The Rise of Andor

Written By Obi-Wan Kenobi (( Obiwan ))

1. Introduction/Foreword

The presented document is transcribed from my extensive research of Andor society and history, made possible by use of insect disguises. The information here may or may not be entirely accurate - a good deal of the information presented is folklore among the ants. The ants, originally a very stupid race, have very primitive concepts of their past and where they have come from; With this in mind, the idea they have of their past may be more than slightly warped.

2. Beginning of Andor Society

It would not be too farfetched of a concept to say that in times past, creatures were much less intelligent than they currently are. The ants refer to this period in their past as "clicks in the dark" - a time in which they did not work together or cherish their fellow ants.

The "clicks in the dark," as best described to me, showed that the ants once had the instincts of the most primal of animals. Society was strictly based around the principle of survival of the fittest. The Andorians were led by the strongest ant; this was most often one of the dumbest, as well. Ants fed off of the scarce underground mosses and molds that grew in their territories. Should one the strongest not get any food, or enough food when feeding time came, he would not hesitate to eat a weaker ant. The fear instilled by leader ants often led the pack to wait until the leader was done eating until they commenced in finding food for themselves.

Reproduction and growth of the race as a whole was also based around the leader ants. Those larvae born by a father other than the leader were typically forced to be eaten or destroyed by the mother. Any weaker ants attempting to propagate with one of the leader's mistresses, if caught, would be promptly eaten or otherwise killed.

Furthermore, the ants during this period were not allowed to communicate. The closest thing to communication allowed was the primal clicking of the leader's mandibles, and peircing shrieks produced by the mistresses when the ant groupings were under attack.

Fear instilled by the leader ants prevented advancement in the society in any form. For many years, the ants merely traveled underground aimlessly, feeding, reproducing, and battling other packs of ants for superiority and territorial rights.

3. The Enlightenment

The ants acknowledge, though they cannot date, the appearance of some semi-divine entity gracing them with his presence. They call him the man with the dark light - something commonly viewed as evil by Aislings (For we have known the horrors of Chadul, Anaman, and the Dubhaimid.) They, however, do not regard him as evil... more as a savior of their species.

The man with the dark light ventured to all the roaming ant tribes, convincing them to unite or otherwise killing the leader and forcing them to. He led the ants to a large, unknown cavern in the center of the channels they had inhabited, and showed them something that they now regard as pure and holy. The dark rock, known to Aislings of Temuair as the Conix Fragment, seemed to have some imbedded formations in this chasm, and was indeed collectible. He instructed them to eat the rock, and use the strength gained from it to claw their way to the surface of the world - something that they had never seen or thought of previously.

After several generations, the man found that the ants were now capable of running their own society themselves. The conix had given them intelligence and strength, and the ants clawed into the earth above them with dedication and finesse. Seemingly feeling his work was nearing completion, the man with the dark light disappeared, and was never to be seen again by the ants of Andor.

4. The Tainting

Without a leader, the ants banded together to decide on a leader. It was decided that the wisest hive-mother would be appointed Queen and supreme leader of the colony - and thus, monarchy was created within Andor. A fresh, civil Andorian society kept clawing towards the surface, hoping to find the man, and his supreme power. The soil smelled richer as they dug forth; they had known they were approaching what the man had wanted, and they rejoiced.

They were not expecting, however, the larvae to mutate in such a horrid way from the conix stones. New larvae started doing one of two things; Some larvae became entrapped in the slimy cocoon, which had started to become highly acidic - causing the creature inside much pain. The cocoons writhed in agony, trampling and thrashing anything that came close as they desperately tried to escape. Other cocoons hatched, revealing horrible grey-skinned creatures which ravaged the communities. The ants quickly gathered together and slew the 'tained ones,' as they called them. They buried the remains of the tained ant-kin at the bottom of the colony as it grew upwards.

Unsure of what could've caused such a catastrophe, the Queen ant decided to continue expanding the hive into the earthen sky to find the man with the dark light.

5. The Rise

Eventually, the ants succeeded in making their way into the surface of the world. The first Andorians ventured out into the newly discovered territory of upper-Medenia with awe... and quickly retreated into the colony. The ants had made a great accomplishment, yet they could not stand to be in the light of the sun. They did, however, discover the travelers of the other insect nations - Mandara, the Mantis Kingdom, Shinewood, Kingdom of the Bees and Fae.

Shortly afterwards, Aisling-kind discovered the Andor colony towering above the plains of Noam, and went to investigate. The ants, fearing the powerful adventurers, immediately waged war upon the Aislings out of fear of invasion.

Even today, Tainted Ones are born from the Andor ants, and Aislings continue to explore the large colony. Some Aislings have discovered that by stitching together the remains of slain Mantis, they can infiltrate the Andor society without being attacked.

The Andor ants are still looking for the man with the dark light to this day.

(( Credits for this work: To the best of my knowledge, this work is wholly original. I would, however, like to give credit to Vamistle for helping to provide the few illustrations in the the linked descriptions. A small portion of information was also gathered from the NPC DungeonAnt in-game, who resides in Andor 1.))