nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance

[Almarck]

So, I've been throwing around ideas for more antagonists dragons would face, so I ended up with something a little unusual and I decided I want to pitch it to be something that might be included into the game.

Spoiler

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The Human Hive
Aliases: the Horde, the Commoners, the Collective, the Soulless, the Empty.
“Insert Quote”
―Unknown
Since time immorial, dragons have battled their Slayers, fought the Knights of Siegfied, and proved their right to rule over the Garuda and that is before factoring their own internal struggles against other Heirs of different Dynasties and against the renegade Houses. But the Age of Enlightenment and the the subsequent Industrial Revolution brought forth a new foe.

If dragons are individuals raised above the conformity of society to the excellence that is their Inheritance, then the Hive is the exact opposite; that is individuals that cease to be individuals.

None of the Dynasties are certain of their origins or their purpose, many know of their power and their functionalities.

Within the Hive, there are no individuals, no people, just simply a mass of bodies that all share the same perfect will. A Hive is composed entirely of individuals with generic and undistinct and unmemorable appearances, save one trait such as a tattoo or scar that all members of a given Hive. All members likewise share experiences and knowledge, able to communicate with rapid telepathy. However, each member of a Hive is expendable. So long as the Hive is secure and able to rebuild itself, it will not hesitate to inflict casulaties upon itself in order to achieve a given goal, save perhaps the price in bodies being cost prohibitive.

While most Hives are simply content to waiting to repopulate lost members, each Hive also has the option of abducting and forcibly recruiting people into themselves. Individuals captured by the Hive undergo an effect that is very similar to an Heir’s Enkindling, except that instead of awing or creating a Slayer, the effect slowly eats away at a person’s mind and body. The subject loses features that set him apart as different, becoming more like the members of the Hive, but still mostly recognizable as the person was originally. At the end, their individuality and will has been completely subsumed, turning the once person into nothing more than a drone.

Unlike regular Enkindling, dragons (and sometimes other supernaturals) are also subject to the Hive’s Enkindling, a matter that distresses many Heirs when they learn of such creatures. This effect, once it begins within a dragon, slowly strips an Heir of her powers. First, she finds it difficult to assume Drakonos, but it gradually gets worse, until the once-Heir becomes unable to assume her true form or even call upon her Legacy powers. At that point, she is only a stone’s throw away from losing all of her individuality entirely, becoming nothing more than a member of the indistinct masses. Ironically, the only way for a dragon to break himself free is to play the part of the Slayer before it is too late.

However, despite this, Hives are not perfect. Often simple minded and lacking tact, Hives typically try to brute force their way through solutions. Even when possessing members of great skill within their folds, they hardly use them.

Most individuals do not notice a Hive, thinking them to be no different from a typical Cult, but those that know them know to fear.




Rules:
-For the purposes of mechanics, all members of a Hive in an area are treated as having an attribute score (that somehow indicates more efficiency the bigger things get, needs work)
-(need to do stat calculation rules)

-Hives do not have Skills, yet are treated as never taking untrained penalties.
-Because a Hive is made up of different bodies that share the same will, knowledge, and telepathy, all Hive members share memories. When Hives assimilate new members, they also add these memories to the collective whole.
-No matter how many dice a Hive rolls, all dice are considered Chance dice unless the Hive is opting to divert all of its attention and focus on a single member accomplishing a single task (meaning all other members do nothing while this happens). When a Hive is not using Chance dice, its attempt uses the Skill bonus provided by the member with the highest Skill ranks in a given topic.
-In combat, Hives always act on initiative 0 and have a single instant action and a single move actions.
-Hives never have defense.
-When attacking a creature using Chance dice, each attack dice is treated as being a different attack with a different weapon. For instance a Hive that thas 10 pistols and 5 rifles and uses 3 dice to attack may choose to select 1 rifle and 2 pistols for its attack, each is resolved on a different dice, and each is treated as a separate attack for the purposes of damage.
-Hives have an Enkindling effect that strips targets of individuality.

The Hive can in a sense be looked at as the exact opposite of the point of being a dragon. Instead of being a powerful individual, Hives utterly lack individuallity.

I want to know what others think. Is this a good antagonist for dragons to face?

Also what would they get for devouring an Heir?

[Xallace]

I think it's definitely very cool and very fitting to have an antagonist such as the Hive, since we really don't have anyone that is supposed to oppose the Heirs on an identity theme.

I don't really like the suggested mechanics for them, though. If I may suggest some:

Hives/Masses/The Everymen/Whatever may lack an Integrity-style stat entirely, and actually it would make sense that whatever it is they do that integrates a creature into their hive strips away Integrity/Serenity, and at 0 is when they are fully One Of Us. That could also mean it's possible to save someone by getting them to raise their relevant stat again, probably with a lot of effort, though.

It's also possible that they have no Willpower score. I'm a little on the fence about that, though.

If there is a power stat, we could call it Unity or Integration or Indoctrination or something, depending on the precise fluff we want for it. I imagine such a power stat both dictates and is dictated by how many members of the Hive there are, in that higher stat is needed to pull in more members and more members are needed to retain a higher stat. Hives may only be able to keep up their power when within a certain limited range of all other members. New Hives likely form by splitting off from older, larger Hives.

I'm not fond of the idea that only one can operate fully at a time, since collective numbers are their main advantage. Instead, they probably get some awesome bonuses for teamwork actions like 8-agains or reduced target numbers. Heck, they might even share skill pools and certain merits with all members of a given hive, since they share knowledge and memories and all that. Hives also likely cannot be surprised well, since once one notices you, they all do. It'd be difficult to deny them Defense.

Hives need some sort of motivation, some kind of drive. What is they want as a creature template, and what sorts of things would individual Hives want? Are they simply an all-consuming mass, content to absorb as many minds into the core as they can? Or do we extend the metaphor of the "teeming masses rising up" and motivate Hives with greater purpose? What origin do they have, and does it have any sway on their drives today?

[Elricaltovilla]

I would think the natural desires of a Hive entity would be to grow and preserve the hive. Maybe they get stronger/smarter/more influential as they absorb stronger/smarter/more influential people? That would make a Dragon a very powerful asset. They could have powers that absorb the essence of a dragon and integrate it into the Hive. Like dealing damage to the Dragon's Serenity or Willpower to force them to join.

[Almarck]

Well, the big problem I have so far is trying to set them up in a way that the Hive fills their thematic niche appropriately. See, the intent is that in a fight of the Hive versus PCs, the Hive always outnumbers PCs and as the game goes on, the number of them ramps up to suit. To balance this out, I set them up to basically have a ridiculous number of dice, but to have to rely on getting 10s to succeed at fighting. And as I worked on them, this trait started influencing their lore and their noncombat abilities.

I suppose, I could just change it up to say that outside of combat they should get full dice pools with teamwork action bonuses.

As for everything else, I'm working on it.

Currently, I'm thinking draining Willpower dots and power traits would be how they convert, as Integrity is something that differs depending on splat. Vampire and Werewolf get more animal like and Demon well, they can have multiple Integrity traits. Having them attack through Willpower is also thematic given how Dragons fuel themselves.

I'm also thinking some form of Psicombat should be their focus as their goal is not to kill, but to expand as Elric guesses. This would set them apart from the more phyiscally impossing Garuda and other dragons.

[Almarck]

Okay so just finished the update or the Hive rules. You might find them better now. Also I did some thinking and I figure that Hives really ought to have their own self identity which in a sense affects how they operate and how their powers manifest.

With some new changes the Hive is very flexible on what it can be from alien locust infilitrators to super human nationalists.

The idea is that they should have a group identity that overcomes and subsumed the individual.

I also have them a power Stat that also works as their morality trait though I have not set up a table yet. Additionally I set up some supernatural powers of which some you may find interesting.
Are the revisions satisfactory?

Spoiler

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Hive rules.

-All members of the Hive possess the same base attributes, skills, health, size, speed, defense, as well as some merits and all dread powers.
-Characters that are assimilated into the Hive lose their traits and gain those of the Hive.
-A Hive starts with all its members possessing 1 in all attributes, Unity 1, and no skills and no dread powers except for Assimilate and Spawn. Everytime the Hive assimilates a new member with Skills or Attributes greater than its own or physical or mental merits, it may choose to take the new member’s traits to replace its own. It may only take a single trait from each person in this way. Once fully assimilated, the Hive retains the new Drone’s statistic, even if the Drone itself perishes.


-A Single Goal: A Hive has goals that it plans to pursue above others.
-Act as One: All Drones act on the same initiative but possess their own actions. Additionally, all members of the Hive automatically share memories and sensory information. This means that in order to surprise a single member of the Hive, all other members of the Hive must also be caught of guard and that members of the Hive attempting group actions gain the 8 again property.
-Unified Will: Drones do not possess individual willpower scores of their own. Instead all drones are considered possessing the same will power pool. If willpower is spent to boost an action for one drone all other drones attempting the same action benefit from the boost as well. The willpower for the whole Hive is determined by a single Drone’s Resolve + Composure with additional maximum points based on Unity
-Ape Shall Kill Ape: Hives may never be friendly to other Hives, as they all compete for the same limited resources even if they share the same goal. At best, they become allies of circumstance and will go out of their way to hinder the efforts of others.

New Trait: Unity
Hives posses the Unification trait, which functions as a combination of a Power Stat and replacement for Intengrity. Anyone assimilated by the Hive replaces their power Stat and Integrity traits with Unity.

As it represents the undivded ideal and will of the whole Hive, Unity provides all members of the Hive the following bonuses.
-Increased Willpower.
-Resist supernatural powers when power traits would be called or in Clash of Wills.
-Determines maximum and minimum limits for a Hive in both people and in range.
-Influences some Dread Powers, particularly makes the Assimilation dread power more effective.


As a consequence, Unity possess the following drawbacks.
-Unity may be reduced as if it was a breaking point.
-Unity is only increased in some circumstances, but is typically done by Assimilated a supernatural creature with a higher power trait that the Hive has Unity allows the Hive to raise Unity by 1. Dragons are even more potent, instead allowing the Hive to go up by 2 if the gap is big enough.
-As unity grows, the Hive’s Drone becomes slightly more obviously inhuman, penalizing attempts to blend in with the crowd.


Unity Breaking Points.
Unity suffers a breaking point and thus is reduced everytime the Hive
-Works against its own identity either through denying it or sabotaging it.
-Suffers massive losses.
-Is far below its Drone limits for its given unity level. Triggers daily.
-Sizable populations are spread over an area far too large. Triggers daily.


When Unity fractures, the Unity of the Hive drops by one and splinters off into desperate shards, the largest of which is the original hive and it gains whatever Drones it needs to stabilize, if is able to do. If it does not, it fractures even further. Any other Drones become independant, forming new Hives (with none of the traits of their old one), starting on their own to forge their own identity.


Hive Identity:
Perhaps the most unusual trait about Hives is that they are actually a very disparate bunch atleast when you compare Hives to other Hives. While they have the same basic operating systems, once Hives establish themselves, they start diversifying and establishing their own “identity”.

This identity is the core “idea” of what the Hive is and what it strives to be, which in turn influences the kinds of people it attempts to Assimilate into itself and its choice of Dread powers. For instance, a Hive focused on self perfection might either choose to develop its members into Ubermenches, focusing on Dread Powers that make them strong and taking in all manner of highly skilled individuals, while another Hive might take self-perfection towards nonhuman approaches, taking Dread Powers to allow its Drones to turn into mutant bug men and kidnapping the weak and defenseless. And yet another might desire to take the form of a dragon parodying the Heirs.

Identity establishes the breaking points for a Hives Unity. There are three parts to this and defying or choosing not to fulfill either of these parts when given an opportunity that does not put the rest of the Hive at risk is a breaking point.
-the image. Or appearance the Hive or its members idealized and aspire to assume either as a cultural group or by bodily changing themselves
-the people. The favored target or targets the Hive wishes to convert to Drones above all else. Examples include the poor, minority groups, or even people who like chicken. Converting the people receives a +2 bonus to assimilation rolls.
-the goal. The final objective the Hive wishes to accomplish.





Dread Powers:


Assimilation:
The most important tool for a Hive is its ability to grow via taking traits from others.
Extended action, each roll is 1 hour of work.
Cost:: None
Roll: Presence + Unity - Subject’s Resolve
For each success, the subject loses 1 point of Willpower which are then added to the Hive’s reserve pool. If the subject is unable to lose further Willpower, such as by being at 0 Willpower points, the subject starts taking “damage”, losing Willpower dot for each success. Once the subject is reduced to 0 Willpower dots, he loses all individuality and becomes a Drone under the Hive’s control.


Spawn:
Hives do not always have the option to take hapless people, even in the biggest of cities. Sometimes it is best to spawn more of their own.
Action: 1 Hour.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Roll: None
By performing this Dread Power, the Hive is able through some mechanism create more of itself. Either by impregnating one of their own or creating an egg (determined when this Dread Power is used), the Hive expanded itself using current members. One month after impregnation or egg laying, a child is created. This child rapidly grows over the course of a year, maturing into a Drone.


Create Warrior:
Despite the intended purpose of Hives being of one will and one mind, there are times when the rank and file of the Hive are unable to face a threat. As a result, the Hive nominates one of its Drones to undergo a rapid and permanent metamorphosis into a much more combat capable entity.
Action: Reflexive.
Cost: 2 Willpower.
Roll: None.
When used by a Drone, the Drone rapidly changes itself to become a protector of the Hive’s will, abandoning all semblance of humanity… and its limitations in the process..

When this power first selected, the Hive creates a template to apply to all of its Warriors featuring the following:
- +6 Attribute dots to apply to physical statistics, divided how the Hive wants, but is only allowed to invest up to 3 dots into a single category.
- Armor (2/2)
- Inability to suffer wound penalties, but can feel tilts
-All drones act on the Warrior's initiative

Additionally, the Hive’s Warriors may select 3 of the following:
- 3 Damage Melee weapon (brawl or weaponry)*
- 2 Damage Ranged weapon (firearms). Base Range is 60 and is capable of up to Short Bursts. *
- 4 Damage, Ranged weapon (firearms). Base Range is 100 with Armor Piercing 2*
- 4 Damage, Ranged weapon (firearms). Base Range is 30 and is capable of up to Long Bursts*
- Better Armor (4/4) replaces previous armor
- Regeneration. Recovers 1 Lethal damage per turn.
- Imprroved Senses. +3 bonus to perception.
- +2 size.
- +4 defense.


*Note: all weapons are considered part of the Warrior’s physiology and only function when kept as part of the Warrior

Regardless of what abilities and traits the Hive selects for its Warriors,they always appear something otherworldly regardless of whether or not they are super soldiers, bug men, of half dragon freaks.

Detonate Drone:
Sometimes, when a hive is threatened , it must take desperate actions to remove a threat. Drones, being expendable are the first thing to go. With this Dread power, a single drone becomes its own weapon at the cost of forfieting its own life- a cost that is a mere pitance to a Hive
Action: Relfexive.
Cost: 1 Willpower.
Roll: None.
When this power is activated, the Drone visibly starts changing in its appearance, such as by glowing brightly on the inside or have its form rapidly puff up, the only warning that onlookers have of the Drone’s intentions.
Once this occurs, the drone often rapidly advances towards its enemy.
At the start of the Drone’s next turn, it denotes as if it were a grenade with a blast radius of Stamina x 5 centered upon itself, with damage equal to the Drone’s Size, destroying itself in a short of meat and bodily fluids in the process.
If the drone is slain before it could explode, the explosion is likely to not go off: Roll a dice, a success the drone detonates. On a failure, the detonation failed as the drone was cut down before a critical point.

At higher levels of Unity this power allows the Hive to Detonate more Drones at the same time.


The Dead Join
There are times when the Hive is unable to rely on spawning or assimilation to create more members. With this dread power slain foes may be brought into the fold as a temporary measure.



A Unified Whole
The Hive joins together into a single life form representing the logical extention and full power of its perfected self. Typically a last resort or the final achievement a Hive takes, this Dread Power is best represented as a story event.

[Amechra]

Hmm... I like those as a base: however, I would suggest the following tweak:

Spoiler

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Hive Rules
By default, all of a Hive's Drones possess a copy of the same sheet, henceforth referred to as the Hive's traits. A starting Hive possesses one dot in all Attributes, zero ranks in all skills, Unity 3, zero dots of merits, and the Assimilate and Spawn Dread Powers.

Hives possess the following abilities by default:
One Mind, a Hundred Bodies: A Hive possesses a single Aspiration, as well as single Willpower pool shared between all of their members; a Hive's maximum Willpower is equal to their Resolve + Composure. A Hive's Drones are about as important to it as individual cells; as such, they never suffer the Beaten Down tilt.
Inhuman Network: Hives cannot recover Willpower through rest or surrender, and do not possess a Virtue or a Vice. Instead, a Hive recovers one Willpower whenever they would take a Beat due to their Aspiration.
Leveraging Unity: A Hive's Drones all possess the 8-again quality on any teamwork action that consists entirely of other Drones, share the same Initiative count, and are automatically aware of any character that any of the Drones are aware of. If a Drone spends Willpower on a Teamwork action, every Drone aiding that action also receives the +3 bonus.
Growing Experience: A Hive that gains Experience may spend it on any Merit or Speciality formerly possessed by one of its Drones; they cannot otherwise spend Experience.

New Trait - Unity
A Hive possesses a Unity trait, representing both the power it draws from its "purity", as well as its inability to tolerate deviation. As such, it acts as both a Supernatural Tolerance trait and an Integrity equivalent.

Unity	Maximum Willpower	Willpower per Turn	Threshold Population	Dispersion	Social Penalty
•	+2	1	1	Thousand Miles	+0
••	+3	1	2	Thousand Miles	+0
•••	+4	1	5	Thousand Miles	-1
••••	+5	2	10	Thousand Miles	-1
•••••	+6	2	50	Hundred Miles	-2
••••• •	+7	2	100	Hundred Miles	-2
••••• ••	+9	3	500	Hundred Miles	-3
••••• •••	+11	3	1000	Ten Miles	-3
••••• ••••	+13	3	5000	Ten Miles	-4
••••• •••••	+15	4	10000	One Mile	-5

Everything else Unity related pretty much works like what Almarck said.

A Hive's Identity
See Almarck's stuff.

Dread Powers

Assimilation
A Hive grows by bringing in new members, taking their traits and leaving them "pure".
Action: Extended (Each roll represents an hour of "work".)
Success Threshold: Twice the subject's maximum Willpower.
Cost: 0 wp.
Dice Pool: Presence + Unity - subject's Resolve.
Dramatic Failure: The Hive somehow misses a vital step; they lose a number of successes equal to the subject's Resolve.
Failure: The Hive makes no progress.
Success: The subject loses a number of points of Willpower equal to the number of successes; the Hive gains any Willpower lost this way. If the number of successes exceeds the subject's remaining Willpower, the remaining successes remove Willpower dots on a one-to-one basis. If the threshold is reached or the subject is reduced to zero dots of Willpower, they become a Drone. If any of the Drone's Attributes or Skills exceeds the Hive's equivalent, the Hive may choose one of those traits, improving it to match that of the new Drone. In addition, the Hive takes a Beat. Then, all of the Drone's traits are replaced by those of the Hive.
Exceptional Success: As a Success, and the remaining rolls only take 15 minutes each.

Spawn
Sometimes, a Hive cannot risk taking in outsiders; it must spawn more of its own.
Action: One Hour
Cost: One Willpower
Dice Pool: None
The Hive may, through some process chosen upon taking this Dread Power, create a new member. The new Drone takes a full month to develop, after which point it becomes a Larva. A Larva follows all of the rules for a Drone, except it only possesses one dot in each Attribute, no dots in skills, no merit dots, and no Dread Powers. Over the course of the next year, they develop into a full Drone.

Create Caste
Some Hives begin to develop elaborate caste systems, specializing in uncomfortably alien ways. While this Dread Power is somewhat rare, it makes up for it with the threat it brings.
Action: Reflexive
Cost: Two Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Upon selecting this Dread Power, design a Caste; the Hive may permanently assign a given Drone to a Caste by activating this Dread Power.

Sidebar - Designing a Caste
Castes are specializations within a Hive; each Caste brings a different and terrifying new option to the table. Each Caste possesses receives two additional Dread Powers, gains three additional dots of Attributes, may reassign up to three Attribute dots, and gains three skill points to split between their Skills. However, members of a Caste reduce any non-Intimidate Social roll to a Chance die; in addition, they gain a Ban as if they were a Spirit with Influences appropriate to the Hive and their roll within it.

I generalized Create Warrior because I thought of all kinds of other weird "specializations" a Hive could have, such as a queen or living artillery. A queen, for example, would have a unique Dread Power that would allow them to speed up the Spawn Dread Power, or maybe use it to Spawn multiple Drones at once.

[One Tin Soldier]

Hmm... I like those as a base: however, I would suggest the following tweak:

Spoiler

Show

Hive Rules
By default, all of a Hive's Drones possess a copy of the same sheet, henceforth referred to as the Hive's traits. A starting Hive possesses one dot in all Attributes, zero ranks in all skills, Unity 3, zero dots of merits, and the Assimilate and Spawn Dread Powers.

Hives possess the following abilities by default:
One Mind, a Hundred Bodies: A Hive possesses a single Aspiration, as well as single Willpower pool shared between all of their members; a Hive's maximum Willpower is equal to their Resolve + Composure. A Hive's Drones are about as important to it as individual cells; as such, they never suffer the Beaten Down tilt.
Inhuman Network: Hives cannot recover Willpower through rest or surrender, and do not possess a Virtue or a Vice. Instead, a Hive recovers one Willpower whenever they would take a Beat due to their Aspiration.
Leveraging Unity: A Hive's Drones all possess the 8-again quality on any teamwork action that consists entirely of other Drones, share the same Initiative count, and are automatically aware of any character that any of the Drones are aware of. If a Drone spends Willpower on a Teamwork action, every Drone aiding that action also receives the +3 bonus.
Growing Experience: A Hive that gains Experience may spend it on any Merit or Speciality formerly possessed by one of its Drones; they cannot otherwise spend Experience.

New Trait - Unity
A Hive possesses a Unity trait, representing both the power it draws from its "purity", as well as its inability to tolerate deviation. As such, it acts as both a Supernatural Tolerance trait and an Integrity equivalent.

Unity	Maximum Willpower	Willpower per Turn	Threshold Population	Dispersion	Social Penalty
•	+2	1	1	Thousand Miles	+0
••	+3	1	2	Thousand Miles	+0
•••	+4	1	5	Thousand Miles	-1
••••	+5	2	10	Thousand Miles	-1
•••••	+6	2	50	Hundred Miles	-2
••••• •	+7	2	100	Hundred Miles	-2
••••• ••	+9	3	500	Hundred Miles	-3
••••• •••	+11	3	1000	Ten Miles	-3
••••• ••••	+13	3	5000	Ten Miles	-4
••••• •••••	+15	4	10000	One Mile	-5

Everything else Unity related pretty much works like what Almarck said.

A Hive's Identity
See Almarck's stuff.

Dread Powers

Assimilation
A Hive grows by bringing in new members, taking their traits and leaving them "pure".
Action: Extended (Each roll represents an hour of "work".)
Success Threshold: Twice the subject's maximum Willpower.
Cost: 0 wp.
Dice Pool: Presence + Unity - subject's Resolve.
Dramatic Failure: The Hive somehow misses a vital step; they lose a number of successes equal to the subject's Resolve.
Failure: The Hive makes no progress.
Success: The subject loses a number of points of Willpower equal to the number of successes; the Hive gains any Willpower lost this way. If the number of successes exceeds the subject's remaining Willpower, the remaining successes remove Willpower dots on a one-to-one basis. If the threshold is reached or the subject is reduced to zero dots of Willpower, they become a Drone. If any of the Drone's Attributes or Skills exceeds the Hive's equivalent, the Hive may choose one of those traits, improving it to match that of the new Drone. In addition, the Hive takes a Beat. Then, all of the Drone's traits are replaced by those of the Hive.
Exceptional Success: As a Success, and the remaining rolls only take 15 minutes each.

Spawn
Sometimes, a Hive cannot risk taking in outsiders; it must spawn more of its own.
Action: One Hour
Cost: One Willpower
Dice Pool: None
The Hive may, through some process chosen upon taking this Dread Power, create a new member. The new Drone takes a full month to develop, after which point it becomes a Larva. A Larva follows all of the rules for a Drone, except it only possesses one dot in each Attribute, no dots in skills, no merit dots, and no Dread Powers. Over the course of the next year, they develop into a full Drone.

Create Caste
Some Hives begin to develop elaborate caste systems, specializing in uncomfortably alien ways. While this Dread Power is somewhat rare, it makes up for it with the threat it brings.
Action: Reflexive
Cost: Two Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Upon selecting this Dread Power, design a Caste; the Hive may permanently assign a given Drone to a Caste by activating this Dread Power.

Sidebar - Designing a Caste
Castes are specializations within a Hive; each Caste brings a different and terrifying new option to the table. Each Caste possesses receives two additional Dread Powers, gains three additional dots of Attributes, may reassign up to three Attribute dots, and gains three skill points to split between their Skills. However, members of a Caste reduce any non-Intimidate Social roll to a Chance die; in addition, they gain a Ban as if they were a Spirit with Influences appropriate to the Hive and their roll within it.

I generalized Create Warrior because I thought of all kinds of other weird "specializations" a Hive could have, such as a queen or living artillery. A queen, for example, would have a unique Dread Power that would allow them to speed up the Spawn Dread Power, or maybe use it to Spawn multiple Drones at once.

Personally, I'd remove any references to Beats or Experiences. These are intended as antagonists, not player characters. NPCs don't get XP, the ST just determines their stats as necessary.

I also think that the Dispersion bit should be way smaller, and ramp up as it goes up. Again, these aren't PCs, so the design should be focused around how the PCs interact with them. Separating a person from a Unity 1 Hive should be much easier than removing one from a Unity 10 Hive, not harder. And having to fly halfway around the world to separate a person definitely qualifies as harder.
I'd have it start on the order of hundreds of yards, or maybe a mile, and ramping up from there.
I'd also like to have Unity 1 start off able to get more than a single member. If they all start off with only 1 die in all pools, and they have to capture a supernat to get beyond that, then most would never get beyond that point. Maybe allow them up to 3 or 5 or so members at Unity 1, so they can get off the ground.

Aside from that, I think this is starting to look really good.

[Amechra]

Note that they start with a Unity of 3 in my draft. And you could invert the distances for Dispersion, I guess.

[Almarck]

Well I defiantly like most of the changes you put out Amercha. Good work taking the disperse ideas I came up with and turning them into a coherent piece of work.

I especially like the better formating and clean up of the general rules and Dread Powers. I should tune up the parts that you have chosen not to redo though. Improve wording and readability.

I will back Tin's suggestions though, mostly because I feel even a Unity 1 Hive should be at least 10 Drones and because I feel the constantly reducing range kind of works against the point of having bigger numbers.

I should perhaps write up an example Hive to oppose Heirs and cement their role. Anyone got some ideas?

[Amechra]

I deliberately made the numbers for Unity 1 and 2 a bit lower because such Hives are dying - remember, they start at Unity 3 in my draft, meaning that you only get Unity 1 or 2 if they've suffered a couple Breaking Points.

I also forgot to mention that I disagree with assimilating Supernaturals being the only way to bump up Unity; my preferred method would just be making more Drones and assimilating masses of people.

[One Tin Soldier]

Note that they start with a Unity of 3 in my draft. And you could invert the distances for Dispersion, I guess.

Ah, ok, missed that bit. That should work out fine, then.

I deliberately made the numbers for Unity 1 and 2 a bit lower because such Hives are dying - remember, they start at Unity 3 in my draft, meaning that you only get Unity 1 or 2 if they've suffered a couple Breaking Points.

I also forgot to mention that I disagree with assimilating Supernaturals being the only way to bump up Unity; my preferred method would just be making more Drones and assimilating masses of people.

Possibly. I do think that assimilating supernats should be the easiest way for them to do it, though. It gives them a clear motivation to go after the Player Characters, even though it's more dangerous than going after average humans.

I also like that they can be good antagonists for other gamelines, too. I can totally see myself using them in, say, a Mage game.
My headcanon origin for them is that they were created by a Mind archmage using that pesky Create Major Template spell.

[Almarck]

I think spawning more numbers is more reliable and has no real danger other than acquiring more willpower but takes a while, but taking a supernatural provides a dangerous bjtt quick boost with dragons providing that plus a whole lot of other bonuses including boosted gains. Perhaps to make successfully taking a supernatural more appealing, doing so makes the Hive immune to breaking points due to underpopulation for a while since the rapid boost would otherwise automatically be undone if the Hive does not like convert a couple hundred people to make up the difference especially after factoring casualties.

Other than that though I feel that having multiple avenues of growth is problem the best since Unity is so easily fractured from a bad engagement.



On the note of other game lines I can see these guys being a major pain for just about anygroup.
Vampires find their food threatened.
Werewolves face a host like.... swarm.
Demons find another being so similar to the God Machine to challenge or control.
Mummies have a rival to their cults.
Changelings would be scared about reliving Arcadia on earth
I do not need to explain hunters.

Strangely I am not sure how prometheans would react to the hive...or how the Hive would react to them.

[Amechra]

I also made them really restricted in terms of recovering Willpower. They have pursuing their Aspiration and Assimilation, and that's it.

Dragons are a tasty prize because they have stupid amounts of Willpower. If you're running low, and there's a tasty morsel just sitting there... wouldn't you go after it?

Makes me think they need to have an ability that blocks Willpower spending; maybe have it reduce everyone's Willpower-per-turn limit by 1? The cloying web of pheromones blocks out any attempt to rise above mediocrity.

[One Tin Soldier]

I also made them really restricted in terms of recovering Willpower. They have pursuing their Aspiration and Assimilation, and that's it.

Dragons are a tasty prize because they have stupid amounts of Willpower. If you're running low, and there's a tasty morsel just sitting there... wouldn't you go after it?

Makes me think they need to have an ability that blocks Willpower spending; maybe have it reduce everyone's Willpower-per-turn limit by 1? The cloying web of pheromones blocks out any attempt to rise above mediocrity.

Sounds like a solid Dread Power to me.

[Almarck]

Hm, a part of me is wondering if maybe we should bump up the bonus willpower max and willpower per turn grained from Unity a bit more, like say, double. While, it's clearly the Hive will basically be basically be so efficient with augmenting basic rolls, I'm more worried that they'll be facing a big bottleneck trying to manifest dread powers all at the same time.

That plus all but the most Unified Hive would have trouble assimilating more than 3 people at the same time since it'll easily go over the limit even assuming rather mediocre victims.


Maybe a simple solution is that going over the limit via Assimilation causes the excess willpower to be turned into temporary willpower points and must be spent within the hour/day or be wasted? That way we do not need to fiddle or worry about the numbers.


Also, I back the Willpower denial as a Dreadpower. Maybe if anyone attempts to spend Willpower to do anything, the Hive has a chance to steal the willpower point, even if the Willpower expendature goes off without a hitch.


Lastly, a part of me wonders if maybe it would be cool to have a "one-of" special "Caste" of the Hive called an "Overlord". Basically, a super unit that the Hive may only have one of manifested at a given time and is extremely costly to build and maintain, but has ridiculous bonuses and advantages for creating. This would represent in the meta-story either the end goal of the Hive's efforts or the ultimate manifestation of its group image distilled into a single individual.

[Amechra]

Maybe they could store more Willpower than their maximum? So if they had maximum Willpower, and they drained two Willpower off of some schmuck, they have two points of Willpower over their maximum.

[Almarck]

Maybe they could store more Willpower than their maximum? So if they had maximum Willpower, and they drained two Willpower off of some schmuck, they have two points of Willpower over their maximum.

Alright I van dig that. Antagonists cab break the rules PCS can't break right?

So on thinking on it would it be easier or harder to lose Unity the bigger the Hive gets?or rather should it be easier for a bigger Hive to fragment?

[One Tin Soldier]

Alright I van dig that. Antagonists cab break the rules PCS can't break right?

So on thinking on it would it be easier or harder to lose Unity the bigger the Hive gets?or rather should it be easier for a bigger Hive to fragment?

I think so. It fits their amoeba-like properties that big ones often end up splitting into smaller ones. And I certainly can't picture Hives with Unity above 8 being at all common, or even necessarily already existing by default. Hordes numbering in the thousands would be hard to miss.
I also think that it might be possible for Hives to assimilate each other, poaching entire batches of drones at once, or even taking them over outright.

Also, one thing that I wanted to clarify, are the population thresholds supposed to be maximum numbers or minimum numbers?

[Xallace]

Do Hives actually feed on identity? Like, do strong identities nourish them in some way? Because that could be one reason to strike at dragons specifically.

Another question: does the identity disappear completely? Or does it get absorbed into the identity of the Hive? Because if Hives are trying to forge a group identity out of what they eat, dragons would be a great source of the sort of strong ambition and clear personality traits that Hives might like the most.

Now I am imagining drones have some level of autonomy even without independence, right? So while most of them appear obsessed with whatever aspiration they're Whole is striving for, they can still pretend to act on their own and lead otherwise mostly-normal lives with families and stuff (who are, of course, completely unaware that their parent/child/cousin is a soulless cog in a horrible machine). That way they would likely enjoy absorbing powerful or influential individuals to further their aims, since they'd still have access to that drone's contacts and resources. Am I getting this all right? Because that could mean that your clutchmates are Hive and you'd just never know until they start chanting "One Of Us!" while dragging you to the assimilation chamber.

[Almarck]

Do Hives actually feed on identity? Like, do strong identities nourish them in some way? Because that could be one reason to strike at dragons specifically.

Another question: does the identity disappear completely? Or does it get absorbed into the identity of the Hive? Because if Hives are trying to forge a group identity out of what they eat, dragons would be a great source of the sort of strong ambition and clear personality traits that Hives might like the most.

Now I am imagining drones have some level of autonomy even without independence, right? So while most of them appear obsessed with whatever aspiration they're Whole is striving for, they can still pretend to act on their own and lead otherwise mostly-normal lives with families and stuff (who are, of course, completely unaware that their parent/child/cousin is a soulless cog in a horrible machine). That way they would likely enjoy absorbing powerful or influential individuals to further their aims, since they'd still have access to that drone's contacts and resources. Am I getting this all right? Because that could mean that your clutchmates are Hive and you'd just never know until they start chanting "One Of Us!" while dragging you to the assimilation chamber.

Ooh that's all so ghastly. I like it. Particularly the taking up contracts I guess that s something I forgot to address. Identity eating is likely also something I had not really realized until now. The Hive probably does feed off of it, and especially likes particularly strong ones. Dragons of course have really good traits due to legacies and lots if willpower to poach. Strong identity makes them pretty much the best prey to persue?


I will note that my original idea was them basically being given little autonomy on their own because the idea,back then basicslly anmounted to a mindless swarm, but now that I think about it that could just as much a function in of the Hives total identity. By this I mean a bug colony is going to have a different social structure than an academic institution.


Maybe an easy way to express this is that independence and autonomy might be tied to scale and Unity. As the Hive grows larger it starts adopting less human traits represented by the social penalty for higher Unity.


Also question. What do dragons think about the Hive given all of the things we've added on at this point.

[One Tin Soldier]

Ooh that's all so ghastly. I like it. Particularly the taking up contracts I guess that s something I forgot to address. Identity eating is likely also something I had not really realized until now. The Hive probably does feed off of it, and especially likes particularly strong ones. Dragons of course have really good traits due to legacies and lots if willpower to poach. Strong identity makes them pretty much the best prey to persue?


I will note that my original idea was them basically being given little autonomy on their own because the idea,back then basicslly anmounted to a mindless swarm, but now that I think about it that could just as much a function in of the Hives total identity. By this I mean a bug colony is going to have a different social structure than an academic institution.


Maybe an easy way to express this is that independence and autonomy might be tied to scale and Unity. As the Hive grows larger it starts adopting less human traits represented by the social penalty for higher Unity.

I'd say that they should get additional Dread Powers as their Unity goes up, to give a baseline for how many Dread Powers a given Hive should have.

Also question. What do dragons think about the Hive given all of the things we've added on at this point.

That's easy. The whole point of this exercise is to create an antagonist that dragons intellectually fear. Garuda and Tiamats offer the visceral fear of something that is even bigger, stronger, and nastier than they are. Hives, on the other hand, offer the fear of taking away what makes a dragon a dragon. They're frightening in the way that zombies are frightening - not because they are individually powerful, but because there's just so many of them, and when they're done with you you'll just be another member of the horde.

[Amechra]

And now, an entirely different tact; this is very barebones, and would need to be heavily fleshed out (with stuff like Identity):

Spoiler: Hives

Show

A Hive is not so much a creature as a semi-sentient organization; as such, they only have three traits: a Willpower pool, a single Aspiration, and a pool of Attention. In addition, they possess a number of Dread Powers, though they cannot use them themselves. After all, when a Hive needs bodies, it just uses its Drones.

Willpower
Hives possess massive pools of Willpower; at a bare minimum, their maximum Willpower is 25.

Drones
Any character with subject to a Hive's Drone condition is considered one of that Hive's Drones.

Drone [Persistent]
You might pretend to still be an individual, but you are merely the pawn of a Hive. You lose your Aspirations, Integrity, Vice, Virtue, and Willpower pool; however, you benefit from 8-again on all Teamwork rolls, and gain the Hive's current Aspiration. Once per Scene, you may draw one Willpower from the Hive's pool to enhance a Teamwork roll where you are the primary actor; if you do so, all of the secondary actors gain the same number of bonus dice.
Whenever you gain a Beat due to this Condition, the Hive recovers one Willpower.
Resolution: The Hive lets you go; you become a Slayer.
Beat: N/A

Attention
Even world-spanning minds like a Hive have a limited amount of awareness they can direct towards one place. By default, a Hive has five dots of Awareness that they can assign to groups of their Drones, to a maximum of five; once per Scene (or hour, outside of narrative time), the Hive may reassign a dot of their Awareness. The effects of Attention are as follows:

Far Away (0): The Hive is paying a minimum amount of attention to that group of Drones. There are no positive or negative effects at this level of Awareness.
Vague (•): The Hive has started to take interest in the happenings around the group; the Drones cannot be surprised unless they all are, they do not suffer from penalties to Defense due to multiple attacks, and are no longer limited to drawing on Willpower once per Scene; they may spend up to one Willpower per turn, but cannot enhance rolls other than Teamwork rolls.
Interested (••): The Hive has begun to take an active hand in the proceedings of the group; the Drones may spend up to two Willpower per turn, and the Hive may spend Willpower to activate their Dread Powers through them, using their traits (doing so counts against the Willpower that Drone may spend that turn.)
Pervasive (•••): The Hive is "here", insomuch as a disembodied group-mind can be said to be anywhere. The Drones may spend up to three Willpower per turn, and are supported by the psychic presence; they no longer fall unconscious when their Health Levels are filled with Bashing damage, cannot suffer the Beaten Down Tilt, and do not need to spend Willpower to attack characters that have surrendered.
Encompassing (••••): The air is thick with an ethereal presence; the Hive lies heavy on the world. Their Drones may spend up to four Willpower per turn, and ???
Saturating (•••••): Anything that draws this much of a Hive's attention is in decently is not long for the world. Their Drones may spend up to five Willpower per turn, and [something something should make you scream internally as you realize how screwed you are.]

However, there is a drawback to pouring so much of their attention into one place; if every Drone in the group they've invested their Attention in is killed, they lose those dots of Attention; if their Attention drops to 0, they dissipate and are effectively dead. Lost dots of Attention are regained at a rate of one per week.

Thoughts.

[Almarck]

Very interesting ame. Much simpler and easier to read than my original pitch and accomplishes much of the same mechanical goals.

I like the idea of having awareness since it basically means the Hive mind (to distinguish the Hive mind from the totality of the Hive let's call it that), basically limited in its operations solely by how much it plans to devote to an area.

I'm thinking perhaps specialized castes if retained in your version have bonuses such as by providing "free" oversight and awareness to groups they are in essentially boosting the Hive's reach with no penalty other than risking the upgraded minion.

I'm guessing you're drooping the "share" everything rules that basically state Drones are mostly interchangeable stat wise? Do you lose your supernatural template if you become a member of your version of the Hive (i forgot about stating that this happened in mine but oh well) Also I think that when let go from the Hive you start yourself a new one in essence given a "colonization " mission. Slayers are dragon specific.

You also dropping Unity to determine effective range and scale of the Hive?

And lastly what are you going to go for with Idenity?more concise mechanics I to figure since I mostly just gave guide lines?

[Amechra]

Not sure; I think Unity was just one detail too many. After all, a Hive really isn't something you play.

Being a Drone is a Condition instead of Template. So you can slap it onto, say, a Vampire, and it would still work. I'd restrict it to Supernaturals that still have Integrity, though, just for mechanical (and thematic) reasons. Though a Dread Power that gives them a variant they can slap on major templates might be... terrifying. I think it'd work kinda like an Idigam's ability to warp Werewolves.

[One Tin Soldier]

OK, you guys are throwing me a lot of contradictory ideas right now, so I'm going to assume that they are meant as possible options, and exercise my right as Writer* to pick and choose between them.

*Or at least, the Writer that is currently writing this up in the main doc

And now, an entirely different tact; this is very barebones, and would need to be heavily fleshed out (with stuff like Identity):

Spoiler: Hives

Show

A Hive is not so much a creature as a semi-sentient organization; as such, they only have three traits: a Willpower pool, a single Aspiration, and a pool of Attention. In addition, they possess a number of Dread Powers, though they cannot use them themselves. After all, when a Hive needs bodies, it just uses its Drones.

Willpower
Hives possess massive pools of Willpower; at a bare minimum, their maximum Willpower is 25.

Drones
Any character with subject to a Hive's Drone condition is considered one of that Hive's Drones.

Drone [Persistent]
You might pretend to still be an individual, but you are merely the pawn of a Hive. You lose your Aspirations, Integrity, Vice, Virtue, and Willpower pool; however, you benefit from 8-again on all Teamwork rolls, and gain the Hive's current Aspiration. Once per Scene, you may draw one Willpower from the Hive's pool to enhance a Teamwork roll where you are the primary actor; if you do so, all of the secondary actors gain the same number of bonus dice.
Whenever you gain a Beat due to this Condition, the Hive recovers one Willpower.
Resolution: The Hive lets you go; you become a Slayer.
Beat: N/A

Attention
Even world-spanning minds like a Hive have a limited amount of awareness they can direct towards one place. By default, a Hive has five dots of Awareness that they can assign to groups of their Drones, to a maximum of five; once per Scene (or hour, outside of narrative time), the Hive may reassign a dot of their Awareness. The effects of Attention are as follows:

Far Away (0): The Hive is paying a minimum amount of attention to that group of Drones. There are no positive or negative effects at this level of Awareness.
Vague (•): The Hive has started to take interest in the happenings around the group; the Drones cannot be surprised unless they all are, they do not suffer from penalties to Defense due to multiple attacks, and are no longer limited to drawing on Willpower once per Scene; they may spend up to one Willpower per turn, but cannot enhance rolls other than Teamwork rolls.
Interested (••): The Hive has begun to take an active hand in the proceedings of the group; the Drones may spend up to two Willpower per turn, and the Hive may spend Willpower to activate their Dread Powers through them, using their traits (doing so counts against the Willpower that Drone may spend that turn.)
Pervasive (•••): The Hive is "here", insomuch as a disembodied group-mind can be said to be anywhere. The Drones may spend up to three Willpower per turn, and are supported by the psychic presence; they no longer fall unconscious when their Health Levels are filled with Bashing damage, cannot suffer the Beaten Down Tilt, and do not need to spend Willpower to attack characters that have surrendered.
Encompassing (••••): The air is thick with an ethereal presence; the Hive lies heavy on the world. Their Drones may spend up to four Willpower per turn, and ???
Saturating (•••••): Anything that draws this much of a Hive's attention is in decently is not long for the world. Their Drones may spend up to five Willpower per turn, and [something something should make you scream internally as you realize how screwed you are.]

However, there is a drawback to pouring so much of their attention into one place; if every Drone in the group they've invested their Attention in is killed, they lose those dots of Attention; if their Attention drops to 0, they dissipate and are effectively dead. Lost dots of Attention are regained at a rate of one per week.

Thoughts.

Pros: Serves as a mechanical representation of what it means for the Hive's attention to be on a specific bunch of its drones, and provides a way to actually kill (or at least wound) the damn things without having to root out every single drone it possesses. Becoming an automatic Slayer upon release gives dragons a good reason to not attempt to save every member of the Hive.

Cons: Becoming an automatic Slayer makes very little thematic sense, as Hives aren't really connected to the Cycle of Fate. I'd rather the Hive have a Supernatural Tolerance than not, since it makes a good way to eyeball how powerful it should be. (Much like Rank or other such measures.) I also rather like the idea of all members having the same Attributes and Skills, since it makes the Hives feel much more... Hive-y.

Overall, I like some of the Attention stuff, so I'd like to take bits and pieces of it and apply it to what I was already going with. I'll make notes on my thoughts for changes at the bottom of this post.

I'm thinking perhaps specialized castes if retained in your version have bonuses such as by providing "free" oversight and awareness to groups they are in essentially boosting the Hive's reach with no penalty other than risking the upgraded minion.

This looks like a good idea.

Also I think that when let go from the Hive you start yourself a new one in essence given a "colonization " mission. Slayers are dragon specific.

On one hand, I agree that released members shouldn't become Slayers. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of "colonization." It feels too much like purposeful reproduction, and I like the concept of all Hives reproduction being inherently violent. A new Hive is born when chunks are ripped out of the parent Hive, one way or another.
Besides, I think it should be possible to rescue drones, at least if they haven't been pulled in too deep. The most obvious plotline for a Hive is "a clutchmate or human loved one has been assimilated, go rescue them," and that should at least be doable. Tragic endings are possible, of course, but it loses a good deal of its punch if it was a foregone conclusion. Probably they can still be saved during a grace period, before their mind becomes inexorably linked to the Hive's. After that, removing them from the Hive's sphere of influence just makes them split off into a new Hive.
Hmm, so actually I like your idea, I just don't like the term colonization. It makes the act sound too intentional on the part of the Hive.

Not sure; I think Unity was just one detail too many. After all, a Hive really isn't something you play.

Being a Drone is a Condition instead of Template. So you can slap it onto, say, a Vampire, and it would still work. I'd restrict it to Supernaturals that still have Integrity, though, just for mechanical (and thematic) reasons. Though a Dread Power that gives them a variant they can slap on major templates might be... terrifying. I think it'd work kinda like an Idigam's ability to warp Werewolves.

Like I mentioned, plenty of antagonist races have power stats, and I for one would like to keep it.

And I think that any supernat can be turned into a drone. (Besides, limiting it to Integrity is useless because literally no supernats use Integrity. Vamps use Humanity.) One of my favorite parts of this antagonist is that they can be used against anyone; removing that would make them much less interesting.
Perhaps assimilating a supernat can result in the Hive gaining an appropriate Dread Power, or being able to create a Caste with similar abilities, or something like that.

OK, so, some final notes, because I am getting super tired.
- Attention feels like a good way to represent drones that are outside of the Hive's immediate concern, but the system doesn't feel right to me at the moment. It may need to be tweaked and/or simplified in order for me to feel satisfied.
- In particular, I think that social penalties should be applied based on increased Attention; the drones are actually more believably human when on autopilot than when under direct control.
- "Killing" a Hive via Attention traps forces a Unity breaking point, causing factions to splinter off into their own Hives. (Or possibly onto another Hive, if it was the one doing the trapping.)

I apologize if any of this is confusing or contradictory. Like I said, I'm rather tired, but I don't what to forget anything that I'm thinking of at the moment.

[Amechra]

Again, incredibly barebones; I was edging on 36 hours awake when I wrote that, so it's a bit surprising that I could spell.

EDIT: I think I'll tinker with it a bit more; Attention can be streamlined, I think, though I like the DEFCON-esque scale. We shall see.

[One Tin Soldier]

Again, incredibly barebones; I was edging on 36 hours awake when I wrote that, so it's a bit surprising that I could spell.

EDIT: I think I'll tinker with it a bit more; Attention can be streamlined, I think, though I like the DEFCON-esque scale. We shall see.

I'm thinking that the best way to streamline it would be to remove the limits on assigned Attention points. Make the scale 1-5 instead of 0-5, and have the default be that all drones are at 3 Attention. Then, the Hive can add points of Attention to a single group by removing equivalent amounts from all other groups. So then 3 would work the way we've described the drones before, 1 or 2 would have them be less functional, and 4 or 5 would have them be more functional. Maybe manifesting Dread Powers that aren't Hive-specific (so things like Dread Attack, Blast, Sleep, etc) requires Attention 4 or higher. And perhaps at Attention 1 the drones can no longer autopilot effectively, causing them to only respond to direct interaction.

[Almarck]

The main problem with relocating attention based on groups Tin is hat we would then need to define the attention other groups receive and we would need to define how many groups there are to reallocate from. Unless we develop a "Hive cluster" mechanic there can literally be 1 group for every drone and that would be a book keeping nightmare if managed in its entirety. Now obviously that is extreme but we do run into problems if we assume attention is reallocated from other Drones. It is also problematic when the entire Hive is gathered together to complete a major task and then there are no groups to draw attention from.

In short, I think maybe a universal attention stat is better for logistical purposes though I would prefer that there be more attention to divide everywhere. It also means it's easier to keep track of attention lost due to bad engagements.

[One Tin Soldier]

The main problem with relocating attention based on groups Tin is hat we would then need to define the attention other groups receive and we would need to define how many groups there are to reallocate from. Unless we develop a "Hive cluster" mechanic there can literally be 1 group for every drone and that would be a book keeping nightmare if managed in its entirety. Now obviously that is extreme but we do run into problems if we assume attention is reallocated from other Drones. It is also problematic when the entire Hive is gathered together to complete a major task and then there are no groups to draw attention from.

In short, I think maybe a universal attention stat is better for logistical purposes though I would prefer that there be more attention to divide everywhere. It also means it's easier to keep track of attention lost due to bad engagements.

I mean, that's exactly the problem that I'm trying to solve. If the Hive wants to put Attention 4 on one group of drones, all other drones have Attention 2. If they want to turn their attention 4 to a different group, the group that previously had Attention 4 now has Attention 2. Easy.

EDIT: And if the entire Hive is together in one place, then it can have max Attention on those drones. The cost there is that it is much easier to hurt the Hive as a whole. Though now that I think about it, maybe Attention should be capped by Unity somehow? So that a Hive with only 2-10 members isn't constantly going around at Attention 5. And perhaps there's a cap on how big a "group" can be?
Hmm, this could get overly complicated fast if we're not careful.

[Xallace]

I just want to mention that an attempted assimilation is a pretty good way to have an identity crisis.

And, y'know, become a dragon.



Also, aside from very direct problems such as Hives stealing people the dragon knows, what sorts of objectives might they pursue that puts them in confrontation with dragons? We know it can't be a physical confrontation - that is already taken by several other groups and frankly the Hives have little resistance to offer an angry dragon.