That Queen Maladrix lives at all is a wonder. In Skordyre society, young Queens who set out to establish their own hive rarely survive the perilous journey; fewer than one in ten live long enough to hatch their first brood. Hatched prematurely and smaller than most Queens, no one expected Maladrix to survive the night, let alone long enough to establish a fresh colony.

Maladrix proved them all wrong. She snuck, fought, and bartered her way through the manifold dangers of Arboreas, but it was not enough—the clutch of eggs she carried was destroyed. All seemed lost. Desperate, she stalked another juvenile Queen to her fledgeling lair. The ensuing battle was brutal and desperate, but in the end Maladrix prevailed, and the defeated Queen’s eggs were hers. Slowly, Maladrix began to wrap her dying rival in a fresh cocoon. Eventually, she would need to consume the conquered Queen in order to synthesize her pheromones, but for now she needed to rest.    

Within a year, Maladrix had established a successful hive. Within a decade, her hive was the envy of the region, a thriving Skordyre bastion in a perilous world. With the core of her colony secure, Maladrix began the grueling process of laying and fertilizing more than one million eggs. Finally, her labors complete, she settled into a thousand-year slumber, awaiting the second spawning of her young and the birth of a true hive.

It was not to be. After centuries of peace, a colossal convulsion shook the hive, collapsing its tunnels under millions of tons of rock and ruin. Pinned by rubble as her dream died around her, Maladrix resigned herself to death—but before she succumbed, the soft, rasping voice of Revna called the Skordyre Queen to a different fate.

Summoned to Valhalla alongside the remnants of her murdered hive, Maladrix’s mission remains unchanged. Battered but unbowed, Queen Maladrix the Conqueror will stop at nothing to restore the glory of her hive.

Queen Maladrix the Conqueror is available in the Rising Tide: Queen Maladrix and Festering Honor Guard Army Expansion!