Re: Floor B25 - The Lost Corridors, Builder Bug Hive
The emeralds and sapphire bugs disperse as the rubies exude intimidating pheromones, returning to their tasks. One of the emeralds looks particularly attached to Dena, and follows a good way before finally being dissuaded enough by the strong (though human-imperceptible) scent to leave.
The communicator leads the way with the ruby guards flanking it and its two guests. ("It", it so happens, is the most appropriate pronoun for the communicators, as they are born perfectly asexual.) The caverns become narrower as they move further into the hive, getting their first glimpse of the inner tunnels. The ornamentation on the walls maintains an organic beauty, inspired by symmetry in nature: often plant-based patterns, as the insects live largely on plant matter, and in their own way revere it. Similarly, there is some reverence for the element of water in their decor, for water is the source of life.
Now and then, they encounter special caverns, which the golden bug attempts to explain the function of. They pass one of the emerald bugs' work caverns: a whole host of emeralds rest there, their abdomens distended, secreting a sticky white sugary substance the onyx workers carry in resin-made containers deeper into the hive. Another, similar room holds a slimmer variety of emerald, excreting a fine thread the onyxes wind into spools carried by two, three of them at a time.
Yet another cavern complex houses one of the artisans' quarters. The sapphires work mostly solitary, supported by onyxes who aid them with menial tasks. Many are scupltors, working with wax resins secreted from their own bodies, or with clay or precious stones harvested from the earth, or some combination of. Even more rare are the metalworkers, whose mandibles have been evolved to produce a form of acid which softens metal into a workable form without dissolving it entirely.
Further in, they pass what appears to be an insect's museum: murals, stalactites formed into statues, and other such artistic reminders of various important events in the life of Irix Chilomena. A large part of their history, in fact, involved working with the machinery of Five Coils. Their depictions of the dark, metallic corridors and the inorganic AIs show an entire different facet to the insects' art: everything is solid planes, hard angles and sharp points, a direct contrast to the flowing patterns predominant of the middle hive. The AIs are represented as breathtaking mandalas of circuitry, but there are other types of beings as well, humanoid figures with symbols shining on their brows in silver and gold and precious stone. The Celestials, if the murals are to believed, occupied Five Coils long before the Dragon-blooded did.
[Private to Tervila Dena: If you so wish I would allow you to incorporate a Past Lives flashback when you step into the museum area. You will gain Past Lives 1 by entering here, in any case.] [Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: You will definitely notice that one of the Celestials depicted feels familiar to you. Harmony herself would point out to you that it resembles your form as as she first remembered you - when you were Shining Eye.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:07, Tue 17 Feb 2009.