Founding a nest
It begins with an entrance. Not yet a queen.
Plate II · From entrance to inhabited nest Schematic cross-sections, not a construction plan to scale.
A new nest begins modestly: an opening in the ground, a shaft, a first chamber. Only in this prepared space can one of the colony's own become a queen. What was an empty shelter becomes another nest for the colony.
1 · Entrance
A suitable site becomes a place of work.
2 · Shaft
A passage leads down from the surface.
3 · Chamber
A sheltered space is dug beneath the entrance.
4 · Queen
A member of the colony rests and becomes a queen.
5 · Nest
The new nest belongs to the founder's species.
Rules
The founder's species matters, not the biome: a nest founded by Aqua in the desert remains Aqua.
A resting member of the colony becomes the queen in the chamber; she does not need to be escorted there.
Movement or an attack interrupts the required rest.
