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Okay, so I get to plan the final bug run for SR2051. Well, '57 now, but hey. I need to set up a bug hive that functions a bit outside the norm. One, I'm not looking for the traditional big guns, insane Aliens run inside a hive. I'm looking at a tough perimeter to crack along those lines, but a smaller hive inside with more powerful/elite bugs that work more along the lines of well-trained spec ops or well skilled hunter/killer teams. Likely no insect shaman, probably only one Queen/Mother, but a shaman is possible. So here's the help I need.
Any recommendations on type of insect spirit? I'd like to use a single type of bug, avoiding beetles (those fuckers are just too damn nasty in the physical). The hive will be contained above or possibly below an old abandonded metalworks plant. I know my way around insect spirits, but if you've got anything to add, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm really just not sure of which type to use. I've never had to deal with singular smaller hive settings before. I'm too accustomed to Bug City itself.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Wasps. Nasty motherfuckers, they is. If they were under the influence of a powerful Queen, and a powerful shaman, it would be easy to see them operating in small teams, or units.
Pax Romana, Motherfucker. Breaker of unbreakable things.
Wait-don't queens need a Shaman in order to be summoned into this plain of exsistence?
I'd say use Ants. Ants often have interspecies hives. I'd say Termites and Ants, and maybe a subspecies of Warrior Ants. Maybe African Army Ants or Fire Ants. Use a bit of GM's discretion in each and seperate their attributes from standard ants. (I'd make fire ants able to use some sort of fire ability-but that's me!)
Mantis does seem to fit the small, highly skilled hunters image - though Wasp or Ant could work well.
Pulling from the metalwork factory, I would have a Wasp colony constructing a giant metal hive† using reactivated machinery. I would also eliminate the Queen and instead have the shaman half cyborg. She would use a plethora of metal transmuting spells such as Shape Metal, Animate Metal, Heat Metal, Molten Stream (a version of Flamethrower with the elemental effect of Metal), and Die Cast (similar to Glue Strip). Her Geasa could include Talisman (a crystal vial of mercury) or Conditional (only while standing on metal - of course the remaining factory is a just series of interconnected catwalks and molten metal pools), while her fetishes might include metal feathers or sculptures. I’d probably give her a Weapon Focus in the form of an ancient measuring rod once used as a standard for the yard.
Wasps I've seen around my house used to fly in pairs and use the buddy system, essentially - if one got hurt, no matter the cause, the other stung the crap out of you until you went away, and sometimes followed you even then until you killed it, too. So that would work, I guess, but I've never heard of Wasps working with other insects, really.
What I have heard of is Army Ants using a colony of another type of ant or similar small insect to do all the work as a "slave race" of sorts. In fact, the species I remember seeing was almost incapable of getting food alone - didn't hatch any worker-class ants, just the warrior caste. They were also immune to the formic acid gas weapon thing that both ant species used, but the subjugated species was not.
So... yeah, that seems like a good way to do it while still maintaining a veneer of real-world niftiness. Have the Hive have nailed some less-known Security/Mercenary company and actually have several Good-Merge SpecOps (they maintain memories of skills and stuff, right, when they're on the upper end of the merge types?) teams, perhaps, and if it was an Army Ant style only Warrior Caste spirits would exist, while the other insect type would only have worker caste types (in theory).
Jeff Hauze wrote:I'd like to use a single type of bug...
:cyber
Also, Wasp, Dragonfly, Ant, and just about every other type of insect spirit - other than Mantis - was part of the Universal Brotherhood, working together to subvert metahumanity.
Serious Paul wrote:
Wait-don't queens need a Shaman in order to be summoned into this plain of exsistence?
Yes, but once summoned, the Queen continues to exist on this plane even if the shaman is killed. However, if the Queen is Banished or destroyed, the shaman loses all magical powers becoming mundane forever.
Maybe I stated that wrong above, but the whole goal is to have a single type of bug only. Not a combined hive, as this is post UB destruction, and almost post Bug City (almost after the CZ is torn down). The ideas are good so far, and I have to say, the metal hive idea is pretty interesting, if a bit too far in left field for what I'm looking for. I may save that for another time though. Very interesting idea.
But I'm strongly thinking no shaman, but a Queen. Ant is looking like the way to go, though I do admit, Beetle still tempts me. Those fuckers are just too nasty though. Without lots of magic (which we do have two physads and a mage, but only one with killing hands), heavy guns are a necessity. I do like the Good Merge idea though with the former Spec Ops guys. Especially considering that a Knight Errant hunter/killer team (two in fact) are captives of the hives, and the goal is to rescue the female captain of one of those teams. Not Firewatch, but just bughunter teams. Maybe some old comrades as good merges.
Screw liquid diamond. I want to be able to fling apartment building sized ingots of extracted metal into space.
Jeff Hauze wrote:Maybe I stated that wrong above, but the whole goal is to have a single type of bug only. Not a combined hive, as this is post UB destruction, and almost post Bug City (almost after the CZ is torn down).
With the Army Ant thing... There is a "single type" of bug and a single Hive (with one Queen). They'd all be ant, and a separation of regions would make a lot more sense as the subjugated ant type builds and lives in the outer region and the army ants have a much tighter and more cohesive center part with the highly skilled warrior teams. Not that the PCs would necessarily notice, they'd all be bugs to them...
Ant and Wasp spirits are already divided into Warrior and Drone classes based on True-Form and Flesh-Form respectfully. Dividing them further shouldn't cause need of a second Queen. Rather you could go by the prowess of the metahuman host (an all troll metatype base of Flesh-Forms used as the Queen's personal bodyguard as an example), though it would certainly be an interesting twist to have multiple Queens.
