Akestos
Surge Lord
Intent: Surge Soldier | Magma Spitter
Image Credit: Original Link (Dead) Pin Link | Muse Videos: Sucker Punch and Lord of the Rings Films | Custom Text
Canon: Tulrus | Magma Spitter | Fire Breather | Lava Eel
Links: [member="The Hive Mind"] | Akestos | [member="Kylraya"] | SwarmSurge | The Hive | The Swarm | The Surge
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Magma Keeper
Designation: Semi-Sentient
Origins: The Hive Mind, also known as the Swarm Mind when speaking collectively.
Average Lifespan: 38
Estimated Population: Scattered
Description: Magma Keepers are large brutes. Stocky, with thick arms, thick skin and generally considered among the hardiest and slowest members of the regular hive soldiers. Their legs are especially thick, and their bodies hardened. Often covered in more advanced versions of terminus armors, even without this naturally they are brutes. Their mouth produces a near constant state of magma which breaks down their food into a liquid and gaseous form. While their large retractable claws are a danger also. Their natural tail is thinner but can still be used in combat effectively for holding or choking opponents. Their neck is smaller behind their head, shielded behind the broad shoulders and arms, but also a weak spot with its thinner skin.
PHYSICAL INFORMATIONBreathes: Type IV Environments or Better
Average Height of Adults: 2.2 meters | 7.2 ft
Average Length of Adults: N/A
Skin color: Purple, Black, and Orange
Hair color: None
Distinctions: Most of the magma this creature carries is in its mouth. That said it does run around its outer body, keeping it and the surrounding environment very warm indeed. When struck at close range, the magma is a hazard for nearby Hive Creatures as well as enemies. Thankfully for its opponents, with its heavier mass, the Magma Keeper is not fast. Originally from Mustafar, the Tulrus, along with various Vong Techs the One Sith were working on were incorporated into a single form. The bioengineered creature is asexual and breeds through laying eggs every few months, the eggs take about three weeks to hatch, and about another three weeks to grow into an adult. Like most hive species it can be grown in a Breeding Chamber, but this is not often required. This creature will almost certainly be in Terminus armor or better, and quite likely carrying bio-grafted weaponry. Like the majority of Hive Creatures, this one is not infectious or contagious.
Races: Magma Keeper
Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
Strengths:
- Can operate in a Vacuum for three weeks.
- Heat. Regulates Heat, Gives Off Heat, Can Survive in Magma temperatures.
- Very Hardy Natural Skin and Large Muscle Mass.
- Can spit magma up to 200 Meters - 328 Feet in a football-sized glob or a jet stream to about 80 meters.
- Cold barely effects it at all.
- Slow. Heavy. This creature is not fast.
- Vulnerable in the neck. The neck is short, with the shoulders and head being in the way, but it is a weak spot.
- Bleeds Magma when wounded badly enough. This is bad for what's around it. Unless it's another one of the same. Though hive armors are often highly resistant to heat, this is still magma.
- The tail while useful in combat to choke or hold people, is probably the thinnest part of the creature, and while it might not kill it, removing the tail would hurt it badly.
- Slow to heal. Magma Wounds. Due to its immense heat, this creature doesn't heal quickly on its own. There are Hive buildings or creatures to help negate this weakness but it doesn't help on a battlefield often.
Diet: Carnivore, preferring humanoid sized creatures. The creature is allergic to the Starburst Plant, the Nysha Plant, and the Waha Plant. Experiencing discomfort and Nausea if consuming them or with prolonged contact.
Communication: Magma Signs, Body Language, Sight. The Hive's Mind, The Swarm's Will.
Technology level: Very Basic. Unassisted. They can fire weapons, open doors, basic actions. With the Hive's Greater Intelligence, their hands come in useful for manipulation.
Religion/Beliefs: The Swarms Will, Exist. The Surge Impulse, Expand.
General behavior: The Hive uses these creatures to backup smaller drones in a regular surge. They are all around useful soldiers. With some range, strength, and toughness. When not fighting, these creatures are excellent at creating D13 structures. Their heat assists the mineral to form dense structures through evaporation, then their weight is useful in the initial compression, finished off by more specific drone creatures. They are also commonly found on Hive Structures or Hive Ships in space, their natural heat assisting to keep their temperature regulated. If cut off from the Hive they tend to rampage around, being dangerous to everything and everyone.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The hive doesn't have a lot of soldiers compared to drones. Soldiers are numerous enough but not the main weight of the surge. There is usually some limited conscious intelligence in soldiers, rudimentary but nothing here capable of calling itself true sentience, that would be a stretch. They could fire a weapon grafted on themselves but in this case, that would act more as an extension of its own magma weapon shots which it has some ability to understand ranges for.
As some may know, the Hive likes things warm and dry. Absolutely ideal conditions are a lot of moisture and biomatter, which it can then consume, making the area drier, hotter, and ready for its structures. However, things are often not ideal. The focused Hive Mind adapts to challenges the greater Swarm's Will faces. This is what makes it so dangerous to the galaxy as a whole. Here it uses one of its more numerous soldiers, to give off a large amount of heat, both to assist with Hive Growth but also to keep it warm in space and on colder worlds. Not negating all the challenges extreme cold gives it entirely but assisting.
Nothing from Mustafar integrated into the hive in its early attempts. Absolutely nothing. So over time, a harvesting creature stripped enough DNA from its native creatures, specifically Tulrus to try something new. Adapting. Always looking for expansion. A combination organism of these aggressive creatures, of Swarm Will, of Vong tech and naturally hardy skin was bioengineered. This also marks a minor change and evolution in Swarm Tactics when it hits a wall, which a certain Darth is keeping close tabs on. Given limited sentience by the Hive, the Bio-Engineered Tulrus often walks upright but is perfectly capable of reverting to its instinct and moving on all fours.