ITT: We create an Evil Empire

>only the exoskeletons of the insectoids can resist the intense energy released into the area around the seal for extended periods of time
>without armor lesser races wandering in the seal-zone will lose their will and wander aimlessly, undoubtedly to be discovered and sacrificed to the seal

No, it's cool. Here's a suggestion to keep things compatible.

> The castes, though physiologically identical at birth, are influenced by the diet they consume in their larval stage.
> The thrall caste, the lowest ranking insectoids who's duty is to oversee lesser race slaves, are fed a diet of gruel and rotting meat, which causes them to grow only six feet on average, short by the insectoid's standards, and take on a relatively fragile, on the level of copper instead of iron, pale chitin.
> The warrior caste, the second lowest ranking caste who's duty is to fight for the insectoids race and lead lesser race conscripts in battle, are fed a diet of raw meat and ore shavings, causing them to grow large and muscular, eight feet tall, and develop thick, black chitin.

Thoughts,

> Thoughts,

Fug, meant to say

> Thoughts?

Ignore the typo.

Sounds cool

>ones station in insectoid society can often be determined by the number of legs they managed to grow in the larval stage
>this leads to insectoid upper society adorning themselves with extra fake legs (often made of precious metals) as a fashion statement.

>furthermore "leg removal" can be used as a form a severe punishment and dishonor, similar to the yakuza

The lesser races are forbidden to:
>read or write any language
>teach each other anything more than the task assigned at birth
>speak out of their own accord
>have sex with a non designated mate
>wear or own non designated items

the humans are treated like cattle and this made them viciously egocentric and rebellions are common.

The insects are very receptive to pheromones and have larger "controllers" in the warrior caste (almost like a mini-caste of their own) who direct the warriors in battle, in organized swarms.

Conscripts operate outside of this and are usually either massed into platoons of things like matchlock arquebusiers, pikemen, or other weaponry. In cities and whatnot small parties are led by single warriors. Conscripts generally do not wear exoskeleton armor unless they have to traverse a seal-zone, and only then a small chestplate. Conscripts are below even thralls but are nonetheless depended upon for a large bulk of the ranged fire of the empire's forces in battle.

>There's no vanilla ice cream

Furthermore.
> The insectoids apply a rough sort of "caste" to military forces of lesser races. Each race has one specific battlefield role.
> Humans are generally gunners of some kind. Matchlocks, bigger hand cannons/grenade launchers, or artillery. Usually equipment is captured instead of produced, but there is a small weaponsmithing industry.
> Larger races (orcs? werewolves? whatever's big and beefy) are melee oriented. They are usually pikemen (placed alongside gunners and other ranger types) or swordsmen.
> Insectoid warriors themselves are effectively all melee. Because they are large and durable this is not much of a problem.

The rebellious humans have their families taken to work camps

The males of the captured families have their inner leg removed.

This one is just experimental if people don't like it

>the empire has mostly forgotten the nature of the seal and aren't quite sure what it imprisons, but they maintain the status quo instead of risking it and to stay in control
>a secret internal faction wants to let the seal open because plot advancement

>humanity initially attacked and sought to purge the other races indiscriminately, not counting on them to unite against a common enemy. On the verge of utter destruction, it was the powerful and universally reviled insectoids alone, who came to humanity's rescue, thus placing them at their mercy

>Humanities greatest act of war was in fact to release the great evil itself, causing every race to turn upon them
>After sealing the threat the insectoids erased all memory of humanities great destructive ritual, fearing one day their servants would use it to overcome them
>this is the darkest secret of the insectoid race

> Insectoid blood has almost no vitality, and they feel little in the way of pain or fear, this is one of the primary reasons for their enslavement of humans, as they cannot maintain the seal by sacrificing themselves.

...

>As a consequence of this fear, outside some of the harshly strict regulation of humans within their society, the insectoids have from the very beginning treated mankind "well", seeking to paint themselves as humanity's true and only ally, the only ones who stand beside them and defend them from all the other races who rightfully sought their destruction long ago

>The only sanctioned topping for pizzas in the empire is pineapple

The empire is evil user, not lawful good.

> This is because, though the jnsectoids have a relatively poor sense of taste, citrus and other acidic fruits, are extremely vivid to them. Thanks to their extremely strong mandibles and chitinous fingers, many well-to-do insectoids consume pineapples, lemons, and limes like humans do apples and oranges. Many humans are forced to labor on citrus plantations, to provide the insectoids with their favorite snacks and salad garnishings.

Humans are not allowed to live by themselves or in their own communities. Each insectoid is responsible for at least one human, often times more. They are not equals, nor are they treated as true slaves. The relationship fulfills the minimum for most humans to remain relatively content outside fringe cases of quickly stamped out rebellion, often at the hands of other humans.

Next level play- amalgamating the troll post into the lore.

Members of lesser races are rewarded, (with better shelter? food? clothing? a better mate?) for revealing others with plans of rebellion, thus fostering an environment of paranoia within the lesser species.

Lesser species are often more trusting of their handlers than others of their kind as a result.

Lets try some lore for the lesser races eh?

>the most capable and intelligent races (elflike) were exterminated following the conflicts and exist now in small isolated pockets if any
>when an automated magical alternative to the goblin pineapple slave farms was presented they were put on a death march across two continents to their waiting grapefruit work camps
>every night on the northern mountains you can hear the goblin work songs wail in remembrance of the fruit march

> In the distant past, humanity traveled to the world from another, fleeing their home, which they'd drained of all resources and polluted beyond repair in their shortsightedness. They were once much taller, smarter, and frailer, but after millennia of insectoid slavery and primitive eugenics, devolved into their current state, and their origins are forgotten to all but the wisest sages and eldest priests.

I like the idea of all-but extinct elf-analogues, but do we really need goblins? In my opinion, it undercuts the whole human slave race thing. What if instead, they were an offshoot species of the insectoids with dull chitin and only two arms, that were small, barely sapient, and incapable of maintaining a society on their own, and the insectoid thralls controlled them using pheromones?

>the insectoids, ridiculously long-lived as they are remember all too well. There are some humans that were intentionally bred to try and return them to their original state
>these humans are envied and resented, seen as something strange and "other". They are paraded around by high ranking Insectoids like show dogs or "companions"
>despite their physical likeness to the original humans, they suffer a number of issues including drastically reduced lifespans and mental instability

im ok with goblins being replaced, but don't you think it would be more lolz if you put pixies on a death march?

That's neat, but I feel like having a smaller insect race that's enslaved by a larger insect race is a bit cliched. What if they're mole people instead, who are nearly blind but have a heightened sense of hearing and smell, which allows them to follow pheromone-commands? And they were once a great, advanced and industrial race whose intellect and technology surpassed all others, but they were somehow exterminated by the insectoids until only a few thousand remained, and after being enslaved, millennia of forced inbreeding caused them to devolve to their current, barely-sapient state with only long-rusted artifacts and long-abandoned ruins remaining of their former state?

>The heavy taxation is actually in order to build up the infrastructure of the Empire for a 10 year plan to grow the economy

> This meaning stone roads leading to and from the seal, major cities, and the more resource-rich areas of the frontier, and the construction of several new grand hives.

Felt like getting this out of the way.

>although a largely collectivist leaning society, they are not governed by any sort of hive-mind, and function as individuals

...

The insectoids came upon pre-space flight humans after almost getting destroyed by "The good empire™" and have forced them to combine their primitive 1980's technology with their advanced biological one.

The small amount of bugs with breeding capabilities that managed to survive to conquer earth have made them a small but powerful elite.

The insectoids have a strong sexual appetite for humans.

The empire is not really evil, the party just fell for the propaganda spread by the evil corporation/guild/religion trying to stage a coup
If only the party spended more time investigating instead of just murderhoboing they'll could have figured out

The insectoids aren't evil since morality is not set in stone and they, being an alien species, could find murder, torture and rape to be moral virtues.

Being nice to eachother is dumb fuck morality Bluh bluh bluh we're freee!

>The empire is hated for industrialising magic
>The insectoid mind and its understanding of personal freedom is abhorrent to the "good guys" because it's "different and wrong"
>Humans are routinely kidnapped and "deprogrammed" because it's inconceivable that someone would want to stay

many of the lesser races view the insectoids as evil and monstrous, but they pay no heed to such thoughts, for every calculated act taken by them is virtuous and just in their alien minds.

> The empire is divided into several vast regions ruled by greater queens, which are in turn divided into several dozen smaller regions, which are ruled by lesser queens, the empire itself is ruled by the arch-queen, who is appointed via the vote of bi-centennial council of higher queens. The noble caste rules and administrates over insectoid society, and hundreds of matrilineal noble clans vie for supremacy in an intricate cold-war of succession, espionage, and the rare assassination.

> None of this is visible to the lesser races, and if one weren't well acquainted with the insectoid administration, the empire would appear completely united, and it wouldn't necessarily be false to assume it is.

Pls no

>queens can fly

They should all be flight capable I think, though maybe royalty would have the benefit of better wings/flight capability.

>Cattle die.
Eh.

The insectoid empire actually has better healthcare than the other neighboring nations, because a sacrifice that's been sick often would have less vitality for the seal to absorb. Thus the 'old and decrepit' part is only half true. Old they might be, but not that decrepit.

TRIPS CONFIRM

WE NEED TO MAKE AN EVIL EMPIRE

>666
GO BACK TO HELL, YOU ABHORRENT ABOMINABLE SUBHUMAN!

>Pls no
Literally why not, what is wrong with any of those mr generic bugman?

There's nothing wrong with them in and of themselves, they just don't fit the established canon.

Why do interesting threads like this always lose steam after fifty posts?

>There isn't actually anything behind the seal
>This is widely known, but talking about it is taboo

theres a basement
theres allways a basement but this one is a government basement
theres allways a government basement but this one has a wault in it
there are some high ranking military types there, the kind that have power above and beyond rank, they are scared
there are men in siuts there, the kind that know shit, the kind of shit that keeps mointains in their place, they are scared
there are men in labcoats there, oldschool applyed science types that have seen some shit, they are scared
there is a government official there, he can see all the other men are scared, he dosent understand why they are scared

he dosent know