Keeper of the Bonehives
Overview
The Keeper of the Bonehives is an Imperial title created by the Senate in Winter 383YE to oversee the Bone Hives following the conquest of Ossium. The position of Keeper is an unusual sinecure, producing doses of three unique drugs. The hives are in the depths of the Echofell, in Ossium.
During the Autumn Equinox 386YE, the Senate passed a motion to expand the Bone Hives. This provided much needed improvements to the structures of the hives and, more importantly, established housing for the Amber Scorpion clan who work the hives.
During the Summer Solstice 387YE, the Senate passed another motion to change the appointment method of the title to Tally of the Votes.
Responsibilities
The Keeper has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive an income of unusual drugs from the Bone Hives each season. If the hives, or the Amber Scorpion who work them, were to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Keeper to deal with those threats.
Powers
| Drugs of the Bone Hives | |
| 6 Crowns | 1 dose each of Flickerbright, Stormspark, and Fireheart |
| 17 Crowns | 2 doses each of Flickerbright, Stormspark, and Fireheart and 1 dose of Slumbersting |
| 30 Crowns | 3 doses each of Flickerbright, Stormspark, and Fireheart and 1 dose of Slumbersting |
Unique Drugs
The Keeper gains custodianship of a sinecure. Each season they receive 3 doses each of substances known to the locals as Flickerbright, Stormspark, and Fireheart, produced from the ichor and venom of the insects housed at the sinecure mixed with local plants.
Amber Scorpion
The Keeper also has access to a ministry that allows them to purchase additional doses of drugs at a set price. The Keeper makes their decision on how much money to spend during downtime from their character page. Money is removed from, and drugs are placed into, the character's inventory when the downtime is processed.
Appointment
This title is appointed during the Summer Solstice each year. The Keeper of the Bonehives is appointed by citizens of Varushka who control mine and forest personal resources. The larger the holder an individual has, the more votes they can allocate in support of a candidate. The voting is handled by the civil servants in the Bourse.
Only a Varushkan citizen may hold the title. They do not receive a seat on the Bourse. As a title appointed through the Bourse they cannot be revoked by the Synod.
| Summit | Elected |
|---|---|
| Winter Solstice 386YE | Sketchemi Justicast Mentyevik |
| Winter Solstice 385YE | Sketchemi Justicast Mentyevik |
| Winter Solstice 384YE | Druhain Olodniky |
| Spring Equinox 384YE | Druhain |
Recent Elections
This title is currently held by Sketchemi Justicast Mentyevik; it will be reelected at the next summit. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.
The Bone Hives
The Echofell is currently known for two things; the Tower of the Scorpion and the disturbing number of unpleasant insects and poisonous creatures the live there, many of them almost unnaturally keen to feast on human blood. Much of the forest is still shrouded in mystery, but the Druj of the Amber Scorpion clan, it seems, were farming insects in much the same way a Volodmartz herder might farm sheep.
The great buzzing hives stand in the south-eastern Echofell, and take their name from their peculiar construction. The hives, it seems, are built of bleached weirwood and animal bone, making them stand out like eerie ghosts against the dark trees of the forbidding forest. The secretions from the insects harboured within are harvested and mixed with local plants to create substances unknown in the Empire which combine narcotic and medicinal effects that work equally well on humans and orcs. Surrounding the hives is a ring of buildings, formerly belonging to Druj apothecaries, and now occupied by their former human and orc servants. Initially suspicious of the civil servants, the presence of the Imperial Orcs Bonewall Tresshak and Bonewall Koshhok in their party helped create an initial rapport. Hungry and isolated, the former servants were able to provide an explanation for the hives, and demonstrate how they were used. Most of the orcs were fascinated to hear tales of Skarsind, and have already departed the area to join the Imperial Orcs. The remaining humans have shown a great deal of interest in becoming Varushkan, and potentially establishing a vale around the Bonehives. The Hives themselves, however, they have no interest in maintaining.
Following their invasion of Echofell in 384YE, the Druj attempted to destroy the bone hives, to deny them to the Empire. Luckily the Keeper, and a band of Imperial heroes, were able to thwart them - but not before they had damaged several hives. As a consequence, production of the unique drugs from the bone hives was interrupted for several months.