Tupii, The Surrogate Queen

Also referred as ‘The Queen-Elect’, Tupii’maxk’rekxak is an anomalous case in Vaurca History, becoming Queen of the original K’lax brood. Due to the lifespan of the Tas, the idea of Queen succession is still fairly novel, as traditionally a brood (or a Hive as a whole) would perish after the Queen does. While both the Zo’ra and K’lax have now chosen a High Queen from the lesser ones to act as a leader, for a different lesser Ta to step in and command a brood is something that Queenless Breeders would have dreamed about, but otherwise never allowed before. The revitalization of the K’lax Hive, however, required drastic measures to be taken, and new protocols enacted to ensure their survival in this modern era.

Background
Shortly before the Exodus, a great phoron fire struck the royal chambers of K’lax. Many lives were lost, mostly of Viax servants, but also those of High Queen K’lax and some of her Cephalons, which could not evacuate in time. The great loss meant a huge setback in terms of information, the afterlife and technology, but the death of a High Queen in such a tragic way, so close to leaving Sedantis, was kept in secret by her daughters to not cause commotion and to not appear weak in front of the Zo’ra.

The calcined body of K’lax was taken aboard the Kloxa’xia, alongside the lost Cephalons. Great efforts were made at first to somehow recover the burnt data from the neural sockets, but all that information was ultimately deemed lost after reconstruction was futile. Different broods approach the situation differently. Famously, Zkaii has been in full denial of the loss, whereas Vetju has been far more cynical. No official stance has been made and the death of K’lax is mostly a rumor, although with millennia it has become nothing but evident. The election of Zkaii as new High Queen has forced the Hive to somehow acknowledge the loss, though an actual recognition is highly unlikely. Normal Workers and Warriors of the K’lax Hive struggle with her shameful death too, and some believe this is what inspired the Mother Dream religion originally.

It is said that K’lax remained aboard the Kloxa’xia when C’thur took over. However, her corpse is now considered lost after the Lii’dra attacked the Hiveship.

The K’lax Brood
The position of the original K’lax brood in the Hive has been a subject of controversy since the incident, and the treatment of the direct descendants of K’lax has been deemed as unfair by the larger Vaurca community. Perhaps infamously, the K’lax brood are the firmest believers in the vassaldom and are known to be servants to the Zo’ra. Their outdated ideals, as well as the denial of the situation by the Queens, eventually pushed the K’lax brood into despair and oblivion.

Dealings with K’lax brood Tas have been difficult, as the most prominent figures are vocal about their opposition to the Hegemony, believing the Hive should reunite with the Zo’ra and re-establish in Tau Ceti instead. A few have been willing to cooperate with their current situation, however. Ta’Akaix’Tupii’maxk’rekxak K’lax, a surrogate of K’lax and one of her confidantes, decided to step in as a brood representative. The process has been an arduous one, making sure the K’lax brood is revitalized to its past days of glory. In the Court of Queen’s Council of 2463, Tupii was presented as the newest queen of the Hive. Despite her leadership of the K’lax brood, she is not to become the High Queen, but a lesser one.

While Tupii was chosen over other K’lax Breeders because of her public support of the current status quo, her true intentions for the Hive’s future as yet unknown.

The Tupii-K’lax Brood
Some have questioned, however, the preservation of the original brood’s identity. While it is common for a brood to die out after the Queen perishes, the K’lax brood has remained more or less close due to the close-knit relationship with their Tas. Opposition to Tupii has not been met so much inside the brood, despite the differing ideals of some, mostly because of hormones and brood loyalty. Those not fond of Tupii, rather, come from the other K’lax broods, though they recognize her importance in taming a group of K’lax they once considered too rebellious to remain the face of the Hive.

Queen Tupii famously opposed the title, claiming she could not fill in the shoes of Mother K’lax. However, she has now fully embraced it, just as she has surrounded herself with regal parafernalia. In Tret, her royal chambers are considered lavish, matching only the ones reserved to High Queen Zkaii.

One of her first decisions as Queen has been to rapidly increase her Warrior populations, and to accommodate them in various positions the Hegemony has requested Vaurcae for, but that the other Queens have not been able to provide. Traditionally, the numbers of K’laxian Warriors has been limited due to the Zo’ra’s desire to keep them subjugated, however Queen Tupii wishes to overturn this.

Alongside Zkaii, she has been building a new capital in Tret, for which demands of Bulwark labor have been required. Because of the status of the brood, Bulwarks of Tupii are still a rare sight, especially outside Uueoa-Esa. Her Workers, however, continue to excel in everything the K’lax brood was once known for: mainly scientific endeavors and engineering. Unlike Vedhra’s focus in war technology, the Tupii-K’lax Workers may be more interested in telescience or research as a whole, with more practical purposes.

Many of the K’lax brood turned into the Mother Dream to explain to themselves what happened to their leader. Queen Tupii is not enthusiastic of this religion, and new pupae are indoctrinated to the Modern Pantheon faith.

Her Realm
More than two millennia later, the K’lax brood has their own Realm in Virtual Reality again. While the original plan was to recreate that of Mother K’lax, Queen Tupii has instead opted for an experience that can only be described as the birth and death of the universe, with the K’lax Hive as their protagonists. The old motto, ‘The Hive that turned to the stars’, has been revitalized under her reign.

Hidden deep in the supernovas, her virtual residence is a cosmic palace that requires a long arduous pilgrimage for a regular Vaurca to visit. While Queen’s chambers are not often made public in most of the Realms, Tupii has her doors always open for those that have proven themselves by reaching it and accepting her as their new Queen. Depictions of the place are contradictory, with those claiming to know the residence having unique tellings that do not match each other in anything other than Queen Tupii knighting them as Xol’ta’kl’ox (‘Followers of the True Queen’).

Xakat’kl’atan
As a reinvigorated brood, Tupii has yet to announce her own Masters of forms. However, the legendary K’lax Xakat’kl’atan are still venerated masters by their community.

Ka’Akaix’Hhenik K’lax
While the Vaurcesian technology to travel among the stars was slower-than-light, impressive speeds were reached despite their limitations, with the barrier thought as an obstacle by only a few that were concerned with engine velocities, Hhenik included. Although Vaurcae are discouraged by galaxy powers to research and pilot faster-than-light engines on their own, Hhenik has developed an interest in Bluespace that could be seen as problematic for the Hive’s interests. Nevertheless, Hhenik claims that it has no intentions of recreating or proving Bluespace theories, despite his virtual laboratory stating otherwise.

Za’Akaix’Omynx K’lax
Omynx is one of the most firm believers of the K’lax status as vassals to the Zo’ra, and one of the most belligerent Vaurcae to ever have existed. If Omynx was not protected by the Tas that have had to learn how to deal with their new situation under Tupii’s reign, it is likely its memory would have been voided by now. As an act of respect for the Hive politics, however, Omynx publicly congratulated Tupii and accepted her as the new Queen. While Omynx has opposed Unathi rule, its military experience led some other Xakat’kl’atan of different broods to propose it as the strategist behind her plan to expand the Warrior forces —the Warrior limitation being one of the only few things Omynx would dare to criticize about the Zo’ra. It is unlikely it will be chosen, however, as Tupii has found other Masters in the brood that are willing to support her and her goals.