Ok, it appears the immortals are more controversial than I anticipated, to the point that folks are actively calling for a retcon. Thus, I will be given you all here on patreon the chance to influence the decision. We shall have a vote on whether to keep immortals or go for something else.
Be advised: if you elect for me to retcon the latest chapter, I’m going to say there will be no new patreon chapter on Friday, because I will need time not only to make the changes but also to reset. Not going to lie, a retcon like this is a big halt in momentum, so I’ll need time to ramp back up. I also don’t want to penalize the Royal Road readers for a choice they weren’t party to, so Royal Road will continue on and gain one chapter on the patreon. You will still be 5 chapters (so at least one week’s worth) ahead afterwards.
Now then, while I normally avoid spoilers and also prefer letting the story speak for itself, I would like to explain a bit more of my ideas for the immortals, seeing as they may never come to fruition anyways, and to answer the points raised about Belissar’s mentality.
So, the plan for the immortals would that this would be a continued step in the direction of the entire hive contributing to the fight of its warriors, which we’ve started with dancers and ministers. I envisioned not as one bee taking over the fight for the others, but as the whole hive granting its combined mana and life to its warriors even when not actively engaged. And, through the hive of hives and a monster bee empress…all hives could start to help. IE, the First of the Fifth’s swirled honey could become a battery to regenerate the Firstborn’s knights, or other such things, such that the hive of hives’ strongest warriors cannot be killed until the entire hive of hives falls. In fact, stuff like that was probably going to be necessary because I was thinking the army queen's hives, being smaller and less productive, probably don't have sufficient hive mana or honey stores to support Immortals on their own at the moment, so was going to be a moment where only the hive of hives made it viable.
It would also open the door for Belissar to select options that are otherwise guaranteed to die, such as the berserkers, and to lean more heavily into intentional sacrifice tactics, rather than only accepting unavoidable sacrifice.
I also did not plan for Belissar to pull back all non-immortal bees when he realizes not all of them can be made immortal. The bees would still fight and Belissar would still accept that casualties are possible, but a few of them could fight more aggressively and take on more risk to let the others fight more safely. IE, if we made the Firstborn’s knights or the new giant bumblebees immortals, they could charge right into the enemy and get right in their face while ignoring counterattacks, allowing the non-immortal bees to strike with impunity, or they could tank enemy attacks while the other bees fly safely behind them.
As for Belissar’s character growth, the way I see it is that Belissar will always want to protect the bees to the maximum extent possible, even if he accepts or embraces bee death as necessary. That’s ultimately a core part of his identity, no matter the extent to which he embraces bee sacrifice he will always prefer for bees not to die when given the choice. But well, yes, I can also see the point that perhaps you might want him to have to sacrifice bees every now and again, which would mean we would have to remove the choice to avoid those bee deaths. You monsters.
Another point is the question of the Thriae and how and when they might return to the story later on. That was not settled yet, but I will point out that Warriors are not the only types of Thriae, so there might be more avenues to acquire Thriae than this one. It would be something of a pivot for me to take them now, plus, you know, then we don’t get the whole prophecy-vibe with them advising Belissar in a way he wouldn’t expect and that may or may not end up better than getting them now. So, even if we don't select Immortals we may not end up with Thriae...yet, that is...
Bee-hemoths, the other option, are fine to pick…but come with the big caveat that their price tag + the environment and resources necessary to support them mean they’re just going to sit as an option in Belissar’s menus for a long time most likely. Who knows if Belissar will even have one by the time he might need some legendary firepower...unless, of course, Belissar had a way to rapidly expand his dungeon and maybe grow some world-tree levels of flowers and forests with some kind of giant plants. If only...
But well, let’s be real. Given Belissar’s identity, it’s hard to imagine him not being at least heavily interested in immortals if they’re offered. So, if I’m going to retcon it, I probably just need to wipe immortals as an option and come up with a third choice that would probably be the one Belissar picks. Well, if it comes with a cheaper price tag than bee-hemoths and the Thriae still says don't pick her yet, that is, otherwise it’s up in the air. No idea what the new option would be yet…already used up my creativity on this first set of options so will need some time to think…
Welp, anyways, that’s just like, my opinion. We’ll put the question to the hive now! So, what’ll it bee?