Technological Terror
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a servitor life form for the Helix Privateers
- Image Credit: Link
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Name: Helwyrms
- Designation: Nonsentient (Stage 1) Semi-Sentient (Stage 2)
- Origins: Helix Privateer Laboratories
- Average Lifespan: Individual wyrms can live up to 3 years, while a colony's lifespan is effectively indefinite, as dead wyrms are quickly replaced by new ones.
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description: A eusocial, group dwelling carrion feeder species that forms compound organisms.
- Breathes: N/A
- Average Height of Adults: 2 centimeters
- Average Length of Adults: 12 centimeters
- Skin color: Usually sickly white/yellow
- Hair color: None
- Distinctions: Complex, highly aggressive compound life forms.
- Races: N/A
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
- Resilient: Helwyrms do not require respiration, and are exceptionally resistant to poisons, diseases, radiation, and extremes of heat/cold.
- Flesh Wounds: Helwyrms are compound entities, and thus a colony is near-impervious to most small-arms weaponry, as well as attempts to delude or control their consciousness.
- Corrosive: Helwyrms ooze acidic fluids when threatened, rendering them dangerous to touch or approach.
- Burn it, Burn it, BURN IT!: Helwyrms are intensely flammable, and are easily dispatched with incendiary weapons of any sort.
- Scalable Learning: Helwyrms are only as intelligent as their numbers reach, and in small groups are nearly mindless.
- Diet: Carnivore (Prefers Carrion in Stage 1)
- Communication: Pheromones, can be taught to understand Basic or other spoken languages.
- Technology level: N/A
- Religion/Beliefs: N/A
- General behavior: Ravenous carnivores, Helwyrms are not picky eaters, and will readily attack life forms they do not recognize. A stage 2 colony has the gestalt intelligence of a canine or primate, and responds readily to training. Helwyrms make excellent guard animals, but are difficult to teach unless they have achieved stage 2.
Among the many repugnant mutants inflicted upon the universe by Helix, few are as foul and as dangerous as Helwyrms.
These writhing, carnivorous grubs spawn in enormous numbers in the lightless, unpatrolled parts of Helix properties. Each is around 2 centimeters in diameter, and measures around 12 centimeters long.
Given this miniscule stature, one could be forgiven for believing Helwyrms to be harmless. One would be mistaken, perhaps fatally so, for Helwyrms are among the galaxy's most lethal predators.
The individual wyrm begins life as a small, near-mindless grub, hereafter referred to as "Stage 1". These vile carrion-eaters instinctively gather together in vast swarms, scouring their environment for any meat too slow or too dead to get away. While they prefer well-aged meat, they will opportunistically attack live prey when it presents itself.
Helwyrms are, like many of the galaxy's more vermicular forms of life, hermaphroditic in nature. This has the unfortunate effect of allowing their populations to rapidly explode in number, at least proportionate to nearby food availability.
Stage 1 Helwyrms are non-sapient, seemingly existing only to consume. While individually small and weak, they are almost never found alone, and can bring down even the largest creatures in sufficient numbers. Each possesses a leech-like maw filled with concentric rings of rasping fangs, which it uses to tear meat from bone or bore into its victims. Worse yet, Helwyrms secrete acidic fluid when threatened. This substance is incredibly corrosive, readily eating through metal, glass, or skin, and usually not stopping there.
As such, Stage 1 Helwyrms can become a serious nuisance, as an infested area will gradually but inevitably degrade. The wyrms' burrowing habits wreak havoc on walls, ceilings and floors, and the swarm must eventually move on when they destroy their lair.
All this would be bad enough, but Stage 1 wyrms are only one phase of this life form's existence. Stage 2 begins some weeks or months into a wyrm colony's lifespan. What triggers this drastic metamorphosis is somewhat unclear, but the current best theory is that it is spurred by a lack of readily-available carrion. Should easy meals never become scarce, a colony may remain at Stage 1 indefinitely. When the wyrms have cleaned their immediate hunting grounds of slow or dead prey, they are pressured to advance Stage 2.
When this phase begins, the normally-amorphous mass of Helwyrms reshapes itself into a far swifter and more lethal form. The creatures weave themselves into a semi-solid crawling configuration, forming a primitive collective consciousness. Bundles of wyrms work in concert, acting as muscles to propel the collective along. These collectives normally take the form of a large, nearly 3-meter-long serpentine shape, which drags itself along through a combination of wriggling motions and clawing with a single pair of appendages.
Despite their awkward motions, a Stage 2 collective is disturbingly quick, and can lurch forward with blinding speed when it senses prey. These predatory colonies are incredibly dangerous. Their lack of a central nervous system renders them impervious to pain or shock, and most projectile weapons will simply tear through them without doing any lasting harm. Blasters, too, are somewhat ineffective, as the wyrms' damp and malleable surfaces simply weave themselves back together, leaving no trace of blast craters.
Given that their entire "body" is muscle, a stage 2 collective is also possessed of shocking physical strength, far greater than would normally be possible for a creature of its size. As such, its usual mode of attack is to attempt to grab and restrain a victim to allow its composite wyrms to feed. A prospective victim would do well to avoid this at all costs, as being slowly devoured alive by countless acid-drenched maggots ranks among the galaxy's more unpleasant fates.
Even should potential prey be too canny to be grabbed, close-quarters combat with a stage 2 collective should be avoided. The creatures' clawing swings often leave behind clumps of ravenous, corrosive wyrms, posing a significant threat even from a glancing blow. What's more, any damage inflicted often results in chunks of the wyrms' bodies spurting outward, dousing unlucky victims in metal-dissolving fluids.
Luckily, those wishing to exterminate their wyrm problem need only turn to that oldest of solutions: fire. Helwyrms are exceptionally flammable, and extended exposure to open flame will usually cause a colony's collective mind to shatter, dispersing the beasts.
Fortunately for the Helix Privateers, Helwyrms can be trained, at least in the 2nd stage of their development. In this phase, they respond well to food incentives, and can become exceptionally dangerous "guard dogs". They are most often seen in this capacity, accompanying droids or very nauseated troops along on their missions. Due to their ability to corrode solid materials, a Helwyrm colony is exceptionally useful for breaching fortified locations. When lacking a door, they can simply make one, and far more quietly than most conventional explosives.
As with many of Helix's creations, seeing these beasts in other Sith-aligned forces is (unfortunately) not unheard of. Small numbers have trickled out into the service of other Sith organizations, where they are generally utilized in much the same capacity.
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