Formians - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Formians

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Dec 12, 2003 11:52:08 Some of the Spelljammer campaign I'm working on has been inspired by Shadows of the Spider Moon. One of the things I liked in it was the insectoid Formians. I adapted that for my own purposes and this is what I have so far.

Formians -

The center of a Formian Hive is the Queen, who in her mature form acts as ruler and breeder. A Hive is normally found in caverns and tunnels inside an asteroid.

The process begins with laying of clutch of Queen eggs in response to overcrowding in a Hive. When the Adolescent Queens hatch they seek the outer surface of their home asteroid and then fly off into the Void seeking an asteroid in which to establish a new Hive.

When an Adolescent Queen finds a suitable asteroid she lands on it's surface and begins tunneling into the interior, sealing off the tunnel behind her with rubble. Once she is deep enough in the asteroids interior, she clears out a huge cave and settles down to wrap herself in a cocoon in which she will metamorphose into the mature form. In the transformation to mature form she increases dramatically in size and undergoes a series of other metabolic changes.

Once emerged from her cocoon the first thing the Mature Queen does is seed the cave with air producing fungi carried in her intestinal tract. Once a stable atmosphere is established she begins laying clutches of eggs. The first eggs to hatch are Formian workers of the digger caste, who begin tunneling to make the burrows and passages that will serve as the home for the colony as it expands. Then, workers of the farmer, nurse, and other specialized castes are hatched. In time she will also produce warriors to defend the Hive, along with other more specialized castes. The colony will continue to grow until the maximum size that can be sustained. Then the Queen lays a clutch of Queen eggs, which when hatched will start the process all over.

Though Formians normally make their homes on airless asteroids, it is not unknown for a Queen to choose one that already has an atmosphere. Despite this the Hive is established as normally, sealed off from the surface. In rare instances, miners and other explorers have landed on such asteroids and been annihilated by the Formians, once the latter become aware of the intruders.

The point of existence of a Hive seems to be survival of the Hive and the breeding of new Queens who will create new Hives, though it seems to be far from anything like a doctrine of expansion. Indeed, the alien quality of Formians is so great that it is unknown whether they possess anything like religion, philosophy, politics or any of the other sciences we normally associate with intelligence as we understand it. The gods forbid that a Formian Queen ever chooses an inhabited world and is allowed to establish a Hive there. What horrors may come from the emotionless slaughter unleashed by such an event could make the depradations of the Drow and Illithid pale in comparison.
#2
old_sage
Dec 13, 2003 1:47:31 Hmm...interesting.

This write up makes them sound more like Tyranids, or even the Scatter...;)
#3
zombiegleemax
Dec 16, 2003 16:33:06 I got the idea from a short story by Bruce Sterling that is part of his Shaper-Mechanist series. I didn't go as wild as he did, but he's got a bigger brain than I do. :D

I wasn't really thinking Tyranid because I didn't want them to be bad guys, just more "enigmatic". The description is written from the point of view of the civilized races of the campaign, so of course they find something like the Formians to be terrifying.

I wrote this up to go along with a scenario where the players have to set down in a cave on an asteroid when their ship is damaged by pirates. They are attacked and knocked out by Formian warriors. When they wake up the Formian Queen is "talking" through the npc captain the back of whose head she has inserted some kind of appendage into allowing her to control him. She wants to send them out to deal with a threat she has detected in part of the cave system on the asteroid. The warriors she has been sending out have not come back.

This should be a good roleplaying opportunity because the players will have to explain to the queen the concept of bargaining, since she expects they'll just follow her orders and then report back to be killed for food.

The "mysterious presence" turns out to be a crashlanded mind flayer who has been mentally dominating the warriors sent against him and now has a small group of gaurds in addition to whatever slaves he had on his ship.

Of course the players have to get rid of the mind flayer and hope the queen lives up to whatever bargain they struck.
#4
bigmac
Dec 27, 2003 23:13:33 I have a strange feeling that these things were used in a TSR Spelljammer adventure.

I believe that there was a non-standard chystal sphere with worlds hanging like apples from a sphere sized tree, and that the tree was being damaged by these creatures.

If you want I'll get my old Spelljammer stuff out of the loft and see if I can find the details for you (unless someone else already knows!)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Dec 12, 2003 11:52:08	Some of the Spelljammer campaign I'm working on has been inspired by Shadows of the Spider Moon. One of the things I liked in it was the insectoid Formians. I adapted that for my own purposes and this is what I have so far. Formians - The center of a Formian Hive is the Queen, who in her mature form acts as ruler and breeder. A Hive is normally found in caverns and tunnels inside an asteroid. The process begins with laying of clutch of Queen eggs in response to overcrowding in a Hive. When the Adolescent Queens hatch they seek the outer surface of their home asteroid and then fly off into the Void seeking an asteroid in which to establish a new Hive. When an Adolescent Queen finds a suitable asteroid she lands on it's surface and begins tunneling into the interior, sealing off the tunnel behind her with rubble. Once she is deep enough in the asteroids interior, she clears out a huge cave and settles down to wrap herself in a cocoon in which she will metamorphose into the mature form. In the transformation to mature form she increases dramatically in size and undergoes a series of other metabolic changes. Once emerged from her cocoon the first thing the Mature Queen does is seed the cave with air producing fungi carried in her intestinal tract. Once a stable atmosphere is established she begins laying clutches of eggs. The first eggs to hatch are Formian workers of the digger caste, who begin tunneling to make the burrows and passages that will serve as the home for the colony as it expands. Then, workers of the farmer, nurse, and other specialized castes are hatched. In time she will also produce warriors to defend the Hive, along with other more specialized castes. The colony will continue to grow until the maximum size that can be sustained. Then the Queen lays a clutch of Queen eggs, which when hatched will start the process all over. Though Formians normally make their homes on airless asteroids, it is not unknown for a Queen to choose one that already has an atmosphere. Despite this the Hive is established as normally, sealed off from the surface. In rare instances, miners and other explorers have landed on such asteroids and been annihilated by the Formians, once the latter become aware of the intruders. The point of existence of a Hive seems to be survival of the Hive and the breeding of new Queens who will create new Hives, though it seems to be far from anything like a doctrine of expansion. Indeed, the alien quality of Formians is so great that it is unknown whether they possess anything like religion, philosophy, politics or any of the other sciences we normally associate with intelligence as we understand it. The gods forbid that a Formian Queen ever chooses an inhabited world and is allowed to establish a Hive there. What horrors may come from the emotionless slaughter unleashed by such an event could make the depradations of the Drow and Illithid pale in comparison.
#2 old_sage Dec 13, 2003 1:47:31	Hmm...interesting. This write up makes them sound more like Tyranids, or even the Scatter...;)
#3 zombiegleemax Dec 16, 2003 16:33:06	I got the idea from a short story by Bruce Sterling that is part of his Shaper-Mechanist series. I didn't go as wild as he did, but he's got a bigger brain than I do. :D I wasn't really thinking Tyranid because I didn't want them to be bad guys, just more "enigmatic". The description is written from the point of view of the civilized races of the campaign, so of course they find something like the Formians to be terrifying. I wrote this up to go along with a scenario where the players have to set down in a cave on an asteroid when their ship is damaged by pirates. They are attacked and knocked out by Formian warriors. When they wake up the Formian Queen is "talking" through the npc captain the back of whose head she has inserted some kind of appendage into allowing her to control him. She wants to send them out to deal with a threat she has detected in part of the cave system on the asteroid. The warriors she has been sending out have not come back. This should be a good roleplaying opportunity because the players will have to explain to the queen the concept of bargaining, since she expects they'll just follow her orders and then report back to be killed for food. The "mysterious presence" turns out to be a crashlanded mind flayer who has been mentally dominating the warriors sent against him and now has a small group of gaurds in addition to whatever slaves he had on his ship. Of course the players have to get rid of the mind flayer and hope the queen lives up to whatever bargain they struck.
#4 bigmac Dec 27, 2003 23:13:33	I have a strange feeling that these things were used in a TSR Spelljammer adventure. I believe that there was a non-standard chystal sphere with worlds hanging like apples from a sphere sized tree, and that the tree was being damaged by these creatures. If you want I'll get my old Spelljammer stuff out of the loft and see if I can find the details for you (unless someone else already knows!)