The Ceraphax

Ceraphax
✅ Confirmed lore accurate ✅ Ready for presentation
Ceraphax - SARah fax - an arthropod species found on the desert continent phanxnoccrim, the Ceraphax have 6 appendages, antennae, mandibles, carapaces, and other insectoid features.
Antlike insectoids that live in massive hives built above and below ground. Most Ceraphax are drones with telepathically subsumed will, functioning as an extension of the Queen. However there are still plenty of sentient and sapient Ceraphax that follow their own will. Most of these still loyally serve the Queen, but individual Ceraphax can still be found throughout Phanxnoccrim, and occasionally on other continents as well.
These big bugs stand on their hind legs, with 4 strong and dexterous arms. They have naturally occurring armor strong enough to rival steel. Their height varies dramatically and can range anywhere from 3-10 FT.
The Ceraphax mostly resemble large ants. The carapace is insulated against heat, and their innards are able to function at low temperatures. However freezing will make the shell brittle, which can cause cracking and expose one's innards.
Ceraphax make potent casters, as their 4 hands allow them to cast quickly, as well as certain spells that would normally take two casters.
Ceraphax can dual wield, quadruple wield, or go for martial arts. Archery is not favored by these creatures, as it never developed in their culture. They instead rely on magics and elementalism for ranged. Mostly earth elementalism, as it is used by the hive to maintain and grow it's infrastructure. Ceraphax do not favor simple armor. Ceraphax carapaces are very tough already, and armor is heavy, hindering travel is not good for desert life. Basic coverings, if any, are worn by Ceraphax. Some have acquired magical objects that provide protection, and must be worn.
Ceraphax can become just as skilled and powerful as the other races, but their innate SoulForce is very low, as the Queen must expend her own SoulForce to grant it to those she spawns. While she can recover SoulForce rapidly, powerful Ceraphax are usually rare, and members of higher functions, like Queen's guard or other positions that require large amounts of SoulForce to be effective are difficult to create.
Ceraphax do not sleep, but still need to rest
=====
Culmination
The new Ceraphax high queen fancies herself a deity, and wants to join the ranks of those that have spawned a sentient race. She therefore has begun birthing Ceraphax individuals that have complete mental autonomy. The result was far more successful than expected. The ability to entrust complicated tasks to other autonomous individuals has freed much of the mental and physical strain required to birth and maintain an entire hive with dozens of different types of drones. She is the only queen to succeed at something like this in recorded history. This had given her an edge over the other hives, and she succeeded in uniting the hives into the Culmination under a single queen. The God Queen. HER

the Queen Mother (god queen)

The Ceraphax Queen who swallowed the political power of an entire continent, she ended a conflict that threatened to wipe out several species. She birthed the drones that built The Culmination, and considers herself to be the God Queen of her kind. She is so old that no living Ceraphax remembers a time before her. She has seen dozens of queens come and go, she has outlived several catastrophies, and brought her race back from the brink of annihilation, Twice. All these things has brought her to a single conclusion : she is now a deity. The God Queen. After all, she creates, she destroys, she sees beyond the now, and has powers beyond measure. What makes her different than any other deity?
Ceraphax hives are scattered throughout Hix, a large geographical area in phanxnoccrim
Currently the largest Ceraphax hive is a complex interconnection of many other hives that have grown into each other. The high queen named it "The Culmination" and it spans a little over 8600 square miles. A city of cities, the Culmination has a population of trillions and is the largest and most populated mortal establishment to currently exist.
An alliance between several Ceraphax Queens, the Culmination consists of the biggest and most powerful hives in Phanxnoccrim, and are linked by intricate, well maintained tunnels designed to handle a sizable throughput, much like roads and highways. The tunnels are lined with a tamed fungus that is highly conductive, which allows for rapid dissemination of information between the hives, essentially creating a single superhive complex. Most of this complex is underground and connects the major hives, however surface infrastructure does exist, and is designed to be more comfortable to other mortal races.
Once, many Ceraphax hives were all competing for territory and resources. Spawning capabilities gave a lower priority to worker drones, and Warrior drones were a common sight, The infrastructure was difficult to maintain and improve with small numbers of workers, but lack of warriors during the war could mean destruction of the hive anyway.
A few hundred cycles ago, one of the Ceraphax Queens designed a new breed of Ceraphax, ones that are not drones, but autonomous individuals capable of thinking, feeling, and acting on their own, as themselves. She noticed that in other species, different views around a subject will result in greater quality and quantity of solutions. This occasionally results in errant individuals, as does free thought in any species, but the ability to see the war from so many points of view gave her the advantage, and she quickly subjugated the other major Ceraphax Queens into a union that would later become the foundations of a prosperous empire.
The Culmination has not experienced any significant conflict in the last few centuries. The Queens all once fought over territory and resources, but at some point they came together to ensure territory and resources for all Ceraphax. The Queens found their "special resources" compatible in new, exciting ways. The plan was exceptionally efficient at creating a formidable force that few would dare oppose on any significant level.
Since then, Most of the breeding capabilities go to the maintenance and improvement of the hives. Progress is steady and efficient, the Queens and autonomous individuals have found common purpose in unity, survival, and advancement. The empire is stable, and conflict has been rare for at least a couple centuries.
Like most entities sensitive to fluctuations in energy networks, the Queens have something gnawing at them. A strange uneasiness they can't quite "put their finger on".
======
Paragons
A relatively new order founded by the demigod Thelmra, the Paragons exist to serve as the caretakers and protectors of reality. Albus has infused them with powerful holy and willpower based abilities. The Paragons are mostly Ceraphax, with a few Mon'z as well as 2 of the extremely few humans left in the mortal realms.
Paragons are very organized and follow a military hierarchy. The training they receive gives them access and control over Holy energies, they are able to utilize finicky Dyvenyne HeavyMetals, Wich are said to be fragments of Albus original body, and have strange properties that only react to Holy energy. The training they receive also includes extensive martial arts training.
In current timeline, the order has been devastated and almost annihilated. The only two to remain must rebuild the order basically from scratch. Supreme Protector Kalkorden protects High priestess Chertka, a Ceraphax female and future mother of the new order.
====
Ceraphax heritage traits
Independent Ceraphax sometimes have a heritage trait assigned to them by the queen during gestation. Unlike other species with heritage traits, the Ceraphax traits are not unique or bound by bloodline. The queen selects from a pre-existing stock of genes, and produces various sized batches with that specific trait.
=======