Imperial Annex (Royal Drones)

## Nanitics

**Nanitics** are the future royals of the Hive. Though the ratio of royal males to females is 1:7, most will only mate in pairs, if they do at all. The vast majority of female Nanitics won't find a mate, instead heading off on her own with a genetic pool similar to that of her origional mother's. Those that do find a mate will bond for life (or until the female Nanitic becomes a Queen, see below)

### Physiology

Female Nanitics are more robust than the males, with much thicker shells and more powerful jaws for crushing or ripping. Their wings are a lot smaller while the antennae are much larger, along with a swelling abdomen which can almost double her overall length and weight. Females have much thicker, more flexible limbs with shorter spines but longer claws. If they didn't find a mate, some have been found resorting to eating veggitation, though they'll hunt for meat any second they find an optimal option to.

Male Nanitics are often much bigger than their female counterparts. Their shape is more aerodynamic, thinner, and longer, with much bigger wings and an organic "rocket" on their back, similar to space class drones. Their limbs are much longer but more stiff, made of stronger material to avoid fracturing while hitting prey at high speeds. Their hunting behavior can be compaired to a falcon, diving at prey at high speeds, though rather than impacting the prey the male will impale his long, spiked arms through it and carry it away before scavengers can steal it or before herd members have time to react.

### Nuptial Flights

Nuptial Flights are a multi-step process for the Hive. Most Hives have roughly the same breeding season to ensure genetic diversity is optimal. Despite this, Nuptial Flights can still be unpredictable. Nanitics have no need to leave the Hive before the event, so their arrival can't be fully predicted until the event is in full force. The triggers for the event vary, from environmental to the simple instinct to spread further out, though no single trigger has any more signifigance than another.

#### Establishing a Colony

Once the Nuptial Flight event is triggered, swarms of male and female Nanitics will be sent by all the nearby Hives to congregate on a randomly pre-determined planet, often near the center of the cluster of Hives and thus the most protected. The entire planet echoes with their mating calls as they search for a suitable mate, and if they pair up, the male will fly them both to a planet of the female's choosing. He will find a secluded, safe place for them to start the colony. Preferred environments are densely packed, humid, and far away from developed habitation such as cities or towns, unless they decide to take shelter in a sewer system.

Here, in their new colony, the female Nanitic will lay her first clutch of eggs. The male will dedicate everything to feeding and protecting her and the young, and will sacrifice his life without hesitation if it means his Hive will live. After the first few drones have developed, 9 out of 10 times the female will kill the male, eating him or feeding him to the new drones.

### Maturation

The Nanitics will reach the next stage in their lives once the first clutches of eggs have developed into adult drones. With the more stable amount of food, the female will metamorphosize to an adult Queen; if the male isn't eaten or killed, he will become a King. Each has many different phases.

## Kings

**Kings**, despite the important sounding name, have almost no use after the first drones hatch. Those which are spared by their Queens will dedicate their entire existance to protecting her. Kings will spend most of their time cleaning the Queen's chambers, making sure she is fed, and chasing off any other unwanted males which the Queen denies.

Kings have shown a far weaker connection to the Hive Mind than most other drones. In some rare instances, the Kings will join a massive raid, leading the front to destroy enemy defenses for the rest of the swarm to pour into. During this they can partially sync up with the other drones.

It's exceedingly rare, but a very small number of Kings ever reach a third and final form, an Overlord.

## Queens

One of the highest priority targets in the Hive is a **Queen.** They're the main source of all the drones and the Hive Mind within thier colony. Near their prime, Queens have been known to lay ridiculous numbers of eggs, between 40 million and almost half a billion in one day. Once the Hive begins to reach the planet's capacity or all threats to the Hive seem to be taken care of, this number may drop.

Commonly hive minds are thought to be a single source; killing the queen would mean all the drones die as well and the threat is gone. Never do this with a Hive, especially one that's mature. The death of a Queen doesn't stop the Drones, but does quite the opposite. They will all enrage, connected by a smaller, less developed collective intellegence.

Far away, on the nearby planets and systems, all other Queens will become aware of the death of their sister. They will know who killed her. They will hunt that being down, some no matter the cost, others playing the long game of slowly destroying everything they can find that the being enjoyed or found peace in.

They will hunt you down. They will not stop until you are dead or pleading for mercy. They will not spare you.

Once a Hive has fully infested a planet, the Queen will metamorphosize into an Empress.

## Empress

An **Empress**'s Hive is almost unstoppable. She controlls trillions of drones at once, and the Hive can respond to anything in seconds. An Empress's egg laying is even more astounding than a Queen. If they're preparing a raid to other planets or there is a major threat to the Hive, one can lay unkown billions of eggs in a day. During this event the whole Hive's metabolism will spike drastically.

If, somehow, someone managed to kill an Empress, the effect would be even worse than killing a mature Queen. The entire Sector will know of what has happened. Nothing can escape their wrath.

If the current Monarch were to somehow die, the oldest Empress will metamorphosize for the last time.

## Monarch

There's only one **Monarch** per Sector at any given time. She has the ability to control all the Hives in her Sector, and if need be, can call in other Monarchs in times of need. Disturbing the Monarch is a guaranteed death, if anything it would be an acomplishment on its own to just reach the Monarch alive.