The Hive Forces
“If
you don’t like your enemies, you shouldn’t have made them.” Before meeting Qor, the Hive was an entirely
pacifist species, dedicated to nurturing their precious Proto-Flower. Qor discovered the near unlimited energy
potential of Proto-fuel derived from the seeds of the flower when stored in a
Proto-furnace. The seeds would
eventually be drained and have to be replaced, but would last quite a while and
produce enormous amounts of energy. Use
of the Proto-fuel would allow the Overlords to perfect cloning and create
mighty warfleets, which would lead to their empire.
But
there was always that need for the Proto-Flowers on Teroptera and the Hive
nurturing them. Qor had tried to seed
conquered worlds, but only came away with a far inferior substitute. The flowers would only fully bloom on the
Hive homeworld. While the Hive was happy
to share (there was plenty, their world was covered in flowers), the Overlords
never liked the arrangement. It was a
weak spot that the Hive or other civilizations might be able to exploit or take
advantage of.
The
Overlords asked Qor to find a solution.
His was the Proto-Loom. It was a
Proto-fuel device that actually cloned the seeds. That sounds a lot simpler than it was to
actually create. The Proto-Flower seeds
were imbued with such energy, that the cloning process had the capacity to
produce a planetary-level explosion if done improperly. While the Hive Queen had shown the charming
Qor how Proto-fuel worked, this invention was his own and solidified him as a
genius.
With
the tremendous power of the Proto-Loom, the Overlords no longer needed
Teroperan seeds. To test the power of
his creation, they ordered Qor to destroy the planet so that no one else would
be able utilize the power of the Proto-seeds.
Qor’s ship, powered by the Proto-Loom, was fashioned with an energy
cannon capable of devastating a planet.
(Humans recovering the ship later would only be able to use it at a
fraction of its true power.)
In
a fit of conscience, Qor couldn’t kill his peaceful benefactors (or his
erstwhile lover, the Queen). He instead
decided to defoliate the planet of Proto-flowers. This would fulfill the Overlords’
dictum. He thought he was doing the Hive
creatures a favor as well; their hopeless addiction to the flower had stagnated
their society to a listless primitive level.
Breaking this bond would unleash their potential. That it did.
It
was Qor’s last mistake and he’d live just long enough to see his error. Without their narcotic flower to pacify them,
the Hive became as violent as a junky deprived of a fix. Almost instantly, their entire society of
billions mobilized for war. Qor had only
seen the Hive as a civilization of pacifist, drug addicts. He had not known of their history that led
them to this point.
The
Hive had unlocked the secrets of Proto-fuel in their distant past and competing
mounds had violently warred with one another.
The Hive who “won” the war, who were the progenitors of the current King
and Queen, inherited a devastated world.
From that point, fearing the Hive would not survive as a species, all
war was banned. Aggression was blotted
out by an enforced regimen of Proto-Flower consumption by most of the
population. Soon enough, it was all one,
big happy Hive.
The
King and Queen and various scientific officials, who were exempted from the
mandatory addiction, gently directed the populace towards regenerating their
world and rebuilding their civilization.
Generations later, with their world a paradise (by Hive standards), the
royalty would also be as unmotivated as the rest. But, those old machines of war were never actually
destroyed and the knowledge of their creation was never lost. All was preserved, just in case.
The
Hive saved what seeds and flowers they could before they were all destroyed,
but there’d be no where to plant them on Teropera with the soil contaminated. Their next thought was revenge. With the King and Queen united in thought
their will was enacted by their whole populace.
Qor, orbiting above Teroptera with a Zee fleet, saw a horrific wave of
Hive carriers suddenly coming up from the planet. The old war machines still worked.
The
Zee would heroically attempt to shield Qor’s ship while it attempted to escape,
but the Hive overtook them all. With
Hive forces already on board, Qor, fearing sending the Hive directly back to
Zirol or any Overlord world, sent the ship into deep space. Him, the crew, and the invaders would all be
killed over the course of the lengthy fold.
Unfortunately, the Hive would search out nearby systems and still find
the Overlords’ empire from their use of Proto-fuel and seeded worlds.
The
inferior Proto-Flowers they found would not sate their addiction. Eventually, they’d take the whole empire,
Zirol at the last, without finding the loom or any worthwhile replacement
world. While the King would end up
fighting the EEF and fruitlessly searching for the fleeing Overlords, the Queen
deployed Proto-sensing probes throughout the galaxy trying to find Qor’s
ship. The end of Space War II would
finally give her a positive signal and a call to mobilize her and her brood to
take a new world.
Except
where noted, all Hive Mecka have the
following features:
Proto-Fuel Sensor S range (Mound Proto-Brains
and the Royalty have much longer range and perception capabilities)
Sensor Eye A Called Shot on
the eye, with enough damage, is a kill shot.
(Hive Guardians will only lose their sensing capability.)
Grapple Attack for Drone and
Warrior types. This is a suicide HTH
attack and they will always go last in a combat rd. If the Hive mecka makes a successful attack
roll and then meets the grapple number, they will be attached to the opponent
mecka. Generally, the grapple number
will be 14 (DC 12 + 2 mecka Str), though a few mecka do have +3 Str where
noted. The next rd causes automatic HTH
damage. The next rd, they will destroy
the victim’s power core and themselves.
While grappling, Hive mecka is immobile and helpless while grappling and
can be attacked to be removed.
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