Arachnid

The Arachnids, also known as the Bugs, the Pseudo-Arachnids, and the Archie, are a race of insectoid organisms indigenous to the planet of Klendathu, which is the hub of their "Arachnid Empire". Despite their primitive appearance, they do in fact possess technological prowess, likely in the form of bio-organics. They have spacecraft, beam and missile weapons and advanced technology, far from the mindless, savage insects; in fact, this difference is stressed: "...stupid races don't build spaceships".

The Bugs can see into the infrared spectrum: though pitch dark to human eyes, the underground corridors of a Bug colony are well-lit when viewed through infrared goggles.

The Arachnid Quarantine Zone consists of many star systems colonized by the Arachnids. At the turning point of their evolution, Plasma Bugs developed the ability to fire spores into orbit. Utilizing an organic star drive, the spores can travel to other systems and impact with planets, thus spreading Arachnid eggs and creating a new generation of bugs.

Bug society is based on a caste system in which they can coexist prosperously. It is theorized they don't have emotions — at least of the human sort — and they never retreat unless they know they can't win. The individuals of the lower castes, such as Warriors, are telepathically connected to the Brain Bugs. The Bugs won't hesitate to kill their own kind of any caste should the situation demand it; they are ready to expend thousands of Workers in a diversionary action, or to wipe out their ruling castes to prevent their capture. Death has little meaning to an individual Bug. Combined with the large numbers of Warriors, they are able to breed, they favor large swarm tactics to overwhelm their enemies. As was once said: "they expend Warriors like we expend ammunition".



Variants
Worker Bugs are small beetle like creatures that produce food and create the colonies. They are non-aggressive and don't need nutrients for their shot life cycle of two weeks.

Warrior Bugs are bred for use as the main infantry caste. They are hexapods, meaning that they are only six-legged; however, they only walk on four of these legs (the hindlegs and forelegs), with their other two limbs (sometimes referred to as "side mandibles") raised in the air in an attack posture. They possess powerful jaws, which they can use to literally rip a foe in half. Generally, they attack in huge swarms, and have been known to be supported by the Tanker Bugs.

Hopper Bugs are a morphological caste of the Arachnids. Green in coloring and similar in overall physiological design to the Warrior caste, they have adapted a set of four, jagged, insectoid wings that lay across their backs; these give them the capability of short range gliding and high altitude. This is because the wings have barely enough muscle tissue controlling them to provide lift to a suitable height and not so much for prolonged flight. Once at the suitable height (such as a cliff face) for gliding purposes, they set their wings rigid before charging off the edge and leaping into the air. While airborne, they can gain altitude by angling their wings similar to a plane, while they can jump as high as 50 meters into the air to aid them in getting off the ground.

Tanker Bugs are a morphological caste of the Arachnids. Generally black in overall coloring, they are nearly as large as the massive Plasma Bugs, and utilize the dreaded ability to spray a stream of flammable, corrosive liquid from their head section. They have armor plating along their dorsal side that is believed to be very physically hard and tough to penetrate.

Scorpion Bugs are huge, slow Bugs able to shrug off almost any amount of small-arms fire. It has a flamethrower-like plasma cannon in the tail, which it uses for siege purposes. It has been described as "a cross between a tanker and a plasma bug or the next step in evolution for plasma bugs.

Plasma Bugs are massive Arachnids which have the ability to launch equally massive plasma bursts with such force that they can fly far beyond the orbit of the planets they are launched from, which can then deflect asteroids or slice a starship in two. They serve as not only the ground artillery and air defense roles, but also the planetary defense castes for the Bug colonies. Despite their inherently obscene level of firepower, their role for offensive actions is mainly limited to fire support and long-range bombardment due to their huge size and the immense danger to nearby Arachnids should a plasma explosion burst near them. If an enemy gets too close to them, however, they are capable of delivering a surprisingly powerful bite.They also can like the tanker spew super heated plasma from glands behind their head.

Brain Bugs are the leaders of each Arachnid colony, and only must answer to the Arachnid Queen, and it has been assumed that they are only created once a colony has reached a certain size. They are believed to be telepathic by nature, and are known to assimilate knowledge from victims by sucking out its brain(s); how this process works is not understood.

Queen Bugs is one of the leadership caste of the Bugs and plays a vital role within their hierarchy. A queen is aslo the progenitor of the colony, whose sole function is the production of its members.

Transport Bugs are a large subspecies of Arachnids used as a type of organic starship by the Bug hordes. This breed of Bug is capable of interstellar space flight and travel through the cold vacuum of space with ease and serves as a type of transport for the Arachnid hordes.