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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 805119" data-attributes="member: 2067"> METRA The Scion QueenAlignment: Lawful NeutralWorshipers: FormiansDomains: Community, Law, NobilityFavored Weapon: JavelinHome Plane/Domain: Mechanus/The CenterPantheon: Formian QueensDivine Rank: 0 (Formian Queen)Classes: NonePortfolio: Law, Formians, Society, Slavery, CraftsSalient Abilities: NoneSpecial Possessions: NoneAlternate Domains: CharmSymbol: A disc with an ant in the centerSACRIFICESTo attain the spellcasting abilities of a domain, for one week, a cultist of Metra must make a sacrifice corresponding to the domain they choose.Community: Solve at least one dispute between individuals in the same unit.Law: Commit the death of one lawbreaker to MetraNobility: Assist in the implementation of one decree from a noble.*Charm: Relegate one enemy to slave statusDESCRIPTIONMetra, the Formian Scion Queen, takes the form of an immense, bloated worm with jaws, several miles long, rippling and white. She is an immense creature, immobile save for some periodic writhing, unable to act, but very able to think.DOGMALaw. Order. Domination. The formains under the scion queen all adhere to the same dogma, and that dogma is their own conquering of all sentient life, and their place at it's head. The formains believe that life has become too chaotic, too random, too uncontrolled to be focused in any useful direction. They have started on the long, arduous path towards focusing all of the chaotic energy of the mutliverse into once useful goal. Though the goal remains undisclosed, all formains are undoubtedly in persuit of it, as anything nearing dissention amongst these creatures would be alien and unheard-of.CLERGY AND TEMPLESThe Scion Queen has few clergy, and fewer temples. She is honored mostly by formians, who have no need and desire to worship an entity that is the logical ruler of all of existance by becoming clerics, specifically. If they were to ever become clerics, they would have been created that way, after all. More often, she is worshiped by the odd human cultist, who pays her homage in the form of sacrifices, and gains some ability from that. Many of her cultists are servants in the formian hive-cities, something of a link between the harsh-seeming ant-centaurs and the fleshy people they rule over. The priests serve as comforters and ministers to the mistrustful and wary people newly enslaved. Though many accuse the formains of brainwashing to create these clerics, the priests seem to genuinely enjoy doing what they do, finding a happy slavery better than a dangerous and chaotic life. Many clergy dress in silvers, whites, and blues.RITES AND RITUALSThose few cultists who worship the Scion Queen generally keep their rites simple and functional, not wishing to do anything superfluously, wastefully. They make rituals of honoring the sacrifices they must make, and some (such as the execution of a criminal) can become truly frightening affairs. After all, the more clerics there are, the more criminals they need, and the better they do their job, the harder it is to find criminals, and so the more petty infractions start becoming punishable by death. Many also attend to the Scion Queen's various satellite queens, located throughout the planes, as emmesaries and missionaries. Either way, a communal and group-related focus is taken on many of their missions. There are no individuals, to a Scionist, merely a splintered whole.MYTHOGRAPHYThe most intriguing thing about the religion of the Scion Queen is the phenomena of a 'willing slave.'It seems that, in most any case, being a slave is a bad thing. You are taken from the life you know, and forced into a new existence, whether you like it or not. You are not free to choose how to live your life, and often you are relegated to a position of unimportance and no effect, merely another cog in the great machine, whose name isn't important enough to remember.But an amazing phenomena happens in the hive cities of the formians -- the slaves are actually generally happy with their position. They are well fed, with frequent breaks, and are stoutly defended against any possible attack. They need not worry about crops or family (as they are often paired up with people for impermantent affairs), and all they need to do is put in a day's worth of work in constructing one of the great works of the formians, and they are left to their devices. Some individuals actively welcome the coming of the formians into their territory, seeing a slave's life under these outsiders as infinately preferable to a dangerous and brutish life outside.Of course, not all are welcoming of the formians, despite this seeming joy the slaves have. Often, cities that are well off enough without the bugs will put up protracted campaigns against them, as they see nothing that the formians need to save them from. Elves seem especially nervous around the creatures, seeing the domination as mind control and manipulation, nothing more. Of course, mind control magic would work, but attempts at dispelling have just as often come up for naught as they have been effective, leading many shcolars to theorize perhaps darker means have been used. Of course, many of the mouthpieces of formian society simply say that it is a happiness of the slaves, that a good life is truly led under the formian yoke. Unfortunately, those who protest the slavery have little evidence that this is not true -- the only unhappiness seems to be that they are dominated. Otherwise, life is definately good for a formain slave.LEGENDSThere is only one story told of the formians by those who worship the Scion Queen: the tale of the Great Shift. It was once said that the scion queen Metra lived in the lowest deapths of the plane of Arcadia, deep within it's blissful passages. There, it met some human philosophers who told the story of their organization, and their goal. These three red-armored individuals told a story of order and law, and how these can be used to institute a paradise of bliss, without crime, without pain, without suffering. Their goal was to eventually bring this dream to all the worlds. Of course, there would be resistance, but, the philosophers reasoned, those who wouldn't accept the order would either be made to accept the order, or destroyed. It would not be a happy event, but it would be a nessecary one, for the good of all those who did accept the order.The Queen was persuaded by their honeyed words to join forces with them, on her own plane. The two teams worked well together, these Harmoinous Humans and the formidable formians. Only, the humans started introducing elements that many formians didn't like, such as joining up with Devils, or the emotionless and cruel Modrons, or even creatures like hobgoblins or worse -- any creature that would respond to order. These beings seemed much more interested in achieving a high position for themselves than in serving the world through order and rigament. The Queen was, however, accepting of these, as the harmonious humans convinced her that these were all for the greater good.And then, the Shift occured. The home of the Scion Queen suddenly wasn't deep beneath the ordered glades of Arcadia, but instead was in the turning gears of Mechanus, a step away from goodness and a step closer to Law. This occured, legends say, at about the same time that the entity known as Orcus was revealed to be illustrating a great and destructive march of Modrons accross the planes. Though the march was stopped, and Orcus stepped away from the modrons to his original home, the mechanical creatures that were once the most ordered beings in the multiverse now experienced more chaos than ever. The rate of rogues and rebels went skyward, and the most ordered beings in existence became less so. It seemed that, to those who worshiped the Scion Queen, her way was chosen over that of the formians. She took over the center of Mechanus from the mechanical shapes, and has now ruled there for millenia, slowly bringing the entire plane, and things beyond it, into her grasp. To those who worship her, this was the true goal of her and all formians. There was a rivalry, however, between Metra and her sister, a formain queen named Clarity who stubbornly refused to move in the exodus that followed the shifting of the layer. Since then, there has been a cold hostility between the formians of Mechanus, and those of Arcadia, with the latter desiring a return to more holy and goodly ways, less concerned with domination and enslavement, and more concerned with purity and holy order. Of course, Clarity has no love of the creatures known as the harmonious humans, seeing them as the corruptors and destroyers of the once-great formian land.Etc.PrC's· Slavemaster: An enchantment specialist who focuses in domination, enslavement, and rulership of other creatures.· Linemaker: One who focuses on dispelling and destroying elements of chaos, randomness, and sloppy indefinateness in creatures both great and small.Plot Hooks· I Don't Wanna Go Home!: A young lady's brother has been stolen and kept captive amongst a nearby formian hive-city, and she petitions the PC's to go and save him. The twist is that he's quite happy where he is, and doesn't want to come home. The girl is determined enough to risk her own life to save him, if she must...is there a dark force keeping him happy, or perhaps a darker force motivating her?· Army Ants: Recently, a group of planar clerics calling themselves the Harmonium have entered the region, preaching their method of obedience and order as the ultimate paradise. They have not been overly well-recieved, but many are nervous about the great hive city that has seemed to accompany them. Is this a formian army to back up their threats that ill things will befall those who don't obey? Or perhaps their threat is more related to the reported sightings of devils in the area, and these formians are here to destroy an evil order?</blockquote>

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