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Pests of Titan Prime

Having survived in the shadows within the Vaurcae Hiveship of Titan Prime for over half a millennia, the Pests are believed to have originated from a Voidic Cetus travelling amongst the stars before colliding with the Hiveship – with stories told from the survivors of the original encounter recalling flight across clouds of hydrogen, refuelling themselves to continue their own journey before being vacuumed into the hydrogen harvesters of Titan Prime. Trapping them for the next five-hundred years. Though initially against its name, the Pests of Titan Prime have instead reclaimed it as a way to show perseverance, even where all hope seems lost.

History

Believed to have collided with Titan Prime sometime in the 1900s CE, with information provided by both the Zo’rane and the Dionae affirming it was following the Celis Conflict but prior to the period known as the Last Ordeal]. With resources already spread thin between the Zo’rane, the attachment of the Ancestry Cetus – as commonly referred to by the Pests – was merely thought to be xenofauna similar to blobs, where it was then decided necessary to remove the growing plague on the ship’s hull, resulting in a cascade of catastrophic miscommunication between the species for the next five-hundred years.

Viewing their removal as an attack, the Ancestry Cetus retaliated by quickly dispatching the drone that found itself overwhelmed by nymphs acting out of believed self-defence. Absorption of what biomass did exist, however, as a result of the drone’s lack of sapience, provided only basic information necessary for the Ancestry Cetus to devise a plan of survival: ultimately believing that splitting into smaller groups was necessary to avoid detection by a species that they had yet to be able to comprehend.

The Ancestry Cetus thereby split, severing its connection into four predominate sub-clusters, and for the sake of brevity, referred to as the domicile within Titan Prime in which they hid and scrambled to survive inside: the Engine, Maintenance, Hull, and the Propellant Colossi. Each has variable stories as to the continuance of their Colossi, ranging from using the radiation exerted by the engines or by the consumption of refuse or litter discarded by the Zo’rane.

Similarly to the Zo’rane, during the period known as the Last Ordeal, the Colossi went into hibernation, only shifting their presence when needed, or forced to, by the occasional intruder into their elected places of hiding.

The arrival of Titan Prime to Tau Ceti resulted in the formal “introduction” of the species to one another, and attempts to diplomatically manage the relationship existing between the two. The Zo’rane have attempted reparations, even offering a cordoned-off section of Titan Prime, referred to as Utopia or Gii’x’ic to those who had experienced the unintentionally harmful conduct of its Bound and Unbound. Some have elected to remain, and many have set on their own paths and deserted their “home” of Titan Prime, instead seeking experiences that would perhaps not offset, but instead make the scar of their treatment less intense.

Those that remain have become an intrinsic value to Caprice, in particular assisting the Zo’rane in the moving of Titan Prime from its orbit within the Tau Ceti gravity-well to that of the planet, using the knowledge gained by genetic learning (primarily through absorption of what little biomass exists within the exoskeleton of Vaurca) and experiences to assist the species in their efforts of beginning to call Caprice “home”. A majority of those that remain with the Zo’rane generally reside in Gii’x’ic, however, some are known to branch out and exist in New Sedantis.

Culture & Society

Ancestry Cetus

The Ancestry Cetus or the Original is a nostalgic memory for many within the Pest of Titan Prime’s Colossi. Often retold as having been a peaceful existence, wandering the cosmos and taking in the awe-inspiring views and experiences provided by their journeys, with an almost wistful emphasis placed on a life that could’ve been lived had they avoided the Zo’rane’s Titan Prime. It is not uncommon for memories of the Ancestry Cetus to be passed to those of the next generation, and the trauma experienced following the separation, a cycle that doesn’t appear to see any ending in the foreseen future. A scar inflicted unto every single Dionae, one that cannot be forgotten.

Sub-Clusters

Engine Colossus

The largest of the Colossi across Titan Prime, they have been subjected to the worst treatment by the Zo’rane, oftentimes even finding themselves scraped from the grounds – sometimes often whilst alive following a conflict with either a Bound or Unbound – into the chambers of Titan Prime’s Engines. Survival was difficult, and many Gestalts bear scars from their experiences within the Engines, where a near-continuous onslaught from the Zo’rane, which had simply believed that the biomass that found itself on its hulls had now infested itself within the ship’s engine, resulted in the collective’s disdain towards the species. Despite all attempts to negotiate reparations between the Zo’rane and those from the Engine Colossus, all have failed, with the majority having fled from any close proximity to Vaurcae, regardless of their brood and/or hive. Most often find themselves in the Eternal Gardens, simply existing in harmony with other Dionae that have gone through their own ordeals. It was necessary as a method of survival that those that survived the longest or had gone through the most, directed the Gestalt manifesting mindtypes such as Tyrannical Tune or Seasoned Song in most of its members. Despite despising the species, they often elect to mimic its appearance, with most assigning it to a learned instinct in an attempt to survive on Titan Prime.

Maintenance Colossus

Remaining within the maintenance columns of Titan Prime, the Maintenance Colossi often turned to mimicry to avoid or remain hidden from their self-believed enemies, utilizing absorbed exoskeletons to slip past bound drones, relying on cunning tactics of imitation to escape the Unbound Zo’rane – with those discovering the attempted replicas finding their exoskeletons repurposed for the strategy of passing off as the “unknown” species. Due to the Colossus’ adaption to instead rely on biomatter discarded by the Zo’rane, they appear more stunted and fungi-like as opposed to the other Colossi. Meek and often mute, where silence differentiated between the survival of another day or the extinction of a gestalt, the manifestation of Tumultuous Tacet dominates against all other mindtypes for the species.

Hull Colossus

Electing to remain outside of the Zo’rane’s Titan Prime, the Hull Colossi survived on cosmic radiation, and what little biomass they could absorb from the ship’s encountering of voidic xenoflauna and drones sent to deal with sporadic, damaging activity detected on its outer hulls. The continuous resistance to its pacifistic nature has resulted in the majority of Gestalts from the Hull Colossus presenting as Bloodless Band – hoping to never again be put into circumstances where they must fight for their continued survival, and thereby generally taking an oath amongst themselves to see it through. Different to the other Colossi, Gestalts that survived along the hull of Titan Prime have similarities to those considered “wild” Dionae, with those attempting to navigate the diplomatic carnage after the miscommunication between the species, remarking the Colossus’ resonations resembling Crimsonsong.

Propellant Colossus

Through utilizing caustic phoronic elements to propel themselves across the Milky Way, and into the Orion Spur, the Zo’rane’s propellant systems also produced a radioactive byproduct that assisted those contained to the particular section of Titan Prime and allowed them to survive off of meagre rationing spread amongst the Colossus. Unbeknownst to the Zo’rane, who had believed that the systems had begun to fail within the propellants, regular maintenance work had been ordered to be performed by bound drones with the odd unbound sometimes making an appearance where continuous readings of the lack of any radioactive byproduct sustained itself on their sensors. Managing better off than the other Colossi across Titan Prime, though subject to more splitting in their efforts to squeeze into areas inaccessible to the average Zo’rane, resulting in the manifestation of Chaotic Carcophany being rather common across Gestalts originating from this particular Colossus – merely seeing conglomeration as a necessity for survival in situations where it was necessary to dispatch either a bound or unbound Zo’rane. In some instances, those who found themselves particularly strained and subjected to forceful hiding may even present as Nocturne Notes.

Shared Trauma of the Pests

From all corners of Colossi of Titan Prime, there exists a shared trauma, regardless of the individual experiences encountered by Gestalts. A scar burned into the biomass, one where the remembrance of the Zo’rane’s wretched treatment of the species has become an engrained and unforgettable memory. Older conglomerates are obligated, some even forced by the community, to share their memories with the next generation of Dionae: forever ensuring that they will remember the Zo’rane as originally their oppressors, before their eventual “reconciliation” following the arrival to Tau Ceti, and the formal introduction of the species to one another. The forceful splittings required to survive are yet another traumatic element in the Pest’s psychology, leading many to attempt their best to remain as one following the arrival to Tau Ceti.