NationStates Jolt Archive

In a time long since forgotten by modern history, when The Universe was half the size it was now, there was a lone galaxy at the edge of the universe.

This Galaxy was called by it's inhabitants as The Choria Galaxy, and as spiral galaxies go, it was pretty average and unremarkable. It's people plyed the cosmic pathways of states, and traded and warred with each other, and prayed to the gods, all of them, except the powers of Chaos. This angered chaos, and so chaos caused a remarkable thing to happen, so ignored universally by all the people of Choria, Chaos united behind a single goal, a single will, a single purpose. This is remarkable, because chaos itself is normally so divided that it never gets along with itself. But in this, it was united, and Unified Chaos is all but unstoppable.

So began The Eternal Swarm created by the unified powers to convert the people of Choria, or destroy them....

"Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am The Overmind, the eternal will of the swarm, and that you have been created to serve me." The words reverbrated with the force of millions of individual wills.

That which awakened was known as a Cerebrate, and was but a part of The Overmind. It had no eyes of it's own, but saw with the eyes of the swarmlings around it. All eyes were focused on the Cerebrate, and it was as a massive brain. It sensed The Overmind within itself, and within the swarmlings around it, for The Overmind had no form of it's own, yet.

"That which is called human infests these worlds around us, praying to their heathen gods and polluting the worlds with their technologies. There is no force but Chaos, no power but that which Chaos gives, and it is this truth that we have been sent to reveal to them. However Man is a stubborn creature, refusing to listen to either logic or reason, and claiming that the glory of chaos is naught but ruination and devastation. Because they will not listen, we must break them, and turn them towards the truth by force, for such is the purpose with which we have been created." The overmind said, speaking again.

The cerebrate, not but five minutes old by this point, was gaining more understanding with every minute. The memories of The Eternal Swarm flowed into it, and out of it, and as each memory passed through it's mind, it learned more knowledge, and gained more experience. It knew they were on the world known as Xel'sara, a world of variety, containing mountains, plains, forests, oceans, and icecaps, and each area of the world was inhabited.

The cerebrate spoke for the first time in it's life, and though it was not as impressive as The Overminds, it was still impressive all the same, bringing to attention, the swarmlings around it whose minds had wandered from the subject of discussion.

"I hear and obey, as my hive is closest to the city of Naganata, I propose to send in my children, and as an object lesson, take the life of every man, woman, and child within that city, moving in after said task, and spreading the swarm to that city. It shall become our city, our first and only city, our base of operations." The cerebrate said, it's voice seeming to echo to the far distant corners of The Eternal Swarm. The cerebrate's words were truth, for The Eternal Swarm, only a year in age, had no city of it's own, for it had been spawned beneath the city of Naganata, in a cavern not even the locals were entirely aware of. They new about it, of course, but had no interests in exploring it, or even keeping tabs on it, so it was left abandoned, until something, else, moved in.

"Then surely the hour of our victory is at hand." The Overmind said.

With a great cacophony of screeches and roars, the swarmlings turned, and took off heading for the city above them.

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Naganata, fifteen minutes later...

In an undefended city, filled with people who assume nothing bad will ever happen to them, it is easy to go about unobserved, and so it was for the Swarmlings, burrowing up from the surface, to arrive in parks around the city.

Immediately they laid waste to the people around them, but undefended civilians make poor foes in battle, and quickly they were slaughtered. The Swarm infested buildings and sidewalks, killing all they ran across. To the civilian's credit, some of the braver ones did try to fight back, wielding bats and broken furniture pieces as weapons, and while one our two swarmlings were injured, none were killed.

Things might've gone on in this fashion, had it not been for law enforcement, who banded together to shoot at the swarmlings. After twenty swarmling deaths however, the horde simply rushed them en masse, and overtook them easily, crawling over the bodies of their fallen brethren and even using them as shields.

So it was that Naganata fell, and the swarm came to be established with permanence.

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OOC section:

First, don't think the swarm is going to win unchallenged, the sole purpose of Naganata was to give myself a base of operations for this thread. No, the real action comes next post.

You might read about The Swarm and think of the Zerg from starcraft, and you'd be right, they did inspire me to return and play FT as a horde of monsters, but The Eternal Swarm goes beyond The Zerg. As I go along I will adopt aspects of all the great monsters and horrors, not just from video games and popular movies, but from books, folklore, the whole nine yards. I will evolve into a very formidable foe, eventually.

Now, I have but one question to pose oocly I'd like an answer TG'ed to me: is there someone out there, who wouldn't mind letting temporarily borrow space in their section? Someone who wouldn't mind a terrifying horde of monsters helping them with wars or anything else they wanted help with? It'd only be until I reached about five hundred million, possibly a billion, I only want one system. I ask now, because after conquering the Choria galaxy, the swarm goes into deep hibernation, (by the will of Chaos), only to reawaken in modern times to be sent to this galaxy to convert by force this galaxy to the glory of Chaos.

(I have no ooc delusions about conquering II, I know full well it'll never happen, it's just the swarm's IC motivation.)

The system I rp entering at the end of this thread, and subsequently assimilating into The Swarm is the very system I borrow. The player whose system I'm in, can call on me at anytime to assist in any endeavor they need, whether it be joining an alliance, going on an initial frontline assalt to clear a path, or simply providing Roasted Swarmling for dinner. (It may not taste good, or look appeasing, but it is at last, packed with nutrients)

I only ask that the player who's system I borrow is at least friendly towards Chaos, if not a direct follower of it. (I never specified what sort of Chaos I follow, only that it's Chaos.)


The Eternal Swarm, a further explaination: I feel it only fair to mention, that I don't have a traditional economy, that is, I have no money, nor do I use it. Yet this doesn't mean I can, or will wage non-stop war. No creature can fight forever, and even still, the swarm does need to eat. It is this eating that I replace the economy with. Not the traditonal sense of, eating three square meals a day, rather, eating and consuming the planet's resources, assimilating it into the swarm. Without resources, there are no new swarmlings, and old swarmlings do die eventually, and killed swarmlings are not made anew.

That brings me to point 2, each swarmling is conected to the overmind via a heirarchy, and when important ones die, their body is simply remade in the hive, a form of reincarnation. This doesn't mean I can't, or won't die, it simply means important characters can die multiple times until the The Overmind decides not to make it anymore. To interrupt this cycle, simply interrupt it's connection to The Overmind and then kill it. I know some of you use Jedi/sith/ some other form of FT psionic power. These character types would be excellent for use. This isn't to say other character types can't be effective, only that those with a form of mind power (no matter how basic) is going to be very effective. It could even be a machine of sorts that can read and interrupt the hidden psionic wavelengths.

Third, I use no technology. Instead, I evolve, mutate, and assimilate. (Not that I will be borg like in assimilation. Rather I plan on using assimilation only on NPC's I create and use, unless someone works something else out with me before hand, such as if they wanted their character assimilated or infested for storyline purposes.)

Fourth, regarding information normally obtained via spying and infiltaration: Good luck! It would take a very powerful Psion to tap into The Overmind without losing one's free-will in the process, or losing valuable secrets in return. I will however, compromise on this and actually just hand out about half of my secrets, via an NPC entity known as The Inter-galactic Science Consortium. The IGSC is a well respected organization ICly, known for both it's thoroughness, and accuracy of information. anyone can have a couple of scientists in the IGSC to obtain information, or you can simply say you got it from one of their printed volumes. All this will be done via my factbook I will put up after this thread.

Fifth, the average swarmling is actually very easy to kill, until I get to more advanced stages. It's when they all gang up Zergling rush style that you have to worry.

Why am I telling you all this, and doing it this way? Because I cannot evolve unless you fight me, and can only be as strong as the strongest enemy I face. If I always win, I never evolve. I only ask that you work out the details with me beforehand.

This thread is closed to all unless someone can TG me one good reason why I should let them in, how they would enter, what they would be, and what side they would be taking.

The infested city of Naganata, five hours after the assault...

The city was in ruins, and dead corpses were everywhere, yet slowly disappearing as Swarmlings crawled over them. Drones, Swarmlings that strongly resembled three foot green roaches with 24 legs on each side and three sets of eyes, were scurrying everywhere. They crawled up the side of buildings, and down the interiors, through broken windows and over broken pipes. They were eating the city, bit by bit, and taking it back underground to the swarm for assimilation. Around the largest park, in the exact center of the city, an exceptionally large group of drones gathered, thirty in all. They covered the center of the park, and drew their legs into their bodies, flattening themselves in the process. Their insides spilled out over the park, intermingled with one another, and grew, but did not die. As they intermingled, they swelled, and they grew, and became a mound which connected itself through the ground to the Cerebrate far below. This mound was a birthing mound, where all baby Swarmlings came from. Eye stalks at the top peered about the city, feeding the information to The cerebrate. From the birthing mound came a green ooze that spilled over the ground, melded with it, and converted it into a substance known as Creep. The Creep was a shell of sorts on which further additions to The Eternal Swarm nest could be made. Creep was brownish red in color, and despite being armored, was easily destroyed. With the addition of The birthing mound, and it's connection to the hive underground, the drones began feeding the resources to the birthing hive itself.

Deep underground, The Cerebrate felt elation at it's success.

"Know that I am pleased with you Cerebrate. Yet now is not the time to rest, at this very moment, the ground shakes and trembles with the movement of an army. They come our way, and will not be so easy to kill. Muster the hive Cerebrate, and defend us." The Overmind said.

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Onboard the Xel'saraian command ship Excalibur.....

General Argentinus sat in his ready room, watching footage from the surveillance satellites stationed overhead in space. The Xel'saraian government had known of The Swarm since its first few drones appeared in the cavern a year ago, yet had done nothing, believing them to be harmless. Some few scientists had went, but none had ever returned, and that's when they knew the swarm was deadly, yet what to do, needlessly panic citizens?

The general knew the price would be dear for doing nothing, and had argued with the president extensively about sending in an attack force covertly. The president, ever the peace-lover, refused saying that it might send the wrong message.

Well, the general thought with a smile, now he has to listen to me.

He wondered to himself what the swarm would do if allowed to go on it's own, and had a vision of his world being covered in the strange green insects he now beheld on the monitors.

"The commander is now in his ready room for briefing, sir, patching you through now." the ever-pleasant female voice of the computer said.

"Ahh, General Argentinus, it's been a few years. Don't you have a war somewhere to be planning?" asked the commander in question, a younger man who happened to be the general's cousin's sister's nephew's brother-in-law twice removed, which made him just another face to the general.

"Commander Zareen, a pleasure as always. This is a peaceful time in the galaxy, so a local disturbance such as this is enough to catch my attention. I have no doubt that you and your forces can handle these things well enough, but I want you to catch a few, alive if possible, and bring them to the IGSC in Worthington for further study." General Agentinus said, he had the accent of the noble-born of Xel'sara, which in another time and place would be referred to as "Southern".

A beeping on the consol distracted both of them.
"Enemy swarms detected." the computer announced, as though it it should bring them both joy and satisfaction.
"I see they laid out the welcoming mat for you. Yes, I definitely want to know more about these creatures." General Argentinus said, and with a scowl intended for the swarm, Commander Zareen turned off his comm link.

"Computer, move the displays to the windows." the general said as he stood up, and walked over to the windows in question that looked out into space. He gazed at the stars momentarily before looking down to the planet of Xel'sara. in the window next to him, energy flickered momentarily, before focusing into the satellite view of the area.

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On the planet below, at that same moment, Commander Zareen poked his head out of his tank, and got his first live glimpse of the swarm. The swamlings he saw were not the roach-like drones, but large seven foot raptor like insects, running towards his detachment with a speed no human could match. His heart beat in fear for a moment, before he reminded himself he had a nice safe tank to sit inside. He pitied the marines though.
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The first wave of Swarmlings and Marines met in the middle of the plain just east of Naganata. The Marines had far better weapons than the police did, and killed Swarmlings with a single hit. The swarmlings behind the dead ones stopped to pick up their dead fellows and continued on, hiding behind their new meat shields.

A meat shield though, can last only so long, and as the marines continued to shoot, the meat shields were cut in half by bullets, and the swarmlings behind were hit. Yet they lasted long enough, for the first swarmlings reached the marines, and cut into them with their blade-like claws. The marines were about as well defended from blades, as swarmlings were from bullets. but even still, their metal armaments helped some.

However, bullets do not last forever, and Swarmlings cannot fight non-stop, and so the two sides retreated, having taken equal losses in the thousands. General Argentinus was disturbed when he noticed the small green insects in the city, scurry over the battle field and recover not their own dead, but the dead marines his men could not yet capture, and drag them back to the strange mound in the center of the city. He noticed Commander Zareen just retreating to a fall back position, and not gathering anything, yet.

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Underground in the hive...

The cerebrate was filled with panic, the strange men had cut his children down easily. Thankfully, they managed to recover a number of them for investigation. Maybe if they could adapt some of this technology...

"I know your mind Cerebrate and you are correct in that we should adapt this technology, but we cannot use technology itself. We were given instead, greater access to the pathways of evolution and mutation than anything else in all of creation, and evolve at a rate no human scientist could ever believe possible." The Overmind said.

"I apologize for my error, Overmind." the cerebrate said.
Silence hung in the air awkwardly.

Through the drones, the cerebrate could see that the armor the marines wore was light and intended to stop regular bullets. A thick set of chitin on the swarmlings could produce the same effect. Add to that, faster leg movements and a substantial leaping ability, and the swarmlings would prove most deadly. But what of these, guns? Shooting projectiles was a good principle, but a swarmling could not shoot metal. Perhaps something else, maybe a poison, or an acid. but the glands neccessary were completly lacking in a swarmling. It would require something new. Then the cerebrate had a flash of insight, mutate a new breed! Immediatly it began designing an entire new strand of DNA, such was one of the cerebrate's many powers.

On the surface, drones converged on the creep, and began to mutate themselves into new mounds. One sunk into the creep, and became a pool of green liquid, another became a seashell-like structure that seemed to feed into the creep itself, which it did, while a third yet became what looked to all as a beating heart.

The birthing mound produced large numbers of eggs which the drones carried to both the pool of green liquid, and the sea shell like structure. Soon, there would be new species added to the powers of The Swarm.

OOC: TG sent. Welcome to Nationstates. I look forward to rping with you.

Onboard the Excalibur...

General Argentinus sat in his favorite high backed chair, padded with a foam that adjusts to the contours of one's body, making for a very comfortable seat. He held a glass of his favorite Telgarian brandy, a substance that was green in color but otherwise about even with normal brandy. The computer was playing for him his favorite aria, a song lamenting the defeat of one's enemies. The woman singing it had a beautiful voice, and was in fact his wife.

Something told him this strange swarm of creatures would soon become his problem, and so here he sat, deep in thought, devising a strategy. As he lit his favorite cigar, an import from the other side of the galaxy that was made and hand rolled on a small unnamed planet, he looked at the dispatch from the Inter-galactic Science Consortium. They had only just received the swarmlings and had begun testing. Argentinus was surprised Zareen had gotten any at all, he appeared to have just run away, but had managed to catch a few live swarmlings in the scuffle.

It had only been eight hours since the initial skirmish, and the swarm had been busy scurrying across the field all night long, but Argentinus didn't zoom the satellite in to find out what.

"Increased swarm activity detected, the swarm has now swelled to six million detected swarmlings." the computer said.

Argentinus sighed, got up, and walked out of his ready room and onto the bridge of the Excalibur.

"Put it on the main view screen. I want everyone's input on these things." General Argentinus said. Everyone sat up straighter and began paying attention to what the monitors showed.
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Commander Zareen got up and walked out of his personal command center, a small portable building that was easily constructed by ground troops. He blinked and looked about himself again, for he thought maybe he had been moved in the night.

"Have we moved?" Zareen asked.
"No sir, been here all night." the guard responded.
"Then where are all the dead?" Zareen asked.
"I think those strange bugs ate them." the guard said.
"ATE THEM?!" Zareen exclaimed.
"Sure enough, I saw those small roach looking bugs swarming all over the field all night long, and the dead, both ours, and theirs, slowly disappearing. Even the equipments gone. I would've done something, but you told me not to, infact your exact words were 'leave them damn things alone and worry about setting up defenses.'" the guard said.
Zareen shook his head as he looked out at the now empty plain. Where as last night it had been stained with blood, litered with corpses, and had equipment scattered accross it, now it was just bloodstained. That was when he noticed the city was gone entirely.

"The fucking city's gone!" Zareen exclaimed. This caused everyone to look in the direction of where the city was, and sure enough, the city of Naganata was no more.

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"My cerebrate, I am pleased with your progress. Through the eyes of drones and swarmlings I have watched you spread the hive across where the city of man used to be. I have watched you evolve the swarm to a new level of dominance, and repel the enemy. Surely now they will come kneel before the might of chaos." The overmind said.

The cerebrate had indeed made progress, for it sent the drones out in force to consume the valuable resources that had been left behind on the field of battle, that is, eat the fallen soldiers and swarmlings, that their flesh might be made anew into more swarmlings. The equipment had been taken, studied, and then broken down to it's base components upon consumption.

"I have learned something Overmind. The technology we face uses the power of the warp." The cerebrate said.
"This is but one reason why Chaos is angered against the races of man here. To use their power without properly paying for it, earning it, or at least thanking them for it is inexcusable. Elsewhere there are those who make light of the chaos gods, and insulting them, others still take their words into blasphemy, and in the fashion of heretics, attempt to define their own religions of Chaos. Yet none truly worship chaos, and for this, we were created." the Overmind said.

The new generation of swarmlings begun hatching, and from them crawled lizard like insects with extraordinary long powerful legs. Their claws were but sharpened blades of bone, wrapped with muscle. The swarmlings, eager to try out their new abilities, darted around the city, and made impressive leaps into the air. The older generation gathered on the creep, and went into a state of metamorphosis, evolving themselves to the new generation. This could only be done on the creep, for it was the creep that fed the green mixture into the cocoons, and it was the green mixture that changed the older generation. As these swarmlings were already grown, it would take nowhere near as long to evolve. Soon enough, these eggs hatched as well. About that same time, from the seashell like growth on the creep, came the swarmling spitter. It moved about on two weaker pairs of legs, and had average claws, but it's main body was larger than normal, possessing sacs inside that produced and filled with three different substances that when combined, became a highly corrosive acid. The spitters could project their acid up to 200 feet away, and it burned through most common substances.

"The swarm is now in readyness, let us set forth to accept that which is inevitable, their surrender to Chaos." The Overmind said.

With a great screech, the swarm forces set out once again on the battle field.

Nothing is perfect, save for Chaos and the powers it holds. This is one of the oldest known principles to The Swarm. Perhaps of The Overmind had been more mindful of it, the mistake of sending in the Spitters and swarmlings first wouldn't have been made.

True Commander Zareen had gotten his rest, as had other members of the army, but the night guard had been busy laying mines accross the field. It was a spitter who stepped on the first mine, and made the important discovery that spitter acid was infact, highly volatile in nature, as the exploding mine caused the spitter to explode the exploding spitter set off chain reactions with the other spitters near it, making them explode in a chain reaction that severely crippled the swarm. This caused the overmind to decide that peaceful resolution was impossible and immediatly will the swarms to destroy the army.

However mines weren't the only additions made, and as the surviving swarmlings and spitters drew closer, a shield flicked down over the compound. Air craft came rumbling in from overhead and bombed the remaining swarmlings into submission. With a screech and a cry, the remaining swarmlings leaped into the air to try and kill the flying things, but the aircraft merely dodged and shot them down. A couple spitters who survived the mines and bombing actually succeeded in taking down a few aircraft, but it was their misfortune to be at ground zero where the planes crashed, taking them out. The swarm had been defeated. With a resounding cheer, the marines celebrated, and assumed their victory was complete.


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The hive....

"Know that our loss this day is my failure, and not your own, cerebrate. know also, that the swarm can never truly lose, for each loss provides for a chance to learn and evolve, to become more than what we were. Continued loss however, cannot be tolerated. Fear not however, for I have chanced upon the perfect plan. This world harbors a creature called the pterosaur, and it flies through the air the greatest of all winged predators. We will assimilate this creature into the swarm, and take from it, the secrets of flight." The overmind said.

"With the addition of this new species, I will be unable to exert the control I once could over the swarm, and they may turn on us, or each other, without our guiding influence. I shall create a lesser version of myself, even as I am a lesser version of you, and I shall call it an Overlord. The Overlords will extend my control through the swarm. It too shall fly but not with wings, for behold, as part of my mind even now sleeps, it dreams of a very light gas that can be used to make the overlords float about. It shall be called, Vespene Gas, and it shall be a natural byproduct of the overlord's natural processes." The Cerebrate said.

So while it got to work designing the overlords, the few swarmlings and spitters that had stayed at the hive moved out to catch a few Pterosaurs.

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General Argentinus was in his ready room, and had called a meeting with his top advisers, and commander Zareen.

"General Argentinus, calling to congratulate me on my victory?" Commander Zareen asked, feeling prideful at his easy victory. He had learned his lesson well.

"Commander Zareen, I do congratulate you on your victory, but I feel a celebration may be a bit hasty. Now I've reviewed all known data on the swarm, and my advisers and I have reached the conclusion that those things that spat acid at your troops did not exist twenty four hours previously, and came about only because of the losses they took in meeting your marines in a head on attack." General Argentinus said.

"Now I know where this is headed, and don't worry, even if they somehow develop a flying ability, it'll be no match for me and my jets, we'll simply put them down again, until the fire bomber we requisitioned to come in and clean the area up arrives. We are in no danger General." Commander Zareen said.

"I'm glad you feel confident in your abilities commander, and be that as it may, it does not change the fact that this swarm can evolve and adapt at an unprecedented rate. The Science Consortium has confirmed this fact with their own tests, and revealed something most interesting I think. It seems these, things, have been spawned by Warp Energies." General Argentinus said.
"You can't be serious." Commander Zareen said.
"It seems so. If word of this got to the few nuts who actually worshiped Chaos, there'd be an utter revolt on our hands as they tried to get to the swarm, and somehow protect it. I've silenced the media on this issue, telling them that Natanaga was the victim of a military test gone wrong, and even volunteered the the military to help the greiving families come to terms with their losses. But that doesn't mean there won't be people who try to come to Naganata and see things for themselves. I don't think I have to continue on from there."

"It's a shame it's a crime to trespass on federal property, and with a lack of local authority, this land now belongs to the global authority. I shall call for resources to establish a more permanent location." Commander Zareen said.

"I have everything you need on board the Excalibur. This entire venture is classified and your forbidden from speaking of this, even to the military board. Do I make myself clear, Colonel, Zareen?" General Argentinus said. The need for expediency in resolving this matter outweighed the time it would take for all the legal matters to be resolved by the government, so the general took the only route he could to expedite the situation.

"Yes sir, When can I expect your landing?" The new colonel asked.
"I'll be down in about ten hours. Meanwhile, keep an eye on that hive, and if activity picks up, take proper measures against another welcoming party." General Argentinus said.

As view screens clicked off, the large sword like ship moved to a low orbit as it prepared to transition into the atmosphere.

ooc: I would be perfectly content to have you in my space, but I dont follow Choas, and the things you offer I could replicate easily, but if you dont find anyone im open, theres just a few IC Terms and conditions i would have to let you know about.

Fifteen Minutes after the swarmlings, spitters, and drones left to hunt for pterosaurs...

"It occurs to me that since our human opponents are beyond salvation, that they might try to attack us. We should evolve defences as well as new offences." The Cerebrate said with what little of it's mind was devoted to the task of creating the overlords.

"An excellent idea my child." The Overmind replied.

Drones began to scurry about on the creep, merging, and becoming new mounds for defences. Some burrowed underground, others soared high into the air. At the cerebrates direction others became a special tower into which eggs were transferred, inside of which were spawnlings, baby drones not yet of maturity, that would grow and evolve into Overlords. Others became a mound that most humans would agree looked like a crown. In these other eggs were placed to become a new species the Overlord had created. At the same time, all the genetic code produced by these enhancements caused the birthing mound to begin evolving into a Lair, it's tendrils reaching high into the air to look about in all directions. As it continued evolving, it doubled in size, and tripled in egg production capacity. Yet the overmind knew that direct egg production would be terribly slow no matter what, and resolved to create a faster method of reproduction.

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One hour after the hunting party left....

Colonel Zareen finished establishing the groundwork for a permanent military base, and began having permanent buildings brought in and erected.

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An hour and a half after the hunting party left.

The swarmlings, Spitters, and drones returned with several large cocoons. These were fed into the lair which just finished evolving. The Cocoons contained the assimilated and rapidly mutating pterosaurs, which were renamed teros.

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four hours after the battle ended and the hunting party left....

The Overmind altered the spawnlings significantly, instilling in them all the different DNA structures of the swarm.

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Nine hours after the battle ended and the hunting party left...

the Teros hatched, no longer did they have one set of wings, but two, and though the wings were soft and vulnerable, the body was armored. The teeth became sharp enough to sever a man's arm with relative easy, and in their bellies, Worms filled with Vespene gas continually spawned, ready to be spat out by the tero at a moment's notice. Vespene gas was naturally produced as a result of Swarmling breathing, but in most swarmlings, the amount was rather small. In the tero it was very large, and found to be highly unstable.

At this same time, the overlords hatched, and the control of the hive strengthened significantly. Their deflated bodies began filling with Vespene gas, which was lighter than air. But the overlords didn't completely fill, only certain sacs did. This left room inside for other swarmlings to enter and be transported via the air in.

A full hour later, a great rumbling filled the air, as a ship descended from the sky, and hovered over the area.

The Overmind knew then that it had a long ways to go, if it were to satisfy the demands of Chaos. With this in mind it began praying to Chaos, seeking an answer to a question it could not solve. But Chaos was again in a state of non-unification, so it would take awhile for a clear answer to be received.

Regardless, it sent the expanded swarm back after the army, to show them the power of the evolved swarm. But with so few Swarmlings, The Overmind didn't dare hope of overwhelming success.

((OOC:My technology is based on a mix of Starcraft/Freelancer and even tho my Empire controls a entire galaxy about half of it has no Imperial influence. because you made me feel nostalgic from mention Zerg and obviously being based on Zerg I would be more then happy for you to take a system of mine in what I call 'Ex-Qwelva Space' a description of this space and such can be found on the Military-Based factbook.

My Empire is currently in a meeting discussing a possible venture which you could more then help us with. MUAHAHAHAH! :P))

As the overlords hovered over the field, neither Colonel Zareen, General Argentinus, nor any of their men knew exactly what to make of them, for they seemed very non-threatening.

It was when the smaller hoard came rampaging out of the hive and the new flying breed of Taros came flying at them that they knew it was another attack. Still, a couple of men couldn't help but snicker at the sight of giant floating insects.
"Like a damn blown up baloon." Zareen said between snickers as he got his weapons ready.

The swarmlings, remembering what happened next time used their impressive leaping abilities and leaped over much of the battlefield. The Spitters were picked up by the overlords and carried.

Meanwhile Zareen's aircraft were flying out to shoot everything down. The Overlords, who knew of their role as extensions of the cerebrate, directed the Taros to attack the planes.

The first Taro dived at the aircraft letting out a hunting screech, and spat one of the exploding worms at it. The worm bounced off the aircraft, and the laugh in the pilot's throat died as it exploded just inches above his plane causing him to lose control momentarily.

Back on the ground the swarmlings leaped again, jumping over the fence and inside the compound where machine gun nests were frantically scrambling to try and shoot the oncoming horde down, but were too slow for a smaller, faster horde. One gunner leaped out of the nest to avoid being killed by an oncoming swarmling, only to be impaled by another on the ground as he landed.

The Marines had scrambled quicker than the gun nests, and the first group of them came around the corner to fight off the invaders, but by this point, the slower overlords had reached the encampment, and with the gun turrets gone thanks to the swarmlings, they could safely deposit the Spitters they were carrying. These took to shooting the marines, who realized they were pinned down by two different breeds of unfriendly swarmlings. Half the group turned to fire back on the spitters, the other kept firing at the swarmlings.

To the swarm's credit, the evolution of thick plating did infact stop some of the bullets, but organic material can last only so long, and after a short while, bullets began to pierce even their armored tusks.

Back in the skies it was an intense fire fight between the Taros and the jet fighters. In the excalibur, the watching general Argentinus grudgingly admitted that the taros were infact slightly more powerful than the jets, but the jets were definitely faster and more nimble.

It really came down to a contest of who could hit first, and to the swarm's delight, they were winning, as they now out numbered the jets by a small amount. The watching overlords had the free taros help the others.

Back on the ground the swarmlings had reached the marines, and despite some of their number falling, were still strong enough to take on the reinforcements that had arrived, thanks in large part to the spitters who had proven themselves deadlier than the standard marine.

Colonel Zareen smelled defeat in the air, but knew he was not beaten yet, for in the distance came a large red ship, the fire bomber Zareen had ordered. The Excalibur lifted to a higher altitude to make way for the approaching fire bomber.

The Overlords sensed the danger in the approaching ship, and as the last Jet went down, they ordered the reduced ranks of the Taros, for about a fourth of them had fallen in the fight, to turn and take on the firebomber.

Deep in the lair, the Cerberate and the overmind watched through the eyes of the swarm with excitement, it seemed they were winning!

Back at the base camp, the marines had been defeated utterly, and though fewer in number, the remaining ground swarm advanced on the firesweepers and Colonel Zareen.

The Overlords, who bore the memories of the swarm in them, had the swarmlings leap ahead of the spitters and take on the firesweepers first.

The flames licked out, and the swarmlings leaped over them, and landed behind the sweepers. The sweepers tried to turn, but their equipment was too big and bulky, so they only turned in time to get their eyes clawed out.

Up in the sky the taros screeched around the seemingly impenetrable firebomber. It kept getting closer, ever closer, yet was surrounded by a field of energy. The Overlord tried to think of a work around, but came up with nothing. This worried the overmind and cerebrate, for they could feel the impending danger in the firebomber,

Back on the ground, the swarmlings and firesweepers were fully engaged, leaving Colonel Zareen free to run about the base, he seemed to be looking for something he had hidden. He wasn't alone, for the spitters, who had lost track of him, were running about the base looking for him!

At last, they found each other, or more appropriately, Zareen found the activation panel for the self destruct sequence. He reached for it, and thought he was going insane, as he felt some liquid hit his hand and the control box, and made them both melt. He stared at the stump that was his handless wrist, and screamed in agony and terror. He turned, and the last thing he ever saw was a massive wall of yellow liquid flying at him.

At that same moment, the last firesweeper fell, and the overlords moved in and picked up the thinned swarm.

It seemed as if nothing could be done, but as the bomber got closer to the swarm, it's shields began to flicker, and the overmind realized it could feel the shield. It quickly surmized that the energies it used to control the swarm must also be useable in other fashions, and so the overmind had the cerebrate concentrate all of it's mental prowess into breaking the shield they could both feel.

The Taros and the Overlords saw the shields drop seconds before crews inside saw the same thing on their control panels. The Taros moved inside shield range, and the overlords dropped the swarm off on top of the ship.

Spitters got to work creating a hole in the top, and their acid quickly bore through. The Swarmlings dropped in first, followed by the spitters, the overlords stayed outside.

The Taros swooped and flew about the ship, shooting their exploding worms at it, but it seemed ineffective against something that size, until the guns came out. The Overlords knew those guns would mean trouble, so while the swarm caused chaos inside, the taros concentrated on taking out the guns, or at least disabling them.

Inside the Swarmlings ran about slashing at anything that moved, and spitters, and anything that blinked, which resulted in a lot of destroyed computer terminals and ruined doors. The crew were not military members, but were mercenaries.

The mercenaries had no internal shields, for a firebomber was never employed against an enemy that could somehow get inside. So it was up to the individuals themselves, many of whom did ground fighting on the side, to defend the bomber.

Whether by the grand designs of chaos, or by sheer luck alone, the swarmlings inside were headed directly to the engine room, and that was where the more agressive crew gathered to defend the ship.

Outside, the first shot of fire licked out from the cannons, but the swarm had seen to defences, and a glob of acid shot up at it from a small mound, which exploded when it contacted the fire.

The Taros grouped on the gun and fired at it at it's thinnest section, and the combined effort of their hits caused the gun to sever, and go crashing to the ground. It bounced off the creep, and onto the plain, where it came to a halt.

Inside at the engine room, the swarmlings had broken through to the engine room, and the mercenary crew members had immediatly began shooting. The swarmlings couldn't get down to fight them. But the spitters could spit. They saw a massive glowing pillar from which they could feel massive amounts of energy, so they spat at that to distract the gunmen.

Shooting at the energy core of the ship was a surefire distraction, for if it blew up, the whole ship would blow up, and take out anything around it!

The stopping of the shooting allowed the swarmlings to get into the engine room, the mercs, already busy with trying to shut down the energy core before it blew up, were unable to quickly turn and fight the swarmlings, but they weren't all busy with the controls, and a fair number turned back to shoot the swarmlings down.

The spitters sensing the importance of the energy core, continued to spit at it, and the acid hissed as it began to eat through the energy core.

Meanwhile, the second salvo had gone off, and while a responding glob of acid came from below, it missed, and liquid fire began to flow across the creep. The taros turned their fire on the gun, as Drones swarmed out of the hive to contain the fire.

Back inside, the captain knew a losing situation when he saw it.

"Screw this, no amount of money is worth a suicide mission. Turn around, we're heading back!" he said.

Yet the swarm didn't know this, and the spitters shot one last salvo at the engine core.

The ship had manuvered back out over the plain by this point, and exploded with a massive boom that shook the cerebrate to it's very roots.

General Argentinus growled.

"Enough of this, I won't fall victim to some mindless horde of beasts. This was amusing while I still had some chance of getting something out of it, but it's clear now their too powerful. Charge the main cannon, and remove that abomination against the natural order from this world." General Argentinus said.

Alarms went off at the control panel.
"General, High volumes of Warp activity detected in the region, if we stay here, we'll die!"

The general growled again. He knew if he left the swarm would only swell to enormity and become unstoppable, but if he stayed it would be suicide. He sighed, knowing it was time to bring in the entire strategic might of the military board in on this.

"Take us to the capital, and get me the president." General Argentinus said.

The overmind and Cerebrate felt elation at their greatest victory yet. But the Overmind wind solemnly quiet, for the warp had arrived, and his makers finally had an answer to his prayer.

Deep inside the hive...

"Attend to me my child, and know that the blessings of the gods rain upon us. Though their ways are many and varied, they have at last arrived at an answer unanimous in concept to my question, and it is to that concept that I have asked for. Know that there are worlds beyond this one, equally deserving of the wrath of the swarm. Yet as were are, we are world bound. Know also, that those that inhabit this world, have technology greater than what we have encountered, technology that would wipe us out, before we adapted to it. So with that in mind I queried Chaos and asked how we might go about accomplishing their will despite these enormous setbacks, and while each had their own solution, one thing they each agree on, at least partially, is that we need the power of the warp, and so it is that I have asked to be granted the fullness of the warp to accomplish their desires. And now I have my response, most assuridly, it shall be to the affirmative."

Out in space, the warp had become manifest in the materium, a great and glorious fluctuating field of chaos. It compressed itself into a tightly compact sphere, and shot an iridescent beam of energy down into the hive. the energy coursed and crackled through the hive, and through all of the swarm.

Screeches of fear and pain coursed through the hive as a blinding multi-colored light coursed through everything, yet a full minute after it began, it stopped.

The hive checked itself out. It was in one piece, yet felt different. The drones had the runes of Chaos undivided permanently etched into them. The walls of the hive had those runes plus others etched in a seemingly random pattern, but when read properly in a fashion known only to the true followers of chaos, spoke of it's glories. The recently hatched swarmlings were etched with the wrath of khorne, their muscles and speed increased greatly, their bodies hardened like a rock.

The overlords were ever changing in color, the cerebrate and Overmind filled with deviousness and scheming the likes of which no man would ever know the fullness of, gifts of Tzeentch.

To the spitters went the gifts of Nurgle, their acid being changed to birth disease and toxification from corpses, spreading the death of one, to the death of many.

Out of the mound that looked like a crown came the Swarmling Queens, and to them Slaanesh gave a deadly allure, attracting men and women alike to their presence with hormones few could ever completely resist.

But these weren't all the gifts of Chaos, for together, they created one last Swarmling, long and constrictor like, it slithered before the Cerebrate and presented itself for inspection. It's skin was of all the colors of the four gods of chaos, bearing on it's head the mark of chaos undivided, and along it's long serpentine body, the seals of each of the gods. In it's eyes glowed the power of the warp, and it hissed with the tongues of man.

"Welcome my child, explain the purpose you shall serve to the hive." The Overlord demanded.

"I am the Swarmling Zealot, and I am of the gods. It is to them I serve, a tool of your will. From me shall flow the warp itself, and into my brethren it shall go, changing them, adapting them, empowering them. I am the answer to your request for the powers of the warp. Because you have shown promise, the gods have been merciful. Continue to do well, and they shall continue to be merciful. Know that I can only give you basic powers. Curry enough favor with the gods, and they shall allow me to evolve, and from my evolutions shall come more powers. Within you oh mighty Overmind, and within your favored servant, the cerebrate, lies the knowledge to make others of my breed as the swarm expands and grows." The Swarmling Zealot said.

"Then go forth, and spread the glory of Chaos before the swarm." The Overmind said.

___________________________________________

Meanwhile In a secret military compound in the capital city...

"General Argentinus, why have you called this meeting?" A fellow general asked.

"I called the meeting." a man said in a high backed chair facing away from the table said.

It swiveled around as the military board gasped collectively. In the chair was the president!

"General Argentinus has brought to my attention a situation that demands all our attentions. Tell them." the president said.

Argentinus stood, and gestured at blank moniters. They flicked on, showing recordings of the battles with the the swarm, and a current live feed of the hive.

"This, is the swarm. A large insect like collection of monsters capable of high degrees of adaptation. We've known about them for the past year, but they seemed a harmless curiosity. Late last night, they completly removed Naganate and all it's citizens from existence. I have reason to believe the swarm simply ate the city. Commander Zareen of the Fifth regiment responded immediatly, and I turned my attention to the situation to observe, believing Commander Zareen capable of handling it. The swarm and the fifth regiment met in a head on attack, for the regiment was unable to set up defences before the swarm hit. Taking equal losses, the two sides retreated to lick their wounds. We set up defences, they evolved. Zareen chose to ignore the dead until sunrise, thinking the swarm would give him a few days to come up with a plan, but upon sunrise, both the dead, and the ruins of the city, were gone.

Zareen began to form plans to send out scouts to investigate, but as he was planning, the swarm attacked again. This time we chased them off with flame throwers, discovering that a new breed that came into being overnight exploded when torched. Again, we repaired ourselves, and they evolved, assimilating a species of bird into their swarm.

I consulted with Zareen on strategy, and it was decided to call in a fire bomber, eradicate the entire area, and be done with it. Yet even as we were preparing to move out and let the firebomber mercenaries do their job, the swarm attacked again, and having learned their lessons well, wiped out Zareen, and then attacked the approaching Firebomber, and it was destroyed from within by the swarm. I was forced at that point to flee because of the swelling warp energies." Argentinus said.

It was at that point that the warp energies shot into the hive, empowering them. Visual went out, but everyone heard the screaming, and a few thought they heard four people almost laughing in the enjoyment of the swarm's pain, but surely that was their imagination. When visuals were restored, the hive crackled with energy, and seemed, improved.

"Stable warp energies detected within the hive." the computer said.

"Dear gods, they adapted to warp energies!" Argentinus exclaimed quietly.

The Hive...

The Zealot slithered through the hive, getting it's bearings. Since the addition of Warp energy, it was found all swarmlings had the power to talk, not just the overmind and cerebrate. Time had passed, but no one knew for certain how much, but in that time, the spawnlings had been significantly altered, and the hive no longer laid eggs, but generated spawnlings instead, who in turn could become any swarmling needed simply by replicating their DNA rapidly, effectivly erasing the DNA of the other breeds of swarmling from their system.

So once more, the hive flourished with activity, and continued to swell and grow. Over land, over sea, through mountains and valleys, it mattered not, nothing would stop the exapnsion of the hive. Sharks, dolphins, and squids were assimilated into the hive, and from them were gleaned the secrets of underwater adaptation.

It was soon discovered, that if not close enough to a zealot, Swarmlings lost their warp enhancements. So as the hive swelled to enormity, more zealots were born.

But the swarm wasn't the only place that was a flurry of activity.

-----------------------------------------

Secret location of the Military Board....

Argentinus was elected by the board to lead the defence against the swarm by virtue of his greater experience. This of course meant staying in the secret bunker to direct operations and provide strategy. With him was the president, but the president was in another room.

Before him was a virtual map of the swarm, the hive had swollen to over five hundred square miles in size, and it was all a massive living creature. That's what gave Argentinus the most awe, that something that large could be alive. As it grew, organs and growths appeared on the surface, though what their purpose could be, Argentinus had no idea. One reminded him of a temple, for it was shaped much like a pyramid. These glowed with startlingly large amounts of warp energy, and from them and to them crawled snake-like swarmlings.

It had been a full five days since the last fight with the swarm. He regretted now not staying to shoot them with the main cannon, and now it seemed it was too late. The civilians were all evacuated to other worlds though.

Monitors behind him flicked on to show the faces of generals and colonels alike, for the military board has disbanded to their respective legions to command their troops directly.

"Welcome gentlemen, I assume by now all the troops have been alerted?" Argentinus asked.

The board nodded their collective affirmations that this was so.

"Good. Now lets wipe this swarm out once and for all." Argentinus said.

He moved to switch his personal screens to his prepared strategy, when another screen flickered on. The man in that screen was wearing the standard white lab coat all scientists seem to wear. His skin was white, as was his hair.

"Ahh, Dr. Yamato, good to see you." Argentinus said by way of greeting.
"I do hope you gentlemen don't mind the intrusion, but I felt that as I had just this very morning completed all short term experiements that can and have yeilded data, I thought I should join you to share the remarkable discoveries I have made." Dr. Yamato said.

"Well, don't keep us in the dark. Let's hear what you found so we can alter strategy accordingly." Argentinus said.

"Well, as you know, I was sent a couple of the first two breeds discovered, namely those designated the swarmling legionaire and the swarmling citizen. I have come to discover the legionaires simply name themselves swarmling, and the citizens are simply referred to as drones. But that's not the exicting part. Their DNA is unusually complex, and mostly empty, containing as much information, if not slightly more, as a normal human contains. Even we have some blank cells in our DNA, either emptied from evolution, or left blank for evolution, but we only have two twisted pairs, Swarmlings have thirty two, and Drones have sixty-four, what's more, Drones appear to be the underlying foundation of the entire swarm. I can't study all the secrets of a drone simply because that technology does not exist, but drones can mutate into the growths on the hive surface, and can mutate into the hive inside! That is their body merges with the hive, somehow enhancing it. This is like one of us building a house or an office to live in. It provides us with a function, as do the growths on and in the hive.

It is the drones who replicate the swarmlings, and I suspect, all the other breeds of swarmling. But it must take something different than a drone, for though the few we have at the IGSC mutated into a second hive, they have not yet produced any swarms. Either that, or the drones we captured are somehow infertile.

But the drones aren't your concern. They run and hide when threatened, and are non-combatants. It's the swarmlings, and while I'm certain normal armor piercing rounds will work effectivly, I've discovered a communications frequency beaming out of their heads. I had a large scale satelite scan for that same frequency, and discovered the entire swarm is united by secret communications frequencies. I blocked the frequencies for the few I had, and they went berserk and killed each other! I have the knowledge, but lack the resources for a large scale device of similar use, but I suspect if the entire swarm was disabled similarly, then they would take care of themselves for us." Dr. Yamato said.

"I have reason to believe we can assist you with this device." The president said joining in from his private office in the next room.

"It will take some time to build, even if we had everything present and ready to go. Dr. Yamato Nasagori's information is invaluable to us, and it shall be executed fully provided our battle today does not succeed.

Our battle will take place on two fronts. Colonel Ingus will be approaching from the south seas. Don't get sloppy now, they mutated underwater strains of Swarmlings. Meanwhile, from the north will come Colonel Yeti to take them in a land battle. The rest of you are staying with the civilian evacuation fleet, minus my own Colonel Ivan who is staying with the presidential guard in case the rest of us have to flee.

Really, just keep your shields on at all times, use the armor piercing ammunition, and stay out of their two hundred yard spitting range. I estimate that by tonight we will have victory.

If something goes wrong, then we shall evacuate, and to save the rest of the nation, use the worldslayer." Argentinus said.

Dr. Yamato's screen flicked off, and that seemed to be the signal that the meeting was over, so everyone else's screen flicked off too.

Argentinus got himself a cup of coffee, and tried to raise Dr. Yamato on the communications system to get the plans from him, but received no answer. He told himself that the good doctor had things to attend to elsewhere, but that didn't silence the churning in his stomach that told him trouble was brewing.

The Inter-galactic Science Consortium Research Station during the strategy session.....

The seven drones that were captured from the first battle with man had long sense evolved into a hive colony, and it wiggled it's tentacles about in the air. They did something to cut it off from The Overmind, but that changed when they decided the drones were non-threatening and undid their damage.

The new hive, now reconnected with the overmind, grew a new cerebrat, and with two cerebrates, there were now two broods of Swarms, each headed by Cerebrates, both of whom were controlled by the overmind. Thus the original was named the Dangaloth brood, and the second, the Hythloth brood. The Hythloth brood, on the research station, wasted no time in spreading the creep, and erecting the growths neccessary upon it, and this increased activity greatly interested researchers. Some felt alarmed and wanted to kill the still defenseless swarm before it was too late, but others, victims of their own curiosity, restrained them, forcefully if need be. The first swarms were produced inside the hive, which had swelled to cover the entire docking bay it was housed in, building upon itself and filling it completely, in fact the doors had burst off of the bay and part of it hung out in space.

The vacuum of space was a new phenomenon to the swarm, and they realized they needed to adapt to it to be successful, so they began researching methods of adaptation to exist in space.

Meanwhile, inside the bay, the swarm reached into the air vents, continuing to spread.
At the will of the overmind, the swarm let the researchers peak into the hive, where drones busied themselves with cleaning and maintaining the hive, much to the various scientists fascination. Cereberate Hythloth had a sizeable attack force consisting of spitters and swarmlings, and had them come around the corner and start attacking the glass.

When the first salvo of acid hit the barrier and started hissing it's way through, the scientist knew they had made a mistake, no matter how fascinating the swarm was. Swarmlings assaulted the barrier directly, and with it weakened so, were able to smash through it.

The attack force easily overpowered the station, for it was naught but scientists on board, and they were not the sort who fought. No one had ever thought the drones would be able to produce a deadly force. Dr. Yamato was the last to be killed, as he dashed for an escape pod, killed in a salvo of acid.

That left the swarm with a research station filled with knowledge, ripe for the taking. It was this that the Zealots moved about station in search of. Though the swarm itself didn't use technology, it realized the potential in the knowledge stored in this technology.

What they found was a complete education on science and all it knew, this knowledge was stored in the hive for future and immediate use. The very first use, was a change in drones, in that they grew slightly larger, and no longer breathed air, that is, they still did, but recycled their own air supply. They also kept a small amount of warp power, which allowed them to attach themselves to the outside hull. In this manner, they were able to spread the hive throughout the station, and explore space around the station much more easily.

The overmind and cerebrates began to make plans for spacial adaptaions to the rest of the swarm, including themselves.

OOC: I'm sorry, but I must stop with the backstory and get to the real point now, before I completely lose interest. I will reflect on the backstory at times in the future in other threads, fear not. Thus, let us assume the swarms are FT battle ready, having gone through all the neccessary evolutions in order to properly be able to compete fairly in FT.

For reasons known only to a handful of enlightened monks hidden in a secluded monastery somewhere in asia, I have decided to go with Telros's offer. Thus Telros and his alts are the only one permitted to post, besides me of course. This does not mean I wouldn't be willing to consider secondary offers of helping other people out with wars and such, just TG, or PM, or drop a message in my forum profile me with any ideas you might have...
_________________________________________________________
IC:

There is no history in the swarm. There are only the memories of the overmind.

The overmind remembers that that the Xel'saran ground forces fell quickly, due to underestimation of the swarm, and that the Hythloth brood created adaptations for space flight, enabling the swarm to spread to other worlds. The spitters it seemed had an advantageous blessing from The Warp, for they could fire it's energies instead of their own acid when near a zealot. This energy traveled some five thousand feet before dissipating, causing great damage to whatever stopped it if it hit something.

It was at this point that the Hythloth and Dangaloth broods seperated, for the zealots said that the warp had wishes for the Swarm to travel to a certain place, to be there at a certain time.

The swarms took to space, following a zealot who was making a spiral with it's body. The spiraled body shot forward and opened up The Warp, and into it vanished the Dangaloth brood, leaving behind the Hythloth brood which eventually conquered Choria. This must be so for no one remembers the choria galaxy, but everyone has heard of the dangerous swarm that is slowly spreading inward from the outermost galaxies, at least they have in fairy tales.

__________________________________________________

Milky Way Galaxy, Modern Time, exact location unknown to the swarm...

Space rippled, and then ripped open in violence as The Warp manifested in the Materium.

True there were others who worshipped and followed Chaos, but this opening would not show signs as having come from them, and the swarm had by this point in time become nothing more than a children's fairy tale like Santa clause and the Easter bunny, to be told around the appropriate holidays.

So it was very likely that no one would be prepared for what came out of The Warp, as a plague of insect looking creatures from nightmares out of time immemorial descended upon the system before them. A swarm in the hundreds of millions had by the passage of time and hungry denizens of the warp dwindled to mere millions. The long travel and occasional rest made the swarm more ready for the rigors of space flight, evolutions that occurred in the warp made the swarm fighting ready to take on space going warships, and now the swarm wanted a system to colonize.

The very first things to emerge would be the Devourers, large flying evolutions of the basic Taro that specialized in combating ships. They looked like giant shelled insects, wound up in a circle. Their shells looked metallic and shone brilliantly. Warp energies glimmered in their eyes, and they lead the swarm, for they would be the first to attack of resistance came. A cloaked and very well hidden science vessel belonging to the modern day Inter-galactic Science Consortium noticed the new swarm with interest, they could remember ever running across something like this before, but lead scientist Dr. Yamato Nasagori was almost certain one of his ancestors had probably encountered something similar somewhere else in the distant past...

OOC: So, take it away telros...

The Swarm had arrived in all its diminished glory, but it was not the only ones gracing this system, nor the first. The Kelash Imperium was the current owner of this system, known to them as the Semashi system. They were a race of aliens whom had been aggressively expanding as best they could with their limited technologies. They were a race of beings whom were smaller than a human but had a physiology that made them stronger and faster than the average human. And they spoke entirely in a dialect made up of clicking sounds, making it nearly-impossible for humans to open negotiations. Of course, to the other visitor in this system, that hardly mattered.

CEO Patrick Stevens stood aboard the Shatterstar-class Battleship, the Crimson Fury, watching as his mighty battle fleet of over fifty ships laying waste to the Imperium's last defenses. The Exchani Corporation, in one of its many operations that it ran constantly, had been looking to expand for some time. Lowered resources had impacted trade significantly over the past few years, as well as the supply of slaves. They needed a new source of both, not to mention territory to secure more area for the Corporation and extending their havens for pirates, mercenaries and other "essential business partners". Squadrons of Scavenger-class Interceptors clashed with the bulkier Kelash fighters, and explosions dotted the space between the fleets. Large beams of dimensional energy sliced out to cut through Imperium ships and rent great holes in their hulks. EMP and fusion missiles slammed into their shields and hulls, sending waves of electronic-disabling energy washing over them. All the while, a constant barrage of pulse and kinetic weaponry slammed into their ships. The attack had come suddenly, and without mercy. The Imperium had just begun colonizing their second system, when the Corporation had finalized battle plans and begun their invasion. Pirates had been harassing their trade lanes and worlds, weakening them up for assault. It had been four weeks ago that the attack on their expanding system, and their forces had been wiped out. What reinforcements they had sent did not come back and now suddenly this fleet had come and attacked their capital.

Patrick had known the capital was their only stronghold of defense and if broken, the rest would fall. And so it had become ended right then and there. Kelash ships fell left and right, and the Corporation continued its relentless march on their capital. What both sides did not count on was a random new entry, the Eternal Swarm. Warning alarms rang out on both sides, alerting them to the new entry. Patrick watched as the screens showed a massive fleet...no, it could not be called that. A massive cloud of insect-like creatures rushing towards them. Somehow, they had developed in such a way as to survive in space. And the Corporation was sure they had developed weapons of their own. Patrick turned to his officers.

"Have all ships pull back several klicks away from the Keshal capital and form into a defensive formation. Fire a volley to get them off our backs as we prepare this. Do not fire on them until they prove themselves hostile. And prepare a distress call, we may need help just in case."

The Corporation ships began to pull back, firing off a final volley to keep the Imperial ships away. It was unneeded, as the Keshali could not believe their luck that the Corporation had pulled back to deal with this new foe. All remaining ships formed a defensive line along with the orbiting defenses, and prepared to deal with either group, although they hoped that both would destroy each other, leaving them to clean up the mess. Both sides went on the defense and waited to see what this new arrival would do......

The new arrivals, also went on the defense.

Sensing two warring factions within the system, The Overmind called a halt to the Swarm's progress. So they just hung there, watching, waiting.

"Master, what should we do, wipe them both out?" The Cerebrate Dangaloth asked.
"No my child, such would be foolish. Instead, offer to side with the one who provides the better offer to wipe the other out. Provided of course either species can understand us." The Overmind said.

Dangaloth thought about this, then had his Overlord carry him toward the front. View screens would clearly see a giant balloon like insect toting around a gigantic freaking brain without a body drift forward.

"Greetings, I am Dangaloth, Cerebrate of The Eternal Swarm. We were commanded only to come here by the glorious voices of Chaos, and left to our own designs after that, so we make an offer.

We require a world to colonize and make our own, give us one, and we shall assist you in wiping out your enemies, wherever they might be, and guard your worlds as our own. We will even provide you drones to pad your labor force, should one of you be out to, 'hire', some workers." Dangaloth said via Psionic transmission. As it spoke, it's surface visibly vibrated with it's thoughts. The transmission would be intercepted by normal communications, but be received as a collection of clicks, screeches, and the odd howl.