The Faceless

## Appearances

### Appears in

Convergence: Contact, Convergence: Last Light, Convergence: Rise of the Architects

### Debut

Convergence: Contact

“It just spreads… and spreads. It will just keep going until it makes the whole Universe just one massive, Faceless only ecosystem”

- Alan Sharpe

“That is, unless we stop them first”

- Eve Ramirez

## Origins and Early History

The origins of the Faceless are largely enigmatic. All that is known is that they were one of the few species not created by the Architects. Circa 200,000 years ago, the Faceless made hostile contact with the Sarn’yara, who were in the midst of their first golden age, immediately infecting thousands of Sarn’yara colonies. Their first reaction to the invasion was to treat it as though it was a typical outbreak of a highly infectious disease, attempting to cure and quarantine it, rather than treating it as an intelligent enemy. This resulted in the necessity to create ‘the Phalanx’, a ruthless and relentless super-weapon, which would exterminate any and all species that became infected by the Faceless, as without a vaccine of any kind of cure, the only way to isolate the virus was to exterminate its hosts. This led to the mass genocide of hundreds of developing races, yet over time, the parasite began to slowly die away. Then, just as the Sarn’yara were preparing to decommission the Phalanx, the Faceless struck again, this time infecting the Sarn’yara’s main colonies. With no override code on the superweapon, the Phalanx immediately begin their largest campaign of extermination yet. Following their programming, the Phalanx fully exterminate the Sarn’yara in a matter of weeks. This is one of the most frightening examples of the intelligence of the Faceless. They intentionally disappeared, temporarily, before infecting only a few Sarn’yara, enough for the Phalanx to notice, and finish the job of exterminating the species for them. Little is known about their ancient history from this point onwards.

## Biology

One of the telltale signs of infection by the Faceless is large boils, or pods, known formally as ‘Growth Pustules’. These pustules will begin to grow several weeks after first infection, eventually bursting to expose long nail-like formation made from dead skin cells. The first signs of infection that can be noticed are large dry patches of the skin, as the parasite reproduces in the bloodstream, and the nervous system is gradually taken offline and repurposed. By this point, most unfortunate enough to carry the parasite will commit suicide, as there is no known cure, and death is regarded as a preferable option to the infection, also meaning that the parasite that attempted to infect the host has now also been destroyed. The Parasite consists of four main biological components. The Membrane, the sensory organs, the carrier form of the infectious substances and the injection needles. The Faceless is like no other known infectious disease, earthborne or otherwise. The most unique feature of the Faceless is its method of infection.

## Method of infection

The Faceless has several methods of infection. The first and most common is through spores. When the spores are inhaled, they tend to take several days to burrow their way into the bloodstream and begin the reproduction process. Once they begin reproducing, immediate and distinctive signs of infection can be noticed. The first is large patches of the skin losing their colour and/or developing large, soft boils in the centre. These boils eventually develop into ‘Growth Pustules’, which incubate large, hard appendages that burst out in the final stage of infection. By now, the host’s throat and muscles may have begun to seize up, or sometimes experience frequent spasms in the lower back, as the Parasite begins to dismantle and repurpose the nervous system, and drill through the lower back. Now, the parasite has fully found its way to the spinal cord, where it can begin the final phase of infection. It fully destroys the host’s brain, and begins to gradually construct a callous exoskeleton, and the growth pustules burst. The host is now fully infected, and has been fully converted into a Faceless.

## Contact with the Remnants

The Faceless made hostile contact with the Remnants circa 126,000 years ago, infecting their outer colonies similar to the Sarn’yara before them. Unlike the Sarn’yara, the Remnants responded immediately by evacuating and destroying all affected colonies, isolating the infection. As they waited for the inevitable return of the Faceless, they stumbled across The First Ones, and allied themselves with the developing species.