More Broken Verse [sic]

[Steerpike]

Can you direct me to more info on the huskmen?  I'm having trouble tracking them down.  Are these figures made of insect swarms, similar/identical to the Swarm Gods/swarmkin?  I love the idea of swarm-beggars controlling castoff bodies, rotting cadaver-vagabonds beseeching passersby for a hunk of spoiled meat ("Blessing of Tchekhryszebh upon you, sir," the creature says in a thousand tiny voices).  I'd say Yes to them being supernatural, it seems strange to have them be somehow "natural" in any sense.

One thing I'd wonder about are different subraces or breeds of huskmen (I'm assuming here they're the same as swarmkin).  Are they always variegated, or could some huskmen be composed of one sort of vermin, hence maggotmen, mothlings, arachnoids, or whatever you'd want to term each type?  Perhaps the personalities of a given swarmkin shifts depending on what insects constitute it, or perhaps there are huskman clans?  Can huskmen formed entirely out of flying insects also fly?

[Superfluous Crow]

Yeah, huskmen = swarmkin = swarm gods, sorry for not making that clear. :)
Putting "god" in their name seemed a little over-the-top in hindsight and having swarm be part of the name is a bit too obvious, so I took a third route.
At the moment there isn't really more info on them here aside from the old stuff which you seem to remember disturbingly well (seriously, *I* can barely spell Tchekhryszebh) and a line or two on page one under "The Ilk".

I think I will go down the supernatural route then.
Here are some thoughts: they will be nature spirits of a sort (but not really, because my world doesn't have a spirit/fey world per se) and affect the world by accruing not material wealth, but material substance. So in a way, they are these poltergeisty presences, maybe still with a "heart-bug" at their center, rooting them in the world. Kill it and it dies. So they wander about, collecting stray matter - mostly twigs and insects, growing physically and mentally as well, as they assimilate the hundred minds and lives of the insects composing them.
True sentience requires them to acquire a certain "critical mass" of minds and that's why some live mindless lives as beggar-spirits, feeding on garbage and left-overs.

They would typically be very heterogenous, especially since they have to keep the insects originally composing them alive or risk losing memories. But some of the more intelligent ones might delicately reassemble themselves or some creatures might form spontaneously out of natural swarms. Some of the higher ranking courtiers (or maybe even concubines) might be formed entirely out of butterflies and polished slivers of ivory.  

Depending on their individual level of power there'd be limits to how many things they could psychically assimilate. It requires part of their presence to absorb mind and matter alike, and absorbing too many bodies might dilute the mind. I could see an enraged huskmen gobbling up an entire swarm of locusts, losing himself in their simple minds, sacrificing mental power for physical power. Half-insane huskman behemoth-swarms.  

Historically, I think there was once a time when they could dominate... bigger things. Humans for instance. Or at least influence them. They could have been these truly fearsome mob-spirits once. Somehow their strength has diminished, though. Maybe they simply forgot the old secrets, as they are prone to.
I think that huskmen would be the closest thing one could get to playing a "psionic character" (don't read too much into the p-word - I'm not thinking crystals and tattoos and ectoplasm and all that) who could gradually become better at psychokinesis and telepathy.  

The question of whether they can fly has been bothering me since day one... Wearing clothing and so on would of course be a major hindrance, but assuming they are in pure swarm form I think they should be able to fly short distances, especially if aided by a degree of inherent psychokinesis. Maybe that kind of disassembly poses a certain risk of "disassimilation" for them, though. They might lose part of themselves in the journey. The huskmen who have lost themselves in a swarm, as mentioned above, might be able to fly just as well as their constituents.

EDIT: wow, this posted turned out longer than I thought it would. Just wanted to say, the idea of huskmen clans has me intrigued! Maybe simply because I like the sound of it :D

[O Senhor Leetz]

Everything about the huskmen so far is great, but I would keep them as singular, unique creatures instead of having clans. Considering each huskman is composed of a different combination of insects and vermin, having like-minded huskmen seems like a stretch.

I think that the less you write about huskmen, the better. That sounds somewhat counter-productive, but I feel like the huskmen are absolute mysteries to the humans of BV, and I think that explaining them too much takes away from some of their strangeness and mystique.

[Superfluous Crow]

The clans might be based less on family and composition and more on ideology or religious interpretation. Being semi-immortal creatures living at the apex of society I could imagine them gathering in alien pseudo-political parties or secret societies.

I completely understand what you are getting at, though! The only trouble is that I have to describe them adequately so that players and DMs can use them, play them, and develop them as a faction/enemy/ally in the game, so I can't keep them a complete mystery. But I can keep their exact nature and origins mysterious, while detailing the way they work and think.

I'm a bit afraid they'll overlap too much with the Urmannanganal (the giant unkillable 5th race) on the reverence point though, although the Urm have a far more passive role. Being semi-narcoleptic aimless wanderers (the Urmannanganal) they sometimes pass through towns which is seen as an auspicious omen. People greet them and cover them with flower garlands and amulets. In the cities they are treated more normally, being a less uncommon sight. At least that is the idea I had for them. Seemed appropriate.

[Superfluous Crow]

This post is part inquiry, part shameless bump.
What would people like to hear more about?

(I had an epiphany the other day when I realized I could call the geistworkers Authors. Then I remembered how much I love the word thaumaturge. Now I am torn.)

[O Senhor Leetz]

Maybe something about the opposing forces within Broken Verge? Politically, religiously, magically, etc. Who is the liberal wing of Kolyaev that opposes the old Imperial faction? Who are the people with, do they even care?

[Tangential]

Desperaly desire more. Prefer 'Authors' to thaumaturege, preserve that word for some other thing you craft with love. Also want to see Kolyeavi politics outlined.