Are all orbs accounted for at the moment, or are there non-existant orbs around?

Celest/the Tahtetso own one.

None of that explains the story explanation for why something that's supposed to exist in a set of five with very specific purposes in mind is suddenly tossed to the surface. Especially considering they've thus far needed all five orbs to seal the Illithoid.

Of course, it could be Zenobia lied in the past if what Neos say is correct. Which begs the question why they've handed a nuke to people who don't understand how to use it.

Pfft, lying is a character trait of major NPCs. Just look at Maeve!

Mebbe. But it's been clearly stated that the five kepheran orbs are extremely valuable and utterly neccessary to the kepheran. I mean, they've got hives built around them. True, it's not the only focus, but it's their main contribution to the society as a whole.

It's called paying credits. You could get your own if you wanted to pay the credits. No need to get worked up about it.

Keph likely had more than five eyes (that said, who knows how many exist still - or how willing the Kephera would be in parting with them).

In fact, considering what she was called, I'd say there's a guarantee she had more than five eyes. Directly from the Histories:

"Keph of the Thousand Eyes"

I've always taken that to mean she actually had a set of compound eyes (like a giant bug!), not that she literally had one thousand eyeballs.

Sounds like the concern is that some quest element says it only does what it does because you have all the remaining eyes, and now, it's clear that you don't, yet the quest element still works. I really think there's been a lot bigger holes than that we've ignored, let alone fixed. I don't think it's a big deal.

Nothing of the quest element says you require all the eyes - it requires five eyes placed in certain locations, utilized by Kephera Queens who have (note) drank the Elixir of the Mind.

Nothing says 'all the eyes'.

The discrepancy comes from the verbose descriptions of the eyes themselves, which state there are only five (which is weird anyways, since no one would know that from looking at them!).

It's true! We are the She of the Many Eyes, and She had more than five, six or even seven. The UV kephera don't need -all- of them, they need five to empower five Nodal Hives. As whatshisface said above, Zenobia gave one to the Tahtetso for some reason, so it is evident that Zenobia is aware of how to find them and hide them. It's perfectly reasonable and very much IC for Queen of Queens Zenobia to grant an Orb of Keph to empower her sister Queen Ankhemet on the surface world, particularly since there are the psychic predations of the surface illithoid to guard against, just as there is a need for psychic defence below, in the UV.

Since Azus is very dedicated to UV kephera matters, has revived many Queens many times and raised Zenobia twice, (all in Jhen Ankhemet's name) I'm sure you'll agree that it is acceptable and IC for us to have been given one. If you have more issues with it, I'll try and make it clearer - I want to make sure everyone is understanding of what we're doing.

As did I upon initial reading, but who is to say that a piece of each compound eye couldn't be considered an eye of itself? No matter!

Good news everyone! Hive Ankhemet now has a bookbinding cartel, thanks to that pushy Sendellor. He badgered me into purchasing one, so I intend to make good use of it! We've already submitted a design, so hopefully we can deal with the first round of rejections soon.

In other news, the warrior's bed has been approved - our warriors can now have beds! These will be provided as soon as possible - we just need to find an artisan to stick in the Waxwood to make it for us. Any volunteers?

This strikes me as an absolutely smashing example of material to use the in-game clan newsboards for.

Especially since the bed design mentioned above is actually private, so the only people who could make it already know about it.

Yeah. Have to agree.

Especially since there, everyone would (should?) be all fired up for it.

Well, it was actually a poorly veiled way to say "Someone come make an artisan kephera, since we need one." I also want to make sure that people know that the Hive is coming along nicely, in the hopes of attracting more kephera. It doesn't seem too out of place to me.

In other news, the Worker's Commons needs to be expanded - join now for your pick of room direction, you Hiveless males!

Okay, so I come from Achaea and I went with Kephera for a race because my Achaean character was a Horkval and I have a weakness for bugs. After bopping about the forums and seeing Azus posting about the Hive it dawned on me that I picked a race with some really awesome role playing opportunities that I know nothing about. You guys have your amazingly awesome Hive and I wanted to ask, where can I learn more about the Kephera?

Running around and looking at all the Hives is a pretty good source. Though walking through the Undervault is a pretty good way for a new player to get killed, maybe find somebody who can escort you around to visit the queens?

Though there's probably plenty of people who can tell you a bunch on the forums. I'm fairly familiar with them myself, but really not feeling like rambling aimlessly about them at the moment, unless you had any specific questions.