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Description
Compared to the two the primary phenotypes, "monarchs" are highly unusual for three main reasons. The most obvious one being their impossibly advanced stature when compared to majority of the species, one that -if records are to be believed- has increased from a maximum of 1-2km in antiquity to specimens in excess of 25km in the modern era. Another is their rarity - in a species numbering in the hundreds of billions, scattered across a large portion of one of the Tetraxy's constituent galaxies, there are only 200 or so monarchs. This is partially due to their unique method of creation: unlike the other two castes, Monarchs are not hatched, but rather undergo a sort of "ritual" later in life, which can only be performed on their homeworld of Sacred Emerald. Hopefuls must strike out into the world's deceptively placid azure waters, diving from well-worn ceremonial piers and braving the open water. Most find nothing, some are lost to the waves, but one from every group reemerges from the sea as something greater.

The reason for this interest in becoming a monarch is tied up with the third peculiarity among them -they hold the vast majority of executive power throughout the Diktat: a holdover from their history, where they ruled endless swathes of land, venerated as god-queens by their subjects. The territories they rule are now galactic sub-sectors, but their air of self superiority remains, along with their political and military clout. Though this system remains in place, a growing cross-section of the Axoltzyn population are calling for the monarch rituals to be discontinued. Unlike the UNI, Monarchs are still conventionally biological creatures, and have a near-bottomless appetite that can only be sated through the efforts of entire agri-worlds. These reformers argue that the benefits they bring to Diktat society is far outweighed by their voracious consumption of resources and utter disconnection from regular society.

The way these dissidents are dealt with varies from region to region, as the hundreds of individual Diktat states each have a high degree of autonomy. Some Monarchs and most non-Monarch governors permit their assemblies or even openly support their cause, creating a significant rift between them and more traditionalist states. These traditionalists, often backed by hard-line Warrior-Monarchs, subscribe to the idea that their sacred third form is all that keeps a hostile Tetraxy from consuming the Diktat, and that the only way for them to expand is to leverage their power over neighbouring civilizations, or otherwise grind them out under their heels.

The Monarch pictured here is one of the most recent, hailing from worker stock and just coming out of the "Acclimatization phase." With such a rapid biological shift, reduced coordination and the constant risk of something ending up underfoot, new Monarchs are often confined to the "shallows" for the first week or so following their emergence. Luckily for this coastal city, she has strode to shore with an Aoteri-Leviathan in tow, a dangerous sea predator that had been harassing the ports without rebuke. Now it will serve as a quick snack for the 24km Necatli as she awaits some proper clothing from the Diktat's understandably overburdened textile sector, slipping back into the depths of the sea that recreated her.

Description
Compared to the two the primary phenotypes, "monarchs" are highly unusual for three main reasons. The most obvious one being their impossibly advanced stature when compared to majority of the species, one that -if records are to be believed- has increased from a maximum of 1-2km in antiquity to specimens in excess of 25km in the modern era. Another is their rarity - in a species numbering in the hundreds of billions, scattered across a large portion of one of the Tetraxy's constituent galaxies, there are only 200 or so monarchs. This is partially due to their unique method of creation: unlike the other two castes, Monarchs are not hatched, but rather undergo a sort of "ritual" later in life, which can only be performed on their homeworld of Sacred Emerald. Hopefuls must strike out into the world's deceptively placid azure waters, diving from well-worn ceremonial piers and braving the open water. Most find nothing, some are lost to the waves, but one from every group reemerges from the sea as something greater.

The reason for this interest in becoming a monarch is tied up with the third peculiarity among them -they hold the vast majority of executive power throughout the Diktat: a holdover from their history, where they ruled endless swathes of land, venerated as god-queens by their subjects. The territories they rule are now galactic sub-sectors, but their air of self superiority remains, along with their political and military clout. Though this system remains in place, a growing cross-section of the Axoltzyn population are calling for the monarch rituals to be discontinued. Unlike the UNI, Monarchs are still conventionally biological creatures, and have a near-bottomless appetite that can only be sated through the efforts of entire agri-worlds. These reformers argue that the benefits they bring to Diktat society is far outweighed by their voracious consumption of resources and utter disconnection from regular society.

The way these dissidents are dealt with varies from region to region, as the hundreds of individual Diktat states each have a high degree of autonomy. Some Monarchs and most non-Monarch governors permit their assemblies or even openly support their cause, creating a significant rift between them and more traditionalist states. These traditionalists, often backed by hard-line Warrior-Monarchs, subscribe to the idea that their sacred third form is all that keeps a hostile Tetraxy from consuming the Diktat, and that the only way for them to expand is to leverage their power over neighbouring civilizations, or otherwise grind them out under their heels.

The Monarch pictured here is one of the most recent, hailing from worker stock and just coming out of the "Acclimatization phase." With such a rapid biological shift, reduced coordination and the constant risk of something ending up underfoot, new Monarchs are often confined to the "shallows" for the first week or so following their emergence. Luckily for this coastal city, she has strode to shore with an Aoteri-Leviathan in tow, a dangerous sea predator that had been harassing the ports without rebuke. Now it will serve as a quick snack for the 24km Necatli as she awaits some proper clothing from the Diktat's understandably overburdened textile sector, slipping back into the depths of the sea that recreated her.