WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0048 0048
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posefully bred a whole generation of warriors for this
expansion. The human mines in the area still churned
out rich finds and were somewhat better protected and
fortified with moats and walls and mercenary guards.
All these improvements were no barrier against the
massive numbers of yellow warriors that crawled up out
of the west.
All mines and mountain passes quickly fell to the Krikis. As per usual, the warriors emerged onto the plains
beyond the eastern slopes to establish hive dominance
over as wide a region as possible. They achieved this
easily without significant losses, so great were their
numbers. Displaced human farmers and villagers fled
further east to the walls of Gathush, overwhelming the
city’s ability to house and feed them. In their anguish,
the refugees and the local Gathusines disparaged the
name of the Daragkark Tharcluun who would normally
have protected them but now, as some had feared, no
longer watched over them as their benefactor.
In the Dragon King’s absence, the Gathite minister of
the army ‘Kral’ (or Lord) Dyaha called for a conscription of
militia to battle the Krikis. He pointed out, to soldiers and
leaders alike, that failure to drive the Krikis back would
lead to a growing colony hive closer to their beloved city.
Despite some 10,000 shtuka-armed conscripts and volunteers, and a contingent of black-eyed Nordor plakinto
mercenaries, Dyaha’s forces remained dwarfed by the
Yellow Krikis arrayed against them by more than eight to
one. For six long years, Kral Dyaha and his troops protected Gathus and points east, all the while engaging the Krikis in a guerilla war of raids and plunder that eventually
pushed the bugs back over the mountains. Kral Dyaha
was hailed as the hero of the Second Chitin War and all
but deified within Gathush and its environs.
With lessons learned from their previous war with humans, the Krikis changed their attitudes toward new human captives. Captives from the Second Exploratory War
became one large labor pool forced into a single function—waste removal—at a hive deep inside the Hivelands.
Under single-minded overseers, the humans performed
adequately. Still, some curious Krikis wondered about
adapting the humans to improve their hive tasks.
These early bright-mind Krikis began a program of recombinant experiments, grafting insect body parts onto
human subjects. Most trials ended in unthinkable pain
and death, and few improved sufficiently or lived long
enough to make the experiments worthwhile. The Krikis abandoned this program within a few years, turning
any surviving tistich abominations loose into the wilderness. Thus, the horrifying offspring of these experiments yet haunt the barren lands among the vast Krikis
hives. Mournful beasts neither insectoid nor human,
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tistich horrors only seek food, savagery, and revenge,
making them dangerous to any who encounter them.
The Last Chitin War
The Third Exploratory War lasted five dreadful years
and only recently concluded with the Yellow Krikis in
control of the entire Feshass Valley, newly fortified and
already mostly converted to new hive territories. In this
latest war, the impetus came from human incursion.
Private prospectors and miners, backed with mercenaries, reached further west beyond their normal grounds,
hoping to replace played-out copper veins. With the
humans now creeping closer to the Hivelands, the yellows monitored the situation for more than three years
before collectively deciding to act.
Their action was unimaginable to Krikis and terrifying to humans alike. Yellow Krikis halted regional hive
expansions for a full year, devoting all resources to
breeding new warriors. They trained and equipped vast
legions, then unleashed them in a brutal eastward campaign that quickly overran any resistance and captured
the entire Feshass Valley. This displaced many thousands, razing villages and farms, and driving all human
soldiers from the valley. Gathusine troops and other human forces attempted unsuccessfully to retake the valley for several years to no avail. What were once hasty,
ramshackle defenses have become the permanent fortifications across the passes known colloquially as “the
Bug Line.”
Now formidable and robust with military strength, Yellow Krikis keep large standing contingents of warriors
in the Bug Line, determined to keep the “Feshass Newhives” protected from human incursions. Not readily
apparent to their human foes, though, is the slow adaptation of Krikis strategy to opposing new threats. Their
fortifications can hold off any number of Krikis attackers,
the overhead nets and high pikes guarding against leaping attackers and the like. Their defenses lack standards
used by and against humans and can be penetrated by
human attackers; if enough troops can be mustered to
take and hold positions behind the Bug Line, the immediate threat to a number of new hives would change how
the Yellow Krikis view the “soft skins.” Even without such
an attack, Bug Line warriors learn more every day about
humans and how to keep them at bay.
Veteran Repercussions
The three Chitin Wars changed both cultures. For the
Krikis, they were the first expansions of hive territory
into geographical spaces already occupied by intelligent and determined owners. Long-held impressions of
