our culture, our heritage? I cannot allow this, and I have taken measures to right this. I assure you, I make no move against our masters, simply those left in charge that should not have been.” He paused to activate a door panel, revealing a dark room illuminated with bright orange globes. As the two entered Azett realized what she beheld, a broodroom, the bioluminescent egg sacs of the Khikek young. Though their full form was not much to look at, the sight of such an unformed creature full of potential enraptured Azett. Though as Ja’el resumed speaking, she turned away as though nothing held her mind. “I’m sure you saw that… creature of mine in the audience chamber, that was my first step, testing the waters, setting things in motion. That is the rightful heir, Sek-Sen L’akk, though most dub him ‘Pincer’. He was the first born and by rights should have claimed the title, had I not intervened. I knew all that followed in the brood would be weaker, lesser, more easily manipulated. I ‘compromised’ his first meal, made him tainted, unsightly, malformed. This was more than enough to cast him down and make sure he never developed, he might have even rivaled his grandfather, much more difficult to unseat. Now he is a pet, a mindless dreg I parade around to remind the emperor of his weakness, that his time is limited, while I feed his new heir another poison. You see how they both parade behind me like infants to their mother? Disgusting. The final manifestation of this wretched word and this wretched empire. I have been gathering minds loyal to our ideals, to the might of the worthy, to heritage. We have made preparations, at first to replace the Emperor, but as time went on, as damages became irreparable, we began looking for alternatives. We have studied surrounding bodies, our natural satellites and planetary neighbors, but found no suitable candidate for a new home. However, more pleasing results came from looking outside our heliopause. Neighboring systems proved to house suitable candidates and our vow of exodus was forged. This fools bureaucracy, our original target, is now little more than a disposable tool to us. If the emperor wishes to mine Idpa until it is a pebble, so be it, we shall do no such mutilation to our new haven.” Azett had to admit she was impressed. Not only was this coup more complex than she had anticipated but it would provide a seamless transition of power that would do little to impede their tithing.

“You would doom this planet?” she asked. “Is it not already doomed?” the general queried, “look around us! The sun no longer shines, broods shrivel and die before hatching, people starve and cannibalize themselves! This situation is untenable, but granted our new haven it is the perfect crucible to return the Khikek to their martial prowess! We will maintain mining here on Idpa, its moons, its planetary neighbors. we will let the Emperor have his games and think he rules, we can fabricate a campaign on our new home to explain our absence while this world slips into chaos. We will organize recruitment, to chariot away those worthy, who rise above the rabble, to our new home and let the rest suffer and toil in their false-king’s filth!”

Another step Azett had not considered, and now she knew this plan would pass her by if she did not take the reins now. “A population of loyal, militant Khikek? A fine tithe I’m sure, how many regiments can I expect in ten rotations?”

“Our figures indicate we should be able to provide some 20 regiments ready for you in half that time, more so if you allow us to colonize more worlds in the name of our mast-” “let us not get ahead of ourselves, general.” she stopped him “20 in 5 years you say? That does sound good to me, I think. Very well, you shall have my blessing, my say so, whatever you were hoping to hear, now go, inform the emperor I am pleased with my visit and that I will be taking my audiences with him in the future from here. I find the light rather agreeable, don’t you?”

The general bowed and left swiftly.