Tel Madu, the southernmost city of Amol-Kalit, was once a great stronghold of the Cortosi, but it fell long ago to a warlord who rose up in the region and has remained in Kaliti hands ever since. Lugal Aqra, the Scorpion King, knew of Tel Madu's history and cared little. He cared even less for its people. Nothing more than ants to him. He knew how willingly they would turn on him given the chance, decrying him as a monster simply because of his appearance - a man who was half-scorpion, half-human. They would kill him, or throw him out into the desert to wander again. But that would never come to pass.
The only thing that mattered now was vengeance against that upstart Gerra and his pathetic collection of fools. Vengeance by whatever means necessary.
For this reason, he met in secret with the Hissite worshippers who dwelt in hidden places in the nearby canyons and gulches.
He met with one who referred to himself only as the Voice of Hissut, a masked and hooded figure who never revealed his face. Aqra only knew that he was tall and thin, for a human. The Voice told him of Hissut's Swarm, who slumbered beneath the sands in their pupae. The Voice told him that they could be awakened... with the proper ritual.
So Aqra commanded that the Voice have what he requested, the bodies and the blood. The gold. Everything. It took time, but when the Hissites completed their ritual the waves of the magic rippled throughout Amol-Kalit. Anyone with even a spark of heka in them would understand that something monumental had occurred.
Then the sands began to stir as pupae burst and enormous, winged locusts poured forth. Hissut's Swarm, finally awakened, flooded toward the nearest town of Dagh and devoured every living thing there in entirety. They then swarmed toward Mamsis.
Alerted, Gerra called forth all forces in the region to defend the city, while also setting his agents to work at finding the Cult of Hissut and the Lugal Aqra before they awakened the remaining nests of Hissut's minions near Tel Madu.
