Elder Cultivator

The reach of the Scarlet Alliance wasn’t limited to taking on a single project at a time. As long as it didn’t require Catarina’s capabilities with formations, other projects could easily be undertaken. Securing Alliance territory was a high priority, which included augmenting their defenses and continued attempts to establish proper diplomacy with others.

The Hardened Crown Sect wasn’t any closer to joining the Alliance after Sly’s visit, but that had never been the point. Merely engaging in peaceful contact- judging by that sect’s sensibilities- was a way to build towards the future. The varied members of the council could expand areas in which they had expertise, and below them there were many layers of subordinates they could count on to complete any job.

Specialized cultivators worked hard to make sure their faction wasn’t weighed down too heavily by layers of bureaucracy, while still making certain that everything was being done appropriately. Sects that could have all of their resources pulled by the sect heads on a moment's notice were agile and rapid in their responses to threats… and prone to similarly rapid falls whenever the best judgment of their leader came up against a failed bet. On the other hand, unnecessary restrictions would make people unable to act.

The Scarlet Alliance had many people dedicated to keeping them in a proper middle ground of efficiency, sufficiently agile but not prone to overcommitting to anything. Such people were a constant thorn in Catarina’s side… and her most important allies as they kept a steady flow of supplies flowing to all necessary projects. Forgoing other opportunities to focus only on large scale formations would ultimately result in Catarina being incapable of doing her work at all.

This was the Alliance’s greatest merit, those who specialized in areas other than battle. All manners of resource gathering and growth, production, and everything else had their own people who would only get better with time- and those who didn’t reach a level of expertise would find themselves rapidly aware of their deficiencies. It was best for them to seek out other methods of focus, though in most cases a desire to excel was sufficient since training of all sorts was readily available.

The Scarlet Alliance had many planets to settle over the coming centuries- which meant they needed to be prepared for people. Many had been ecologically devastated by the decades of war in the Midfields and the period of occupation and extraction. Establishing stable ecosystems planetwide was a significant task that took a large number of workers, though the Alliance knew all the necessary factors for a practical balance. A complete ecosphere was far harder to achieve, as the species present on any one planet numbered in the hundreds of thousands at a minimum. Transporting enough of any of them to create a stable population would be difficult enough, let alone fine tuning things to result in future success.

But there were people who did that, specializing in their lifelong goals. Even if they never reached Augmentation- which was possible even for non-martial styles- they could build up centuries of experience, passing their knowledge and experience on to many future generations. Teaching techniques had also been expanded upon.

Colonies would be established in the Midfields, but their assistance would also be offered to their allies in the Chaotic Conglomeration. The upper and lower realms parts of the Alliance would both have expertise to offer in that regard. The plan was to make the move look more like expansion rather than some sort of retreat. Some of their allies would not wish to leave old homeworlds, but the pressures of the Chaotic Conglomeration and the Exalted Quadrant would eventually cause them to crumble.

The void ants were one of those reasons- but they also recognized that the contributions of the void ants were what kept them from perishing along the way. Suddenly divesting themselves of the void ants wouldn’t protect them from potential wrath, so they were locked in to their course there. The lower realms greatly approved. Those in the Scarlet Midfields kept their cautionary separation from void ants… though pressure from the Great Queen might change their mind eventually. She could weave convincing arguments about how they would be needed, and there was every reason to trust she believed that.