Hive Palus
Hive Palus is basically wiped out. Their hive destroyed, their culture eradicated and now their population lives in the slums of major cities in the Free States. Sometime four hundred and seventy years ago a storm hit the coast near the Hagfish hive, about forty percent of the population getting washed out. By the time the storm had passed they had been washed far away from Equestria. Most likely they slept on ship wreckage before being caught in currents that went passed the Equestrian south coast, ending up in the west seas. From there the group was split by a second storm dragging them away from Equestria and both ended up in what is now known as the Free States. One landed on the southwest shore, the other the northwest shore. The north group heading into the mainland believing they landed back in Equestria and went looking for help. The south group on the other hand looked at the weird flora and fauna realizing they had ended up in a new land,settling down and becoming Palus. The land they ended up in was miles of bog and swampland making life just as difficult for them as it did for the ponies that would arrive latter. Many changelings lost their lives to exotic diseases even their naturally resistance could not keep out but over time they adapted, evolving to better suit their surroundings. They now have a muddy green shell and dark grey eyes keeping their great swimming ability and gills for moving quick and silently through swamp water. They formed a pro-tribal society keeping basic technology, living in swamp reed long houses, their villages are usually surrounded by a wooden wall to offer some protection against the monsters outside. Their religion was based more on their past then their land or future, believing the land they came from was a paradise and someday their fellows would return to bring them back. This most likely came from hopeful changelings who’s faith was warped by Chinese whispers.
Culture wise they like to spread out but the danger of collecting love keeps the population of each individual village small. They’re not as superstitious as one would think using the swampy land to their advantage, often one changeling would attract large predators before having a dozen changelings launch themselves out of the water digging into their prey before dragging them under the still water sucking every ounce of love out leaving behind a shriveled corpse. As a society they formed a loose nation focused around the queen, who would be the chief of the largest tribe. Instead of forming a council tribes in need come straight to the queen, who if unable to help using her own tribe will send messages to other tribes to form a temporary union to deal with the problem. Without the queen being the center of every tribe and having her direct power limited resulted in the queen being much more humbled, wiser and more motherly but also far less aggressive and strong. They use the swamps to isolate themselves from the diamond dogs and Hive Firefly leaving them free of conflict which gave their population a hopeful attitude.
About two hundred and fifty years ago pony explorers discovered the coast and soon a Celestia backed settler wave hit. Villages were founded up and down the east coast but most didn’t last long. Exotic disease, rampaging diamond dogs and becoming the new snack food for the lands predators quickly emptied the settlements either attempting to return home or ending up in unmarked graves. The swamp villages, at first, seemed like they were going to be the first lot to fall especially as the swamp made disease and gang green especially bad but it also did protect them from outside predators, plus they soon came into contact with the hive. Now Hive Palus wasn’t populated by idiots, despite coming from another land and being shaped like themselves they did figure out that these were not their ancestors coming to take them to paradise, In fact they believed they came from a different land altogether. They did realize that they needed help surviving and considering their tribes were very isolated it was an opportunity to start trading, maybe receive information that could help discover their homeland. The ponies were skeptical at first but soon accepted their help, having their injuries and sickness treated, given safe plant life to eat and assisted in draining areas of land to build their cities on. The ponies returned the favor by gifting them with small trinkets and signed a trade agreement. This wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows however as the ponies soon discovered the changeling’s faith and decided to keep their knowledge of both Equestria and other changelings to a minimum in order to keep the hive in the dark and willing to work with them. The last thing they wanted was for their savors to pack up and leave. They also refused to trade any weapons or advance technologies to them. Carts, furs and food were ok, armor, train parts and potions were a big nono.
As the cities grew in size and big stone walls were erected to protect the citizens from the outside world engagements with Palus was kept to a minimum. Mostly traders and adventurers did business, dirt roads often being directed through their villages to act as rest stops while also boosting trade. The end to all this actually occurred for three reasons. First, and largest, came from the discovery of hive Firefly and the failed invasion by the Griffin Empire. The zealous war between the ponies and Firefly lead to mistrust of Palus mainly because they were the same race and the ponies felt that Palus might have known about Firefly. The influx of abandoned Griffins lead to the Unity Act but more on that in a second.
Second was the sudden demand to obtain pony weapons. A tribe came under attack from tribal diamond dogs who had wondered into the swamp and three dozen warriors fell to the beasts before only half a dozen patrolling outer city guards put an end to the fighting quickly. The fact that six ponies could end a fight that cost thirty six warriors made many changelings suddenly relies how backwards they were, starting to request pony weapons be open for trade. This just boosted mistrust for their hive with the final straw being the uprising of Jacob. A changeling warrior who managed to get a merchant talking, he found out about the lies and information being withheld to Palus. After gathering a number of tribes under his banner he started attacking merchants and guards demanding the cities tell them the truth about the land they came from. This all lead to their inclusion in the Unity Act. Basically after the failed Griffin Empire invasion over two thousand Griffins were left behind. The answer to this issue was the new Unity Act. Despite Celestia hating the idea and ordering the plan to be scrapped, it was the perfect way to deal with most of their problems. Basically the Unity Act, which ironically did not involve uniting the cities in any way, gave citizenship to the changelings and griffins. The cost however was to make them second class citizens. They would be put in the most run down areas, required to do hard labor and they would be required to move into the cities so the guards can keep an eye on them. The idea being that this would make the changelings useful while removing their will to fight, the new population would produce a larger army to fight back against Firefly and these new citizens would work the jobs most ponies hated. It was popular with the ponies as the previously pour were moved into the lavish inner city and received help in getting higher paying jobs as guards, merchants and bankers.
As you can guess it wasn’t as popular with everyone else as griffins, changelings and later on diamond dogs would be forced off whatever little square of land they managed to live on and forced into their new homes. There was heavy resistance with many tribes but fighting stopped when the queen reluctantly agreed to be moved into town. As for the effects of the Unity Act ponies would easily say it was a success! It didn’t take long for griffins and changelings to get jobs in industry and food production, lack of financial support forced many of their new citizens into the army and resistance crumbled. After all, it’s hard to organize a revolution when you need to work twenty hours a day to put food on the table. The changeling culture met its end when most of them found out about Hagfish and Equestria as it’s somewhat difficult to keep the secret when changelings became exposed to tens of thousands as opposed to the odd merchant or adventurer. While they were some grumbling most changelings were just too tired of the recent events to make a big deal of it. Most of their culture had been based around this belief but how do you keep a culture based on an undisputed lie alive? Add the fact they were banned from transforming and their previous way of life died pretty quickly. They did adapt a new family based culture, often shoved into city blocks together they began taking care of each other and soon previous chieftains became community leaders. Despite how the cities might treat them it is a known fact not to mess with a changeling less the whole community comes after you.
Over time many small rebellions did occur. An inner city farm came to a standstill in New Canterlot when its changeling workers had a strike and in many cities small gang like groups started attacking guards forcing each cities inner army to force a crackdown. Even worse their outer armies were very reluctant to fight or even force their new laws on changelings as many generals showed affection towards their soldiers. It was often caused by respect, after all they were allowed to change on the battlefield and having men who could change between an archer, meat shield, brawler and siege specialist at a moment’s notice was a massive boom to any commander. This climaxed when a riot erupted in Mareville when a small strike outside a local shop got put down by members of the inner army, which started a brawl that escalated. A mayor Thunder Strike came up with a very clever way to prevent his city from burning down, flat out told people the changelings have won and that the city council had surrendered and agreed to their terms. He would improve working conditions by introducing a minimum wage and better working hours. This was changed from getting basically nothing to getting pocket change and from twenty hours to fifteen but the fact that they had supposedly won was enough for most changelings to stand down. The way most of them saw it, they had succeeded, they wanted to make changeling lives better and they did, plus they had won. The mayor said so. Those who did see through this trick demanded the changelings get equal hours and pay to ponies or they would continue to fight. The mayor offered a twelve hour working day plus Sundays off and they agreed. All but one city has copied these reforms bringing an end to changeling resistance.
Since then changeling rights have not changed at all. When all cities introduced a good citizen system, where individuals usually forced to live in the outer city and slums could move into the inner city if they perform some great feat, changelings were left out of the system meaning if you had bug eyes and holey feet you were doomed to be poor. The changeling queen would move into the New Canterlot block were she remains, forming the Ever Changing House set up like the inner city merchant houses only they do not get acknowledgment from the city council. It’s easy to sum Palus as some kind of tragedy especially running through its history but I’ve been to the Free States, I’ve walked through the slums and despite being a pony they greeted me with open arms. They answered all my questions, including personal ones about their queen and hive mind before inviting me to one of their celebrations. Often ponies in Equestria see Palus as an oppressed people but to be truthful they seem to be happy and full of life. Not only that but ponies seem to have a better opinion of changelings then many believe. The best way to describe it as how one treats a cat. Sure they don’t deserve to eat at the table, don’t deserve to take up your favorite chair, but anyone who takes advantage of a cat for their own gain is a horrible person and those who hurt cats are very sick beings. The same can be said for changelings, that they are beneath ponies but neither do ponies have a right to abuse them.
Some ponies believe that the Unity Act was the perfect, in some cases only way to achieve unity between the changeling and pony races while other believe it as a twisted form of slavery. It all depends on your own personal view. What is more important, personal freedom or safety? Should we leave native populations alone or better their lives at the cost of their culture? Do the ends justify the means? As a threat Palus is more a benefit then a risk.
Hive Firefly
When the northern group moved into the mainland they found traveling to be extremely difficult thanks to the local wild life, many members losing their lives to local fauna. Eventually they made their way to the west coast hoping to find safer lands, only to discover they have, if anything, traveled into more dangerous areas of the continent. The group shrinking faster and faster they desperately moved into one of the few places the native wildlife avoided, an area they ended up calling the Grove. The Grove was previously a huge tunnel network that had its ceiling opened up to the outside thanks to erosion, though the plant life inside the cave adapted. Many trees are damp and moldy, blocking most sunlight and keeping the area mostly in the dark. Why animals avoided the area was because of the flora.
The Grove is covered in huge patches of Savior mushrooms, named such by Firefly as they considered the plant their salvation. Most toxic mushrooms only poison when digested but Savior released toxic spores constantly. Moving into the area protected them from animals while their resistance to poison protected them somewhat from the spores, though many changelings died from these deadly poisons before they adapted to have a full immunity. Firefly changelings have a normal dark grey coat with lime green eyes and wings, losing their gills and having a shorter horn with a far smaller magic pool. Something that stands out is their lack of tail, replaced by a rather large bulb that constantly glows a lime green. This was an adaption to the constant darkness of the grove, the bulb acting as a light to guide the changeling though the black although the odd ray of light often pieces through the tree tops makes developing night vision a bad idea considering said rays could blind anyone who looks at them with such sensitive vision.
One of the things Palus and Firefly have in common are faiths spun around tales from their ancestors. The exception was Palus forefathers told their children about the wonders of the homeland. Firefly was based on suspicious and aggressive tales about ponies and Equestria. Originally these stories were to warn their children in case they ever ran into some ponies. Over time and with many Chinese whispers these changelings began to believe ponies to be some kind of demonic entity, destined to burn their homes, poison the water and rape the women. This state of mind lead to their creation of a military society, otherwise avoidable considering the land protected their homes from any risk which unfortunately resulted in their discovery by pony explorers to be quite bloody with only two members escaping, Firefly spies followed them back to the Free States. Firefly amassed an army that caused havoc at the battle of Outpost Moonlight destroying both it and defeating an outer city army at the battle of Vumire Swamp. The changelings were eventually defeated when they tried besieging New Canterlot, the largest of the city states though they were close to victory until Firefly’s flanks were attacked by a combined force of Palus changelings and an inner city army from Wingspan.
Since then Firefly has constantly attacked Free Sate territory, butchering anyone they came across considering the other races who live within to be working with demons. Technology wise they are certainly not on the level of ponies but are far from tribal like Palus. The cave system that eventually developed into their homes was formed from a dead volcano giving the occupants ample supply of obsidian which they mine to produce their weapons such as spears, arrows and Macuahuitls. Originally Firefly used simple hide shields and armor for protection but after diamond dog tribes formed into guilds thanks to the introduction of Equestrian inventions and ideals, iron has become available to the hive, being far more flexible and malleable then obsidian their armors now have a layer of the metal under a second layer hide and a third layer of moss or mushroom cap which offers protection against fire arrows and basic flame spells. We don’t know much about their culture, mainly because they kill anyone not native to the continent but considering they are at constant war with the Free States we know a lot about their military organization.
Most changeling armies are very similar to pony ones, with light, heavy and ranged infantry along with flying troops to act as support. Firefly however has a huge range of different troop choices all based on a rather unusual requirement for service. Instead of training each individual soldier, recruits are expected to train before signing up. Once they have registered they are given a rite of passage, ordered to bring back a kill from outside the Grove. This does make producing new soldier inconsistent but considering their armies have to march from the West coast all the way to the East you can understand why they need to know how these soldiers would react to the dangerous outside, especially since on average twenty percent of these forces often die on the journey to the Free Sates instead of actually fighting.
What creature they skin notes both their rank and position which may seem short sited but in order to kill the larger creatures one must be sly, ungodly cunning and stealthy, all good attributes of a military officer plus wearing the skin over their shoulders help denote position in the middle of combat. As a unified force troops troop types are considered options as opposed to fulfilling set rolls. A general does not see his troops as parts of a machine but as tools to achieve overarching plans. While this puts fair fights in favor of the Free States it means most generals consider each move they make as opposed to just throwing troops at a wall and hope for the best. Fighting in the environment is obviously where the changelings are at their best but Firefly suffers when performing sieges mainly because their options are limited, more often than not they only have ladders and tree logs to act as siege equipment.
The lowest rank in the army consists of basic infantry, lightly equipped with short iron armor, obsidian spears and basic iron weapons including hatches, picks and hand maces. They make up the bulk of the army normally stations from the second row back when put into formation, usually trusting their numbers will win the day in open conflict. Compared to pony infantry they tend to be lightly armored using patches of hide armor laced with a thin sheet of iron but they are quite the match in open combat, able to bounce around and dodge very easily. They also makes excellent scouts, skirmishers and guerrilla fighters often using stealth techniques often seen with griffin snipers, making them the masters of ambush. Infantry hunt species of large lizard which the ponies called Skinks, pony sized reptiles that have a light aqua coloring. Other than that they basically look like shorten garden Skinks from Equestria however these ones are very territorial, violent and venomous. Their bite can numb a pony for weeks and it’s often used to slow their opposites, making them an easier target. Why so many changelings choose this to be their kill is really due to their massive population. They're simply easy to find.
The leg up from that are the archers. Archers are equipped the same armor as the infantry making them light but still more armored then other ranged units. They are high in number usually armed with a short bow, a quiver of arrows and an iron hand weapon usually being positioned right behind the infantry. Unlike other ranged units who are positioned as far back as possible Firefly archers are usually positioned right next to the battle allowing their cheap and easy to produced bows to achieve maximum effectiveness. This often forces them into the fray but their armor and weapons means that they are useful in a pinch even if engaged in melee. The Javelin Frog is the prey of choice this time, a large dog sized amphibian that fires an acidic glob at short distance. They're also very common but more dangerous than Skinks and as such get a few less hunters.
From this point on we get into the exotic soldiers. Bullworks are changelings permitted to take a different form in combat, in this case a huge, oversized humanoid brute with thick natural armor replacing any changeling made one. They are more often than not equipped with oversized, square obsidian shields about the size of a cart which they form together to make a wall at the front of Firefly formations. In their free hand often they carrying hollowed out obsidian ball with a handle in the center making it a sort of weaponized boxing glove to pummel and smash anything aside. Their issue is there’s not as many of them as Firefly would like, meaning they are unable to provide cover from the whole army. They're best used to open up or holding choke points such as gates and bridges or being used as mobile cover during sieges allowing groups of infantry to get right up to the walls without receiving any losses. The hunted this time are giant grazing animals called Berines who are four legged mammals more in common with a yak then the other more exotic creature of the land. They spend most of their time grazing although being the size of a cottage, covered in a thick layer of fur and their extra territorial nature makes them very dangerous. They keep to the grasslands to the north meaning any hunters have to travel a lot farther then their comrades for even the opportunity to hunt.
Longshots are next. Longshots are given the right to transform into bipedal insect like forms usually comprising of four long but strong limbs each ending in a three talon hands shaped like an eagles foot. They use these limbs to scale trees, towers and even stone walls in record time before hanging from branches often upside down by a single leg. Their weapon of choice comprise of a long bow, easily three times the size of a short bow and used for a sort of sniper role often firing arrows normally used with ballista’s. Usually Longshots fills one of two roles. During guerilla actions and battles occurring in heavily dense foliage they often move from tree to tree, firing pin point arrows at commanders and officers to weaken the ranks. When in open battle their positioned far back from the battlefield, often too far to fire their arrows with such accuracy but they can fire volleys basically anywhere on the battlefield helping to keep the pressure on. Longshots are extremely rare and often a attacking force can contain thousands of infantry and archers, over a hundred Bullworks and only twenty five Longshots. Their hunts are actually quite unique in that instead of hunting animals, they hunt tribal diamond dogs. An area of land to the south is sectioned off and within its borders all alliances are voided. Diamond dogs and changelings often venture in to obtain a sense of glory by hunting and skinning each other, dogs gain great respect for the skin of a changeling and changelings join the Longshots once they get a dogs skin.
The final group is Devastators. These are large brutes but on a smaller scale then Bullworks, making them faster and more agile. Devastators act as a sort of mace to Bullworks shield, smashing aside other infantry and forcing their way through formations. They're bipedal and tend to be slightly larger then big diamond dogs, covered in crude iron armor along with their animal skin. For a weapon they use a war hammer spear hybrid, a weapon that uses a spear shaft, ending in a large obsidian hammer head with a large spear tip on top. The design allows them to literally smash shield walls apart while raising their weapons as spears to piece anyone who charges the group. Devastators act as the spearhead during assaults while acting as the force needed to break stalemates though they also carry large Macuahuitls as backup weapons. In loose combat they often act independently from each other, usually grouped up with infantry acting as a sort of small scale commander. In organized battles their often positioned to the right of formations to sweep around from the flank or positioned up front when pushed into narrow passages and gates. Devastators hunt queen Lazuriths, spider like insects the size of cats with the queen being as big as a couch. While slaying the queen is not that difficult, it’s getting to her though the swarm of soldiers and workers is. Usually great endurance and determination is required, perfect aspects for a line breaker.
From then on out we have officers which generally hunt a list of specialized prey that requires thought and planning in order to hunt. Finally there’s the queen which actually has a second rank to achieve. Dragon Queens are respected and feared by all species, these being queens who have proven their worth as leaders by slaying a swamp dragon. Swamp dragons are the largest and most terrifying creatures out there with the head and neck of a dragon connected to what can only be described as a scaly blob of flesh, withering tentacles attached at the base. They are often scaled brown or grey and hide in swamps pretending to be huge, tower sized boulders until large prey walks. It then ties it's prey down with it's tentacles, devouring them whole although if things go south they employ their toxic breath to melt away the flesh. To slay such a creature usually requires an army and even then often these huge forces sent out to slay such beasts are never seen or heard from again. For a queen to slay one she must be the smartest, most cunning, powerful and strong willed leader out there. They gain massive respect and almost zealous followers once they have skinned the beast, wearing the hide into battle to show off her accomplishment. People who slay a Dragon Queen take her hide as a trophy and are often gifted their own house if a pony or given citizenship if they're different species. The only person that has slain one who still lives is the Lord of Wingspan although there is much debate about whether he truly deserves it, as he slew the queen from a distance with a ballista as opposed to one on one combat like most cases.
Firefly is a serious risk to the Free States but would probably be satisfied with purging their land.