Swarms

General description:

The Swarms are an insectoid hive mind race. They possess minor telepathic abilities which allow them to passively and subtly manipulate the minds of most sentient races, allowing them to project "images" which seems like they shape shift, and allowing them to communicate.

Individual swarms are generally a large mass of midge sized flying insects who move together in large swarms like locusts, hence their name.
The swarms are usually about the size of an adult human.

Individual insects look like midges or mosquito, with elongated bodies and long wings.
The majority of a swarm is made up of drones, who lack mouth parts and thus don't bite or drink blood.
During breeding season, which happens when a swarm becomes too large, the queen will produce breeding males and females. The females do have mouth parts and like mosquito, feed on blood to aid the reproductive process and give them the energy and nutrients needed.
Their bites itch and some species can have quite nasty reactions to the bite. Most species however, it's a minor irritation just like mosquito in humans.

It's never been confirmed if Swarms carry any blood borne diseases. There's every chance they could spread disease as a result of feeding from people with infected blood.



Naming Conventions: Swarms don't have names, they generally are simply referred to as "swarm". Unless someone takes it upon themselves to name one.

Reproduction and lifespan:

Swarms have a complicated life cycle. The swarms are all connected, linked through a central hive, an alpha queen so to speak who is mother to all swarms, in a roundabout sort of way.
All swarms are supposed to return to the central hive periodically, reintegrate with the other swarms into one giant swarm, share the information and knowledge they have gathered and then redistribute into new swarms to be sent out again.

Within each of these swarms is at least one queen, a fertilised female who will produce all the drones needed.

Each drone lives only a matter of months before dying, so the queen is essential to maintain the swarm until it can return to the hive.

If the queen dies, another will take her place though the exact process behind this is not fully understood. Drones it seems, have the ability to spontaneously change themselves, though how the swarm decides which individual does this and how it works is a mystery, as with much of the swarm's exact biology and history.

Swarms tend to maintain a stable number, replenishing regularly as individuals die off.

The Queen, though able to fly, tends not to once a nest site is found. Swarms often will join the crew of a ship and nest aboard the ship, usually in the sewage or water treatment facilities where it is warm and wet. The Queen remains here, laying eggs and tending her brood of larvae with the help of a small number of workers, her court so to speak.
She feeds from the knowledge the drones gather, swarms don't appear to actually eat beyond the blood taken to fuel the initial egg production process. The queen will fertilize these eggs "at will" like most insect queens during her lifespan, but seems to require the iron and protein found in blood to start the process of actually producing viable eggs to store inside herself.

The rest of the swarm operates as a member of crew, most are used as a sort of biological computer system. Their massive knowledge of a vast range of subjects makes them effectively living encyclopedias and their ability to be everywhere at once on board makes them excellent as surveillance as well.

If the Swarm loses a large number of drones at once, there have been reports of two or more queens appearing till the number is replenished, at which point they will fight for dominance of the swarm.

A single queen can live for 20+ years if left undisturbed, though few Swarms spend that long away from the hive. Most return to their hive every 5 years or so.

Separation from the hive is said to drive a swarm insane, unable to hear the alpha queen, their hive mind starts to split and divide.
Thankfully, most swarms return home regularly and never travel too far from their hive world in the first place.


Planet:  The Swarms can be found on several worlds, though the exact location of the main hive is a fiercely kept secret among them and the races that make use of them.

The Swarms have a good relationship with a good dozen space faring races who utilize biotech instead of regular electronic systems. These usually non sentient bio ships are often paired with a swarm that acts as a navigator and computer system. Even the few sentient bio ships will often have a swarm aboard, they're useful and don't require drilling or implanting the usual systems a regular ship would need.

Further out the Swarms are more of a curiosity, the wide spread use of standard computer technology makes the Swarms somewhat redundant. However, the fact they cannot be hacked does make them useful to some, who'd sooner have a computer system that can't be so easily turned against them.

Biology and culture: As Swarms are a hive mind, they lack individuality. It can be very difficult to tell a swarm apart from another swarm, the only clues being any preferences of form the swarm adopts to make its crew more comfortable. Some crews prefer their swarms to look like them, others prefer they remain as a cloud of insects. However, as swarms will often change forms to suit the person speaking to them anyway, this isn't always a good indicator.

Weaknesses: Fire and most things that will hurt any organic being will hurt a swarm. They're more susceptible to poisons and air borne toxins as a result of their small size. Without access to a warm damp place to nest, they cannot replenish their numbers.
Bug spray, fly paper, predation and getting squished are all concerns.
They need oxygen.
They also need knowledge, which they seem to psychically feed off. Isolation and a lack of stimulation of any sort will cause a swarm to starve to death.