Venid

A Zerganoid, race, operating on a hive mind of sorts, they spread across their home galaxy like a plague.

## Appearance and Anatomy

### Drones

the basic Venid drone appeared as a bipedal creature, that is often on all fours comfortably. Its body is biomechanical in design, with black chitin skin, and what appears to be tubing for muscles on its limbs. Its upper body appears as a rib cage like structure, while its head is elongated and covered in a series of armor plates, except for the very front, which appears as a bulb of flesh. It has three pairs of glossy black eyes, and a row of bristles running down the side of its head. On its back are a smaller pair of extra arms. Its legs and hands are clawed, and its mouth, feature ever present fangs comparable in size to combat knives. Their tail are generally stiff and resemble the muscles. They generally dwarf most humanoids

Drones operate mainly by echolocation. The soft spot on the front of their heads can detect sonic vibrations and are helped along by the hairs on the side of their head when under ground. Their claws, secret a type of acid from pores that help them dig through materials and cut through metal. A similar acid is secreted from their fangs, for when they bite.

### Warrior Caste

Dwarfing the drone caste, and most mechanoids, the Warrior caste greatly resemble their smaller counterparts with a few differences. Their heads lack armor plates, and eyes and hairs, and large smooth growths. Their back arms have grown to be much large than their main arms, and either morphed into scythes, or organic flamethrowers cannons that eject ignited acid at high speeds/pressures. There is also a variant with same small extra arms, but an enlarged, glowing throat that spits bio-plasma. Their tails are now several tendrils and electricity arcs

The Warrior caste has been modified from the basic drones, to use EM Field manipulation to fight and navigate. Their manipulation is centered around their heads, which are now powerful electrical field generators. The Scythe strain, while useful for melee, their blades are actually meant to be used for manipulating their electrical fields, to do things like send out EMP waves, fire electricity and such. The flamethrowers, use electricity, to ignite the gas in their arms to shoot as acidic fire. The Artillery variant uses it to ignite and control the plasma in their throats that they spit out, in a manner similar to a blaster cannon. scythes are hunters/assassins, Artillery are for attacking in mass, while the Flamethrower strain serve double roles. All of them use their tails for flight.

### Behemoth Caste

Gargantuan enough to be called Kaiju, the behemoth class, are massive. Now walking on all fours, their heads have been changed to sport a single large horn, while their back arms have become cannons. They now also lack tails. Their legs have been changed to more resemble an elephant's

They are capable of tunneling, though they are not designed for it, and use their horn to also fire EM Beams. Their cannons fire plasma bolts, and their size makes them formidable.

### Queen

The top rank. They resemble Driders, with arachnid lower bodies. Their upper bodies are more humanoid, but with typical Venid features, such as three pairs of eyes, a head covered in plate, chitin skin and metallic fangs claws and two pairs of arms. They are the size of Behemoths and have the powers of the Warrior Caste. It is the queen who becomes the next bioship, serving as its living core, in a symbiotic relationship.

### Shared biology

All Venid are silicon based organics that operate based on EM fields. The queen generates the main signal all others follow and they all, to some degree generate a signal, to identify with each other. They all also have a good sense of smell. It is EM waves that attract them to planets, and which cause them to release spores on the world below.

Internally, their muscles are based on gas pressure, allowing for them to be very light, but also very strong for their size.

## Structures

Based on the same silicon based organic material as the Venid, the Venid produce several structures and symbiotic organisms for their efforts. The most complicated version of these structures act as biomechanical machines.

### Hives

The structures of these things, are based on the same silicon oriented material the Venid are made of. Ranging from the lining of their tunnels, to entire structures in latter stages, Hives can have sub hives and ultimately fuse with the queen to become Bioships.

These structures can also incorporate technology from buildings etc. Even starships can be converted into hives and thus bioships.

### Spawning Pools

Located in their hives, these pools are where Venid Larva eggs are stored and await upload from the genetic library. Without which there would be just drones. Spawning pools are generated from the queen and connected to her abdomen by tubing to the structures.

### Bioships

When a ship becomes large enough and the queen fuses with it, a bioship forms with the creation of a 'heart'. These vessels use plasma as exhaust, but also weaponry, firing, bio plasma spores at enemies and launching pods to grow more hives. These pods are a cross between eggs and symbiotic organisms.

### The Heart

The needed component for a bioship, a heart is a structure in a hive, wherein 'bio-fuel' is created from harvested organic material, whether it be plants or animals. The fuel is then ignited to become a plasma reactor through a form of 'cold fusion' and fermentation.

It is for this reason that the Venid typically strip worlds clean of life, using it all, or enough (which ever comes first) as fuel for the Heart. Afterwards, the newly risen bioship may proceed to continue cleansing a world of life and atmosphere to grow stronger, or send out another hive seed.

## Life Cycle

Drawn to radio waves from some worlds, the Bioship would fire several pods, containing eggs laid by the queen. These eggs would hatch into new drones, and if the Queen pod did not survive, they would immediately fight, until one became dominant. This drone would feed on the others and grow into a Warrior caste. It would continue to hunt and feed before growing and going into a cocoon to become a queen. From there, they would harvest Silicon from the ground and bio-matter to generate the colony structure, which would eventually become a new bio-ship. They would also attack any major source of EM waves, which normally means cities.

## Hive Fleets

The ultimate goal of Venids, when two Venid Bioships meet, they often fight, until one is decided as the winner. The victorious ship/queen, repairs itself and grows larger, until she becomes and empress, and starts to generate a signal that is beyond the EM waves normally used and are instead sub-space waves or psychic waves. Other hives fleets can meet, class, merge, grow, etc.

Hives spawned from a Hive Fleet ship, naturally become part of the fleet when they grow into a bioship.

## History

The Venids live in the Cygnus Galaxy in some timelines. Despite their hive nature, they are no a unified race, and will fight other hives/bioships, even if they are their progenitors or offspring.

They are believed to be an unnatural race, and were in fact created by an alien, obsessed with protecting nature.

## Trivia

* The Venids are based on several different Hive species in fiction: The Xenomorphs (the titular creatures from Alien), the Zerg from starcraft, the Tyrannids, the Wraith from the game Evolve, and Legion from Gamera.