Decades ago, the Neke vanished, leaving behind their majestic palace, the Neke-Ovon. In their absence, others ventured into the Ovon and made it their home, most notably Amanita (who renovated parts of it to her own liking) and her 'pet' Twin.
About a year after Amanita's arrival, the first of a new brood of Neke hatched from their eggs, somewhere deep in the roots of the Ovon. Raised by nurse-servitors, the ladies of the new court (among them Okyno and Atcinna) have most of the knowledge of adults upon their emergence from the cocoon, but may lack some of the wisdom a proper Chitin upbringing might have provided.
Upon receiving subtle threats from Okyno, Amanita took measures to defend her position, employing Twin and some volunteers from her harem as bodyguards, and making [overtures] to Characters/N'Cheren? of the Chmee brood, looking for potential allies.
Okyno, meanwhile, appeared in public and shared [tea] with Amanita. Amanita's guards were instructed to intervene before she drank it, but they failed to do so, and she was left disoriented by the effects of the tea and increasingly paranoid that the Neke had corrupted her own mind.
To blow off some steam, Amanita and Twin [decided] to disguise themselves and go on a [bender] in Bottomwarp. It might even have helped Amanita's state of mind, had she not then run amok in her own harem and apparently received some further sort of memory-altering agent from one of her playthings.
Apparently emboldened by her successes, Okyno sent Amanita a [present]: a Chitin-styled dress and corset, complete with ankle hobbles, to be worn at her upcoming initiation. Amanita promptly contacted Rezeya to make some subtle 'alterations' to the dress. Rezeya nearly blew her cover, parading around the Mess in a prototype of the dress, stoned out of her head, but Amanita was impressed with the results.
Unfortunately for Amanita, it didn't save her: at the crucial moment during the ceremony, her will failed her and she [accepted the collar] of Okyno, becoming a slave to the Neke queen. Twin set out to [try and rescue Amanita] by any means neccesary - but by the time (she) [found Amanita] it was too late. It may be [too late] to "save" either by now.
Meanwhile, Neke-Atcinna caught sabina wandering the newly regrown corridors, looking for Amanita, and put her to work as a nectar-provider. Characters/Kehari? stumbled upon sabina and rescued her, and she and her owner, Lysette, later purchased sabina from the Architecture (see the logs for more).
Okyno was recently spotted [taking Amanita for a walk] near the heart of Topwarp. Amanita was perfectly lucid, if subdued, and more herself than many had feared. She managed to dissuade System from (his) plan to infiltrate the Ovon.
Returning to the Mess after a long absence, N'Kenge was [outraged] to learn that Amanita had been taken by Chitins, and warned Kehari that the vixen's plan to rescue Twin and Amanita was foolish at best. N'kenge doubtless has plans of her own, but she is characteristically cryptic about them. And the Neke are characteristically [unperturbed] by them.
Several days of drinking the nectar produced by sabina caused Kehari's body to change into part-insect form. She returned to the Ovon with sabina, where she offered herself to Atcinna, suspecting that the Neke wished to exploit her mind-altering Song. (To all appearances, Atcinna had no designs on the Song, though it's still possible that she had plans but was keeping them secret.)
Kehari and sabina are now free again. Kehari's body now hosts a symbiote, implanted by Neke-Pri'yath. After some negotiation, the Neke seem to be on much better terms with Lysette and Kehari, though the details of their meeting have been kept quiet.
In the meantime, in the halls of the Ovon, Amanita and Twin (the Singer and the Celestial to the Neke, who avoid the use of proper names) have been quietly undergoing their training. And waiting, perhaps, for the right moment to act.
For more about the vanishing of the original Neke, see Elysium and the Neke.