Editing Cephalyx (section)

==History==
The history of the cephalyx lie in the ancient past of Immoren and is unknown to the people of western Immoren. Even among the cephalyx there is a limited interest in their own history, and their record-keeping is given over to the preservers, low-caste cephalyx that serve as living archives for their masters. The cephalyx are not proud of their history, viewing their ancestors as debased and diminished beings ruled by superstition and emotion rather than the beings of ever purer reason they have evolved into.

The people who would become the cephalyx were the inhabitants of the original human civilization of what is now the Shattered Spine Islands. Predating Cinot, Urus was the primary city of this civilization, worshippers of the Creator of Man. When the Time of the Burning Sky destroyed Urus, some of its inhabitants fled to the mainland. Unable to survive in the harsh conditions created by the Cataclysm, they burrow under the earth, believing the destruction to be a sign of divine wrath. The lengths these survivors went to to survive, including cannibalism, led them to believe themselves as accursed, unworthy of worshipping Menoth.

Gradually, the survivors formed a harsh subterranean caste society, with taboos on physical contact and eventually all the base functions of life. The very lowest castes handled the treatment of waste and the disposal of the dead, and the higher castes covered themselves in black, encompasissing garments. Reproduction was heavily ritualized and unapproved children were eliminated. The higher castes devoted themselves to mental pursuits, distancing themselves from all physical labor and food production. Patterning their civilization on insect hives, they delved into many studies previously forbidden, hoping to concentrate entirely on the unshackling of their minds and reconciling the physical and the mental. Gruesome anatomical experiments by these philosopher-surgeons was augmented by the creation of lenses and polished crystals and mechanical implements that enabled them to gain immense knowledge of the nature of flesh, organs, blood vessels, and brains without soiling their own bodies. These ancestors of the cephalyx developed greatly in anatomical and mechanical knowledge and physics. Eventually, they were able to create the first unthinking Drudges through this cephalomek, first from their own ranks and later from raids of the surface. Reshaping, altering and twisting their own brains and minds, the cephalyx unlocked the telepathic potential that now define them. Speech and writing became uneccessary and the potential for biological information storage was greatly enlarged. Eventually they developed their powers to such an extent that they could manipulate the world around them without physical contact, utilize mechanical prostethics through telekinesis and levitating their own bodies. The cephalyx gained an appreciation for the biological sciences they had not had previously, rising from their new understanding.

The growth of their telepathic powers enabled the cephalyx to read the minds of their peers and even dominate and damage them. Previously the most esteemed thinkers had held leadership positions but these were now usurped by those cephalyx most capable of shielding themselves from mental intrusion and forcing others to do their bidding. Cutthroat competition led to the creation of the Exulons, enforcing their will on others through mental domination. They also developed the ability to nourish themselves on the mental energy of other intelligent beings.

The fiercely independent nature of the Exulons along with resource shortages led to the splintering of the original Hive and the establishment of many such centres of cephalyx civilization beneath the mountain ranges and forests of western Immoren. This occurred during what the surface dwellers called and Warlord Era and continued into the Thousand Cities Era, with the cephalyx kidnapping surface dwellers to turn into drudges. The Exulons and the castes below them were always engaged in fierce competition with the beings capable of refining and increasing their mental powers dominating society. Simultaneously they developed cephalomek alone and in research circles.

The cephalyx were gradually able to greatly extend the lifespans and mental powers of the Exulons, although one of their challenges as a society was their focus on analytical thinking at the expense of creative insight. This created problems for them during the Orgoth occupation of western Immoren, as the Orgoth sequestered their human slaves from the cephalyx and were able to effectively resist and push back cephalyx attempts to kidnap material for raw drudges. The Orgoth's mystical knowledge and ability to drive their soldiers into berserk rage though these powers made them difficult to dominate mentally and they had no reservations about descending into the cephalyx' tunnels when they discovered them. As the occupation wore on, the Orgoth relaxed their grip on their slave populations and allowed the cephalyx to regain the initiative. The cephalyx were careful about confronting the Orgoth during this period, instead focusing on further expanding their lifespans.

After the fall of the Orgoth, the cephalyx anticipated a rise in their fortunes. Unfortunately for them, the rise of the Convergence of Cyriss and their underground temple-laboratories presented them with an opponent that were fully capable of waging warfare on their own terms. The philosophies of the Convergence, concentrating on a complete abandonment of biology, were anathema to the cephalyx and their mechanical bodies made mental intrusion difficult, Eventually, the cephalyx came to believe that the Convergence's philosophies were a debased and corrupted form of their own core beliefs, and that the Convergence's mechanical intelligences were not, in truth, in possession of free will. They were slaves to their clockwork goddess, and if the Convergence ever achieved their goal of manifesting Cyriss on Caen, it would prevent the cephalyx own goal of complete mental freedom. Although they did not believe that the Convergence would ever be able to complete their program, they agreed to oppose the Convergence at all costs. The cephalyx were, however, unable to coordinate themselves as a species against the Cyrissisists, as each Hive was too fiercely independent of the others. However, they were able to capture many Convergence installations and convert the biological elements of these into drudges. Unable to fully comprehend Convergence Mechanika, they could not properly maintain captured power sources, but made use of them until they ran down.

The increased activity of the Convergence in recent years saw the cephalyx steeling themselves against expansion and occasionally launching assaults on temples. In addition, cephalyx facilities in the Thornwood, already threatened by Convergence intrusion, were faced with a new threat in the form of Cryxian subterranean installations. Unexpectedly, one of the most powerful Exulons of the Thornwood hives, Thexus, was approached by Cryxian leadership offering an alliance. Thexus was able to eliminate the other Exulons that wanted no accord with outsiders and enter into a partnership with Cryx, sometimes even sharing resources and underground territory. Thexus has gained many advantages from this partnership, primarily in the form of an influx of slaves, even if military cooperation often leads to high losses of drudge slaves and their larger monstrosity cousins. In 600 AR, Thexus was able to capture a major Convergence facility under the Thornwood.