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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Mar 26, 2023 13:21:52 GMT -8
The purrgil team continued their work, and looked closely at the beasts organs that it might use to navigate hyperspace, and protect itself from the torrents of energies found there. The Vong used dovin basals to warp and protect themselves in darkspace, the beings of this galaxy used shields of various sorts. It would be interesting to see what was discovered about these two important questions. Something that they might have to test with a purrgil in hyperspace, something that would be potentially complex to test.
The team that was working with the Jakobeasts wore cold weather biots as they worked with the creatures in a temperature controlled damutek. The creatures weren’t able to roam as they would normally, but they were in a large enough environment as the handlers kept them moving enough to keep them happy. Various predators were introduced to test the beasts defenses, under as controlled conditions as possible, typically just a single beast moved to another location before testing. Esthh did not want damuteks knocked over like the field of boulders on the planet they had picked them up from. The tests were promising and the shapers had narrowed down the guiding ability to the horns on the creatures heads. How exactly it was done however still eluded them. This was the puzzle, they could see it done but they couldn’t figure out how exactly. The horns seemed to not be the power generating mechanism, but did seem to aid the creatures in directing the force of it. They suspected that the energy field called the Force was responsible, but continued to test. Clearly their was a genetic component to this Force as some species were capable of using it and others were not. Information on vornskr crossed with fero xyn proved that the ability could be passed on genetically and it wasnt simply a gift of the gods nor random chance. The shapers on that project had not quite figured out what the exact reason was either, but they knew that both vornskrs and voxyn were able to detect Jedi, so perhaps this was the logical explanation. They already had an expiriment in the works to cross the genes of a Vong beast to test the hypothosis. It had taken quite a few failures before a stable creature had been created, and so they expected a large number of failures before they succedded in getting a beast that had the ability, and survive to adulthood. To get a new species or set of genes that could be integrated into other beasts...that could potentially be much longer.
The team that was working on the Maalraas was having a similar issue, they could see the beasts disappear, but were unable to tell how the creatures were accomplishing the task. Careful monitoring showed increased activity in certain areas of the brain, but there was no organ that could be found that actually created the disappearing act. The beasts disappeared almost completely, only very careful observation could there be found discrepancies in the invisibility trick. They were also cloning and breeding the beasts, and had crossed the beasts with a fero xyn several hundred times to see if they could get a stable beast to test the hypothisis on.
The Hssiss team was having similar issues as the Jakobeast and Maalraas teams, and they shared notes on their advances. The beasts were vicious and brutal, and it was noted that their prey, even if they survived, which was rare, the first encounter, they often died, as if from a poison or toxin that couldn’t be identified, though one note that was made that when fed beasts of Vong stock, those beasts were not as effected. They still succumbed, but it took considerably longer. The shapers continued their studies and crossed the genes of the beast with that of bissops and were awaiting the eggs to hatch, hoping, like the other teams hoping for crossbreeds, that they would get at least a sterile hybrid, but it was too much to hope at the moment to create genetically viable offspring.
The Albek team made careful notes about the territorial and fealess beasts that they had been assigned to work with. They made great use of beast masters in handling the dangerous beasts, smaller than others though they may have been. When pitting dangerous beasts against each other, at least from the creatures from this galaxy, the Albek won a fight considerably more often than their opponents, a startling statistic actually. Over 95% of the time. It didn’t have to do with the beasts strength, nor its particular viciousness, it had to do with the beasts somehow able to anticipate attacks and ability to pull an opponent’s limb or body towards the Albek’s jaws. When pitted against a fero xyn the fight was much more even, with the vicious creatures lasting on tenacity alone. Similar reports had been written about Jedi when they had fought other beings of this galaxy, but struggling when fighting a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, again this mysterious Force seemed to be at play in an obvious display. This team team too tried crossing bissop hounds with albek genes, and they were also waiting to see the result of the hatch.
The shaper team working on armor had a number of creatures to to work with, Zakkeg, the angry territorial beasts had impressive armor, thick and durable. The beasts armor was of the most interest to the team, the attack animal group had a different goals, but large amounts of the beasts were cloned so that its armor could be examined in depth and selective breeding to improve its armor quality begun.
The orbalisk team had quite a job in front of them, they had to work in much more restrictive environments to ensure that the parasite did not get attached to anything that they weren’t supposed to, no mean feat. The creatures did show promise for armor, they were tough creatures on the exterior, though being warned about the parasites taking over a host completely was a concern. Cloning and gene manipulation began to try to work the genes into other insects that would be non detrimental for a host. They were of course a long way away and they didn’t know if they would be able to properly introduce the needed genetics into another easier to use species. The structure and genetics of the creatures, and their observed development did lay the ground work to begin.
The oggdo team had similar issues as the zakkeg team, and they were similar enough in scope that they were combined, each team sharing what they were working on and comparing notes. The oggdo were a bit easier to handle than the zakkeg, and a program to improve the armor of the oggdo was implemented, manipulating genes to unlock what each one controlled. Both teams consulted the kwazel maw team who was taking similar actions to improve the armor abilities of the creature and integrate it into the Vong qhasas.
The team working with the stone mites had the most unique time of the armor teams, working with creatures that were essentially made of metal, and the when they tried to remove a critter for examination, they had a heck of a time with the little things welding themselves to the piece of metal that they had been provided with. Not only that but the creatures tried to shock the shapers each time they tried to remove them. The shaper team felt however that there was a considerable amount of potential for this creature, especially perhaps, in emergency armor, if they could change it from metal to something else, but there was some doubt about that.
The gelagrub team probably had the easiest time and so they were also given the task of working with the fire breathers as well. The well established war beasts of the Yuuzhan Vong did have an excellent defensive ability, they exuded anti-laser aerosols, essentially a mix of gasses that absorbed huge amounts of energy before heating or changing material phase. The gelagrub was of more interest in its adult form, a highly reflective radiation resistant shell. Working with the gelagrubs the idea was to integrate the anti-radiation abilities into the shell of vonduun crab, hoping to add just a bit more protection to the armor, the downside was that it would make them very shiny. Efforts would be made to try to create a sensor or at least visual camouflage to the armor without losing the reflective effects. The anti-laser aerosol concept came from the suggestion that if a turbolaser or laser cannon punched through an outer layer of armor or possibly shields, then the anti-laser aerosols would absorb the majority of the energy by expanding out into the void or atmosphere and saving whatever the creature would be attached to.
In one of the many shaper damuteks, most of them with many individual rooms far below, taking advantage of vertical space and a deep moving water table, shapers worked on breeding and enhancing and encoding the Jodakan Needler Crabs. The creatures were already quite impressive, being able to spit needles made of poison at flying targets with quite the impressive accuracy, and doing so every four hours. The shapers were busy working and breeding the creatures by the thousands, modifying the beasts for more powerful air sacs, faster developing needles, more accurate firing, and worked to make multiple tubes. They began working on integrating the genes into other similar species. It was considered that vonduun crabs would be a good one to try to integrate the cross genes with.
Above ground in massive slightly pressurized chambers were larger flying animals. Flying serpents were being bred, trained and modified with different aspects to understand and map the genome. There were apparently many plans for these creatures from weapons to starfighters. Who knew what their genes would contribute to. They were an easier species to work with, having already been domesticated and shapers and warriors were able to work with other species as well. Beldons were grown in other areas, deliberately being bred hard for being dwarfs to save space and food. Working on the organs that produced the desired tibanna gas, the hope being to integrate it into blaster weapons like the infide...beings of this galaxy used. There were obvious reasons, the weapons took far less weight and mass per shot than the powerful but heavy yaret’kor.
Similarly the same shapers, because the beldons took longer to grow, also worked with the Andelm beetles and their grubs. Insects were easily mastered as the Yuuzhan Vong had extensive knowledge and made use of hundreds of species. The grubs were the interesting part of the life cycle, but the goal was to understand the genetics and create useful biots similar to the beldons purpose. Some were bred to produce the gas later in life, others earlier, some were bred towards producing the desired gas into adulthood, though that took several generations of beetles, and others to not never develop into beetles. They didn’t know what would be the most desired and so went in every direction.
Shapers working with the charhounds had an interesting time, as the creatures kept destroying things, not on purpose as they were quite easily tamed, but their unique biochemistry was the problem. They kept lighting things on fire. The beasts could spew fire and had done so on a number of occasions, but worse when they urinated they lit things on fire. Accommodations had to be made quickly so they didn’t burn the place down. The shapers didn’t know what they were going to be used for, but anything that could run that hot could be of use somewhere. Indeed Esthh did have a few ideas.
Schostri hornets, scree, chiru, and lava nymphs were all bred and manipulated for various purposes. The schostri hornets, scree, chiru, and lava nymphs it was theorized could make excellent defense creatures in a large number of areas, from space to base and caltrop defenses. The lava nymphs were developed more towards other weapons as well. Fortunately the four species were insectile based and were quick to move through generations that could be modified quickly for particular traits or to be added to the genetic repository for future use.
The gouka dragons were listed as a high priority creature and lots of effort was put into the creatures. Hundreds were being cloned and modified, though they did take considerably more safety features and room than others. A huge area had been carved out by gricha around which dovin basals had been installed to create balls of compressed earth so the gouka dragons could burn and melt their way through without escaping. The shapers had difficulty breeding them at speed, but cloned hundreds, modifying them and then halting their development by putting them into stasis before testing them one at a time. The creatures were truly impressive with their abilities to move through the ground and tunnel through almost anything. The plans for these creatures was impressive, and Esthh had made the request to at some point cross the genes of the flying serpents and potentially the grallocs as well. That was in the future, who knew what the Supreme Commander had in mind.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Mar 27, 2023 11:42:21 GMT -8
The team working on the skekfish likewise had to take extra precautions with their charges, the burrowing fish had rapid growth, and in huge numbers if they weren’t kept in tight control, stasis, kept in egg form, closely monitored, and only a small handful were ever allowed to become adults at any given time. They also were kept in a dovin basal containment. The shapers had plenty of fish to work with to work with their genes, which did prove to be more complex due to the carbon and silicon base, not one or the other. However they were proving to be quite an excellent weapons potential for warfare.
The dwarf rathtars were dangerous creatures but were easier to contain, owing simply to the fact that they didn’t burrow through things. Once someone was inside the containment, well that was another matter, which was why the creatures were always kept apart and in stasis when they weren’t being observed for their abilities. The beasts were cloned hundreds of times and their genes combined and recombined, and allowed to grow to a certain point, the shapers noting the changes before allowing some to develop further for observational testing. The creatures had great potential, if only they could be controlled. Some were being selected hard to be small, tiny even in comparison. Size alone however did come at a price and progress had to be made to make the genes stable, a hand grenade type creature could be useful, or something a bit larger than that as attack creatures, especially through air ducts or small areas. Some were bred to be larger, the size of what was reported of full size rathtars, with controls being put in of course. It wasnt clear how they would be controlled in the end but their dna was worked and recorded carefully to be integrated with other species, especially with other mutlti legged beasts, possibly the Arboreal Octupus that another team was working on, or twenchok.
The shapers who were tasked with the twenchok to be made into weapons worked diligently, the four eyed and four tentacled species that shot spines was different, but the potential was there. They also had the Winged Xendrite, using its incredible accuracy and refining it and defining the sets of genes and how they worked together in order them to copy it into other creatures. It was considered that such accuracy, especially for close in starfighter defense for capital ships, or against starfighters in atmosphere.
The shapers that had drawn the plants felt that they had drawn a good straw so to speak, until they realized that they had all of the plants, which was fair as they took longer to develop. The plants were quickly planted after their needs were figured out, and one of the first things that was done was to modify the plants to work in more soil types and to be more resilient. The thornsniper plants, panopticon willows, brass vine, grenade fungi, megonite moss, and vesuvague trees. The mobile trees were the dangerous if one wasnt paying attention, and the trees were quickly cloned so that experimentation could begin. They would make quite a surprise if they were successful in creating new passive base defenses. How many beings expected a plant to chase you down? It didn’t take long for the shapers to start crossing the genes with panopticon willow and the thornsniper plant, and then the thornsniper plant, the panopticon willow and the spirepines. Other genes with that of the Egoa tree for its extremely fast rate of growth. They had their ideas to make large kilometer tall trees that could be massive aerial defense and area defense trees firing thousands, or up to millions of thorns, possibly even explosive thorns, in directed veritable storms of area denial. The genes of bronzewood trees and brylark tree experiments were made as well crossing the genes into the other trees to make them tougher, and fire resistant. They also worked on small fields of razorgrasses.
The team working on some aerial creatures also needed larger containment, though they didn’t need to be as secure, for the most part. Vhork were large and territorial, the hope was to combine the territorial gene and their eyesight into the shredder bats which struck from high heights and punched through their victims. Improvements after that would be to the beasts toughness and sorting friend from foe, or at least those allowed in the territory and those that were not.
Parana beetle from Yavin 4 were quite easy, and make useful additions to the bug arsenal already in use, possibly being used not just as a thrown attack beast, but as a launchable weapon, not unlike a slug thrower.
Butcher bugs, being more of an arachnid were bred and then crossed with other arachnids that they had gathered, as well as similar species that they Vong already had. It was hoped that they could be used as quickly deployable caltrop or pursuit denial species, and if not then at least passive defenses around bases. Some of the larger species were being used as biological cable makers among other things.
The burning snakes from Yavin 13 were quickly replicated and used not just for their burning potential, which control genes were starting to be implemented, but other lines were created, specifically for the solar energy absorption. The creatures were essentially an extremely efficient biological solar collector array, something that the creators of the TIE line would still be envious of. The energy collection would be useful for all kinds of biots that needed energy, even going all the way down to creating lights in which to grow, let alone powering energy intensive species that could supply other electrical discharge needs. Perhaps even to fuel starships.
The most interesting example, the shapers had decided, lay with the mucus salamander, also from Yavin 4. The creature, while it was in the water it could diffuse itself to pass through nets. Not so while out of water. Though after many replications from previous qhasa entries the team believed that they had an idea that would be useful. Aside from the potential spy and infiltration abilities, it was theorized that they could somehow integrate the meduza’s ability to kill and absorb, as well as adding an electrical element to it. The resulting creature could potentially move far faster on land than a meduza, while being extremely difficult to stop in the water.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Mar 28, 2023 13:55:13 GMT -8
The weapon beast shaper teams were busy as well. One group was in charge of rathtars and their relatives the vixus. The vixus were likely destined to be are denial creatures, either defensive or at least a passive offense, they didn’t know where the creature may be used, but moved towards the goal of being able to integrate other genes and biots into the creature as might be requested by Esthh or other commanders. The primary goal for the rathtars was control, one couldn’t have weapons beasts that couldn’t be controlled or contained. Clones were made and kept at various stages of development. Only one or two were allowed to be active at any given point for security reasons, and there was more than enough firepower and poison on hand to knock the beasts down.
The team that was working with the arboreal octopus had no major concerns as they worked to add the creature to the qhasas and start unlocking the creatures abilities but they were already breeding the animals to become more aggressive and there were plans in the works add the genes of rathtar with them to increase their aggression and deadliness. Assuming of course that the rathtar genes could be understood and controlled enough to be worthwhile.
The shaper teams that worked with the four legged predators had a fairly easy time and thus were assigned a number of beasts to work with at reforging for the use of the Vong, wolvkil were excellent personal attack beasts that they had encountered in the Unknown Regions, the creatures had a dispersed nervous system and vital organs, including the brain, which made the vicious attack creatures incredibly resilient to damage. The akk dogs and Nashtah hounds already had a large amount of information on them and already being domesticated made the job of testing and breeding, through cloning and genetic manipulation of those clones a relatively straight forward exercise. The zakkeg however would take more time, the beasts had incredible potential across a wide range of uses, though their undomesticated and solitary nature made it more difficult to house and test the beasts. Thousands of the beasts were cloned and matured a handful at a time and bred until stable genetics were ensured before being placed in the qhasas database. The beasts armor and ferociousness was admired by all. The Zuxu were an interesting beast, arguably a coss between a wolf and a fish, the gilled, legged, and finned predators would be of great use in areas with large amounts of water, not unlike the place the Vong had placed their base. Large amounts of water were necessary and the delta was perfect. Such beasts patrolling and guarding the water ways would be a welcome addition. Perhaps they could eventually be more. The Simoomian Sensory Hounds likewise were domesticated and easy to train, the beasts abilities to sense and track their prey was impressive, better than the bissop hounds that they had brought to this galaxy, and at long range were on par with many of the Yuuzhan Vong sensor biots, except all rolled into a single beast. The beasts sensory additions would be a welcome one to many of the Yuuzhan Vong hunting and tracking beasts.
Similarly there were teams working on other dangerous aquatic species, ironically the two they were working on were both from the same planet, or perhaps it was not so ironic. Razort were large predatory creatures that ought to work well in shallow water, anywhere from swampy down to several hundred meters, after that then it was likely something more attuned to the depths would be best. Hundreds were cloned and a handful at a time were allowed to mature and tested as the teams progressed in making them useful and controllable to the Vong. The other creature was a Gweld, a giant fearsome aquatic beetle. Being an insect the Vong had lots of knowledge and experience in working with them and soon there were hundreds of experiments going, from rapid growth to maturation, to controllability, to high reproductive rate. The team was confident that soon they would have the beetles roving about protecting villip fields to flowing rivers and even the shallows of the nearby ocean.
Another team was dealing with other insect species, again something well known. The evarrian were carefully bred and controlled with new genes introduced to make them more controllable, moving them towards attack or defense beasts depending on the lines being created. The concept was to have them work with the gweld beasts in area defense where hard point defenses was more difficult, or use them in an offensive role through difficult terrain. Another species was the Ur-greedle that they had picked up from Geonosis, and the semi-sentient bugs were quickly morphed into more and more strains and specialties, the flying bugs had enough intelligence to be trained quickly, and genetic modification made it even easier. Who wouldnt want rapidly reproducing airborne shock troops or workers? Granted they wouldnt have the strength or weight compared to ground based troops, but the mobility and options of having highly mobile troops or work force with the efficiency of a large well organized hive was undeniable. Similarly the Silver Ants from Kubindi were to be the ground component. The small radiation resistant creatures were already an army on the march, and having entire mobile colonies gave the shapers an incredible species that could be used to overrun positions with for lack of a better term was a self replenishing and expanding army. Able to use resources that were otherwise not useful due to scale, to other biots. Something that could potentially get into tiny gaps and infest food stores and supplies far from the front lines, infiltration and destruction potentially at its finest...The team made a note and started working on bees for a similar task.
The largest insect creature, the Geonosian Hydra was the slowest to mature, and the largest threat if it got loose, which is why extreme measures were taken to deal with the creature should the semi-aquatic and semi-airborne creature get loose and our of control. The beasts could make excellent battlefield additions, or serve as the basis of a vehicle in the future.
The team working with the new Thrall potentials had similar work along the whole group. Each was semi-sentient and some could follow complex orders already, control was always a potential issue and so safeguards were put in place as the shapers explored the genetic possibilities. The Kintan Crushers were the smartest and pound for pound were on par with the larger rancors in strength, though considerably more intelligent. One of the most interesting acquisitions from the Hutts was the Kintan Strider, the beasts were less intelligent than the Kintan Crushers, but they used tools more. It was doubtful that they would ever be able to handle weapons properly, even something as simple as swords or spears, but it was a possibility, especially if their intelligence were enhanced, possibly from the Crushers to make sure that their intelligence didn’t go to far. Their ability to heal however was the most interesting aspect of the creatures. They could heal an injury so quickly and contain damage to themselves so effectively that lethal damage to others only slowed the beasts down, able to keep them in a fight far far longer than they had any right to. An attack beast with the ability to absorb hit after hit, and still charge and attack an enemy was worth an incredible amount of combat force. The team was the most interested in the two creatures from Kintan and so most of their efforts went there.
Another team was working on a pair of creatures that were considerably different from one another, one was a Tailring, essentially dragon looking creature with two wings and four legs and a tail with a head on a long neck. The size of the creature was such that it could ride on a warrior’s shoulder. The little beasts were cloned quickly and bred and quantified and measured, and quickly work began to make the beasts a bit smaller, and bogwing genes were introduced to increase the beasts lifting capacity. A personal flying reconnaissance and attack beast would never be overlooked.
The other beast they were working on was the duracrete slug, an armored creature that ate through duracrete and used the materials to armor itself. An armored slug would prove to be quite advantageous as an armored ground attack vehicle, especially as it would be literally an all terrain vehicle. It just needed to be improved somewhat.
Shaper teams were not only working on weapons or weapon beasts but sensors as well. Conduit worms that hd been used as makeshift sensor biots were now developed further and paired with the basis of oggzil to create powerful passive energy sensors, the antennaes abilities to receive was akin to adding ears to a pressure sensitive membrane. The conduit worms were able to identify electrical sources at ever increasing distances, rapidly being able to pinpoint electrical sources in cities far off and those in orbit aboard the matalok there. The team quickly moved on furthering the creatures abilities and increasing size and complexity as well as making smaller versions of the biots to be integrated into other creatures or even as dedicated portable units. The team shared their findings with the other conduit worm team that was working with them, and the creatures were quickly integrated for all kinds of items, not just for sensory purposes, but for projection purposes, enhancing the creatures defensive reaction of using electric jolts from its own battery and capacitor reserves, into projecting fields of energy in an electrical discharge through the antennae of the oggzil. A breakthrough had been achieved. Another team had been working with mynock and droid breakers, the beasts could both sense electrical energy though they did so through different means. Expiriments with doing the same pairing with oggzil produced various results, not all of them promising. What was promising however was the mynocks ability to suck energy from sources that were provided by other species, namely the mon cala eels that were being enhanced by another shaper team. The mynocks were replicated and bred harshly, they were easily replaceable and the beings of galaxy would likely even pay credits or other goods for help ridding the creatures. It quickly became apparent why the beings of the galaxy disliked the beasts as the creatures were able to suck more and more energy at ever impressive rates, storing the energy within specialized cells. The beasts would prove quite useful. The beasts were hardened against electrical shock and quickly moved towards weaponization, others were developed as energy sinks, capable of pulling the electrical energy from the accursed ion weapons from the nervous system analogs of the Vong’s ships and vehicles. Others were pushed towards being batteries and capacitors, losing some of their features, like wings, enhancing just the core needs of it to absorb or expel energy.
The mynocks and conduit worms were hardly the only creatures however, as other creatures were extremely useful. The void striders and the pritarr were near unseen at their sonar abilities range and sensitivity. The shapers had never seen creatures that could create infrasonic waves or listen to the echoes of water hundreds of kilometers away. Yet they had examples and quickly put that to their use. The void striders were cloned again and again and modified again and again as they worked to establish the specific genes responsible, doing the same to the Pritarr with their ability to listen into the ground so to speak, without having to remain still and silent. An ability that was an active version of what many worm species used. The worms needed to mostly be still to sense the very tiny vibrations from extremely far away, close in they could be moving without issue, but the ability of the pritarr to detect impacts hundreds of kilometers away was impressive and tested by dropping large objects from decent heights hundreds of kilometers away from Yorik-vec. After training the creatures proved that they could pinpoint and track large worms and other things that were planted and controlled far away by the Vong shapers. Deep earth scanning...the shapers quickly worked to isolate and enhance the genes attached to this ability, some creatures becoming deaf, and others abilities sharpened and enhanced, with greater and greater ability and precision, much as the Simoomian Sensory Hounds had been bred long ago for only the greatest abilities so too were the Pritarr as their genes were implanted into other species and manipulated further. The sensor biots implanted in the brains of the creatures were quickly able to accurately map a nearby forest and mountain that they were tested on before being returned to the shaper damuteks. The possibilities were incredible.
Other species that were quickly developed and cloned were the Panopticon Willow with its plant based visual sensors and the clawvines motion sensitive fibers, moving some of the plants that they had gathered or developed to be even more deadly, going from just sensing, to truly being able to see. The insectile verpine were another species that proved quite interesting with their ability to use biological radio waves, and the cloning and genetic manipulation quickly revealed their secrets and those secrets were quickly expanded upon to passive and active detections and communications. Abilities that few would expect the Vong being capable of. Q’inthian membranes were similar to some of the Vong recording biots, but they were different, and so were useful to not only see and hear accurately recording, but as new useful tools for the Vong.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Mar 29, 2023 12:07:25 GMT -8
The teams in charge of creating new mounts for the Vong warriors were quite busy, but had, arguably, one of the easier jobs. Many of the creatures were already domesticated and were either already trained, or preconditioned by their breeding to take training. Flying Serpents, Sanval, Sith Warbirds, Sith War Rhino, Drexl, Ubese Thorn-backed War Dragons, Lagartoz War Dragon, Flapdragons, and Mosgoth were all either domesticated or there was a history of them being trainable. The fact that most of the beasts had similar physiologies simply made it easier. The other beasts, the Azurdactyl had proven to be quite trainable and the young that they had brought back were showing excellent progress in being trained. Battle Hydra from Yavin 4, and Skreev...Dxunian Raptors were different beasts and quite a bit of work was going to be needed. Each species was evaluated for their adaptability for mounts for Vong warriors as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses so that the final species would be filled out with all strengths and no weaknesses. Species that were being evaluated were the large Sith War Behemoth, comparing its genetic possibilities against the known Rakamats, as well as young, small, and carefully controlled, both numbers and size, merdeth. These were all evaluated inside of large containments to keep prying eyes from finding out what they were up to and to prevent escapes onto this world.
Other teams were fully involved with creatures and plants as well. Not necessarily for their strict military applications, but for general usefulness. The harvester beetles from Neimodia for example were constantly being upgraded, with modifications being created to take care of multiple plant species, taking a page from the marauding Morodins, and dual or even adding more abilities to plant companion crops, and other beetles to add microbes and other beneficial grubs for both water and land. Crops quickly improved.
The morodins were examined, cloned out of sight and experimented with in order to increase productivity and their glands and sensory abilities, trying to unlock the secret of the beasts. They continued their work to see if they could be integrated into a future version of harvester beetles, or perhaps something else.
Exogorths were cloned and bred and tested for their spatial awareness, already staggering it took considerable amount of testing to get figure out how the beasts did it. The shapers continued to push the beasts through more and more complex tests in zero g vacuum chambers filled with tumbling rocks, then adding space debris, metals from ships, ore rich ones, biological material, yorik coral. The beasts were trained carefully and carefully observed and monitored, the dissections of the brains of the beasts and their other organs, carefully organized, categorized, sampled, and sampled before, during, and after their use.
Hela were an interesting species and the shapers worked diligently to understand and isolate the organs that the beasts used as a biological repulsor. They theorized that the beasts likely used a similar effect as dovin basals did, simply in the opposite, trying to push something away rather than pulling or creating a micro black hole. These creatures could prove invaluable to all kinds of things. Everything from new agricultural creatures, aquatic animals, and even uses in combat biots or systems that could be used on ships to keep meteorites or even, if strong enough, physical weapons fire.
Lynik were an interesting creature, being able to predict its opponents moves if it tasted its blood, and the genes which governed this ability, or even any organs was a massive question which might prove very useful. But they had to discover what it was first. Hundreds were cloned and bred and tested to see what controlled this ability.
Andoan Mineral fish were another interesting species that could take advantage of an arena that was typically ignored, and as far as the Yuuzhan Vong went, typically simply not taken advantage of. Fish were well understood, and having a beast like gricha of various types, that could ply the depths of plants to obtain needed minerals would be a boon to the efficiency of an area. On the space side, which wasnt as important as they already had giant snails that could do a similar job, was the Miner’s Horror, a beast that was only worked on in very small numbers and only within a very controlled environment, with plenty of firepower if needed. An autonomous self propelled space mining creature would be very useful if they could be controlled. Getting them to ignore active ships would be a challenge.
The arachnids team was busy, breeding, cloning, hatching and developing various spiders, Ginntho that could spin on command, Umbraspiders that produced sensor absorbing and warping threads, and Ghost spiders who’s silk was stronger than durasteel cables. The creatures were bred and cross bred and bred with other spiders genes as well. The beasts were created for a myriad of silks, from light sensitive strands such as were used for infidel...beings of this galaxys communications systems, to fibers that were enhanced forms of industrial strength cables, power transmission and all sorts of other useful things. Some were developed as rapid replacement net casters with webbing that was strong and solid, or liquid that hardened when it came into contact with an object, wrapping around its target as it solidified. Some were bred to make nets, like fishing nets that could be used to gather food stuffs from the waters more efficiently.
The communications shaper team worked with a number of species, the Carrier Butterfly was one of them, the beautiful and elegant species was already trainable and could deliver quite lengthy messages to a specific individual. With breeding and testing the shapers goal was to create an entire line of the creatures that could take more information. Some lines were kept aided in retaining their beauty while others were bred to be less conspicuous and more utilitarian and expanding their abilities, and soon were sending messages about the damutek. Some shapers even started working on creating butterflies that could project light from their wings like a hologram, and consciousness linking the beasts to allow for direct conversations in a secure manner outside of the way that villips or other such communications devices worked. Thernbee were an interesting beast, able to communicate telepathically and extensive testing was done with these beasts. They were kept happy and there were extra security measures in place due to their communication style. It wouldnt do to be tricked by the beasts allowing them to escape. They too were cloned and bred to both enhance and to understand how the beasts were able to communicate to other species. This was not unique to them as there were Yuuzhan Vong beasts, such as the cavern beast, that could communicate telepathically, pushing images into a beings mind, and they used this as a benchmark to compare their studies too. The Bartokk was another species that communicated telepathically, and this was why Esthh had requested such beings from the Hutts. The assassin team, complete with a queen was overpowered with knockout gasses before being cloned, with the primaries being kept in stasis and the clones being tested carefully for their intelligence and communications abilities through telepathy. Through testing the shapers found that there was indeed a telepathic connection, and there was a correlation with both the range and intelligence in such connections. The fewer of the species in the link, the lower the intelligence of the insects. The further away the less the telepathy was able to get through. Still a remarkable ability, and especially one for a sentient race. The fact that they were sentient did not bother the shapers, it was no different than an animal to them. They took pains to make sure that the creatures did not suffer of course, the won-tun waste of beings or creatures was frowned upon and heavily discouraged made necessity when they had been cut off for over a decade in the Unknown Regions. Likewise the same experiments and development were made of the Verpine and their ability to communicate through biological radio waves. The shapers and Esthh had never asked where the Hutt had acquired them, and didn’t ask, they didn’t need to know. The ability to communicate via biological radio over a hundred kilometers however was quite fascinating and potentially very useful.
Another team was working on a number of potentially useful species. They ranged from the translucent clam for possibly a stronger or armored viewports to the translucent crustacean Sussimi that turned even what it ate translucent. An incredible possibility for infiltration for later. The insect kheilwar was another species that had excellent camouflage potential, being able to warp light around itself, becoming all but invisible, such an ability was not unheard of, and the Vong had their cloak of nuun, which was likely better, but at the cost of the armor ability that could be vital in a fight. Herabe worked a different way, being able to change their chromatophores and skin texture to make a perfect blend of their environment, not unlike the cloak of nuun, but on a less advanced scale, but being able to change its skin texture was something different. A cheaper version of camouflage but if it could be replicated would give an adaptive camouflage to many more biots and vehicles at considerably less cost in the amount of resources and specialties that it could be applied to.
An insect team worked carefully with droch, their biomimetic abilities being highly sought after, but with extreme caution. All insects were chemically and isotope marked and physically accounted for before entrance or exit of any team, even though the creatures were in a one way only vivarium enclosure, as well as every hour on the hour. Xandank were worked with and trained, cloned, and bred as the shaper team worked to understand why the beasts had an endo and exo skeleton providing an incredible amount of anchor points for muscle, allowing for incredible strength, and the muscle mass, strength, and twitch strength were startling. A set of genes that if they could be extracted or replicated could double or triple the strength of most of the insect species that the Yuuzhan Vong used, or might even be integrated into other creatures as well.
The team working with the Givin was another team that was working tirelessly, cloning the Givin that they had obtained, with the goal to isolate the abilities and then create vacuum proof armor versions of Vonduun Crab or other working biots that could have their armor on the outside, rather than the useful but more easily damaged ooglith cloakers. The team likewise was working with the organic gills that were obtained from the planet Dac. The creatures were synthesized and cloned and experimented with. The aim being a replacement of the gnulliths, being more species friendly and less intrusive.
A shaper team was working with Firewyrms, which of course needed its own special environment, but the shapers were not trying to make weapons out of the creature, ironic, something that could and did swim through molten material not being a weapon. No it was in fact the incredible heat rejection abilities of the creatures scales. It could allow a ship to get closer to a star to evade attack, open up more places to explore and obtain minerals or crystals that might be of use, or even provide incredible insulation to armor in a galaxy where the dominant damage weapon used heat as their primary damaging medium.
Another shaper team worked with Q’inthian membranes, the biological recording devices would make a fine addition to the Yuuzhan Vong’s abilities to record and maintain records. There was another species from Naboo that was desired, but they had not yet obtained the creatures yet. The team also worked on a devourer organism that had been found after the invasion of Coruscant. The red goo like creature was able to consume virtually all organic matter. A single cellular creature that was that good of a recycler could likely have a use found for it. Another creature from Coruscant was grayweave, a mono cellular organism that was an excellent base for food on its own. Used as emergency rations by the resistance and other survival situations, such a creature was an excellent starting point to create an even better and nutritious...and certainly tastier, survival food that could be grown anywhere under any circumstances. A few cells being carried in a pouch by warriors, pilots, or anyone else could serve as food until they were able to be rescued or find other forms of food. The last creature from Coruscant was the Garbage Worm, the creatures seemed to be able to eat anything, organic or inorganic, including startlingly toxic materials. An excellent creature that if modified somewhat would be excellent for both recycling and terraforming planets at an impressive rate given their size and appetites. With some modifications they would be able to turn entire dead planets into places that were ready to become a paradise. With grudging respect the shapers had to admit that at least some of the people of this galaxy had some ability to breed useful biots.
A final team had four biologics to work on. The Adar, which while it could have been a weapon, its gut was far more interesting. The creatures adaptive metabolism was the most useful aspect of the creature, which if they could unlock those genes and successfully integrate those genes into Yuuzhan Vong biots, they could amplify the amount of resources that could be utilized to...well virtually everything, no longer being limited to growing specific things for specific species. A tremendous increase in efficiency. The team was also working on smooka, whose teeth were able to gnaw even through metal bars, and thus they had to have different enclosures, those teeth though… The last animal that they were currently working on was the Banshee, they had no idea how the creatures were able to fly. The bodies were far too large an their wings far to small to be able to generate the lift, let alone pick up a chazrach or warrior as if they didn’t have any weight attached. The shapers theorized that there was some kind of organ that was similar to the Hela’s, biological repulsors. Cloning and breeding, testing, and dissection went on at a rapid pace as the shapers mapped the internal workings of the beasts, comparing the organs and activities of them against the intact creatures abilities to fly, maneuver, and lift weights. The last item was a moss, called sturdimoss by those in the galaxy it was a living carpet, and the Shapers felt that they could likely increase its abilities, durabilities, and desirable qualities with little work.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Apr 8, 2023 20:13:48 GMT -8
The electrical shaper team continued to advance, managing to isolate the Lobel’s ability to produce intense magnetic waves, not unlike the dovin basals ability, it was doubted that they could be used in that effect, but perhaps as a shield, it was worth the thought. Though the possibility to use it as an electromagnetic launcher and energy field focusing unit was the prime goal at the moment. The shapers began working the genetics into manipulatable items, creating tubes that could focus plasma energy into a bolt. The team also started working on creating a stronger version with a different purpose, working towards a possible shield generator, short range very intense field. It might work and it might not, but they were going to try.
The sparkfly team was making good progress at turning the insects into small but efficient capacitors, working on their ability to feed and recharge quickly and started integrating them into other energy using creatures, like Lambents for example.
The Mon Cala Eel team was continuing to work but resource wise they were losing out to the sparkfly team. The small insects could just simply be bred so much faster and with fewer resources. Still they might prove more efficient in some other capacity, perhaps just power generation rather than as large capacitors.
The team working on the energy parts of mynocks was moving along well since the beasts ate energy they had a tremendous storage capacity, startling really, it as no wonder that the beings of this galaxy hated the creatures, the things could fairly drain a small starship of energy, just another example of nature beating dead technology. The creatures were quickly mutated and turned into power sinks, with the ability to absorb energy, sucking it out of other systems quickly and then charging up others, like the sparkfly capacitors.
The refuge stingers were dropped as a species, they just weren’t coming along as well as anything else in any category and so the team turned to other species. Shockapedes were a well known Yuuzhan Vong base species, though they had not been utilized much before, the creatures were now looked at for another capacity. The shapers who were in charge of the burning snakes were doing quite well at getting the creatures to perform their magic, soaking in the solar radiation with impressive efficiency and started integrating genes that would allow them to survive the vacuum of space and feed into other storage devices besides themselves, such as the mynock energy cells that were being developed.
The team working on space vehicles was making slow but steady progress and the team working with the purrgil had noted a number of abilities that would make great additions. The way they were able to move without thrusters in atmosphere, and witnessed and recorded in space was a great asset to movement and they started integrating the abilities with those of the mynock and the gralloc, through both physical and genetic grafting. It wasnt a guarantee that it would work and they may have to go with one or the other line. The team however started working on the outlines of what steps they had to do to begin testing further the abilities of the purrgil and began working on plans to take some of the purrgil into space on a tether for the limited testing to begin with.
The team working on the gralloc engine organs was making excellent progress in pushing the organs to be larger and more powerful, integrating some of the genetics learned from the lobel team to increase the efficiency and power of the organs. The new beasts were capable of lifting significant weights, and the team was confident that within a few more generations they would have engines that would get closer to the infidels engines. Already there was talk of integrating the creatures into harness worn or backpack type uses for airborne troops, even though dovin basals worked perfectly well for this, it never hurt to have options.
The shapers working with the infant whale ships were quite excited. With a host of information on how the species functioned and whole dissection. The creatures were incredibly efficient at moving through a vacuum, nearly equal to that of the purrgil, though they moved with their fins and tails, an incredibly efficient solar sail-like ability. Their ability to jump to hyperspace wasnt completely understood yet, but preliminary investigations pointed to it having to do with an organ in the head of the creature, in the brain behind the eyes, but was incredibly small in comparison to what they thought they might find. Comparing notes with the team working with the purrgil it seemed that they were using a different mechanism. They weren’t sure of the significance of this other than the whales were predators and the purrgil seemed to not be. The whales they surmised, because they were predators had to have a more efficient way to chase prey. The purrgil on the other hand did not appear to be predators. Examination of their intestines revealed that there was clouzon gas which they seemed to use as a fuel. The other items seemed to be various minerals and gasses found in nebulas. The whale ships they theorized where actually predators of the purrgil, neebray mantas, exogorth, and other large space borne species. It would have been instrumental to see the creatures hunt in a pack, but that was likely impossible, or at least not worth the effort. Regardless the young whale ships were progressing and were doing well on the synthesized infant food and working the beasts towards a diet that was more suitable for them as adults. Training had already started taking place, with the area in which they were being raised was large enough for coralskippers to fly about and deliver food and give the creature instructions. They couldn’t talk to it per say, though they had been analyzing the electronic emissions from the creature, mostly radio waves that varied in their frequency. For most applications and distances it seemed that it would work well, though there were frequencies that they suspected that they were not capable of detecting, and brought in mabugat khan to detect if the young space whales spoke in a way that went beyond reasonable line of sight. It didn’t take long after the shapers took this action that the young creatures could be ‘heard’ crying when the coralskippers disappeared from sight before the creatures were satisfied. They let out these cries again when it was nearing feeding time. The feeding time was measured in days however as the shapers were carefully monitoring the beasts energy needs. They too were eager to begin space testing and real world data. They started getting the beasts ready to take harnesses with all kinds of monitoring biots attached. It was quickly surmised that these creatures might be a better base for future ships than the purrgil, though that was yet to be proved.
The team working with the Colossus Wasps were working diligently and found that the beasts were not all that much different than other species of insects and they had a number of the beasts cloned and in their egg form at the moment. They however had time to wait for the creatures to move from a grub state into an adult form, and measuring the rate of growth it would take a lot of time.
Work continued on the Jakobeasts, as the shapers and beast handlers continued to work on the creatures. The shapers had been studying quednaks and started breeding them to something that might be closer to a jakobeast as well as requesting beasts from this galaxy to cross the creatures with. Bantha’s were an obvious choice, as were nerfs, they were readily available and were already domesticated, though what the result would be would be unknown. The shaper team had heard that the shapers that had come up with the voxyn had only come up with one stable creature after crossing its genes many times with that of the fero xyn, but still it had been done. They were willing to take the time. Crossing the beasts genes with something that might be more similar to its own would also reveal how the beasts created the Force wave that had been and was still being observed.
The shapers working with Akk dogs could not make any progress with what they had hoped. The beasts seemed to react to when other creatures used the Force, but not in a consistent way. It was noted however that the beasts might make an excellent possibility to cross with a vornskr, should they ever obtain any. They had however done a cross with the Albek which seemed to be similar makeup. Not perfect of course and so it took some effort, but they did come up with several genetically stable, if not genetically viable cross breeds as yet. What they discovered however was that the cross was a bigger, angrier, stronger Albek, or a smaller, angrier, just as tough, and more dangerous Akk dog. Albakk? They hadnt decided on a name just yet, but the creatures were able to bite through vonduun crab, crushing it with their triangular shaped jaws of incredible power. The Akks were known to bite through durasteel bars, and these beasts were every bit as strong, though there was more, because the beasts had inherited the Albek’s ability to anticipate attacks and to manipulate their opponents...which was how a warrior was even now getting a replacement arm. One warrior suggested that it the beasts be crossed with a vua’sa, though he was quickly informed that this was not going to happen any time soon, if ever, after all a something with that much of an appetite wouldnt stop at just an arm.
Another cross with the Akk dogs and Albek were with the Hssiss, and after many attempts at genetic mixing they came up with stable specimens of both, again nothing that would be genetically viable. The beasts were predictably violent, but two of them expressed the ability to disappear. The shapers weren’t sure how this was possible, and had yet to find the genes specifically that controlled the trait. It was always possible that the other specimens would also be able to turn invisible, but only time would tell.
The maalraas were still something of a mystery and the cross breeding of genes into other beasts had been difficult at best.
The armor team was hard at work, the zakkeg was an impressive beast with its thick tough armor and the cloning projects that were changing a gene or two at a time were showing excellent results at which direction the to go. The oggdo also had been mapped with similar results, and someone had added the Akk dogs to the list. The shapers had started to cross the creatures in order to find if they could enhance the armor capabilities. All of the beasts were said to be able to resist the Jedi’s lightsabers, and after examining the armor closely the shapers believed that it was possible. After all the hides of all three of the beasts were capable of resisting the amphistaff’s atomic edge blade, at least for a time. The creatures were enhanced as the shapers were able to identify the genes related to the armor. The akk dogs seemed to have the best compared to the thickness, though the zakkeg was not far behind, and its thickness could be of added benefit. The creatures had the edge over yorik coral in terms of thickness and impact resistance. The yorik coral was still better at taking and rejecting heat however and so was still the test against which all things were compared.
The stone mites were an interesting creature, the things were not unlike an armored shellfish, minus the fact that they were made of purified minerals and had the habit of welding themselves to pieces of metal. The shapers had managed to get them to procreate and had carefully dissected and vivisected many of the creatures and discovered their secrets to reproduction which had allowed them to create more of the creatures and begin more experiments.
The Andoan mineral fish progressed in their experiments and manipulations, the fish being pushed towards being deep sea miners, and another line being pushed towards isolating the genes which influenced their armor deposits and their structure.
The orbalisk insects were an interesting creature, tough, except for electricity, though it was an excellent armor it was difficult to isolate the genes, even through cross breeding. All of the crossbreeds never made it past the egg stage. The shapers weren’t sure what was going on. Perhaps they couldn’t find the right habitat for them to survive. They worked diligently though watching the way that the colonies continued to cover the bodies of the Maalraas that were infected. The beasts were stronger, more aggressive, and healed from injury quicker. They continued to examine the creatures in hopes for a breakthrough.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Apr 11, 2023 11:11:13 GMT -8
The shaper teams working on weapons were progressing well, the Jodakan needler crab variants were going well, the creatures abilities to grow their poison thorns had been reduced to an hour from four, their sizes had been increased and decreased, and multiple tubes had been grown. Their aim had also been improved, nearing 85%. There were plans to turn them into, essentially rocket pods that could grow their own ammunition.
The shaper team working on the Charhounds had successfully bred the beasts and cloned them and isolated the genes that created the extremely high internal temperatures and started integrating other genes and their genes into other things. They were working on a shelled creature that could turn turn its metabolism on, akin to waking up from hibernation, a way I the future to hopefully be able to fire a projectile and then have it wake up and turn on its metabolism, rapidly heating potentially to a plasma state. The trick was keeping a creature alive until it hit that plasma stage. Though it was never a bad thing to have a weapon beast that could run around behind an enemies lines and light fire just by relieving itself on plants and other combustibles.
The flying serpents were making good progress and the shapers had integrated some genes into various others. The Shapers worked the genes into amphistaff polyps that had been bred to act like pressure launchers, able to spit the creatures into the air, making them flying/gliding personal smart darts, bladed amphistaffs designed to be launched and glide in the air, taking themselves up even higher if necessary by flapping, and then picking out a target and dropping from the sky in a hail of atomic edged guided darts. Others were bred into plasma eel polyps of similar design, making them larger anti-starfighter or ground vehicle missile launching system biots. Still others were tied with gouka dragon genetics, creating flying guided worms that would strike and melt their way through a target continuing to do so until they ran out of energy, designed to be launched from the ground or carried by aerial and space craft.
The beldon and andelm beetle team continued working, the andelm beetle team making progress to the point where they began integrating the creatures into a colony organism with sparkfly clusters, lambents, mynock power cells, and lobel, working to make a stable biot to test the creatures light generating capability, into a powerful beam of energy. They didn’t know if it would work yet...but all the pieces were coming together in the right order and resembled very closely, the workings of a blaster… They knew it was possible to integrate such things of course, there was the example of Anakin Solo’s lightsaber that had used a lambent crystal, and there were rumors that a lambent had been used as either a prototype or a convincing fake, superweapon. Either way it was possible.
The team working on defense creatures had begun integrating adding genes to various species, schostri hornets, scree, lava nymph, and chiru. The insects were quickly starting to take on the desired characteristics, protective swarms that were capable of protecting a particular object that they viewed as their hive’s home. The shapers were working on being able to implant the hive and allowing the new plasma spewing insects to protect it from all comers. The new insects could not only spew a limited amount of plasma, but also explode with it. The shapers had high hopes that the new insects would eventually be able to protect large vehicles and vessels from incoming fire or serve as a close in anti-starfighter and missile defense biots. The shapers kept in contact with the plant team that were creating biots of thornsniper tree variants.
The team working on the gouka dragons were busy, the creatures had been earmarked as a fast track species and the team was doing their job well. The first batches of creatures were being experimented on and they were already being crossed with flying serpents as well as being moved towards being not just mounts but vehicles biots that could piloted from within. The creatures were rapidly bred into different lines, everything from subterranean torpedoes to space capable missiles, full size starfighters or even larger creatures that could make huge tunnels through the ground. The number however was limited to only one or two of the creatures being active in their containment at any given time.
The skekfish team was similarly working to improve their charges, turning them into subterranean missiles that could be rapidly bred, increasing their growth spurts from egg to adult even faster, working on turning them into not just vehicle launched weapons but even small warrior use weapons to use against the many forces that they may find themselves against. The shapers had visions of thousands of the creatures swimming through the dirt to attack their targets from below, waves of weapons that would flash through a battlefield like an irresistible wave.
Likewise the dwarf rathtars were being worked on as well, quickly being turned into smaller, more man sized beasts that could be dropped like cluster munitions, swarming trenches or through complex terrain like cities. Control was still something of a difficulty, but subsequent generations were more compliant warrior instructions.
The first crop of the hybrids was starting to grow rapidly the species that had been a cross of the thornsniper plant, spirepine, egoa tree, panopticon willow, and brassvine were doing well and had shown rapid growth and the ability to strike a target considerably further than the original thornsniper plant. The team then crossed the creation with grenade fungi, megonite moss, and the vesuvegue tree, the hopes as the team carefully engineered the dna strands was to create a mobile version that had high explosive fragmenting thorns and the ability to move locations. Some were deliberately to be smaller, just a cross between a brassvine, the thornsiper plant, the vesuvegue tree, the egoa tree, and the panopticon willow. Mobile killing plants, aggressive, and unexpected by many.
The team working on the twenchok were making slow but steady progress.
The team working on the vhork and shredder bats were making steady progress, working the creatures into territorial creatures that could be used as large area denial weapons, if only a handful of them at a time. It wasnt sure which would be used, these or the flying serpents that had been crossed with amphistaffs.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 1, 2023 14:46:05 GMT -8
At the Vong base Master Shaper Traa’iin Yim breathed in the cool morning air as he looks out over the fields of foodstuffs and biot component plants and animals being tended by other biots, many of them being the new agricultural beetles that they had acquired from Cato Neimodia, modified for their own purposes of course. It had been a long time that they had planned to stay for a long time on a planet. The Unknown Regions had been a dangerous place where they dared not stay put to long. Now however was the time to regroup and re-arm, and Supreme Commander Esthh Krazhmir couldn’t have chosen a better planet for the purpose. The vast majority of the shaper grashals were underground, protected and hidden from view. Only those that were so large that it was impractical were above ground. His eyes wandered over the new forests that were growing around the delta that they had chosen. The trees were not just a forest, they were a massive barrier of defense. New tree species designed to protect single points like a base, a city, or to hinder an enemy. The rapidly growing thorny trees would grow to a designed height, from a few meters all the way up to several kilometers if need be. The trees were as strong as most metals and their thorns could be fired by the tens of thousands, meter long explosive shrapnel, aimed by the thousands of optical nerves, and able to rip themselves from the ground and move to re-root somewhere else to optimize a base’s needs. They were more useful in many respects than the thorn walls that they had available already. Combined they would be a deadly combination of deterrent to attackers.
The roar of giant beasts off in their corrals brought him back to his purpose today and he sighed as he let his musings go and turned his analytical mind towards the tasks of the day. Checking on the progress of some of the shaper teams as they neared their final products. He turned and walked into the nearest grashal, letting the door portal test his dna for access. He entered and started down into the bowels of the base.
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The shaper team in charge of the flying serpents were pleased with the first crop of hybrid amphistaff and cousin genes and the polyps were producing their first crops. Traa’iin Yim walked amongst the polyps of various genetic makeup, observing the near adult creatures. The small fifteen centimeter long personal use creatures were being bred as an addition to the thrown insectile weaponry. The thud bugs, blast bugs, and razor bugs were useful, but that didn’t mean that there were not other useful creatures that couldn’t enhance a warriors abilities. The small serpents were a mix of maledillos, amphistaffs, and flying serpents. Warriors were even now testing the creatures, tossing them into the air and allowing the creatures to fly or glide up to a height, before condensing their bodies into heavy darts and falling from the sky, tracking their targets and slamming into them with terrifying force, slicing through their target animals and impacting into the soil or dirt beyond them. Traa’iin spoke with a warrior who was standing still, his eyes seeming to stare off into space.
“What are your thoughts on the new creatures?”
The warrior answered without turning.
“They are amazing. I can see what they see, the telepathic bond is stronger than with my amphistaff and I can tell the beasts to target specific points on the target. They show me what they sense from up there.” He gestured upwards to the half dozen flying creatures circling overhead. “Something like this is truly incredible. The larger ones, the ones that were crossed with the plasma eels are equally impressive. Now I feel like I can take on walkers or bunkers more easily. The range is now dozens of kilometers instead of just a handful.”
“Thank you.”
Traa’iin was pleased with the rapid progress and looked over as a series of loud dopplering cracks was heard off to his left. A large beetle had opened its carapace and started launching large flying serpents that the warrior had just mentioned. The supersonic cracks of the pod polyps launching the weapon beasts couldn’t be helped, but the creatures could reach a ground target on the other side of a planet thanks to its flying ability and high altitude capabilities. They flew slower than the contemporary technological missiles, at least for now, but their range was far greater. They weren’t quite able to get to full missile equivilent, but they were working on that, perhaps a few more crosses...maybe with the ion engine organeles that was being developed by the starship teams...they might be interested in having such creatures for future starfighters….
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Traa’iin wandered over to underground grashall where they were developing blasters and they were integrating all of the creatures into a multi organism...not truly a superorganism like their starfighters or ships, or even some of the larger vehicles that required a large number of biots working together. He entered just as the grafting was complete on the new creature. The creature was somewhat tubular with growths for a warriors hands. This didn’t always work well with a shaper’s hands and so warriors were the ones who were doing most of the actual handling. The creatures that made up this organism had been bred to parallel the technological blasters. Insects modified from sparkflies were used as rapid recharge capacitors while mynock power cells were bred to feed them energy. This energy was fed into a small lambent that as to produce intense focused light. This light was then passed through blaster gas from grub-like andelm beetle gasses magnifying the energy bolt, which was then fired down the tubular opening of a lobel that focused and refined the bolt as it traveled through the creatures organic magnetic fields. At leas t that was the theory, each step was mimicked from a blaster commonly used in this galaxy, and this was the first test of such a combined creature.
The chosen warrior picked up the creature, caressing it and attuning the creature to his mind. Traa’iin watched as the warrior continued until he was satisfied and brought the creature up to his shoulder against the expected recoil, and focused. The creature spat out a sulfurous yellow bolt in a brilliant yellow streak that impacted a target some meters down range with the flash and explosion of superheated materials as energy was converted into heat and kinetic damage as superheated expansion rippled out at a supersonic speed. The warrior and shapers alike smiled at the success.
Traa’iin consulted with the warrior and shaper team before giving them further instructions to work on the creature and improve it, ordering them to make more and begin refining the creature to be used in both hand held and mounted form, creating a flexible creature that would with a few more refinements bring up the Vongs ability to have parity with the rest of this galaxy.
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Traa’iin’s next stop was the grashal where a team was working on the gouka dragon biots. The first larger vehicles were ready to be tested by pilots and weapons were also ready to test in a controlled environment. The first was a ground vehicle biot, as he approached the creature he marveled at its shape. It was plain, and what he had expected, it was oblong and relatively rounded except for the front which seemed a bit more blunt. His arrival signaled the pilot to begin and the pilot crawled into the cockpit and closed the armored carapace. The creature flexed its wings, bringing them to their full length and and shifting them almost as if the creature was stretching before folding its wings tight against its tubular side and moving towards the surface of the floating ball, arching back slightly to reach up to making contact. Traa’iin appreciated the use of dovin basals to create a floating isolated testing area within the massive damutek as the creature quickly pulled itself into the hard material in a brief flare of heat and the use of dovin basals and organic repulsorlifts of a Hela vibrating and flowing the material around the creature as it disappeared into the floating ground and rock.
He turned his attention to the sensory biots as they reported on the pilot and the creature and its progress through the course that was setup for it. The living vehicle twisted and turned at the pilots command, quickly moving faster and then at astonishing speeds corkscrewing to maintain fresh material to dig through for the test. The pilot brought the creature to a stop and then awaited the placement of different test creatures to activate, thumping or moving about on the surface of the material sphere and plotting them and reporting their position and its estimation on what the item was. Traa’iin was astonished at the creatures accuracy in both passive and active sensor modes, and as it was trained on a number of vibrations, trained being genetically programmed, to correctly identify virtually everything, even being able to identify that the creature was able to see outside of the sphere using its ultralow sonar from a pritarr and void strider organs. Electrical activity could even be pinpointed in many other damutek areas where both technological items were being used and electrical biots were being developed and used. It wasnt a full starfighter or attack vehicle yet, they still needed weapons integration, some of which he would see later, but the raw materials were there. One step at a time and this step was met with full marks. The pilot was recalled and as he returned the next test was prepared.
The next test was of a weapon beast of a gouka dragon, a small smaller version that, if it worked, would travel through a subteranean medium and strike a target from below, traditionally the weakest part of vehicles and creatures. The creature would be telepathically targeted and then turned loose to find their target through the use of sonar and electrical fields. Their test targets for the day was a creature that emitted a vibration unique to it and designed specifically for this test, and the other was a droid. The two separate targets only creating one target type to measure the tracking abilities independent of one another. A warrior walked up and jumped to the floating ball, landing only somewhat gracelessly as gravity reversed itself. Standing up he kneeled and placed a tube against the ground and the tube flexed and a small spurt of dirt kicked up as the tube was forced away from the ground due to recoil. Traa’iin watched the sensors biots view of the target and the sensors tracking the weapon beasts movement through the test area. The weapon beast moved faster, but not much more than the previous test, and the creature tracked with only slight deviations as it moved through various densities of rock and dirt to strike the droid, exploding in a directed plasmic explosion, shredding the hapless machine in a shower of molten metal fragments. Traa’iin nodded in appreciation as the warrior was tossed a second tube with a gouka worm in it. He repeated the performance and this worm tracked towards the creature that was making a vibration in a specific pattern. Just like the first worm, this gouka worm, a subteranean missile really, tracked in a slightly swerving path to explode against the creature, ending both of them. The master shaper nodded to himself, pleased with the results of the test and made a few suggestions on improvements, then headed off to view the results of the other new biots.
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The gouka offshoots were not the only subteranean project that he was checking up on this day. The skekfish offshoots were also a promising line, if they could be controlled, which the first order of business was to remove the ability to reproduce except for introducing a catalyst to allow the creatures to lay eggs. The cloning and mass production of the creatures for testing had gone smoothly, but having waves of creatures washing across both foe and friend was not a very attractive option once released. Like grutchins the beasts had a particular role in mind and while it was a wonderful fantasy to imagine waves of the burnished bronze fish-like creatures crashing through and over enemy lines like a wave upon a planetary sea, some things just shouldn’t be unleashed without full understanding of how to get rid of the creatures afterwards. Thus some control was required, just as a standard grutchin could not breed, this too would be a safety mechanism for most strains. Like the grutchins however, cousins were being bred to be of gargantuan size in order to be either larger war beasts or possibly as a base of a vehicle to compete against the gouka dragons for subsurface travel. The beasts that were ready first were of course the small ones, creatures designed to go after individual beings rather than vehicles.
Traa’iin arrived at the desired damutek, sealed underground with a levitating orb of dirt, held in place by dovin basals. On its surface walked a number of creatures and droids, along with a handful of warriors and a pair of shaper adepts. After a quick conversation with the shaper in charge Traa’iin nodded his head to begin the test. Unlike the gouka missile test, this warrior knelt and brought a small 10 centimeter tube to hand and aimed it at a droid target behind a pair of animals. He sharply squeezed the near end of the tube and a small bronze creature launched out of the tube, madly wriggling back and forth as it dove into the ground in a less than spectacular motion. Traa’iin waited to a long count of six when the creature burst forth from the ground at a startling speed, too fast for the eye to truly track, more a perception, and slammed into the target droid. The effect was sudden and immediate. Sparks flew from the droid and the skekfish arced into the ground on the other side and moments later launched itself again at the droid, burrowing its way through again. The busy little creature continued until the warrior that had launched it approached and threw the launch tube towards the creature. The skekfish continued to attack for a moment until the tube stopped rolling, and then promptly swam through the ground and entered the tube and the tube held still. The warrior walked up and closed the living tube and picked it up.
“The tube is its lair so to speak. We introduced a homing gene. The tube is its home until it is time to eat, and then after it is done eating its instincts tell it to go home to hibernate and lay eggs. While the eggs are nonfertile, it signals the tube, and warrior, that it has recovered enough energy to be used again. The attack cue is taken from the tube and warrior. An optical nerve shows the warrior what the skekfish is aimed at. It can be either metallic or a life form. Recharge time is estimated to be a few minutes, due to the high metabolism but more testing and refinement will be needed.” Offered the shaper in charge.
“Fascinating. I commend you and your team for the work that you have accomplished. What of the larger specimens?” asked Traa’iin.
“Coming along well Master Yim. We expect a war biot for urban warfare in a few weeks to be ready for initial testing for further development, and a vehicle based creature to be a full adult for a test in a few days. It hatched yesterday and its caloric intake is startling. An excellent choice for war vehicles if I may say. Able to grow their own armor and eat anything from its environment. We crossed it with some of the Andoan Mineral Fish genes for a more refined feeding and armor capabilities, and are exploring other options as well. We are even working on vacuum capable creatures to be used against starships.”
Traa’iin nodded his approval.
“I look forwards to reading your reports on their development. However if you will excuse me I have many other tests to observe this day.”
The shaper in charge bowed his head in subservience.
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The infant whale ships had grown up, they were still young of course, but the Shaper team was confident that they were trained enough for real vacuum. They had introduced other ships, metallic ships with ion engines from the local cities in part of the training program to desensitize the creatures to non organic ships. Traa’iin gave approval for the young whales to be moved to vacuum as the next wave was reaching the point of being born and modifications were being made to understand the controlling genes on some of them. The young whales were readied and moved to space.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 4, 2023 16:05:49 GMT -8
Traa’iin checked in with the gralloc engine team who had advanced the organs another several generations. The teams advances in their understanding of the organ was impressive and they had advanced the power and stamina of the organ.
“Good morning Master Shaper.”
“Good morning. You have a demonstration for me?”
The shaper nodded and handed Traa’iin a qahsa that had the information that was relevant and Traa’iin gave it a quick look through, noting the increases in power, stamina, and efficiency. If the numbers were as good in the demonstration he was certain that they would be ready for a finalization of its pattern into the cortex for species or as components in other super organisms.
“Looks impressive. Proceed.”
The shaper nodded and waved for the test to begin. An adept nodded and stroked a control cluster that triggered a reaction from the small tube shaped creature. If it weren’t for the barrier Traa’iin was certain that his ears would have been overpowered as the disembodied organ quickly started pulling against its restraints and a blue glow could be seen. A howl could be heard even through the barrier and the creatures monitoring the force that the organ was producing started climbing. Over a few moments the power continued to climb and climb until it peaked and then held. The monitors continue to dutifully report on the creatures performance for a number of minutes before Traa’iin nodded, satisfied.
“Well done. You have permission to begin integrating the creature into the qahsa as an accepted biot.”
The shaper bowed his head. “Thank you Master Shaper.”
“You have done well. Now I have other projects to check in on.”
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Traa’iin’s next stop was the so called sentient’s area. Extensive testing had been done on the Bartokk assassins, a telepathic insect species whose intelligence was deemed to be semi sentient, only achieving sentience with a queen. The interesting thing about them was that they communicated via telepathy, and had excellent regenerative abilities. The group telepathy was what had interested Commander Krazhmir and what had been focused on. Measurements had shown that the range of the species and their queen was about 500 meters. Successive testing, breeding, and cloning had increased the number of the creatures, with the queens being kept happy and under an abnormally heavy hidden guard. The unfamiliar Vong biots and coral implants insured that the creatures remained cooperative, more honey being used than a stick so to speak, but the stick was still there. With testing the Shapers had been able to identify the series of organs that allowed the creatures to communicate. Traa’iin went over the information with the lead Shaper on the project and was pleased with the development that had been taking place. The hope was that the information learned could eventually be used to enhance yammosks into something more than they were, incapable of being jammed and being able to communicate directly with Vong warriors, pilots, or biots that had the correct implants. One of the only issues was that yammosks were spawned and not created, though yammosks had been created before, it would just have to learn through repeated practice against other yammosks and memory implants from warships and warrior memories.
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Traa’iin stopped in at another damutek deep underground to visit another communicative species, the Verpine. While they did not have telepathic abilities but they were able to communicate with a biologically generated radio waves. Traa’iin, after first seeing the possibilities and previous reports on their dissection from the invasion, was confident that this project was a much more straight forwards in its scope and starting point. The lead Shaper on the project had already had the organs and genes isolated and grown a number of sets of frequency agile bio radios which were much more compact than the special grown oggzil. Combined with light weavers, the Vong equivilent of a biological hologram projector, the project was well beyond what would normally be expected. Traa’iin was pleased and gave the project his official sanction for completion and the biot base was added to the Shaper Qahsas and the Shapers were congratulated and assigned to new efforts of the divining the communications abilities of the space whales, with their ability to communicate between star systems, not simply across them.
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The last fully sentient species that was being worked with, was the Givin, even though the sentient part of the Givin was of little interest to the Shapers. Cloning had taken place on a decent scale, but the main interest of the Shapers was twofold, the Givin’s ability to do complex mathematical calculations and their ability to survive the cold harsh explosive decompression and vacuum of space. The genes of each had been isolated, so to speak. The Givin brains had been grown without a body and compared to those with full beings, and comparing their mental pathways and abilities to solve complex mathematical problems. It hadnt taken long to begin pairing the abilities of the brain with the genes that influenced their independent effects. The Vong were well aware of how brains worked, having so many examples it was almost childs play for a trained Shaper Adept, let alone Junior Masters. The qahasas and yammosks and others were examples that were well understood, as well as the brains of many of the sentient species of the this galaxy that were dissected.
The goal for the Givin brain, was a mathematical computer that could calculate hyperspace jump points with the equivilency of a metal and ceramic navicomputer. The Vong had long understood that the people of this galaxy moved about differently and knew a number of the limitations but had never bothered to develop predictions of them because their own dovin basals and neuroengines navigated darkspace in a different way. Now however knowing the enemies abilities and capacities was needed, and not just to predict, but likely to accept navigational data and direction from them, to be able to interpret it, and then use it. While they had not achieved what they were after yet. The first steps had been taken and Traa’iin gave permission to move onto the whole computational and integration phase of development before testing and finalization.
Traa’iin however was not done with the Givin. A second project was to use the Givin to improve space based or sealing armor. Ooglith cloakers were useful, the only problem was the cloaker had to go over the Vonduun crab armor. If an insulating cloaker, as amazing as it was, was damaged, then either the crushing depths, or the vacuum of space, would kill the wearer or at least incapacitate them. The ability of the Givin however, could change Vonduun Crab to be a true, or at least combined with an ooglith cloaker abilities, into an all environment fighting armor capable of protecting a warrior with armor on the outside, including a helmet.
There were already hybrids growing and being tested and had shown excellent results. A few more short generations and there would be a new armor base to improve upon.
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Traa’iin entered the damutek of the Thralls, at least that is what it was being referred to as. This damutek’s Shaper team was tasked with creating new shock troops to augment or replace Chazrach, though it was doubtful that the Chazrach would be fully replaced. The damutek was also one of those that was maximum security, and the warriors here were especially heavily armored and armed, along with larger weapon beasts. Two of the three that were being tested and worked on were at least semi sentient, capable of taking orders and following instruction, a good beginning when looking to actually have troops that could be commanded. The Kintan Crushers were a bit large for the desired size of troops, but would make excellent juggernaughts as the Shapers worked to break down their dna and what controlled which aspect of their growth and adult features. With the already adults that had been supplied by the Hutts, training and experiments were in full swing. Though the Shapers and warriors were Vong, Esthh had left orders to treat the subjects better than the Hutts, he had no interest in a rebellion with such creatures. Likewise Traa’iin looked over the initial set of testing with Kintan Striders as well with excellent results. Intelligence was of course lower, but with the Crushers being genetic cousins it didn’t take long for the genes for intelligence being discovered and played with. There was only so much one could do however with what was genetically available. The goal was of course to make new thralls, brutes, essentially infantry wrecking balls to be deployed in close quarters, so the intelligence required to use advanced weapons was not necessary.
Gundarks was the other species that was being tested and were of course extremely ill tempered. They were however trainable, and unlike some of the other species, the shapers had no issue with implanting some coral controllers put in place by implanters in order have a better chance at control. That didn’t mean there weren’t downsides. The shapers learned that they had to have the implants placed in the middle of the back where the creatures couldn’t get a hold of them, lest they simply rip them from their flesh like they had at the head and back of the neck. The implants were just to control them should something go wrong, not to interfere with any of the creatures other abilities, the tenacity and determination, and willingness to do damage even to themselves to get what they want. Their ferociousness was appreciated and breeding and genetic changes were already underway with careful selection. The plans eventually had all three of the current species being crossed at some point in the future.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 8, 2023 16:24:51 GMT -8
Esthh stood on the balcony of of of the grashals and stared out at what his eyes could take in of the base. The star had just risen not long ago and the mists still clung stubbornly, burning off slowly in the low lying areas, of which much of the base was, being situated in a river delta on purpose. As the soft white screen slowly rolled back his maa’its adjusted to the still orange beams playing across his creation. The beams cut through the dark trees that that grew thickly around the base and scattered in between, they had just been planted a number of months ago, and yet they were several hundred meters tall already, even being covered in thorns, it did not detract from their beauty. They stood on the perimeter of the vast series of fields, some were dry fields, others with vibrant green, others lower down were even partially submerged in water. All with various types of crops or feed lots. Giant agricultural beetles moved back and forth, their many arms and internal tanks and organs planting, harvesting, fertilizing, weeding. There were a number of the native, or at least naturalized Morodins moving about the fields, moving plants or small animals here and there, everywhere behind them their ubiquitous slime trails. He couldn’t explain it, but they had simply chosen to move in, and their effect on the crops had been surprising. So much so that he had ordered his shapers to take samples and try to duplicate the morodins and improve them. The beasts hadnt objected, not that he had expected objection, though he was certain they were more intelligent than they let on, as their gardening was second to none.
His eyes dropped closer to the grown defensive works and the warriors and beast handlers and new beasts that were being moved about their pens, feeding, training, evaluating. New creations, some for peace, some for war, all to benefit the Vong. He had searched out the remainder of his people in this galaxy and found them scattered and divided. Nen Yim had been of help, he wasnt entirely trusting of the intendant, but he had little choice. The empire that he touted as being a stable civilization with a benevolent and wise ruler, had not long ago lost their emperor, and the Empire had fallen into a civil war. It seemed that war was always the way of the universe.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 10, 2023 19:16:49 GMT -8
The next morning found Esthh on the weapons testing ground, or at least this particular one, to see what the shapers had cooked up for his warriors to level the playing field. The Yuuzhan Vong had done well in the initial war, but the victories had come at the expense of lives, cannon fodder, tactics that were effective but costly. Tsavong Lah had expended warriors and Chazrach alike like grutchins or razor bugs on a battlefield. Useful in large numbers, but unlike those weapon beasts, warriors and Chazrach could not be replaced. It was time to expend weapon beasts, not warrior lives. There was a time and place for everything, lives had to be sacrificed in order to achieve goals, but not in an unsustainable fashion. The Vong had always leaned on melee tactics, closing with the enemy and dealing with them in brutal hand to hand combat. The ranged weapons of the beings of this galaxy though, exacted a large toll before the warriors could reach their full advantage of fighting at close range. A warrior could only carry so many razor bugs and blast bugs to be thrown at an enemy, a handful at best really, while an enemies blaster held hundreds of bolts to exact the blood toll before an amphistaff could deliver its bladed edge to their hearts.
Esthh was greeted by a platoon of warriors carrying unfamiliar biots, but Master Shaper Traa’iin had sounded pleased with what had been accomplished.
“Good morning Supreme Commander,” said the shaper.
“Good morning. What heresy have you performed now?” A running joke in his command now, they had cast off their beliefs about offending the gods by creating new biots. There were no gods, at least those that would listen to the Vong.
“A great deal Commander.” The shaper waved him over to the living platform where an example of each of the new biots lay. “A blaster rifle, a new attack amphistaff companion, new grenades,” he pointed to a somewhat rectangular cube that looked like the outside of a Vonduun Crab. “A demolition or breaching charge, a self reloading explosives launcher, an needle scout, a blast tube, and a dovin manipulator!” He finished pointing to each biot in turn. “We have more in development but they arent ready yet.” He picked up and handed Esthh the blaster rifle.
Esthh took the weapon and manipulated it the way he had seen other soldiers from the Empire do, one hand forwards and the other back, the creature seemed to fall naturally into his hands, he could feel it shifting to conform to his hold and body, subtly but noticeably increasing its comfort. He was a little surprised at the weight of it but assumed it had something to do with the power generation of the component biots. He brought the weapon up expirimentally pointing it towards a target down range and he could feel a touch in his mind, almost seeing what the weapon could see and feeling his arms shift slightly, it was an odd feeling, like being extra steady and he mentioned this feeling to Traa’iin.
Traa’iin nodded.
“Yes commander, the weapon is two way touch telepathic, much like a cognition hood, like our other weapons you are focused on your target and that information is delivered to the weapon and the weapon gives subconcious feedback to improve its odds of hitting the target. The weapon also can adjust itself internally to maintain aim in a unsteady environment. Like firing while moving for example. Its function is straight forwards. A starter lambent pulls energy from sparkfly capacitors, which are charged by a mynock energy cell, they hold a greater charge than vonduun crabs or amphistaffs, but are recharged by them over time. Then it passes through blaster gas that is generated by organs that we bred from Andelm beetle grubs, passes through a second focusing lambent, and then is focused further, a second round of sparkfly capacitors discharge into the beam ionizing it, and shaped by and accelerated further by the intense magnetic field component that we shaped from the lobel creature, which is used in quite a few other new superorganisms as well. A most useful creature. Much like a Dovin Basal on a different wavelength.”
Esthh followed what was being said and decided to give the weapon a go, giving the nerve under his forefinger a squeeze. The weapon recoiled slightly and barked with a slightly electric sound, not like a capacitor, but more like a small jolt of lightning, harsh and electric, but not overly loud. A sulfurous yellow bolt flashed out and struck his target blowing a large fist sized hole deep into it. Still maintaining his hold he could see what looked like heat bleeding from the impact point.
“It can see infrared?”
“Yes, we thought it would be a useful feature, it helps identify weak points in armor that way. Also useful for seeing in the dark without specialized biots.”
Esthh nodded. “How many times can it be fired?”
“Nearly a thousand at its lowest intensity, but that is hardly more useful than pointing out something, useful shots like the one you just used about 150. Not to the level of an infidel blaster, but it is more efficient. The heat generated is absorbed, and recycled back into the power biot. The power biot can be changed out for a fresh one, it does not need to remain with the weapon.”
Traa’iin motioned at one of the warriors holding an identical one who dutifully showed how to make the weapon’s suckerlike mouth let go of the component and then attached a different one.
“They do of course recharge, all they need is sunlight or food, which can be just about anything. We added Adar genes, which allows its metabolism to shift depending on food availability. A way to lighten the burden on supply lines.”
Esthh nodded appreciatively as he laid the weapon back down and stepped back, indicating the warriors should step forwards and show him the full demonstration. The so armed squad stepped forwards, and not un-awkwardly as they had been practicing, sent a torrent of yellow bolts down range. Esthh was impressed, the biots did appear to give the squad the same level of ranged firepower that the other militarys of the galaxy enjoyed.
“We are working on other versions as well, longer sustained fire weapons and longer ranged ones. Which we might as well look at its larger cousin, the bahooka.”
A warrior stepped forwards with a much larger tube that had a similar look to the blaster weapon. He took a knee and brought the tube to his shoulder and fired a yellow bolt almost as big a round as a balled fist, blasting through a target with ease.
“Essentially a warrior portable laser cannon. It only has five shots before it has to be reloaded or recharge. The downside of more power for weight.”
Esthh nodded and motioned for the demonstration to continue.
A warrior stepped forwards with the armored rectangle, he explained it was a demolition charge, and the vonduun crab covering was to protect the highly explosive moss on the inside, shaped from megonite moss. The warrior jogged out and slapped it against a rock and scurried back after yanking a umbilical. There was a slight delay of a few tens of seconds allowing the warrior to get to a safe distance, before the device erupted with a loud crack and a violent explosion shattered the rock, and it was no small rock.
The next warrior stepped up with what looked like a tube moss with round berries, though they were not berries.
“Grenade fungi from Yavin 4. They take longer to grow than blast bugs, but are far less resource intensive. A warrior can carry the spores and grow them in the field as necessary. There are currently three versions, a fragmentation that grows an armored shell that shatters upon detonation, a pure blast, and an air burst charge that blasts its spores into the air before a secondary charge ignites them in the atmosphere, creating a twenty atmosphere overpressure for two seconds.”
Esthh was working through all the implications as the warrior demonstrated each of the weapons, everyone present being protected by an inhibition field generated by a specialized dovin basal, to ensure that any fragments that might reach them, or the pressure wave, was severely reduced in their lethal capacities.
The next warrior stepped forwards and offered a handful of about six little snakelike weapon beasts that seemed to have wings folded against their sides. Each was about the length of his hand from the heel to the end of his longest finger, and just about as thick as his longest finger. Esthh wasnt sure what to make of them at first glance other than it appeared that they were related to amphistaffs and flying serpents. The warrior turned and hurled them upwards downrange. The little beasts untangled themselves and extended their wings, creating a soft buzzing noise as they shot skyward with the frantic beating of their wings before seeming to catch thermal columns of air and continuing up for a few more moments before starting to circle. The warrior who tossed them stood there and then seemed to focus on a target mannequin about forty paces in front of him. Esthh watched as the little beasts almost as one turned and dropped out of the air, folding their wings against themselves and plummeting out of the sky, their profiles narrow and sharp, only his enhanced eyes could make sense as they turned to what would normally be considered blurs. They struck like hailstones, zipping through the target mannequin with enough force slam violently into the ground, quickly worming their way out and launching themselves back into the air.
The warrior recalled his pets, then explained that they could also be thrown directly at an opponent, but they wouldnt pick up as much speed. When on attack they would narrow their bodies, increasing their density like a malidillo, and striking with the atomic edged blade of an amphistaff. They could stay up in the air, and acted like airborne spy bugs, giving him an overall picture of the battlefield, revealing enemies and friends alike that he could not see from the ground.
They did have wings that were useful, but they also had an organic repulsorlift organ that they had shaped from a Hela, allowing the creatures their ability to fly up quickly, but also to accelerate far past terminal velocity, and to accelerate in a flat plane like when thrown directly at an opponent. There was an effort just starting to make a version of the creatures like that of a plasma eel, only one time use, but capable of blasting through light armor, and likely others that would explode like fragmentation grenades.
Esthh was quite pleased with this biot to say the least. A warrior could carry a hundred of them and stay behind cover and throw guided missiles into the air, and aim them through their telepathic connections. Taa’iin and his shapers would need to be rewarded handsomely for this little weapon beast.
The next warrior stepped forwards and offered a small hand sized little crablike creature that had multiple tubes on its back. Esthh recognized the base creature as that of the Jodakan Needler Crab they had gathered from the Hapes Cluster. The warrior explained that the weapon beast was similar in intended use to the Pistoeka saboutage droid, or a combat remote. He tossed the little creature down and let it scuttle down range where it crept up on a mannequin target and fired a needle at it. The target shook with the impact, the thick poison covered needle almost penetrating out the targets back. Not satisfied that its target was dead the creature fired again, and then the warrior barked a command at it and the little creature scuttled off quickly to repeat the performance against another target manniquin.
The warrior explained that the creature would hunt targets, and after a needle dart was fired from one of the seven tubes, it would immediately start to regrow a needle in the empty cell. It grazed as it moved from target to target and would even feed on its targets corpse in order to sustain the regrowth of the weapons. The creature that they had been calling a Needler, could essentially run around the battlefield regrowing a needle every five minutes until it needed to stop to eat enough food to replenish its energy stores before continuing. Other versions with shaped explosives were being developed that could punch through armor like a magma pebble, but those wouldnt be able to fire as often. The little creature could also be given a territory to hunt or be left in a stationary position, dealing with any enemy that happened to wander by. A barked command brought the little creature scuttling back to the warrior.
Another warrior stepped forwards with a creature that looked like it was a cross of a spider and some other kind of insect. He tossed the creature, and with a pop white colored lines spewed in all directions, fine and somewhat drifting they covered nearly 25 meters in diameter, attaching to anything and everything before quickly turning clear and tightening as they did so. They turned so clear that from a distance Esthh had to use his maa’its to focus tightly enough to see the nearly invisible strands. Even before the warrior tossed a melon Esthh had figured out what was going on. The melon shredded against the near atomic edges of the hardened butcherbug web strands, and the warrior explained that the new biot was a cross with that of a ginntho spider and another, making the strands stronger than steel, and larger ones could do damage to metal when they were supplied with an electrical impulse from the base biot. A form of immediate infantry and the larger, vehicle barriers. Others could be set up as snares, or would cover a single opening like a doorway, a hallway, or a tight ravine.
“One more biot today Commander, before I won’t bore you any more. The last isnt as much a weapon as a battle field manipulator. A dovin basal grown to increase a much larger area with less gravitational intensity, or a much larger inhibition field if you will.” Traa’iin indicated the dovin basal looking creature that had been creating the protective field.
“It can make a hill top fortress even more so, increasing gravity over a wide area to slow down and bog down an attacker, as if they are going directly against the plane of gravity. It greatly increases the range of thrown munitions as they are falling with gravity. Vice versa it can do the same in the opposite so that our warriors can attack downhill, even when going up. They can throw weapons much further than the enemy, and the enemies own thrown weapons will land back in their laps. Over a large area, a number of kilometers, and large ones in the tens of kilometers, can increase the local gravity a half, a whole, or even twice as much, exhausting enemy troops as they go about their daily routines and sap their strength and morale.”
Esthh nodded his appreciation.
“I am impressed. Well done Traa’iin. You and your shapers will be rewarded, and I have no doubt the thanks of the warriors.”
Traa’iin bowed in gratitude. “Thank you sir. I can assure you that there will be more such advancements for the next demonstration.”
“I don’t need all the demonstrations, just receiving the reports will be adequate. Demonstrations are useful but sometimes time wasting. Continue on Master Shaper. I will have some new biots for you to start working on soon. New ships, new vehicles. Until then however I must get back to my work.”
Esthh returned the salute that was given to him by all there, and headed back to his office to work on the promised projects.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 12, 2023 19:53:19 GMT -8
Esthh let his mind swim through the data qahsa, willing his way through reports, progress, training, genetic reports and abilities that were being shaped by the myriad of shapers and adepts, being tested and guided with warriors and pilots inputs. He moved on to his true purpose of the day. Shaping, or at least providing the blueprints for what he wanted done. The civil war within the Empire still raged, even though he didn’t know all of the intrigues or the sides that had formed the factions and grievances that had lead to the schism. He only cared however that it could drag him and the Praetorite Vong into the conflict.
He tunneled through various layers and sub areas to find what he wanted. The new agricultural beetles that had been taken from Niemodia and enhanced further. He moved a model of the beetle around in his mind, examining its layout, its joints, appendages, delving deeper into its internal systems, its sensory abilities, its measurement taking appendages, moisture detectors, chemical detectors, compounds, air mixtures, bacterias, microbes, and all manner of living and non living things in association with soil, water, and air tied to the growing of things.
His mind swam away for a moment, setting the beetle aside and pulling the ungainly Morodin towards him. He examined the creature, it was mostly unfamiliar to him other than in the vagueness of the creatures appearance and its noted effects on the fields and growing things. He dove into the beast the way he had the agricultural beetle, moving about through its internal systems and its dna. He doubted that the creatures could be combined with the agricultural beetles, the sequences were too different. The intelligence level he was unsure of, they were doubtlessly intelligent, certainly more than some attributed to them, perhaps they were merely semi-sentient now. They seemed to take no interest in the comings and goings of the Vong and had quite willingly moved through the fields, though also out into the other forests. He set the beast aside and pulled what had been shaped and ready for testing. The beasts were similar in appearance though a bit smaller, not as food heavy. The smaller beasts had the same amount of intelligence, however his shapers had put in a genetic drive to improve desired crop yields. They hadnt dared mess with them too much, the results were already fantastic and that was not to be lost. The creatures would be adaptable, and with their innate abilities and understanding of plants would be of invaluable help when moving from planet to planet, new ecosystem to new ecosystem.
With a thought he sent the order to implement their use for testing and his mind swam away from the agricultural beasts and towards his new projects. Ships. New fighters would be needed, new bombers to break open ships and hammer ground targets, and new ships to defend his people. Flexibility and new areas were needed, not just fighting in the arena of space. That had been the downfall of too many coralskippers in atmosphere...too space based when tsik’vai or other air dedicated craft.
He started with the shape, and began integrating weapons, the new Yaret-lam, but also sonic weapons, the creatures would need to fly through the atmosphere, liquid, and even the ground itself. The creatures that they had gathered in this galaxy had made these things possible. The gouka dragon could melt its way through whatever it felt like, and the skekfish could move quickly even through solid rock at a speed unheard of. These two options were what had intrigued Esthh more than any other, opening up an environment to combat in ways at speed that were only dreamed of.
His mind swam in between reports and statistics, battle reports, production reports, resources use, battle predictions, communing multiple times with the yammosks memories and those of pilots, both yorik-et and capital ships. So many options… Slowly with great care he began balancing the needs with what was possible, and over days he carefully outlined what he would like to see. A new all environment fighter, an all environment bomber, and a new capital vessel to replace the aged mataloks, as upgraded and enhanced as they were. He was about to swim to the surface of full conciousness before his mind swirled again and delved back in. Many hours later he let his conciousness leave the qahsa. He was mentally exhausted and his muscles complained that he hadnt moved them enough, and his mouth complained that it needed liquids. He rubbed his eyes as he reached for a drinking flask, and sent his specifications to Traa’iin, and went to rest.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Jul 14, 2023 11:36:01 GMT -8
Esthh watched as a hundred Agricultural Beetles walk onboard a grown Yuuzhan Vong transport, followed by four dozen of the of the new Morodiina agricultural partners followed them onboard. It didn’t take long for the ship to close up its ramps and silently lift off and head for Anobis, a gift to Nem Yin. Perhaps a peaceful offering would go over better than war material, and Esthh hoped at this point to keep his people out of conflict as they rebuilt their forces. Jumping headlong into a civil war that he didn’t even know who’s side was who’s was a recipe for destruction. He turned back to his long list of tasks at hand as his troops started working with their new weapons of war and learning new skills and tactics.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Aug 8, 2023 13:21:08 GMT -8
Yorik-vec and a squadron of coralskippers flew towards Tropis from Edgefields and Esthh could see what appeared to be large burned areas of the jungle. He originally had dismissed it as locals preparing fields for planting or clearing land in order to turn into fields. Now however, he could see the weapons impacts. If they had not been flying in a direct line from Edgefields to Tropis they likely never would have seen it.
“What are those?” he said pointing out the large metal objects laying in something of a cluster on the ground.
“How should I know?” replied the old man that Esthh had effectively kidnapped.
Esthh signaled the pilots to circle close and land.
Esthh looked over the drop pods. While he wasnt familiar with this particular design, its use was plainly obvious. They had also clearly arrived after the bombardment and burning of the jungle. While it had since rained, it was still easy to see the footprints leading from the large drop pods. Dozens of tracks. Saurian tracks.
He turned to the old man.
“These creatures are not of our making. Who would want to turn these beasts loose on this world? This was before we came. What is this planet’s secret?”
The old man couldn’t disagree with his eyes. It was well known that even though the Yuuzhan Vong had started integrating into the galaxy, the vast majority still shunned technology wherever possible. The drop pods and all of the tracks, now familiar tracks left little doubt.
“I...I don’t know. Why would someone want to kill us? We have nothing. There are farms, no mines, manufacturing...I don’t know.”
“We will investigate later. We will end the threat to Tropis first.”
They reboarded the yorik-vec after taking a quick guess of how many beasts could be held by each pod. That gave a half dozen tsik-vai the chance to catch up and they all proceeded to Tropis.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Aug 8, 2023 13:22:42 GMT -8
The Vong shapers finalized the gene sequences, and began growing a new starfighter, a new bomber, and a new starship. The species grew quickly, absorbing a large amount of minerals and food in their infant stage, but it would take some time to grow. Hopefully they would be ready before there was a war and the mataloks might potentially be lost.
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Post by Esthh Krazhmir on Aug 14, 2023 10:00:11 GMT -8
Master Shaper Traa'iin boarded a Yorik-vec and with an escort of 4 Slayerships left the planet.
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