Vetju, Iron Queen

Often regarded as Zkaii’s polar opposite, Vetju’tenx’sil is the oldest Kl’axian Vaurca within known space. Known for her great pragmatism, her brood do not busy themselves with the expansion of the Hive’s colonies. Instead, her brood recycles and melts down parts of the Hiveship as well as maintaining the technology that all K’lax enjoy. It was Vetju who plotted the great Hiveship Kloz’xera to its final resting place. Much as they did when they entered the system, Vetju used Tret’s environment to land the gargantuan craft on the ground.

The Kloz’xera impacted the northern pole of Tret, obliterating its ice cap and cushioning the impact of the monolithic vessel. It is from here that she makes her home. Within the bowels of the earth and the ship, billions of tons of materials and technology are melted down into lakes of molten metal heated by the miles-long dismembered engines of the great Hiveship, which burn still at the center of a sea of ice, ignited with residual heat and flame from two thousand years of travel.

Her Realm
Her Virtual Reality is one of a grand design, dubbed Klo’vtak, which translates roughly into ‘Foundry’. Here, immaculately intricate constructions coat a massive underground complex. Within the walls are countless dwellings, with the light from each illuminating the cavern in a dull green. K’lax here work tirelessly to achieve engineering miracles and recreate them in reality.

From the walls extend pylons of stone and metal, all leading to a floating central complex, a virtual recreation of the famous K’laxian forges, capable of producing the high-quality ingots that are regarded as the hallmark of master K’laxian engineering, with the hulls of the hiveships themselves made from alloys derived from the materials. K’lax that dwell or train here have endless resources to pursue any engineering topic at hand. The joy of work is instilled into their very being even before they are born.

Her Brood
Although at first the work of Vetju’s brood might seem almost identical to that performed by that of Zkaii’s, they cover different niches. Vetju is mostly known for her processing of raw materials, blueprinting designs and mining, with her brood’s Workers and Warriors remarked as some of the most efficient in their work area. This has also caught the interest of Hephaestus Industries, and while Vetju herself might be skeptical of megacorporations, she has seen the benefits of the relationship blossoming in the short-to-medium term.

Vetju has taken advantage of the new Bulwark caste mostly inside of her Realm, where they can operate the Forgery at better rates than before. However, she also sees the benefit in dangerous works, particularly those exposed to high pressures and radiation, due to their thick carapaces.

“In all things, do not waste potential” is the creed of Vetju’tenx’sil’s brood. The division is usually Unbound focusing on recreating and maintaining technology, while the Bound are tasked to dismantle and recycle the components.

Perhaps more than any other brood of K’lax, Vetju’s spawn tend to be distrustful of outsiders, reflecting their Queen’s hatred of the Zo’ra, nursed by the ages long wounds she suffered at their hands during their Hive’s first conflict. Her wounds led Vetju’tenx’sil to lose some of her lower body, and parts of it were replaced with inferior mechanical duplicates, which in turn led her to be defensive at times in matters involving outsiders. This was shown most recently by being the only dissenting queen from their agreement with the Unathi Hegemony. To Vetju, the K’lax cannot achieve their full potential under the heel of other powers.

Xakat’kl’atan
Of her brood there are two masters that might be the most well-known Xakat’kl’atan across all Hives, if only because of their legendary status.

Ka’Akaix’Yix K’lax
Ka’Akaix’Yix K’lax has been known throughout all Hives and broods, unanimously, as the best engineer of the entire Vaurca species. Its kinetic sense, spatial awareness, even down to its imagination, deftness and sleight of hand combine into an incredibly smart and skilled Worker. While Bound could perhaps do a job faster, simpler and in a more basic manner, a Bound workforce under orders from Yix could design, and have designed, some of the greatest current structures and technologies in the modern Vaurca era.

Perhaps its greatest achievement would be the design of the Hiveship used since the Great Evacuation. While its competitor, Cimm, designed Hiveships almost as ten times bigger, the efficient and practical design that Yix ultimately proposed, even if still massive, proved to be effective and doable. If another design were to be chosen in lieu, perhaps Vaurcae would have never arrived at the Orion Spur in the first place.

The story of Yix’s discovery is famous throughout the Hives and is told to young borne within VR to alight the first fires of their curiosity upon birthing. It recounts how Yix came upon its discovery as they first looked into the open sky of Sedantis’ surface. In the starfields above Yix, it saw emptiness, a vast gulf of darkness between the pinpricks of light. And as it looked, it dawned upon Yix that this dark gulf existed in spaces between all things, that space itself is vaster than even what matter itself is used to. It was Yix’s studies of the Sedantis night sky that may have proven fundamental for the Hiveship design.

Za’Akaix’Paa K’lax
Paa is often regarded as a mythological figure, and while it remains mostly idle as of lately, not too long ago it was still active as one of the best designers. Known for its use of materials and revolutionizing the ingot process with the K’laxian forges, Paa is also regarded as the inventor of the mechanical modified mandibles, as well as a plethora of melee weaponry that was used up until the Great Hive War. While it is true that sleeker, better designs have come after, it was the work of Paa that laid the ground for future advancements in technology.

Paa ultimately became stressed because after millenia it had lost its creativity and its work had become stale. Paa had also been greatly affected by the material crisis Vaurcae had faced since their Exodus, and while it had at first shown interest in using local resources from the planets colonized ever since, it ultimately gave up and has remained mostly silent. It is known to have commented, regarding the Kloz’xera recycling, that it was ultimately necessary for K’lax, and the Vaurca race as a whole, to achieve their former glory.

Weavemakers and Notable Subrealms
Queen Vetju's Weavemakers are appointed through request and have no stipulations outside of being in socially good standing. The majority of these Weavemakers and their subrealms focus on practical, hands-on activities, reflecting the pragmatic views of the brood as a whole.

Iron Forge
Iron Forge, or Ira'Kan, is part competition, part design-festival created during the K'lax Innovation by Ka'Akaix'Eal K'lax. Participants are given engineering designs and race to not just complete, but improve the existing blueprints, with the finished result then being examined by Tas, who are handpicked by Vetju to act as arbitrators. The Breeder Council selects a single victor.

Oftentimes, the winning design will have noticeably improved on the original enough that it will be incorporated into the K'lax archives, thus ensuring the technology of the brood does not stagnate. Whilst the most memorable of these tournaments tends to be the ones where essential structures are improved, such as when Ka'Akaix'Rie K'lax discovered how to better use phoron focusing crystals in existing all-factory designs increasing their output, victories happen every day over mundane items, like a Worker designing more efficient mandible cleaning system or a better climate sensitive drink-storage system.

Terrestrial fabricator
Terrestrial fabricator, otherwise known as Fenq'Yipel, is an experience designed by Ka'Akaix'Quel K'lax, a former student of Ka’Akaix’Yix K'lax itself. In the experience, participants are given tools and a barren planet, which they are asked to turn into an industrial paradise with which to expand further beyond. Some players have designed extremely elaborate automated factories stretching across systems with intricate planetary supply lines.

Quel originally hoped that some of the ideas put forth in the subrealm would be usable on Tret. However, this has yet to bear fruit in any serious capacity, which many suspect is simply due to how recent the K'lax arrival to the planet is, whilst some others hypothesise that the export agreement with Hephaestus over the new K'lax home is to blame and is stunting growth.

Recent Events
Vetju’s relationship with her sister, Zkaii, has been turbulent at best. Often regarded as a rebel by the new High Queen, Vetju believes her position as her mother’s heir was stolen by Zkaii’xay’yil, who she regards as ‘clueless’ and even ‘sleepy’ herself, as a reference to what her brood is known for. Vetju’s opposition to cooperate with Izweski, as well as her rejection of inter-hive diplomacy, make her tough to approach.