To understand the Anarti, you have to know only two things, magic and pheromones. The Anarti learn from a very young age the ability to telepathically communicate with each other. The concept of magic is not one known yet the species, magiwaves undiscovered, and the knowledge behind the strange pattern that had evolved over time - allowing this feat to be so is a mystery. To them, it's as "magical" as the ability to convert undulations of waves in the air into sound.

The rare females of the species also discreet a unique pheromone, one that clouds the minds of near by males and places them into a mentally malleable state, simply following basically anything suggested by the female in question, as well as blocking any other females from doing the same.

These means in their 'natural' state, the Anarti are made up of many hives, each ran by one female the males befuddlingly following every wish and command of the voice in their head. These hive would fight, rise and fall in time, over and over. That was until the 'unification' 800 years ago. Ischarli was her name, an she introduced the idea of free will, an idea that was extraordinarily successful. The Anarti had never been stupid, building giant underground homes and minor technology, yet being allowed to think for the first time allowed her hive to expand and encompass every other in a matter of years, until only hers remained in the known world.

This however had a curious effect, one of the few species in which freedom of thought and action was considered a privilege, a gift. Each Anarti considers themselves a part of many "Hives within Hives", leading up to the entire species as a whole. To aid these with your gift of free will was well looked upon, to waste this was disdainful, and to hurt those around you had the shame of having this gift taken away. This also lead to a major curiosity and a growth of knowledge. The more you learned, the more you could help. Self preservation very often takes a back seat to uncovering the unknown, with very many a enthusiastic Anarti falling prey to many of the unknown dangers their planet held. This also expanded their civilization immensely, speeding forwards into the grip of an industrial revolution at the current date, and covering over half their planet.

The wars of hives long behind them, the Anarti do still retain a lot of their old traits. Immensely strong for their size, an attraction to bright lights, inability to swim, a comfort of tight spaces and a fondness for sugar still remains.

As curious as any of his species, there's a general enthusiasm surrounding almost everything Scree does. Happiest when being told how to, or actually helping in any way. His world is black and white, you are either part of the hive, or you are a threat to it. Those lucky enough to be his hive will find an extraordinarily self sacrificing and loyal companion. With no knowledge of the world outside the discovered section of Scantaria, the culture shock will be immense.

orig12.deviantart.net/aea7/f/2008/045/.. Standing on two legs, has a set of sharp forceps allowing fine motor control. Like all of his species, has a raised epicuticle pattern on his thorax which allows telepathic communication. Stands just over 5ft.

Scree, or "Astarnia perscinia Scree 5891" as his full name went, could remember it as if it was just yesterday, the feeling of apprehension filling the cavern, a panicked nervousness shown in the frantic twitching of antennae, as he along with the hundreds of others that made his up brood stared down at the lengthy booklets in front of each them, ink pots and quills clenched in their forceps, each one knowing exactly what it meant. This was the beginnings of rest of their lives, the beginnings of each Anarti's repayment for the gift of free will.

Starting. The sound of scribbling fill the air, the tome in front of him containing ream after ream of questions on practically everything. Engineering, mathematics, philosophy, biology. Entire sections were quickly discarded. Scree was not a master of medicine, the sight of an open exoskeleton one he'd rather never see. Chemistry followed that shortly, only the simplest of elements he could remember, before zooming ahead through the sections hoping to find something he was good at.

Because that was the entire point of this exercise. To work out where you were good and were you were bad, to allow each individual to show their talents, and by doing so be assigned to place they could be the most help. While no matter what his assignment he would simply be happy to help, in reality he would rather be exploring and enticing the curiosities of this world, helping the hive through the accumulation of knowledge rather than the large amount of "busy work" simply maintaining the hive required. Not that he felt that confident with how many subjects he had skipped, swathes of paper left unwritten on.

Scree calmed down a little once he came to engineering, mathematics, physics. These were areas he was more confident in, an eye for complication and detail always being his forte. He continued onwards, slowing down and feeling almost confident as he mapped the tunnels he'd lived in for most of his life, accurately drawing the lines and dimensions as well as he could recall from memory. For the first time in an hour he felt just relaxed enough to slowly look up, at the hundreds of Anarti who surrounded him. They were his brood, hatched from the same clutch and growing up as larvae together, learning and understanding the world for the last 6 years. This would probably be the last time he'd see most of them, although this thought wasn't greeted by sorrow. In reality they would all be connected by the Hive, their actions affecting each other no matter where they would end up.

Time passed, eventually the mass scribbling stopped, most choosing to sit in apprehensive silence, as eventually groups of his brood started to be lead away to the rest of their lives. The first were those who had "failed", the largest group by far. In reality their tests had only just begun, more labor intensive filtering would be done on this group, to work out the roles of those not suited for intellectual work. That was not where Scree's talents lay though, being a rather small specimen.

Then the satchels for those who had passed, various colors and patterns denoting where they had been assigned, each being given by whoever would be mentoring them in their chosen path. Scribes, Doctors, practitioners and researchers of varying fields were all let away one by one. They wouldn't be starting just yet, the education they had had wasn't specific enough for their eventual needs, many a years training would still be required. Scree looked over at those wearing the red and brown stripes of the engineers, a small pang of envy filling him for a moment. He'd seem the advances in steam, the work being done in transportation using compressed air, the machines and wonders that were being developed as they harnessed this power. If he wasn't chosen he was confident it was probably the right choice, but still...

Eventually, it was his turn, the leather satchel and its speckled green and blue pattern causing him to just stare, unable to believe what was happening. No, Scree's main talent came in the assimilation and recall of details, his test containing detailed. He could accurately describe and mark his surroundings at just a glance. And so he stood there, hardly daring to speak lest there be some kind of mistake as he took the leather item and silently followed his new teacher. A pride filled inside of him to such a degree that he almost felt as if his Thorax would burst open. He would be exploring the unknown, marking down and returning the undiscovered mountains and valleys of their only partially understood planet, a job he hadn't dreamed of being selected for. Scree would be part of the Mappers, the explorers.

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Even today this pride still remains, every moment a trembling excitement as he meticulously explored, marked down, and documented the undiscovered world around them. And during a scouting expedition into the jungles of the north, that is when Scree came across a strange immense metal structure towering above him, unknowing of the worlds in the sky that would soon be having a very direct impact on his life; and visa versa.