The Swarm

[Spinachcat]

I am considering this as a future Rifter submission. Here are my basic ideas.

THE SWARM
The Swarm is the result of too much biotech tinkering, random genetics with unknown alien influences and some aspects of the nano-plague. The Swarm are huge clusters of hundreds of thousands of 1 SDC flying bugs which have gained a collective intelligence. They feed on two substances: (1) electric impulses and (2) bio-modified flesh. They do not eat normal human flesh, but a Scarecrow would be a nice dessert.

Worse, a Swarm can cluster together into a physical form and walk the earth as a man, using weapons, wearing armor and interacting in an intelligent manner. They have successfully used this disguise to enter into Retro-Villages and even a Great House where they eat and breed at an alarming rate. If attacked, the Swarm can explode into a flying cloud.

The Swarm just wants to eat and breed. It does not care for either the Humans or the Bots, just as long as there is plenty to eat. An interesting side effect is the effect of digesting memories and information. The Swarm is getting smarter, more sentient and more aware of conflict between Man and Machine. The Swarm plans to use this new knowledge to its best benefit, pitting the two adversaries against each other and then devouring the battlefield remains.

[sHaka]

I am considering this as a future Rifter submission. Here are my basic ideas.

THE SWARM
The Swarm is the result of too much biotech tinkering, random genetics with unknown alien influences and some aspects of the nano-plague. The Swarm are huge clusters of hundreds of thousands of 1 SDC flying bugs which have gained a collective intelligence. They feed on two substances: (1) electric impulses and (2) bio-modified flesh. They do not eat normal human flesh, but a Scarecrow would be a nice dessert.

Worse, a Swarm can cluster together into a physical form and walk the earth as a man, using weapons, wearing armor and interacting in an intelligent manner. They have successfully used this disguise to enter into Retro-Villages and even a Great House where they eat and breed at an alarming rate. If attacked, the Swarm can explode into a flying cloud.

The Swarm just wants to eat and breed. It does not care for either the Humans or the Bots, just as long as there is plenty to eat. An interesting side effect is the effect of digesting memories and information. The Swarm is getting smarter, more sentient and more aware of conflict between Man and Machine. The Swarm plans to use this new knowledge to its best benefit, pitting the two adversaries against each other and then devouring the battlefield remains.

Interesting - How do you see fractious NEXUS reacting to The Swarm?

[Spinachcat]

Interesting - How do you see fractious NEXUS reacting to The Swarm?

I see a lot of finger pointing, especially at Gaia because the Swarm either developed in a Preserve or as a failed House experiment. The initial reports will be sketchy since robo-troops will simply appear to vanish after reporting they were covered with bugs with no Resistance in the vicinity.

I can see NEXUS getting very nervous because the Swarm could devour an isolated Retro-Village or Robo-factory long before any help could get to them. Ishtar will probably start packing troops with more aerosol, area effect weapons such as a firebomb that will devour whole Swarms in flame.

This will prove effective at first, but as the Swarm gets smarter, it will become more cunning and more effective at sneaking into places in its "humanoid form" and only "swarming" when they have surprise against unguarded targets.

Worse, when a Swarm achieves full sentience and gathers others of their kind together, Nexus may find itself "paying tribute" to a Swarm leave them alone and attack the Resistance. But the final puzzle piece is when the Swarm decides to play the two enemies against each other and both Humans and Machines find themselves tricked into ambushes filled with a million devouring bugs....

[Aramanthus]

It's a nice enemy of both groups!

[bar1scorpio]

Kinda Flood-esque though.

[taalismn]

Kinda reeminds me of Stanislaw Lem's 'The Invincible'...

Given the dark and ugly atmosphere of Splicers, the idea of an even more diabolical threat looming to destroy BOTH man and machine fits...

[Spinachcat]

I keep thinking about the Swarm and how to make them a very different enemy than the Machine or other Splicers. Without Psionics or Magic, Splicer combat is mostly a ranged shooter game with occassional HtH fights and not too much variation. I hope to develop the Swarm into something that isn't all 100% overwhelming, but requires the use of different tactics and a different use of current tools to win against.

My other idea is that the Swarm are also terraforming the planet into something else, something that will benefit them. I imagine huge ant mounds or wasp nests or other structure created by the Swarm as they change the landscape of the world.

[Spinachcat]

You can see where this is going.

Absolutely. One of the main goals of the "intelligent" Swarms will be to play off Resistance vs. Machine and Machine vs. Machine as they invade the territory of one Machine to unleash a response from a rival. The Swarm will do anything to increase their feeding...

I am aiming for a Rifter submission in early 2007 along with my Rifts Rapa Nui article.