Saran Brood

> *"Home.."*
>
>

The Saran Brood is the singular, unifying body that binds all Elysian Hydrae, through neurological connection, to its brood mother, Sarah Reilly. The Saran Brood has established itself as Elysium's unquestioned status quo since the Crisis of '55. Lording over any and all subordinate species within the exoplanet, Reilly has surveyed, throughout its reign, the various machinations, cycles and prospects that allow its children to survive. With longevity in mind, and a creeping longing for a distant home, the Saran race has striven to preserve the necessary conditions to allow the reproduction and spread of subordinate species that it uses as cattle, in a primitive, alien attempt at animal husbandry. The Brood itself owes to no political allegiance, as it operates based upon its fundamental need for survival rather than any grander purpose.

## History

The Saran Brood owes its existence to the consuming of Sarah Reilly by an Elysian hydra that had managed to escape its enclosure. Blessed with the intelligence, emotions, longings and desires of Sarah herself, as well as some aspects of the scientist's memory, said hydra began exclusively targeting stranded colonists and other hydrae in an effort to monopolise both species' genetic pools and assume control of the exoplanet. At a certain point during its existence, the new "Sarah" was granted the ability to create offspring of its own, linked to their mother through neurological connection, in what could only be described as a "hivemind-like" pattern. This evolution pushed the brood mother to settle within one of many abandoned Solarian complexes, in order to establish a brood, from which drones, workers and homunculi streamed forth in order to spread the Brood's influence across the exoplanet.

## The Brood

The Brood is an amalgamation of flesh, repurposed Solarian building materials and resins that constitutes the Saran race's nest, place of rest, and birth. Lorded by the brood mother itself, the Brood is a labyrinthine set of complex structures that carry on an eerily humanlike architecture, and that burrow through and around an old Solarian colonial complex. Within the Brood are chambers dedicated to the storage of biomass and miscellaneous resources, while other chambers offer their makers cocoons in which to rest or hibernate. At the Brood's centre is erected the brood mother's "throne", a large chamber from which continuously pours forth a stream of newly-birthed Sarans. A set of smaller, fleshly chambers circle the throne room. Said chambers are speculated to be the homunculi's living spaces. The Brood is connected to other Saran structures spread around Elysium through the use of a network of tunnels and burrows.

## Culture

The Saran culture, much akin to that of a beehive, is centred around the longevity of its queen. The Sarans thereby revere their brood mother, and work in accordance to its neurologically-transmitted will. It is, as such, that Saran society is split in multiple castes that each cater to a certain duty, or requirement. Due to the erratic nature of Saran evolution, a singular Saran may see itself transitioning from one caste to another over the course of it s existence. Saran Society, therefore, is split in such a manner:

### The Brood Mother:

The Brood Mother, none other than Sarah Reilly, is the singular Saran in complete control of the Brood. All Sarans adhere, by the means of a hivemind, to the will of Sarah, whose safety and interests are their primordial concern. Sarah is therefore the mind of the Brood; the one to dictate when and where to strike, who to spare, and what to prepare. Only the Homunculi experience some loose and watered down aspect of free thought.

### The Homunculi:

As time passed, Sarah began expressing a deeper level of thought and emotion. This heightened the brood mother's longing for 'home', triggering a period of brooding one could only liken to human loneliness. Perhaps combined with Reilly's human desire for motherhood, these series of events pushed the brood mother to mould a certain number of beings that bore humanoid shapes, and carried a more 'human' aspect and demeanour. Said beings were eventually named 'homunculi' by the Elysian researchers that witnessed their birth. At first, the homunculi bore no sign of free will. However, something eventually stirred within the brood mother. It deemed the homunculi incomplete. As such, the homunculi were moulded anew, and shaped in a manner that connected them with their mother, without the latter's neurological complex intruding *too much* on their wills. Reilly commonly refers to the homunculi as her 'children', while the homunculi themselves looking up to the brood mother in a similar manner human children look up to their parents.

In the Saran hierarchy, the Homunculi occupy the second place. They are only topped by the Brood Mother, and exert an albeit numbed level of influence upon their fellow, lower Sarans. Homunculi are also known to possess *some degree* of free will, though are permanently telepathically connected to their mother.

### The Drones:

The Drones are larger Sarans tasked with the defence of their peers. They commonly accompany large groups of workers, guard the entrances to the Brood and patrol the innermost tunnels that lead into the throne room and its antechambers.

### The Workers:

The workers are the lifeblood of the Saran race. Tasked with gathering biomass wherever found, exploring Solarian ruins and expanding the Brood's complex network of tunnels, a worker's life, no matter its length, is crammed with labour and ceaseless work. The workers are usually the smallest of their race.

## Daily Life

A Saran's daily routine consists of a series of precise, calculated shuffling, the carrying of multiple designated tasks and the maintenance of the Brood. The Homunculi will travel around Elysium, seeking anything that might spark the interest of their mother, while the drones defend the Brood, and the workers ensure, through their endless labouring, its survival.

## Guardians of Elysium

Due to Sarah's humanlike intelligence, the brood mother understood the concept of sustainability. In order to allow the Saran race the means to survive, there must be biomass to consume. Ergo, consuming all biomass in a short span would eventually lead to the race's starvation. As such, the Saran race needed to allow other species the means to reproduce, so that they multiply, and continue feeding the Brood. However, an hospitable environment must first be created in order to allow the reproduction of said species. Such is why, while the Saran race effectively controls Elysium, its traces remain relatively unfound. Whenever a certain 'cattle' specie thins in number, the Saran race purposefully ignores it, and oft defends its offspring from other predators in order to ensure its survival. The fauna is also catered to, in what one could only consider a cynical parody of what early human cultivation looked like. As such, workers are also known to sometimes lay clumps of biomass around woods and forests in order to restore what was previously taken away.

## Technology

The Saran race, while relatively advanced in comparison to other Elysian species, is nevertheless primitive in its grasp of technology. As such, Sarans will rely on their own mutations, bodily secretions, and genetic means of self-defence in order to fend off invaders.