Mantid Castes

This page serves to catalogue all mantid castes.

## Ruling castes

### Omniqueen

The Omniqueens are the most powerful mantids, capable of controlling all other mantids. Powerful, massive, and deadly, Omniqueens have the psychic power to manipulate stars and planets. Omniqueens live for millennia and believe that there is only enough for one. They are the rarest and most feared type of mantid.

Omniqueens were believed to be extinct after Daxin Freeborn ripped the last Omniqueen's head off to mount atop his throne. At the beginning of the 6th precursor war, he discovered an Omniqueen in a barren system while hunting a precursor Goliath. The Omniqueen head mounted on Daxin's throne retains some psychic powers, and if the person sitting on the throne cannot dominate it mentally it will kill them.

### Overqueen

The Overqueen controls groups of queens under the Omniqueen. They are still dominated by the Omniqueen, if one is available.

### Queen

The Standard Hive queen, she would rule over the other mantids and control them to do her bidding. Queens would birth different castes, and were powerful and deadly. Most queens died in the Mantid - Terran war after glassing Earth. The loss of a mantid queen frees the servant caste mantids around it if there is no other queen or Speaker to dominate them. The free mantids hate the queens, but are loyal enough to Terrasol that they were willing to bring the queens back if needed to help win the Terran-Lanaktallan War.

#### Lesser Queen

Lesser queens were queens that served under and were ruled by another queen. They were inferior to the normal Queens, but still able to dominate other castes.

### Speaker

Mantid Speakers were 12 foot tall, white, Mantid rulers designed to pacify groups of cattle species and control them with psychic powers. Speakers are very rarely produced by Mantids in modern times, as they dominate and control lesser species forcibly. A Speaker was killed by 2 Terran Warborgs in front of the Unified Council of Systems after it lost control and attempted to attack the council species; it was there to demonstrate the power of precursor Mantid Species. Speakers are male Mantid. Speakers report to queens, but are not dominated by them. An Omniqueen is likely able to control speakers.

A variant of Speaker known as a Omnispeaker is mentioned in Part 19. Presumably, this is a larger, more powerful speaker.

### Warrior

Warrior Mantids are the frontline soldiers of the Mantid race. Taller and stronger than the slave castes with sandy colored chitin, they had long, sharp blade arms that could shear through enemy armor and puncture prey braincases to feast on them. Warrior mantids were fierce and powerful, but could not hold up against armed and armored humans. Simulations by the Mantid Diplomacy team sent to the Unified Councils showed that while a unarmed pure strain Terran would be killed by a warrior Mantid easily, an armed Terran was a significant threat, and a Terran with Combine armor from the Mantid - Terran war could kill hundreds to thousands of Warriors at a time. A Warrior's bladearm can scratch or even pierce warsteel.

## Servant castes

The smaller, former slave caste, mantids were originally hatched to serve in support roles to the queen. While fully independent and sapient, they were overpowered by the much more powerful psychic abilities of the ruling castes and forced to work for the hive queen. They were hatched in large numbers for these roles. In modern times, with no queens left to control them, they enjoy freedom without fear of harming others. Most mantids voluntarily wear implosion wires, which tingle to alert them when their instincts start to take over, and kill them if they move to harm another being.

### Gold - Diplomats

The gold mantid caste were meant to be diplomats, a role they still excel at, they stand 3 feet tall. The most prominent of the goldies is *Dreams of Something More*, the Confederate diplomat accompanying the Speaker to the Unified Council of Species and remaining as the chief diplomat from the Confederacy to the Unified Council after the Speaker's death. In times of war, Gold Mantids may be deployed to battlefields. While they have wings, Gold mantids are rarely shown using them.

### Russet - Medical/Egg & Jelly Tender

Russet Mantids can be recognized by their deep red/brown color and ability to heal others, they average 2 feet in height. They are skilled with biomedical technology, surgery, and other supporting fields. Russet mantids are often found in military units, specifically armor units, to provide emergency first aid to vehicle crews. It is not uncommon to see russet mantids working with purrboi, FIDO, and SAR units. Russet mantids also seem to have some kind of ability to telepathically direct purrbois.

### Black - speakers for the Speakers

Black mantids were originally meant to be the mouthpiece of the Speaker caste, but without Speaker caste mantids to enslave them, also serve as pilots and other roles, they are 3 feet tall. As diplomats, they are more direct and blunt. Black mantids on diplomatic teams are highly skilled at database penetration, information processing, and data acquisition. This role is rarely used but *Words Spoken We Fear* has been shown putting together his equipment. Their software is often hidden inside of images and amusing memes as code strings that the operative then puts together.

### Opalescent - Seers

Seer Mantids are a glossy white color, blind and fragile looking, with the ability to see into the future, they are similar in size to Gold and Black Mantids at 3 feet tall. They are mysterious beings who speak in riddles and see into the rivers of time. While they may not always be clear, they are always correct. The Confederacy does not completely understand how Seers operate, but they value their advice and prescience nonetheless. Warborg escorts for Seer mantids carry esoteric equipment designed to trap them in one plane of reality and prevent them from remaking it or twisting it if they decide to attack others. Seers are bound not to interfere in free will, but may have the capacity to do so directly or indirectly. Seers have vestigial wings.

Seers that are hatched under Queen or Overqueen control are killed and 'recycled' rather than allowed to live.

### Green - Engineers

The bright green engineer mantids, known as greenies, are hyper intelligent mantids with an affinity for technology. Green Mantids do not have the poetic names of other mantids, but instead use equations and formulas describing reality. They speak in an rapid engineer cant of data and formulas, or in icons and emoji. While it is polite for them to refer to each other by their formula, they allow other species and castes to use a 3 digit number. They also do not wear implosion wires, as they would be too tempted to disarm it, disassemble it, and use the charge to blow something up. Instead, Greenies support Terran Military gear where they do not have to worry about hurting civilians (warborgs, tanks, or ships), or they are accompanied by a pure strain human carrying an ancient weapon - a 2x4 with a nail in it. They are the smallest of the mantid castes, around 1 foot in height.

Greenies have special adapted bladearms that can open to interface with technology, and can replace their biological bladearms with cybernetic ones.

## References

1. ↑ First Contact - Part 29
2. ↑ First Contact - Part 320
3. ↑ First Contact - Part 108
4. ↑ First Contact - Part 19
5. ↑ First Contact - Part 220
6. ↑ First Contact - Part 91