Chrysalis

Chapter 765

The society of the Colony was alien to me at first, as one may well expect. The differences in origin between I, a surface born sapient of the Iron Sands, and the ants who made up the insect empire (as I like to call them. They dismiss the title and refer to themselves exclusively as 'the Colony' or 'family'), are obvious at a glance, and so it was difficult for me to make heads or tails of their dealings for a goodly while.

An example would be the lack of a clear chain of command. An absurd amount of industry and labour is done inside the many nests of the Colony each and every day, but who decides which work is to be done? Who decides who does what work? Where are the decision makers and enforcers that ensure the necessary work is completed? It was to my shock that I learned that no such roles exist. Imagine a warehouse with no roster, a mine with no foreman or a ship with no captain. How could it possibly function? How would anything get done?

My mind rebelled against the feasibility of such an arrangement when I heard it, certainly I had no parallels to draw within my sphere of experience. It was only from this point forward, that I truly began to understand the differences between our peoples.

The division of labour within the Colony is surprisingly democratic. The ants organise themselves into groups with similar Skills and capabilities, then decide what it is that they are going to do. Central to this structure is the detailed information that is disseminated throughout the Colony of their activities. There are many ants tasked with simply collecting information as to what goes on within the territory. How much ore was smelted today? Will there be a shortfall? Is there a dearth of cores? Exactly how much Biomass has been gathered? All of this is known, collated, and spread throughout the workforce. If there is a shortage, teams of ants will go and fill it. If there is a surplus, they will find other things to do to not clog the pipeline.

which they will do voluntarily. Once they feel they have enough ants for the job, they'll get to work, feverishly and industriously racing to

action,

formed one organism. A giant, living and breathing creature formed of millions

'The Insect Economy: Macro and Micro perspectives' by

inescapable cage. Some might say that putting the larva into a prison carved from solid metal is inhumane, but she chewed her

the flow. The only downside

in the mouth, alright?! I think I'm doing

explosions, magic and lasers. This has also been a wonderful opportunity to start grinding my mind-magic. I only need to push it up a rank or two and then I'll have the ability to create mind constructs just like the envy demon! Of course, I don't expect that I'll be able to maintain nearly as many as he does, but it should help

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