A few minutes before her emergence, the zerg queen heard a ma.s.sive thump and felt a great pressure rocking her coc.o.o.n, threatening to rip her apart. At first, she thought that it would be broken and she would perish by an unknown force. Instead, a feeling of warmth flowed through her body, reducing her time till completion and granted her greater power than originally intended. The modified Queen was the last to emerge due to the complexity of her ma.s.sive upgrade in psionic abilities.Her psionic abilities currently rival that of a broodmother, with her brain matter being slightly larger and having a few more strands of nerve cords than the average broodmother. Unlike Kerrigan"s broodmothers, her brain size was not limited in order to prevent increased independence due to the fact that the creator made the zerg forever loyal to him no matter what and that no matter how powerful she becomes, she could never present a threat to the creator himself. However, she or any future leaders of the swarm would not attempt to search for him, form an Overmind or usurp the Swarm"s throne during his reported absences.
The creator believed that the swarm would be most powerful if they followed him without question but also did not depend on him or a main leader for their survival. This would ensure that the Swarm could operate independently as a conglomeration of broods or factions and would not fracture if he was absent, sealed or potentially dead. Despite the fact that he had absolute creation which should prevent him from dying of any cause, the creator doesn"t want to find out and would rather prepare for all scenarios. The first rule of impossibility is if you label something impossible, it will be possible and smack you in the face or whatever equivalent of one.
With greater independence, Praelis would learn to make good choices and gain experience as a command organism. This would also let her develop a personality of her own and make her a lot more like a living thing than a biological machine. The modified queen clenched her hands, a pale blue aura of psionic energy enveloping it like a flame. Power leaked from her glowing yellow eyes, power that allowed her to control the Swarm in its current state and numbers.
Unlike terrans, the queen was not tempted by this power but sure did enjoy wielding it. But, her greatest joy to serve the creator"s will as much as she can is her greatest drive to achieve anything. Before she could play with her powers, a flesh framed window with a zerg theme appeared.
Swarm Tier: 3 (Pseudo 4)
Bio Energy: 9.73 million /10¹⁵ units
Bio Energy Production rate: 30 units/hour
Genetic Information Acquired:
- Extractor
- Spine Crawler
- Spore Crawler
- Infestation Pit
- Spire
- Nydus Network
- Ultralisk Cavern
- Large Queen
- Huge Queen
- Broodmother
- Infestor
- Mutalisk
- Scourge
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- Nydus Worm
- Ultralisk
- Behemoths
Upgrades Acquired:
- Evolution Chamber Upgraded
- Creep Efficiency Increased
Worlds Inhabited:
- Vanahim VII
- Kashrya
Tier Advancement Requirement:
- A Broodmother
- 10 Trillion Zerg Units
Praelis was confused by the window"s appearance. She tried to grab it but found herself simply grasping thin air. Using her psionic powers, she attempts to understand it but fails to do so as the window seems to operate on a different plane of existence. Since her attempts at understanding it is failing, she resorts to reading its contents and what it may entail.
The window said that the swarm has new genetic information available. To check this, Praelis activated her psionics to check the hive mind. Blue energy envelops her nerve cords as they float lightly as if under calm waters. As she expands her thoughts into the hivemind, she could hear the soothing melody that emanates from it.
The hivemind was a beautiful symphony of thoughts and knowledge blending together in the form of a beautiful song with no beginning or end. Every thought was a note played, its sound different with every emotion within that thought. The greater the will that pushes the thought, the louder the note. The more complex or length the thought possesses, the more notes are played.
Each phrase is perfect, emotion manifests in it and transitions are impossibly smooth. Even sudden and major changes in emotion blend perfectly with the song, creating harmonious tunes and echoes. Praelis reaches out into the hivemind"s song, searching for the Swarm"s genetic library. Almost immediately, the genetic library uploads itself into her brain.
The will of the Swarm will impart knowledge to all zerg who seek it. As for how this won"t be used as an advantage by the enemy, the hivemind is bound to the creator which prevents non invited guests from peering into it lest they want to have their heads explode from a psionic overload. Since there is no possibility of having the zerg be controlled or having their minds hijacked, the hivemind allows all zerg to know each other"s thoughts and all information almost immediately. This allows a hyper conversation where time flows very slowly, allowing command organisms to make extremely quick decisions after debating with one another.
This would minimize error and make them very hard to predict as their tactics would change almost immediately with little to no warning. Praelis surveyed the Genetic Library, taking account of all strains available. She discovered the additions, in line with what the mysterious panel object told her. Then, she checked what each new addition to the swarm did before surveying the upgrades on the already present strains.
First, the extractor. How the Swarm managed to not require vespene gas is because of the Bio energy system being used. All ma.s.s digested would become bio energy that can be transferred physically and psionically. For bio energy transfer between planets, only huge queens and Broodmothers are capable of doing so, with huge queens being limited in this aspect while Broodmothers are able to transfer it freely.
Due to the Bio energy system, vespene gas and minerals are rendered irrelevant although minerals would provide much more bio energy than bioma.s.s. A single kilogram of minerals would provide 1 Bio energy unit while it will take twenty kilograms of any bioma.s.s to achieve the same effect. As for the vespene gas, this extractor would transform the gas into a bio accelerant to allow zerg units and structures to morph much faster. For every mole of vespene inserted, the morph rate would increase by 5 kg/min.
A single mole of vespene would be enough to create a pair of zerglings in less than 10 minutes. The extractor appears as a pair of circular mounds of flesh connected by a purple, carapaced structure. The circular mounds were lined with three large bone spikes and purple sacs grew from the front of these mounds, where drones could harvest the already processed and packaged vespene gas. The extractor only needs 10 units of Bio Energy to build which is a third of the current cost to build a hatchery.
Next, she observed the first zerg defensive structures in the library. The spine crawler was a circular creature of purple flesh with six armored spider legs. The fleshy ma.s.s of the zerg defensive strain had two rows of a circular shaped arrangement of teeth, surrounding an 80 foot tall flesh tentacle with a sharp, carapace spear edge. When it roots, the tentacle could expand to four times its length, allowing it to expand and impale enemies from up to 320 feet away.
As for the spore crawler, it looked like a mouth inside of another mouth surrounded with flesh and some carapace. Surrounding its circular form is six armored spider legs that help it move, root and uproot. When rooted, it would fire yellow colored seeker spores that can accurately hit all enemies within a 330 meter radius. The spore crawler could also reveal hidden units by reading body heat signatures instead of relying on plain sight.
This would prevent biological a.s.sa.s.sins from infiltrating zerg controlled areas but is ineffective against non organic life unless they produce something akin to body heat. As for the other structures, she only took quick glances at their forms and functions. The infestation pit allows the production of infestors that would transform living organisms into puppets for the zerg. It appears as an immobile and fleshy crab-like structure covered in hard carapace.
The next structure is the spire which appears as a flesh balloon with some purple membranes, it is connected to the ground via six tentacles that root itself into the creep. Spires allowed the production of mutalisks and scourges, the current air units else than the Behemoth and the Overlord. In addition to that, the spire is needed in order to let five larvae and an overlord morph into a Behemoth. The nydus network is an open leach mouth lined with sharp teeth.
The structure is covered by a thick blanket of flesh with carapace armor. Beside it are four tall claw-like appendages pointing upwards. The nydus network would produce a nydus worm to connect to, allowing near-instantaneous transport to any point on the planet for the zerg. The nydus worm"s unbelieveably strong, peristaltic contractions allow zerg units to move up to speeds of Mach 10 through its innards.
However, the worms have a minimum range of 100m and cannot grow any shorter than that. Also, all transport points are permanent until the nydus worm is dead. If it is, the nydus network can generate another nydus worm. The final addition to structures is the Ultralisk Cavern, the place where the 54 foot tall zerg beasts originated from.
The structure is a ma.s.sive fat and fleshy leach covered in hard carapace with some green membranes on it. Sharp spikes run down its back while two pairs of kaiser blades emerge from its sides. Its only purpose is to provide genetic information for the formation of Ultralisks. With the structures shortly reviewed, Praelis went on to read about the new units.
First is the Large Queen, a more advanced version of the queen strain with a greater brain ma.s.s and denser muscles. A normal queen could control 25 overlords after the evolution and each overlord controls two hundred zerg units after the evolution, it means that each queen effectively controls an army of five thousand zerg units and structures given that no ma.s.sive units are a part of this. Due to the extended brain matter, the large queen can control up to twenty queens, allowing one to rule a hundred thousand strong zerg army. The large queen"s muscles are 20% more dense, making them 72.8% stronger than their pre-evolved counterparts.
After a large queen is a huge queen, the most advanced queen strain and the final stage before evolving into a broodmother. A huge queen has a ma.s.sive upgrade in muscle ma.s.s and density, brain matter and abilities. Huge Queens can heal an Ultralisk with a single transfusion, they can cause a batch of larva to instantly emerge, plant large creep tumors and use psionics to generate lightning bolts and change the weather. The extended brain matter allows the huge queen to control a hundred large queens, allowing them to effectively control a ten million strong zerg army.
As for their physical prowess, Huge Queens have 35% denser muscles and 15% more ma.s.s, making them 114% stronger than a Large Queen. Unlike large queens, huge queens have a difference in appearance instead of retaining the default queen strain appearance. Huge Queens are 5% taller, have more spikes on their armored heads and grow a nerve cord or two. Their limbs are increased from 2 fingers to three, shoulders are slightly broader and b.r.e.a.s.t.s are slightly larger to store healing fluids to accelerate their regeneration.
Of course, such powerful command organisms require much time and bioma.s.s to form. For each evolution, the same bio energy required to form a queen would be expended and it would take a day to morph. To morph into a huge queen, the same amount of bio energy would be required but the duration of evolution would increase a week. Not to mention, a large queen must possess sufficient psionic energy to evolve or she will take much longer time.
If her energy is drained, the process would take two weeks or a month instead. Not to mention, becoming a broodmother would require immense psionic capacity as commanding an army of trillions so the requirements to morph into one will be challenging. First, the morphing huge queen will have to possess a high psionic growth factor in order to facilitate the growth of the brood and her sphere of influence. She would need to have her psionic capacity growing at the same rate or greater rate as her brood"s growth.
Her increased psionic capacity would eventually lead to an increase of magnitude in her psionic abilities. This increase in magnitude and capacity would allow her to divide her power in controlling the brood while fighting against an enemy. She could amplify her attacks with psionics or cast psionic "spells" against her enemies in the form of projectiles, storms and other constructs. If the huge queen lacks the psionic growth factor, her metamorphosis would take more than a month depending on how much should be added.
However, the morphing broodmother would be mentally active the whole time as she would have to expand her psionic capacity while morphing so that when she emerges, she would have adapted to the amount of psionic activity she would have as a broodmother. As for a broodmother"s physical abilities, a broodmother has twice the muscle density of a huge queen and 20% more ma.s.s. The broodmother would also possess much more flexible muscles and a more intricate nervous system, allowing her to be much more agile due to the fast reaction speed and increased flexibility. In total, a broodmother would be 860% stronger and 300% faster than a huge queen.
Physically, a broodmother would be capable of taking on 38 huge queens in a fight and eventually emerge victorious. Added by the increased psionic abilities that greatly surpa.s.s that of an average high templar and the increased brain matter, the broodmother would be capable of fighting with better tactics and stronger psionic abilities. So, in an all-out fight, a broodmother should be at least capable of battling a hundred huge queens and emerging victorious. In the Swarm"s hierarchy, a broodmother would control a great number of huge queens as they would help her micromanage the brood.
The larger the brood, the more huge queens and their less evolved version to control. This requires greater or continously developing psionic capacity in order to keep them under control. The zerg can go feral but cannot be controlled by others due to the creator"s hivemind, making each zerg develop an immunity to all forms of psionic control except for the one induced by the creator"s swarm. This would allow feral zerg to be "tamed" into the swarm through a brood or multiple broods.
While Praelis immerses herself in the genetic library, the swarm begins to build its structures on the charred continent. The floating overlords puked creep from their bottoms, the colony of thousands of different zerg microbes released onto the ash layered surface. Due to the nutrient-rich ashes, the purple-gray carpet of creep expanded much faster. Queens played creep tumors on the very edges of the creep carpet.
The creep producing mound had purple sacs on them and several teeth protruding on their top. Inside these purple sacs is what appears to be a ma.s.sive purple worm squirming in the catalytic fluid. This worm seems to produce an enzyme that encourages the spread of creep, allowing the creep carpet to expand farther. In return, much energy was diverted into growing the tumor"s worms.
Over the course of twenty minutes, the tumor expands from being the size of a chair into a large, human-sized ma.s.s of zerg flesh, sacs, and teeth. Another ten minutes pa.s.sed as the worms enter their adulthood stage, now measuring 33 feet long and a foot thick. On its "head" is a collection of sharp teeth in a circular but irregular pattern. Upon the creep carpet reachings its maximum distance from the tumor, its sacks began to burst.
The sacs showered the immediate area in incubation fluids as the ma.s.sive worm emerges from the tumor. The creature jumped and then burrowed before jumping out of the ground once more as it made its way to the edge of the creep carpet. Without the worm, the creep tumor deflates and it morphs. Now, the creep tumor acts as an energy organizing center, allowing it to control the flow of resources within the hive.
After reaching the edge, the worm burrows itself in the ground and coils itself together. Gradually, a fleshy coc.o.o.n wraps the entirety of the coiled worm and absorbs much of its ma.s.s, leaving it with only 10% of its ma.s.s. Half an hour later, a fully grown creep tumor sprung up from the soil, spreading creep for another mile. As for the worm, it is incubated within the tumor once more to continue the cycle of spreading creep.
Drones collected resources, delivering them to the hatchery for digestion. As for the extra drones, the queens and overlords commanded to morph into structures. Pulsating, orange coc.o.o.ns formed in many areas throughout the creep carpet. Queens provided growth hormones and accelerants to the growing structures, tending to the brood.
By inserting growth hormones into the hatchery, a batch of fifty larvae emerged from the various orifices of the living structure. Overlords commanded the newly hatched larvae to morph into drones, biostructures or combat strains depending on the hive cl.u.s.ter"s current needs. After four hours, several more hatcheries emerged alongside their bio structures. In the first hive cl.u.s.ter, a ma.s.sive coc.o.o.n begins to pulse madly.
Its amniotic fluids are almost drained by the growing zerg within. Soon, the coc.o.o.ns bursts, spraying its surroundings with chunks of flesh and incubation fluids. A ma.s.sive zerg structure appeared in its place, an Ultralisk Cavern towering over at 20m of height. Its gaping, circular maw is a terrifying sight to behold.
With the Ultralisk Cavern formed, several larvae begin to morph, transforming into giant coc.o.o.ns that will give birth to the first of the almighty ultralisks. Vespene gas was injected into the coc.o.o.ns alongside many doses of growth hormones, accelerating the metamorphosis of the larva into an ultralisk. Unlike the current Ultralisks possessed by the Overmind"s swarm, these Ultralisks are much bigger, bulkier and fearsome. They have two pairs of kaiser blades instead of just one pair and their armor defies all known laws of biology.
After half an hour, the ultralisks are complete. Ripping their coc.o.o.ns to shreds with their ma.s.sive kaiser blades, these ma.s.sive 54 foot tall zerg emerged like giants. As they walked, the earth around them shook with great power. To demonstrate their superiority over all animals, these great beasts roared like thunder.
Following their ma.s.sive brethren, the other zerg units roared in their own ways, showing the superiority of the zerg overall organic life. From today on, the ultralisk shall be a symbol of great power and supremacy.