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// Conflict and Vermata 
// Story: The Changeling Hives by Written Word 
// by josh_the_changeling 
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Hive Conflict

On odd name originating from a phrase its members use, “We are conflict”. Before we get into the hive I have to get into Saddle Arabia history in order to fully understand what makes this hive tick.

For those of you who don’t know Saddle Arabia was founded shortly after Equestria. The majority of the pony population agreed to a united government where all were treated as equal but some ponies from each faction were not happy about as each still considered their own roll more important than the others. Instead they chose to keep heading south through the desert and into the lands which they soon named Saddle Arabia. The plan was to separate the land into three states, each to be populated by a certain breed of pony. Each state would make its own laws, taxes and support their own army. When needed a percentage of each states army would form a national army and each state would vote in a representative to the council, a group that would decide nation-wide issues. This plan came to an abrupt end when they discovered the land was already heavily populated by zebra. Zebra culture put the old ways above all ways and as such, despite having a very large population they kept to a tribal lifestyle, although they did farm to support their numbers. Zebras are very connected to the land and unlike other tribes they tend to stay put but still house themselves in basic grass and twig huts as anything more advance would act as an oven in the hot environment. Their technology is primitive but with farming boosted by another hobby of theirs, alchemy, and their diet of plants, most of a zebra’s time is spent with each other resulting in a close nit family style community. 

The reason zebra tools and resources are so backwards is quite simple. Thanks to alchemy, a healthy lifestyle and close nit family groups, advance technology is not really needed. They didn’t need to invent the train to visit distant relatives, carts and hoes to make farming easier or advance weapons and armor as hunting and warrior rites consider weapons besides the spear, shield, bows and the brumen (a wooden club with a sharpened stone tip) to be dishonorable. Their also quite conservative either worshiping the land or family spirits and the idea of a cold, massive city frightens them more then attracting their attention. In the past native races have assured their own destruction by showing interest in the new foreign power like when the Free State were formed. Lucky for the zebra they didn’t. It was probably because they started off on the wrong hoof coming into contact with the pegasus army as they crossed the dessert who, low on food and water, stole supplies from a tribe to finish the journey without rationing, thinking that the zebra’s they met were isolated. They were wrong and news spread fast creating much animosity between the two races especially when the pegasus went unpunished.

While the majority of the zebra simply acted negatively towards this new settlers some tribes to the south attacked the ponies in a number of situations, these attacks along with raids from diamond dogs, griffin pirates and the untamed wilderness resulted in the ponies, ironically enough, uniting under a single flag in order to survive. Over time they expanded and fought back until they controlled one third of Saddle Arabia. Saddle Arabia has a fully equipped, trained and experienced army comprising ponies from all walks of life, having such a force along with this land grab usually at the expense of the zebra made tensions high. From the zebra’s view these ponies were slow invaders threatening to kick them off their land if not outright wipe them out. To the pony’s zebra have always been just another threat to their nation, who are incapable of simple thought and consider tribes more akin to a pack of timber wolves then a village of cultured and open minded individuals. It is this kind of thinking that eventually led to the first war between the two.

The incident at Horseshoe Ridge, or the Counter Attack to the zebra, was an event where armed forces attempted to forcefully remove a village overseeing the ridge as a fort there could allow spotters to see distant threats to the country and report them to the capital long before they came close to their borders. Now up till then Saddle Arabia had a policy for dealing with tribes. Since they often could not simply convince them to move off their land they would make life difficult. Overfishing, driving off local wildlife, removal of what vegetation there is usually drives the tribe out. Saddle Arabia gets most of its resources from renewable forests and food from the sea deep in their territory so they can afford to do this and usually they let the land recover once they move in. The Zebra, who obtain food and resources from local sources, can’t support themselves after the change. This has not gone unnoticed however and often an expansion is brought to a standstill when a tribe gets free resources from three or four nearby tribes knowing if they don’t send help, their home will be next. 

Full on removal of a tribe was never done because it was considered a step too far. While the majority of the ponies saw zebra as inferior they still considered them living creatures that had some basic rights. More so, even back then in a time of bigotry there were ponies that supported the Zebra fighting politically for them and removing tribes by force would give them ammo, something the government at the time wanted to avoid. It’s still unclear whether the order was from the commander or the government but once they were removed they went to other tribes for help, formed a war party and the rest is history. The Unification War was a long and bloody one, the Zebra having the advantage of numbers and resources but Saddle Arabia having experience and better tactics. After six years the war was finally ended when a group of coat clad ponies introduced themselves to the population and taught both the ponies and zebra the error of their ways by showing how they weren’t so different, that it was misunderstanding that caused this conflict, that is was nobody’s fault. Part of the arrangement was that the zebra would be absorbed into the nation allowing the sharing of land as opposed to splitting it in two. Both governments would stay in power with members forming a council to deal with issues affecting them both. These mysterious ponies were celebrated, grand parties and social get together were set up to thank them…It’s just a pity their motivations were a lot darker than they thought.

Conflict originally gained love by settling disputes, usually between diamond dogs, griffin merchants and warring tribes collecting the love created from a new found form of understanding and regret, the amount formed certainly makes up for how long it takes to collect. When the war broke out they saw this as an opportunity and once both sides had made peace there was enough love to go around for decades. Now you might ask “Well isn’t this a good thing? They help stop wars, they get fed.” Well the issue is after the love eventually ran out, Conflict felt that spending most of their time on recreation as opposed to hunting was a wonderful way to live, instead of going back to their old way of collecting food they simple took new forms, went back into Saddle Arabia and cause a civil war. After a few year to let the hatred seep in and take root, they return as the same clock clad ponies respected by both sides who listen closely to everything they say, convince them to make peace once more. Out of eleven wars Saddle Arabia has had since Unification, its suspected that they are the cause of nine. 

We don’t know much about them outside one or two that were caught in Equestria attempting to expand out and cause trouble in other nations, the reason being that most researches stake out hives or use surveillance spells that allow them to watch the hive but not know its location. Hive Conflict however made theirs in a diamond dog ruin, created by a diamond dog empire (surprisingly common before the rise of Discord) and use their disguises to trick a tribe of diamond dogs to worship them, acting as guards, doing repairs and other leg work so they have no need to leave the walls of their home unless it’s to collect love. The only thing we do know from captives is that they are run by a queen who takes the form of a sort of king changeling most hours of the day and that their changeling forms are a musty sandy yellow with amber eyes. Why the queen does this is up for debate. As a threat they are a major one, recently attempting to move some member north into Equestria to make us just as war torn as Saddle Arabia. As a physical threat they don’t have many members, have no standing army and don’t even produce armor or weapons trusting on their trickery and diplomatic skills to win out. 

Hive Vermata

The Griffin Empire is a vast and powerful land filled with a high population, the most technologically advance inventions in the whole world and an army that puts Equestria’s to shame. There are however a lot of cons with living in the Griffin Empire. If you’re not a griffin you’re a second class citizen, laws are set in stone with brutal and bloody consequences, much more importantly they are often under attack from diamond dog tribes to the east or this hive, Vermata, from the north.

Vermata, named after the mountain they turned into their hive, is one of the few hives that claims to be all original, that they developed naturally over time and did not offshoot from any other hive though the chance of this, considering they have so many similar characteristics to all other changelings, is very unlikely. Scientists debate whether changelings looking similar to ponies hint that they might have been ponies to begin with, while other believe they take the shape of the species they feed on and while there’s evidence against that theory, this hive acts as evidence for. These changelings have the body shape of griffins, still keeping their dark grey shell and holed feet but also having sharp poisonous claws at the front, a holed beak and no horn. Their eyes and wings are a muddy brown with the wings oversized to better fit their larger bodies and while their bodies are shaped as a griffin their features are more in common with traditional changelings. How the queen looks is a mystery as most of our information has been collected recently and as the hive considers itself constantly at war the queen is logically far more protected and well hidden then other hives.

Vermata originally started off as a medium sized hive that fed on the Deer Confederacy before it was wiped out by the Empire, little is known about before as record keeping was kept strictly for logistics. In fact we are unsure if they were griffin like before then or if they resembled deer. Their relationship with the deer were pretty run of the mill, the changeling feeding on them in secret and while discovered changelings were imprisoned they were not executed and the deer never took the fight to the changelings. When the Empire set up shop in the ruined deer cities, rebuilding for griffin settlers, their diet soon changed to a griffin one although they did not expect the backlash they would receive. They assumed the griffins would react to the feedings as the deer would, not hang them at city gates as a warning to any other changeling foragers. Over the next hundred years tension between the two rose sharply. The population of the hive boomed as did the griffins, the more food available the more eggs would be laid but as it did so did the number of changelings getting caught which suffered horribly at the hands of the griffins. The griffins were nervous at the prospect of changelings, much more then ponies and as the empire eventually hit its eastern limits and started to come under attack from an enemy they couldn’t chased back into their own lands, removing the changelings was considered an important goal as it would free up guards and militia to be sent to the front as opposed to staying behind in order to keep an eye out for any shape shifters. The reason it took so long for either side to make a move was simply because the griffins had unclaimed land to the south to take and the changelings slowly accepted that this was just their new life now, although they certainly didn’t like it. It was during this time that hives from Equestria attempted to come over and expand in what was thought to be an untapped land but Vermata soon fought back raiding these hives and forcing them out. Only Miasma managed to set up positions there thanks to being around large griffin cities making assaults risky, dangerous and simply not worth it considering how little a risk these particular changelings are to Vermata.

About a hundred and twenty years ago during a time of peace between the dogs and the griffins, something that was bound to end eventually and they both knew it, a force was marshaled with the soul objective of removing the hive for good. The first stage of the assault went pretty well, the changeling forces offering little resistance…At least, little resistance to muskets and cannon. The area around the mountain was flat grassland so it favored the attacker though the changelings were smart enough to see a losing battle and quickly retreated back into the mountain. The second stage, the invasion of the tunnels, was a blood bath for both sides. Initially the assault was supposed to be completed over the course of a night but in the end the griffins would limp out over a month later. Similar to pony hive assaults, the changelings had the tunnels, the dark and the enclosed space to their advantages but unlike the ponies the enclosed spaces helped the attackers as well. Setting up cannon with canister shot would turn a tunnel full of changelings into a tunnel full of mushy goop not to mention the griffins could and would set up heavily defended checkpoints that took thousands of changelings to take while only held by under a hundred griffins. The battle devolved into a sort of trench warfare where the griffins could not advance anymore as the changelings had ambushes and traps set up in the thousands while the changelings couldn’t advance without being ripped in two by a volley of musket fire and cannon shot. 

In the end the griffins pulled out due to logistics. With changeling ambushes it was impossible to properly supply forward checkpoints. It was when sharpened poles were issued that they realized they had no choice but to leave. Still, the mission was considering a success as while leaving the griffins detonated the tunnels to cut off exit and starve them. Their plan almost succeeded till some workers managed to dig out a new tunnel at the top of the mountain. After this the changeling’s opinion vastly changed. It was us or them, either they wipe the griffins out or the griffins will wipe them out! Rebuilding would be difficult however as the last thing they wanted was a chance for the griffins to realize they were still kicking around and as such the Queen at the time introduced a feeding system called “village hoping”. Basically changelings would set up safe houses in small griffin villages but did not feed on the villagers themselves. Instead, workers would move across the nation from safe house to safe house right to the untamed east where they could feed on diamond dogs before passing the love along the line to whoever was stationed at the safe house, creating a long chain to deliver love to the hive without the worry of being discovered. Still, many changelings starved while it was being set up, even the queen having to go without but it was worth it. Over the next forty years the hive went on a breeding frenzy, vastly boosting their numbers while transforming chambers into smithies and armories. 

The construction of a serious of forts in their land finished preparations and around seventy years ago Vermata attempted its first invasion. You must understand that at the time it was believed that if they could force the griffins away then they would never have to worry about death or destruction ever again. This narrow goal changed how they thought over the decades. In time the goal of removing griffins gave way to beating them, beating them gave way to invading them and finally invading them became eradicating them. The assault, known as the First Grey Crusade (after a comment from a griffin soldier who described a battle as “a wave of grey” referring to the dark grey bodies of the changelings) went well for the changelings at first, mainly because there was little in the area to stand against them. Even after forces mobilized they were unprepared for the changeling’s new tactics and organization, losing the battle of Coolrun Bridge, Vintage and Fort Featherduster. Eventually the changelings had forced their way deep into griffin territory which made many on the Empire’s council nervous, resulting in a state of emergency being declared and forces from each houses personal armies were called up to serve in a joint task force. Operation Diversity was a plan to use this new army to hold up the changelings in the city of St Golbez while the national army would sweep in around from their position out east to cut the changelings off. The operation was a success but the battle went back and forth, events such as the destruction of the bridge out of town, the accidental detonation of griffin gunpowder reserves and the changeling love desertions shifted the tide of battle over and over till around two months later the changelings were finally crushed, not a single one survived. 

The griffins went on the offensive but soon found changeling lands dotted with large specially design fortresses. Each one was constructed based off plans written up by a changeling engineer known as Catheline, someone who had great ambition and had dedicated her life to making each of her forts one of a kind with their own special defense mechanisms. For example, Fort River Run had a trench that used complex machinery to flood at a moment’s notice and retract the water just as easily. Continuously washing attacking waves downriver meant that only siege weapons could be used and even then the fort could be continuously supplied from the river. Another, fort Pyro, was built into the side of a sleeping volcano and as the enemy scaled the wall magma would pour down from creases, caking the whole surface in lava preventing any assault but airborne. The griffins managed to take two of these forts but with a great loss of men and considering the casualties from before and the danger of the dogs constantly looming over them they retreated setting up the “Fly Trap” a long stretch of fortresses dedicated to defending the north from any more assaults. Since then there’s be nine Grey Crusades, most destroying one fort in the Fly Trap before using the gap in the chain to funnel troops threw. The reason they fight now is pure spite, a polar opposite to the dogs that fight simply to loot and pillage. While an alliance between them would seem logical the dogs are formed from dozens, sometimes over a hundred different group and making an alliance with anyone that isn’t a dog would be difficult, time consuming and not to mentioned most of them believe changelings can’t be trusted plus Vermata isn’t to kind on those who kill their food source for fun and shiny stuff. 

Vermata was originally an Atheist hive but adopted an ancestry system. Basically, if you were a changeling who revolutionized the hive or served it in some great way you would accent to godhood when you pass on. An example is Catheline who is now worshiped as a god of Engineering. There’s over three dozen different gods ranging from god of water and war, to partying and alcohol. Naming all of them and giving their backstory would fill up a book all on its own so we’ll skip that. Another unique aspect is that despite their new warlike culture most changelings spend their free time on art, painting, statue carving and pottery. This came about just under four hundred years ago when the now god of art, Jacob, wanted to spread the love of his passion to the rest of the hive and after a very long, difficult life he did manage to reform the hive culturally and now stands as a testimony to how one changeling can change the entire hive with nothing but hard work and a passion. Strategy wise they are very modern and well trained, using tactics similar to Equestria royal guard which makes them adaptable. Equipment wise they  were taught smithing by unaware deer and as such they have much better gear then other hives using steel swords, spears, crossbows and decorated armor with every member well equipped although this all does little to stop musket balls. Vermata does have rifles but they don’t have the factories to produce them in numbers, theirs usually stolen and given to veterans or scouts who can perform hit and run attacks. 

A constant never ending risk to the griffins but as for everyone else they pose little threat. Even if they wipe out every griffin on the planet they would just retreat to their home to live in peace once more. Does make you ask if the ends justify the means.