Chrysalis

The Colony rapidly became a formidable fighting force once they had gained sapience. Under the leadership of the Eldest, who stamped out some of the more self-destructive ant impulses quickly, a doctrine of safety first, conservative generalship was settled as the norm.

Using our natural affinity for digging and construction, defensive battle styles in which we were able to grind down our enemies and preserve our numbers were adopted. Siege warfare utilised a similar approach, with armies of ants building enormous structures from which to launch assaults in safety.

In pitch battle, however, we relied on our superiority of numbers and the quality of our troops to win the day.

Everything changed with the emergence of Solant. Adaptive tactics, deception, lightning-fast assaults on fortified defensive positions, in the area of attack, specifically, she brought something the Colony had never even considered before.

And just in time.

- Excerpt from ‘The Warfare of the Colony” by Historiant.

It turns out that Solant’s plan wasn’t actually that difficult to grasp, certainly not my role within it. I’d told her that the reason the monsters spawned by the wave attack the nest is because they could sense what an enormous and juicy pile of resources we are. The reason we don’t close off the nest as much as possible is to accelerate our growth.

So she figured she’d replicate the strategy in miniature. She plopped an irresistibly tasty treat on the table in front of the monsters (me), and when they inevitably swarmed me, desperate to crack my outer shell and enjoy the tasty insides, they’d been even easier pickings for the rest of the ants than normal.

were the other layer of her strategy, rapid rotations. Even that was relatively simple to grasp: she wanted to rotate the fighters more

succeeded by having everyone form four identical ranks layered one behind the other and doing a neat sidestep/overstep move, where one group stepped to the side to make space and then back, while the ranks behind climbed over them as they retreated. Each group fought for a minute before they were rotated for the group behind, moved to the back and then had three minutes of rest before they’d have to

simpler. As a champion, ants are drawn to follow her, believing in her and trusting she can lead them almost instinctively.

much clearer picture of this over the course of the next few battles. We use the same strategy, but this time, I try to keep my wits about me rather than turtling up into a miserable ball. With my antennae carefully positioned, I listen

just behind the front rank, she ceaselessly communicates with her troops, identifying dangers, picking up on anyone out of position, micro-managing the ants behind

into one. She has the vision, the details and the

pick up on is that the amount of time she has to spend managing the members of her own squad is vastly less than it is for everyone else. I’m guessing that despite not being together for that long, all

the amount of

down a few ants to speak with. I’m not going to pretend I’m smart enough to know if her ideas are working well or not, I mean, it seems fine, but wouldn’t everything work well if you have me sitting out in front taking the

I ask the healer

“No.”

make some

“No.”