12.2.10.7 THE KEPHERA HIVES

The kephera are a strictly matriarchial society ruled by the powerful and clairsentient Hive Queens, yet these Queens cannot abide the presence of one another and thus they live in hives spread across the entirety of the vast Undervault. There are nine known Hive Queens of the kephera, and it is rumoured that there was once a great Queen of Queens who ruled all the Hives, and some kephera persist in the belief that she is destined to return one day and help seal away the illithoid, who are the great enemies of the kephera.

Each of the Hives has a specialized role in kephera society, including the great Fungus Gardens where the food for the entire race is cultivated, the Breeding Hive on the shores of the Undersea of Keph, the ordered Vats where their sacred elixir is brewed, and the five Nodal Queens' hives - who maintain the psychic web that imprisons the illithoid.