Scay, The Hidden Queen

She is the Zo’ra Lesser Queen placed upon the frozen New Gibson. Of the five Lesser Queens that have arrived at Tau Ceti, Scay’extiih’aur is the most rarely seen, even amongst other Zo’ra. Upon the Hiveship she oversaw the ship’s entire population. She was responsible for keeping the larger whole of the Hive inside complex growth projections.

Her brood largely encompasses Workers, and most of them oversee birthing procedures, as well as a complex catalog of body forms and DNA sequences. These body types range wildly from hexapod body types to the traditional biped. The DNA sequences kept include traits that the Hive has determined are useful to instill into its populations. Eggs from all remaining Lesser Queens are stored and cataloged here. No larvae or DNA is left without the practiced care of Scay’extiih’aur's gene weavers. She and her brood remain undaunted and have taken a keen interest in the various species of Tau Ceti, as a new opportunity to document and collect new DNA. Experimentation is the norm for Scay’extiih’aur's brood, with the Lesser Queen even rumored to experiment on herself.

Her Realm
Scay’extiih’aur’s Virtual Reality is perhaps one of the most detached from reality, with the entire VR construct composed of objects seen from microscopic scale. This microcosm accurately models cellular action, with giant cellular features composing most of the landscape. Vaurcae in this microscopic landscape fly freely within a soupy membrane that encompasses nearly the entire Reality. At its center, a massive cellular wall separates the VR’s Unbound Vaurca inhabitants from its simulated ones. Referred as a Takk'ta'yat, which translates roughly into basic as ‘Zoo’, the inside of this structure paradoxically models real sizes, with each separate cages of this structure clearly defined, and varying from each other. From caves to lush jungles, within each simulation is a creature from Sedantis past, or a newly encountered one from the Hive’s recent interactions.

The largest cell by far, however, would be the one dedicated to humanity. Scay’extiih’aur's best scientists pour over and experiment with the simulated humans, documenting their responses. Her brood is known to the Gibsonites for asking unusual questions, but for what purpose is known only to Scay’extiih’aur, who has obsessively taken to making the simulations as realistic as possible.

Her Brood
Upon New Gibson, Scay’extiih’aur quickly moved out of the protective domes that the rest of the New Gibsonites live in. Her brood maintains a presence within each major biodome, primarily to maintain state-sanctioned k’ois farms. Their largest biodome presence would be within the Xerxes biodome, however, which houses the New Gibson Hivenet relay. The relay is the largest of its kind, and the only one capable of transmitting out of the star system. Otherwise, they have largely moved into underground caverns, dug by the tireless Bound. The largest caverns rest just outside of the Hengsha biodome and continue to grow deeper to this day. Life for her brood here remains rough, but they have taken advantage of their environment to the fullest. Complex constructions of stone, metal, and ice make up a network of tunnels, with large heated egg chambers filled with piecemealed medical equipment patched together from equipment salvaged from Hengsha and the Hiveship.

Aptly named ‘The Hidden Queen’, much of her brood’s research is also closely guarded, with some bio forms yet to be considered public knowledge to humanity or even other Hives. Although it is speculated that all Vaurcae participate in this secrecy to some extent, perhaps the peculiarity of her brood’s interests has brought the spotlight into this behavior.

It is said that most of her Warriors, both Bound and Unbound, are used to guard the Hive’s technologies, as well as the complex catalog that has yet to reach human hands. Instead of the extravagant customs, the Warriors that work or have worked to protect the Zo’rane Safe are usually stoic and hermetic, with a loyalty pledge that wouldn’t allow them to divulge any secrets. A few of them have been purposed as scientists, but ultimately they remain as guards because of their shortage of numbers.

Workers, on the other hand, are known for their eccentric scientific pursuits, and are the definite masters in biology, with even a few notable individuals having been invited to participate in lectures and seminars in New Gibson. The commissions and research teams of Vaurcae that either work for Biesel or Tau Ceti are mostly composed of Scay Ka, and even some of the Ta public speakers are championed in the field of science divulgation. Despite this, however, it is not uncommon for humans, or even other broods, to see Scay Workers as some sort of mad scientists, often with little care for their environment and great focus in their work. Indeed, the tunnels carved in New Gibson are not as effective or fancy as the ones in Caprice, and are instead regarded as ‘functional’, despite the maze-like shape they create.

The Bulwarks of the brood are usually regarded by the Zo’ra Hive as “the original Bulwark”, since Zo’ra denies the claims of genetic theft from the C’thur Hive and instead says that they are the result of Scay’s experimentation. They are a common sight in mechanical jobs, as well as any manual labor.

Xakat’kl’atan
While many of those that have reached the rank of Xakat’kl’atan in Scay’extiith’aur’s brood are kept in Virtual Reality with little interaction among other broods, even less so with Hives, the following two are known around the Vaurcesian society.

Ka’Akaix’Nolnz Zo’ra
Ka’Akaix’Nolnz Zo’ra is known as ‘The Lifeseer’. A worker turned master after its death, it is known to calculate incredible estimates and hypotheses on DNA experiments, most of the time without a major test or experiment beforehand. Such is its skill that some describe its predictions as foresight, hence the title. It was Nolnz alone that first developed first contact protocols, ascribing a ‘significant chance’ to the likelihood of alien lifeforms.

Nolnz’s predictions were so incredibly accurate that many seek it out for help on designing new Bound forms to this day —even those from other Hives have been known to indirectly seek their help. Nolnz is an excellent scientist, and those learning from them are said to be some of the best minds in the Hive, particularly in genetics and biology.

Za’Akaix’Famat Zo’ra
Za’Akaix’Famat Zo’ra is a controversial master. When its mastership was announced it upset several other expectant applicants, not because they found its work subpar, but merely that its work solely involved blowing things up. Destruction in all its forms is the science that Famat is known for. It is said among its detractors that Famat is a little crazy, as it often compares the firestorms upon the Sedantis surface as the purest form of life, destruction personified. Through its work, it sought to be like the firestorms, and scour everything into utter oblivion. In this, it achieved much, developing antimatter, muon, and gravimetric explosives to various degrees of success. Within VR, its common to hear from those that study under it, “Those that seek to learn from Famat, search in craters.”

Weavemakers and Notable Subrealms
Queen Scay does not personally appoint Weavemakers, rather empowering her Surrogates to do so on her behalf. The method they employ for selecting them seems to be centered around fostering curiosity, and Vaurcae with scientific aptitude are almost always given the title. Her subrealms typically reflect this, with many featuring games around biology, showcasing odd creations, and other such topics.

Perfect House
Perfect House, or Kerta'pak, is a subrealm originally designed by Ka'Akaix'Rer Zo'ra. The experience has blossomed from a small display of interesting bioforms into a mesmerising and dizzyingly large complex showcasing exotic creatures. Every worker that pledges themselves to the Perfect House dedicates themselves to sculpting the most beautiful biological creations imaginable, every inch of which is hand-crafted with the utmost precision.

Displays within the realm shown to those who visit are capable of evoking extraordinary reactions ranging from awe to horror, but no matter how ghastly the sight, they still have an unusually pervasive beauty. There is symmetry even in places where it seems impossible and appearances that seem to change depending on where someone is standing. Recently, the "sculptors" of the House, as members refer to themselves, have been working overtime to draw inspiration from every corner of the Spur, the environment they now find themselves in. Some have even left Virtual Reality to gain experience working with other species, typically as scientists or surgeons. It is not unusual for Xetl Workers to consider the members of the Perfect House as rivals and are determined to dethrone them with creations of their own, to varying degrees of success so far.

Unicellular
Unicellular otherwise known as Yipkana, is a unique experience designed by Za'Akaix'Lepen Zo'ra, one of the few Warriors born of Scay to be used as scientists. In the realm, which participants most often describe as a type of campaign, players begin as a single-celled organism and evolve in a realistic (albeit simplified) manner into a fully formed creature competing over resources. The experience is considered over when and if ones species can reach a roughly industrial level of technology.

The challenge outside of survival comes in that players are encouraged to reach this stage of societal evolution as rapidly as possible for extra points, leading to an extreme diversity of techniques and tactics utilised to achieve victory with every type of biological creature being tried. Notably, successful creatures draw the attention of Lepen itself, who supposedly stores a copy of the simulation data in the Zo'rane safe for later experimentation. More than a few unique forms have drawn this attention and led to discoveries in the past.

Recent Events
Recovering from the Lii’dra attack on August 18th, 2460, The Hidden Queen was aptly named, as no threat or force was able to locate her enclave. During the attack, however, her brood was instrumental in evacuating the arcologies, having built winding ice tunnel networks that run independently of the tram-ways that link each biodome. These tunnels were used extensively by emergency personnel and fleeing civilians. After the attack, her brood enjoyed local praise for their assistance in returning New Gibson and its biodomes to functionality. Additionally, the Vaurcae who lost their lives in service to the state have been posthumously awarded. The Xerxes biodome has since been repaired and reinforced, with what little damage it suffered patched with plasteel donated from Nanotrasen and its affiliates. Social graces aside, Scay’extiih’aur has not made an official comment, and her whereabouts since the attack are unknown.