RYE Turn 15 (Summary)

Time marches on, and with the major obstacles standing in the way of global expansion removed, the lizardmen have entered into a period of unprecedented growth and progress! The network of temple-cities expands across the jungle continent of Mochantia like a tiled mosaic, each metropolis a shining jewel in the endless sea of green. On and on do the lizardmen labor, their work as ceaseless and untiring as the planet itself, and for the moment there seems to be nothing to interrupt it.

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Empire Focuses:

Expand the Web (Wide)

The expanse of the lizardmen’s empire exploded outwards like a hatchling coming out of the shell. The first twitches had been feeble, hesitant things, a century and a half past as the scattered temple-cities were reunited after the Deliverance. The Geomantic Web, removed from the constant strain and slow withering it had been subjected to on the World-That-Was, healed, then grew, first reaching and then surpassing its former strength even as the fires of war blazed anew. Now, with the last threat to unhindered expansion fallen away, it surged forth with the swift urgency of a tidal wave. The lizardmen sent their legions out to build, and new cities cropped up so quickly they practically appeared overnight. No mighty strongholds were these, but outposts, built just large enough to be self-sufficient and to house the all-important nodes of the Web. The road network of the lizardmen spiderwebbed across the continent like a slime mold growing between food sources, sprouting vast arterial highways that ferried unending streams of material into the more tertiary reaches of the lizardmen’s domain. 

The work continued, feverishly, unendingly, until at last the jungle continent was encircled fully by a band of interlinked cities. The lizardmen’s domain had expanded to twice its size in a fraction of the time it had taken to reach its former breadth. Such a frenzied surge of activity was unprecedented, but well worth it - the eldest skink administrators, after speaking with the slann, determined that another such surge would see the Geomantic Web reach its next stage of energetic density - a feat that had not been accomplished even under the auspices of the Old Ones themselves.

26 new cities founded, all of which are Level 1 outposts set to fully mature during Turn 16. 20 cities remaining until Magnitude 4 Web achieved.

Astral Ponderings (Awanabil'tat, Tiktaq'to) - See upcoming section: The Spire

Scaled Deeps (Teninhuan)

With the words of his god ringing in his ears, compelling him to continue to enact holy genocide upon the Uax that remained upon Mochantia, Teninhuan took to the harbor cities of the lizardmen upon the northern coast. There, he enacted a vast campaign of proselytizing among the inhabitants of those cities, exhorting those worshipers of the Serpent God therein to expand the shipyards by any means possible. Great throngs of chanting Sotek cultists shortly thronged every harbor the lizardmen had, forcing the skink chieftains in charge to spend much time organizing the eager disciples into work teams. This was easier said than done, for a steady stream of Sotek worshipers continued to arrive throughout the decade from more southern cities, drawn by divine guidance and the word of their prophet. With the Serpent Cult providing the labor, new vessels flowed out of harbor manufacturers like drops of blood from a fresh wound, saturating the waves with freshly-forged Parraxuda and Turtle vessels. The majority of these accompanied Teninhuan on a voyage across the sea, bringing a large influx of Sotek-blessed warriors to the crusade against the Uax.

Every city on the northern shore (including those freshly founded) has been equipped with a harbor and a complement of ships to patrol the local waters. Teninhuan was able to ferry forces north to assist in Kroq-Gar’s extermination of the Uax.

Burdens of the Young - See upcoming section: First Lessons

Increase Fortifications (Chakax)

As the lizardmen empire expanded like a blooming flower, special thought was given to preserving the core of their holdings. The newly-claimed ground was only lightly held, and little had yet been invested in their growth. The iron center of the temple-cities, however, had been there for centuries, millennia in some cases, and much more would be lost should they ever be compromised. Unique artifacts, storage facilities that housed the all-important Tablets of the Plan, and the dwelling spaces of the majority of the slann still resided in the oldest and strongest temple-cities. Chakax saw this, and commanded in his unflinching manner that these holdings be secured. In truth, he demanded more - were his preferences indulged, each temple-city that even held the possibility of hosting a slann would be fortified to at least Xlanhuapec’s degree of security, with humming shields, Sacred Sites, and vast armies between the slann and any possible threat to their person.

Material realities, however, infringed upon the ancient Eternity Warden’s designs, and so it was that only the cities directly adjacent to the Ancient Four, those cities that came from the World-That-Was, were brought up to the standard that Chakax demanded. Metropolis Preservation Barriers flickered into life as teams of kroxigor installed arcing stone rings at the base of obsinite walls, and a tithe of material was diverted to Ocelotl and Mekhinyx'kal, gorging them until they stood equal to any other metropolis in the Empire. 

Every city adjacent to Itza, Hexoatl, Xlanhuapec, and Tlaxtlan has been set up with Preservation Barriers. Ocelotl and Mekhinyx’kal have both been upgraded to Level 3 and given Sacred Sites.

Scaled March (Kroq-Gar)

When the lizardmen first discovered the orks on Mochantia, the mere expedition the greenskins had sent down to the jungle continent could have posed a serious risk to their empire. Even after decades of ceaseless preparation, sabotage and delay, the resurgent might of the lizardmen still nearly broke when they met the Uax in true battle. A mere tithe of the fungoid soldiers sallied against them, and a tenth of the lizardmen’s entire population was killed. Such was the need that the slann themselves came down from their temples and into the fray in their hundreds, and five of the venerable mages died - the first to do so on Mochantia. With each successive clash, however, the lizardmen learned more, and suffered less, until just three decades after they met the Uax face-to-face, they scoured the fungal pestilence off the face of the continent.

Now only tattered remnants remained of the once-mighty armies of the greenskins, and the boot was on the other foot. Hualtecalaquiani, while a small outpost by the standards of the greater lizardmen empire, was still home to a vast array of Saurus legions, each encased in obsinite armor that glowed at the seams with iridescent light, each bearing a mirror-sharp shield and a spiked rifle with a barrel shaped like the maw of a serpent. These were not the underequipped armies of yesteryear, fighting their enemies with rock and bone. These were killers each capable of sawing through dozens of orks, and they were led by the most ancient and ferocious of their kind - Kroq-Gar had come across the sea to lead this final campaign of extermination, and teach his younger kin the ways of war.

They marched, and death followed them. There was no resisting it.

The orks of the northern continent have been wiped out.

To Expand the Flock (Krom'tli)

Ayotzl was a patient god. This was in tune with his nature, both as a turtle and a deity of death. Rushed outcomes were for those who could not perceive the full scope of eternity. With each plodding, implacable step forwards, the turtle god ensured the achievement of its goals was inevitable. Thus the Pale Prophet Krom’tli did not raise any clamor for resources or plan any grand ceremonies. Ayotzl’s clergy was expanding and continued to expand, some from fresh converts, some from worshipers of Sotek who had put aside their war-selves for the time being. This growth was slow, but it was steady, and over the long term that was all that mattered.

Religious expansion continues apace. Currently just under half of all lizardmen adhere to a god, split evenly between Ayotzl and Sotek.

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Allocated Slann Projects:

Completed: Basic Prosthetics

The most laborious aspect of this project was mapping out the different configurations of the lizardmen nervous system so that the prosthetics could be applied across any caste. For any lizardman’s work, precision in labor was considered a matter of utmost importance, and so any prosthetic that made fulfilling any task more instead of less laborious was sure to be rejected. After a lengthy series of prototypes, cross-references, and live tests, however, the slann were able to design artificial limbs that functioned with remarkable similarity to the real thing. Many saurus who had been relegated to guard duty for centuries after taking irreparable wounds to the lower limbs were able to return to more far-ranging assignments, and lizardmen who had been laboring with missing appendages for great lengths of time suddenly found themselves called in to the forge districts for fittings.

Basic lizardmen prosthetics designed! While incapable of transmitting sensation, their mild integration into the nervous system of the wearer allows for a surprising degree of dexterity. Unlocks: Powered Prosthetics, -5 research cost for Hand of the Gods.

Completed: Huantzitli Spawning

With the bounty of information that Isendral provided on their biological makeup, it was a trivial matter for the slann to include the metaphysical code of the Huantzitli into the matrices of the lizardmen’s spawning pools. Before long, every city had a healthy roster of the slimy creatures, and Chameleon Skink ambushes became that much deadlier as the assassins integrated the warbeasts into their combat tactics.

Huanztitli successfully integrated into lizardmen army roster!

Completed: Loquatl Spawning

The eldest captured Loquatl specimens, which had been on the verge of dying for almost a decade and kept alive only by the dedicated attentions of paired Ghyran and Ghur skink priests, found themselves freed from the weight of age as the slann finally deigned to complete their long-delayed integration into the spawning pools. In truth, even this had only happened due to Isendral agreeing to share what she knew of the creatures with them, sparing the bulk of their thought processes away from having to catalogue the Loquatl’s genetic data. Soon the titanic beasts were rising above the skies of every temple-city, and the air corps of the lizardmen experienced an uncharacteristic influx of growth as both skink and saurus riders were trained to crew the Loquatl. Fortunate that it happened now, for the first voyages into new skies were just beginning…

Loquatl successfully integrated into lizardmen army roster!

Theory of Engine

This had been percolating in the mindspace of the Sublime Communion for some time, and many of the slann were eager to get to grips with the problem. The toad-mages locked themselves into long, deep sessions of contemplation, and began to unspool the issue with whatever spare time they could manage. Full of eagerness, they tore through the preliminary layers of theory like flame through dry brush, generating vast swathes of speculative ideas that floated around themselves in the astral plane.

Work continues! Current progress: 300/650, pre-Qhyash Skinks discount.

Completed: A Template Completed - See upcoming section: The Dazzling Wheel

Completed: Geomantic Anomalies Pt. 2 - See upcoming section: What Lurks In The Deep

Completed: Ayacmanik Tutelage - See upcoming section: First Lessons

Completed: Isendral Knowledge Trade - See upcoming section: Matriarch’s Mysteries

Completed: Excavate The Ship - See upcoming section: Buried Secrets

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A/N: I managed to have a free weekend day for the first time in almost a year, and this was the result. I'm gonna post it in the SV thread proper in a week, but y'all will recieve early access to the various sections - which are basically the fancy scenes I've been writing - as per usual, as I get the time to write them.