Zirkriz

## Physical Traits

Rapid Breeders, Strong, Coomunal, Fleeting, Slow Learners

## Overview

The Zirkriz are a species of large arthropods, living in numerous family nests on multiple planets. All Zirkriz are part of a network of hiveminds that connect all members of the species in a common consciousness.

## General Biology

The Zirkriz are a warmblooded species of insectlike arthropods. Most share a common form of head, upper and lower body and six limbs, two of them with manipulator digits.

Depending on their function in society their size and weight can range from 40 to 250 kilograms in mass and 0.90 to 4.50 metres in height, with specialized forms that can even exceed these numbers. Their physical appearence can vary as well, adding more armored plates, exchanging manipulators and other limbs for digging claws or chitinious claws or blades for combat.

All Zirkriz have wings, but with most individuals these wings are vestigial and useless for flight. Only specialized members of a nest have functional wings and can take flight.

Zirkriz are omnivores and consume most biological matter if nescessary. Under normal circumstances the members of a nest consume a diet of specialized plants and fungi grow in gardens on the surface near the nest or deep underground.

The specific location and environment around it leads to specilizations in the individual nests. Therefore all nests are somewhat different in their inner workings, and physical appearence. This also leads to different personalities of the nests, somebeing more agressive, some more peaceful or inquisitive.

## Specialized Forms and Breeding

All members of a nest are born from eggs, laid by one of the nest queens. All members of the species, except the Drones, are female and only the Princesses and Queens are able of reproduction.

Application of different food, pheromones and other chemicals and organic compounds determine the function of the future member of the species and with its function also its physical appearance and qualities.

### Worker

Most common and numerous form of Zirkriz. Workers can have numerous forms and sizes, depending on the function they fulfill in the nest. There are small workers that nurse the eggs and larvae, digging workers, farm workers up to workers that care about more complex infratructure and production.

### Warrior

Warriors are Zirkriz specialized for hunting and warfare. They are stronger, more sturdy and resilient than normal workers, equiped with hardened chitinous plates and bigger claws and mandibles. In addition to its natural weaponry the warriors of the Zirkriz are able to use a wide variety of weapons and equipment to enhance its lethal capabilities and survival rate.

Depending on the circumstances warriors will be bred in specialized roles, which drasticly alters their physical capabilities, like agile and flying scouts, sturdy infantry or heavily armored melee warriors equiped with their limbs developed into deadly melee weapons, capable to rip open tanks. Some nests went so far to breed giant hulking behemoths, able to spit fire or corrosive substances onto their enemies. But with the rise of technology such breeds became more and more obsolete.

Warrior are more intelligent than normal workers, but this intelligence is specialized to fullfill their fighting roles.

### Drone

Drones are specialized members of the nest whose primary function is to inseminate the queens which allows the fertilization of eggs and the breeding of specialized Zirkrizs. They are also the only male members of the species.

A Drone also has higher cognitive abilities and is used in a command and control function, equivalent to military commanders in ground and naval warfare.

Drones are around the size of a aprox 1.75 to 2 metres and of medium build. They possess wings.

### Princess

Princesses are queens in the making. Once they are matured, they can be turned into queens to either strengthen one of the existing nests or to be send out to create a new nest on her own.

Princesses that are not yet developed into queens already posses the high cognitive abilities of their mothers, but lack the degree of hive mind processing that they will develop once they evolve into theit new form and role.

Their role in society is one of civilian control, strengthening the hivemind throughout the nest and acting a sort of a gouvernor to help ease the function of the nest. They also use their cognitive abilities to further the scientific progress of the species.

A princess is around 2.5 to 3 meters in size, with a more slender frame and limbs, but a bigger abdomen compared to a peince. Princesses also possess wings.

### Queens

The queens are the heart of a nest. They produce the eggs from which all other members of the nest are born and they also serve as network node for the hivemind of the nest, stregthening it and connecting the nest with the other nests of the species.

The queens live in the deepest and most secure parts of a nest near the egg and breeding chambers. They are only moved in the most extreme circumstances and usually spend the rest of their lives in their secluded chambers.

A queen is born from a princess. Once there is need for a new queen, the princess will spin herself into a cocoon and change into her new form, growing and rechaping her internal organs and neural structure. This usually happens after mating with a prince, but the process can be delayed until she has reached a target destination to create a new nest and family on her own.

A hive queen is aproximately 3.5 to 4 metres in height, with the more slender build of the princesses but with a way bigger abdomen, containing the sizable organs and many eggs that let her fulfill her role. A queen has no wings. She rips them out and eats them before her transformation.

## Communication

The primary way for the Zirkriz to share information between each other is their hivemind. But all members of the species are also able to communicate directly with each other to alert or inform their brothers and sisters about special circumstances. Direct communication is also used when two members of different nests come into contact with each other.

For direct communication the Zirkriz use a mixture of sound, gesture, bioluminiscence and pheromones. To transmit urgent messages like alarms the members of the species also vibrational communication.

## The Hivemind

All members of a Zirkriz nest are connected with each other via a shared hivemind, with Zirkriz nest queens having the function of a processing node. A nest is thereby the equivalent of a single individual.

The singular members of a nest have no concept of individuality or a self. Therefore each member of a nest will not hesitate to sacrifice itself for the greater good of the nest. Most members of the nest only have only enough cognitive ability to fullfill their role in society. Because of hyperspecialisation, many Zirkriz are not able to survice on their own for prolonged times once they are cut off from the hivemind.

The descisions of a nest are made by consensus of all of it's members, based on their shared input, experiences, and memories.

All nests of the Zirkriz species are connected via their nest queens, forming a second giant hivemind that unites the individual nests into a giant shared consciousness.

### Joining the Hivemind

It is possible for individuals to join the hivemind. Captured or exchanged drones from other nests or other individuals that are captured and deemed of use for the nest will be fed a special mix of food, chemicals, bacteria and pheromones. This special foodpaste will start changes in the bodies, brains and nerve tissue of the subject, making it part of the nests hivemind and thereby also the species wide hive network.

An individual that joins the hivemind will loose all of its individuality and personality and become an other drone, all its experiences and memories becoming part of the greater consciousness.