The Hive

AFRICA || ASIA || AUSTRALIA || EUROPE || WESTERN || HISTORY
::Bioculture:: The people of the Hive refer to themselves as "Bio-Republicans". They are descended from aboriginal Australians. The shamans who communed with the Bee Nation realized in the late 1500's that the songlines of Australia would be severed. They retreated to the islands, secured the songlines there, and established hives. The shield had a much worse effect than any of the shamans had predicted, and the hives suffered terrible famine due to the loss of the Australian mainland. The people of the hives were forced to alter themselves radically in order to adapt. Two centuries later, all of the hives except one had died, and society there had changed dramatically.

Bio-Republicans are the most evolved of any of the biocultures. They have over time introduced more and more bee DNA into their own genome, and are the only bioculture that physically resembles an Animal Nation as much as pre-Covenant or African humanity. Bio-Republicans, except those of certain highly specialized classes have wings.

Unlike most biocultures, the Bio-Republicans have been cut off from global affairs for the past few centuries. They are eager to enter the global community and expand their knowledge of the world.

::Totem:: The Bio-Republicans maintain their Covenant with the bee.

::Religion:: The lives of the Bio-Republicans are very much intertwined with the lives of bees and bee saints. Because secular life is extremely ritualistic there is little distinction between it and religious life. The socio-religious system of the Bio-Republicans, The Creed, pervades the lives of everybody. Every Bio-Republican has limited shamanic training.

There are a huge number of taboos in Hive society, originating from a necessity to avoid offending the Bee Nation and other Insect Nations. Taboo is extremely complex, and all duties are designed so that taboos remain unbroken.

There are a number of powerful shamans who are attempting to heal the broken song lines of Australia, so that life can once again take root there.

::Government:: There are hundreds of classes of Bio-Republicans, each with their own duty to the Hive. Each class employs a male shaman, known as a "Senator", whose sole duty is to pheromonally sense the desires of the class that employs them. The Senators telepathically report the desires of their class to the Queen, and the Queen implements a synthesis of the desires of all classes on behalf of the Hive.

::Gender:: Gender is irrelevant to Bio-Republicans. Certain classes of people are completely made up of a single sex, such as the female Queen, and the male Senators. Classes are limited to one sex or the other out of biological necessity, rather than a gender politic.

::Guilds:: There is one guild class whose function is to produce plastics. The Hive has advanced food production plastics.

::Military:: There is a class of soldier drones who are capable of flying at high altitudes. They have a physiogomy designed for fighting, and have very little regard for their own survival. The Hive employs a huge force of these soldiers to defend against foreign invasion and lauch raids against other nations. Because the Hive fears that foreigners coming to Australia will offend the Insect Nations the Hive kills all foreigners who attempt to enter the Hive or to land on the Australian mainland.

::Shashi:: Shashi are grown in individual cells and harvested of their mana.

::Geography:: The Bio-Republicans have turned the large island off the coast of southern Australia into the single large complex which is their home and country. Tunnels riddle the rock all the way down to the ocean floor.