Oathbinding is a simple process. A Skordyre Queen collects any hatchlings not showing enough promise for a higher station and prepares for them the Oath Vat: a steaming bath of neurotoxins, carefully proportioned. As she works, her most trusted guards teach the young chosen the mantra they will repeat all the rest of their lives. This mantra varies from hive to hive, each unique, but the substance is always the same: Loyalty, service, love. Nothing else.

The Oath Vat washes away all that is not the mantra-oath. Those chosen feel no pain; simply the dissolving of their will and the gentle cleansing of all that is not useful to their Queen. A clarity of purpose, the embrace of a simple life. Easy. Loving. Painless.

But when thousands and thousands pass through the Vat, sometimes one falls victim to an imperfect process. These unfortunates are driven mad; feral in their devotion, agonized in their love. Crazed, violent, devoted, and flawed.

For Maladrix, this unusual outcome happens with unfortunate frequency. She often wonders if her devoured rival haunts her still. But no matter; a clever Queen throws nothing away. Maladrix has collected her defective Oathbound into a Phalanx. A living ball of frenzied maws and frothing loyalty. A beautiful weapon, growing ever-stronger as the strange world of Valhalla grates against her hive.

Oathbound Phalanx is available in the Rising Tide: Oathbound Phalanx and Oathbound Legionnaires Army Expansion!