Vedhra, Princess of Configurations

Seeing the stark technological disadvantage of the Hives over the Lii’dra, Ta’Akaix’Vedhra’rept’ylanze was born with a singular goal in mind: preparation for war with them. There are various ways the brood goes about this, one of which being a large-scale attempt to be biologically superior to Lii’dra specimens. This has caused the brood to be a particular advocate within the K’lax for biological manipulation and augmentation. Genetics tampering is also not unheard of, but generally less commonly looked into. Vedhra takes time to inspect the tools and weapons of other cultures in an attempt to create a force capable of dealing with whatever the Lii’dra can throw at them.

Vedhra herself has become fascinated with Unathite culture, believing they may be instrumental for the eventual war. While she is critical of the Sk’akh perspective regarding augmentation, and has been known to cause polemics inside the Hegemony because of this matter, she still wishes to remain on good terms with the broader population, at much her expense. It is said that an embassy of her brood travels around Moghes, meeting with the people and, mostly, with the Warriors, trying to understand them as a first-hand experience. These wanderers then inform Vedhra about how concepts such as Unathi honor work in real life, and ponder about the parallels that can be drawn on Vaurcesian culture with those.

Her Realm
Her Virtual Reality consists mainly of grand laboratories and forges dedicated to studying and understanding the weapons and techniques of other cultures. As well as things like medicine, tools, architecture, and genetics. Workers and Warriors alike forge different weapons together and test them endlessly against simulated Lii’dra opponents in scenarios that are almost never the same thing twice. There are also other parts of her VR dedicated to storing records of previous battles of many different cultures for the purpose of evaluating the strategies involved, making Vedhra’s brood produce some of the better tacticians of the K’lax.

Her Brood
Her Warriors are generally more comfortable with the weapons of other cultures, especially those of Unathi origin. Perhaps more than any other brood, they have accepted long-range innovations the best, and have shown fondness to the different types of grenades used in human warfare.

The Worker caste of Vedhra’s brood is generally used as weapon-smiths, biomechanical engineers, and scientists. The weapon-smiths take pieces of various other culture’s weapons and meld them together, to effectively make the differences between them moot. The engineers and scientists try to meld together parts of other species in an effort to make a superior organism, as well as manufacturing new augments to be applied to both Unbound and Bound.

Bulwarks of Vedhra work alongside Workers in the same fields, as she has found them useful especially for heavy machinery that normal Workers may not be able to operate properly. Their Shapers have also helped peak interest from other broods and species about this peculiar religion.

Vedhra’s brood tends to be the most heavily augmented of the K’lax, which is sometimes much to the distaste of the Hegemony, though this does allow for more efficiency and reliability. This also makes Vedhra’s brood one of the most costly broods to maintain efficiently. Augments range from simple prosthetics to eye augments, and even extra limbs mounted with weapons. The Unbound, although still significantly less augmented than the Bound, usually have more augments than those of other broods. They tend to be internal, such as artificial organs.

Part of these developments also includes ironing out weaknesses with current technology. Attempts have been made to EMP-shield the neural socket present in all Vaurcae. These attempts thus far have failed, as altering something so embedded in the brain is very difficult to do without making sacrifices. Other attempts to remove weakness include refining internal prosthetics that have proven unreliable in the past, as well as making said prosthetics less clunky and interfering with the body.

Her brood is so dedicated to uniting species and giving them purpose in the war against Lii’dra that they have revived the ancient religion known as Preimminence. This serves to explain the role of everyone in the fight against Lii’dra as well as the roles all must play to ultimately create the perfect fighting force. Most of her brood follows Preimminence, with an official endorsement of religion only parallel to that of Zkaii’s brood. Both her Warriors and Workers are selected to receive training as Shapers, though some Preimminence followers of other Hives see this as nothing but a ploy to participate in the war Vedhra is prepared for.

Xakat’kl’atan
Being the youngest of her Hive, she has felt the need to quickly appoint masters for her brood. The results have been nothing but controversial.

Ka’Akaix’Vye K’lax
Also known as ‘The Tinkerer’, Vye is known for reverse engineering Lii’dra technology, as if to study it better. The choice of it as a Xakat’kl’atan has been controversial, however, because to some this may be interpreted as a predilection to Lii’dra designs. Vye itself instead refutes these claims by saying that, rather, it understands the technological advancements and admires them for what they are, but that its loyalties remain to Vedhra and that the Lii’dra will have to be destroyed eventually. The Princess of Configurations does not doubt this, and the two are known to be close friends.

Za’Akaix’Zumok K’lax
Despite Zumok’s impressive training and vast knowledge in foreign weaponry, perhaps it is best known for opposing the Hegemony, believing instead that Vedhra, and the K’lax as a whole, should instead seek allies with the Aut’akh. While Zumok admires the military strength of Izweski, it is infamously known for saying that without augmentations, the Kataphracts are nothing. Queen Vedhra refuses to give a comment on these opinions, saying that while Zumok has ‘big mandibles’, without its knowledge the brood as a whole would not be as prepared as it is.

Weavemakers and Notable Subrealms
Queen Vedhra personally selects her Weavemakers from amongst the most zealous and dedicated members of her brood. Almost all of the realms are geared towards the Lii'dra in some way, whether that be fighting them or fostering the skill to do so.

Incursion
Incursion, or Retek as it is known, was designed by Za'Akaix'Yek K'lax shortly after the Lii’dra invasion of Elyra, although similar designs have existed in the past. In Incursion, which is a part campaign, part wargame, teams of participants have to respond to a sudden and overwhelming Lii'dra invasion of the Spur, effectively coordinating the response and attempting (not always successfully) to beat them back. It uses the most accurate knowledge of Lii'dra tactics accessible to create seemingly plausible situations and is constantly updated to be one of the most accurate wargames possible, with details simulated to the microscopic level with high accuracy.

Queen Vedhra seems to hope that by constantly training her Warriors and tacticians on this simulation, they will be capable of responding to any Lii'dra threat when they inevitably return, regardless of what the invasion's goals may be. It was an ingenious success in this realm, through an application of unusual tactics, that saw Za’Akaix’Xitac K’lax selected first as admiral of the Hegemony's 3rd fleet and Cataclysm-Class Super-Dreadnought.

Vision
Vision, commonly known as Kreapa, is the brainchild of Queen Vedhra herself, who ordered its creation by one Ka'Akaix'Rein K'lax not long after her inauguration. A deceptively simple concept, Vision is a realm where workers are given a goal and then let loose with a limited selection of tools and objects to accomplish it. These tasks are often extremely outlandish and difficult, such as using household goods to create a spectroscope, but never impossible and are designed to spark creativity amongst her brood, which in turn translates into better science. Stories are told amongst the brood that Ka'Akaix'Reai K'lax, who is notable for having invented several more efficient variations of traditional augmentations, developed its ideas from Vision. However, Reinhas never confirmed nor denied this.

Recent Events
Because of the increasing resources required for augmentation, Vedhra is known to have offered her services to a variety of groups, such as Nanotrasen and Hephaestus, having an important outpost of her brood in Biesel space.

Her efforts to become relevant in Hegemony space are mixed, with not much success because of her fixation on augmentations. To even have her Warriors allowed as Kataphracts, she has had to sacrifice some of her innovations to have them enlisted, with nothing more but a neural socket and a phoron tank installed. While she understands the need to do so, this has not stopped her from considering this a waste of potential.