Fiction:Vulmaurae

The Vulmaurae, also known as The Children of the Serpents and The Daemonkin, are a group of three Essence-based creatures created by the ancient race. Originally as numerous as the Symmetric Conduit Minds, they were reduced and reformed into the present three during the War of the Old Ones. They were conceived as an opposition to the Conduits, to ravage the constructions and Progenic children of the Psal'Jinnai, and notably succeeding in cleaving a path of devastation through the Symmetry in the, and possibly numerous others. The only known Progenic race in the Milky Way to survive their bloodshed were the, which they now continued to harass each day.

Formed from a mixture of Essence and biology-mimicking matter, the three surviving Vulmaurae are, , and , each being a considerably powerful entity in their own rights. All three also have a distinct rivalry with, the awakening Xonexi Conduit, and amongst eachother, viewing the Psal'Jinnai's remaining marks on the Gigaquadrant - and eachother to a lesser extent - as their most revilved enemies.

History
The Vulmaurae originated during the early years of the War of the Old Ones, constructed from Essence and the esqusitely merged and mutated flesh of the hundreds of species that had been enthralled by the Xi-Ur. The tortured minds of hundreds of Warleeches, captured by the Psal'Jinnai for study, were stolen back and implanted in these new bodies, driven now by an insane vengeance and desire to ravage the universe around them.

With no hesitation, the Chthonic Lords set their creations upon the Symmetry, with Sumantumn, Keinturu, and Adruex, the most potent of the legions, spearheading a behemoth arcane attack on the Selene Galaxy itself. In a conflict that lasted years, the titanic powers pushed against each other, and Vulmaurae being scattered into subatomic dust and energy by the second. The forces of the Xi-Ur and their creations were only driven back when, in an act of desperation, hundreds of stars were pushed by the Psal'Jinnai into the supermassive black hole at Selene's core, creating a quasar which burned through the horde and left the void in its path lifeless. The three who led the attack, however, survived, covertly moving to the Milky Way while their legions remained the primary target of the Symmetry.

In the Milky Way, the three Vulmaurae would launch a campaign of annihilation against every Symmetric construct and every Progenic species they could find. The Symmetry being much less established in the Xonexi Cluster, particularly the Milky Way, the Psal'Jinnai found they were only able to totally shield the, where the dwelt. Desiring that the Symmetry and Progeny should be wiped from Xonexi as a monument to the power of their horde and their god, the Chthonic Lords redirected the still-living Vulmaurae to merge with the greatest three. However, as they moved to break the stalemate, San'srumai herself descended from and into Carina to battle the three personally. Records of the combat are scarce, even within surviving Symmetric libraries; the oldest Ankoran myhtology describes, quite vaguely, a goddess of ocean storms battling three demons of fire and trickery with starlight and spheres of darkness, possibly referring to weaponized pulsars, magnetars, and black holes. However, it is known that this resulted in the imprisonment of the three Vulmaurae within the Subterfuge, which had been constructed in Cocytus to prepare for the defeat and capture of the Chthonic Lords.

It is believed by the Ankoran that the trio escaped from their prison in Coctyus some time after the fall of the Symmetry, possibly due to the attack of the which severely damaged Cocytus.

Nature
The Vulmaurae are beings of both a simple and complex nature; made solely to serve their Xi-Ur creators, the trio of surviving Vulmaurae follow the last orders of their gods ververently, attempting destroy, corrupt, or otherwise disrupt all Progenic or Symmetric acitivies in the universe.

However, many misconceptions regarding the Vulmaurae also exist, and many Progenic species wrongly attribute them to Demonhood, presuming that their connection to the Xi-Ur, their artifical nature, and the Xi-Ur's affiliation with Therusism that their creations are too related. While their nature does generally align with such philsosphies, the Vulmaurae themselves are largely unrelated to the wider universe's genuine demons.

Sumantumn
Sumantumn also called the Blood God and the Lord of Skulls, is the most warlike and bloodthirsty of the three Vulmaurae, and considered to be the strongest of the trio by default. Towering over mortal beings, his body is covered in a naturally forming armour, almost like bone, capable of deflecting even the most grievous of blows with ease.

Sumantumn has one tenet and doctrine for cultists that have fallen to his worship: blood and more blood. His only temple is the battlefield, his sole sacrament the spilled blood of nations. Consciously or not, all warrior cultures pay him a kind of homage with their acts of murder and destruction, from the headhunting tribes of backwater pre-industrial worlds, to the homicidal murderers of advanced civilisations.

Keinturu
Keinturu, also known as the Dark Seductress and Queen of Excess is the second of three dark entities known as the Vulmaurae. Her nature allows her to appear in any physical form she wishes, though she will typically appear in a highly sexualised feminine form of whichever race she is interacting with at the time.

Worshipers of Keinturu are typically seen as hedonistic, depraved, and gluttonous. Keinturu's worship is excess and self-serving. He or she whom only serves oneself - especially at the detriment of others - is a worshipper of Keinturu, whether through holding gluttonous feasts as their people start, engaging in orgies of lust and violence, or embracing vainglorious ideals and attempting to stand themselves of a pedestal above others.

Adruex
Adruex, also known as The Trickster, and He Who Schemes is the last of of the three Vulmaurae, and the most manipulative of the three. Unlike his siblings, Adruex is a schemer, plotting long, convoluted plans that invariably trip over one another, yet still somehow finding everything in his plans miraculously falling into place. Considered by many to be the Lord of change, lies, ambition, 'Pure Chaos' (though not in the sense that most Gigaquadrantic races apply the term), machiavellianism, and similar things, he greatly enjoys causing havoc through tricking mortals into doing his bidding, and watching the caused disasters playing out before him.

Rightly called 'He Who Schemes' for a reason, Adruex spends almost every waking second of existence plotting and planning for events to unfold simply because he can. Without a goal or desire other than to watch the universe play out, Adruex's schemes ironically just go on and on, forever and ever, twisted and tangled for the sheer joy of it with no end goal or even a purpose behind them. Indeed, he is a god of simple pandemonium, and a plan satisfied, tied up, and finished, is a plan that has left his purview. There is no victory, no defeat, no end. Ends are stagnation; the opposite of all he represents - For Adruex, only be the endless clatter of dice in the mad, cruel games the gods play with the fates and souls of mortals is what matters.