The Conquering Worms

Description

The Worms are a species of roughly humanoid annelids. The typical Worm has tall but lanky segmented bodies with two arm-flaps that end in a cluster of prehensile tentacles and a single slithering end. Their head is indistinguishable from the rest of their body save for a crown of sensory nobs that crest their otherwise featureless top. A sheen of slime coat their bodies at all time, continuously secreted from their rough, rubbery skin, giving them an almost shiny appearance. When dry, Worms become uncoordinated, slow, and eventually perish. Healthy Worms pulse and wiggle while still, a result of them breathing through their skin.   Hermaphroditic by nature, the Worm have no genders or gender roles, and have yet to really grasp that it's a thing among the mortals they exterminate. Reproduction is simple, straight-forward business with little fanfare, and clutches of eggs are cared for in mechanical incubators. Many Worms eschew even the contact of their fellows entirely and prefer to clone their off-spring.   They range in color from bright pink, to shades of orange, red, and even hues of black, divided into hundreds of segments. These segments are more than cosmetic - the Worms have bodies modular, with their organs and even brains spread across their entire length. Injuries that would be fatal to any elf or human, such as a beheading or even being cut in half is not guaranteed to be fatal to one of the Worms. With time and their technology, worms can regenerate from the most grievous injuries with few signs of their brush with death. Even without aid, they can regenerate damaged segments or even shed crippled parts to regrow them from scratch. Warrior Worms often have patchworks of regrown or improved segments.   Worms have no bones, and are extremely flexible as a result. They can shrink and expand their bodies by controlling their internal fluids, creeping into the smallest spaces. Outside of their mechanical suits, they move by contracting and expanding in an undulating motion that ripple through their bodies. They prefer to move upright, but can crawl with horrifying and surprising speed.   Conquering Worms sense the world through wafting chemicals and subtle vibrations with startling accuracy and discernment. They can smell fear from a human foe, or determine the exact composition of the potion they might be carrying, as well as sense footstep from far away through the ground. Worms use the same to communicate with one another, a combination of discharged hormones and subsonic pulses.   Once, the Conquering Worms were a hivemind species, a collective consciousness instead of individual beings. Some of that still echo; a Worm can be cut apart and regrow into two individuals, parts of them shed and regrow, giving the Worms a disconnected perspective on their self. Even dead, a Worm might live on through a branching clone or subdivided injury, while rejuvenate technology keeps them alive for centuries. Death, for most Worms, is considered something that happens to someone else.   Most alien of all is the heart and soul of the Conquering Worm. Emotions are diffuse, almost mechanical things, events that happen rather than an experience felt. Worms do not feel that they are angry or afraid, but a ripple of chemical reactions; something that give them a terrifying degree of self-control and patience. Passion has found no purchase on the alien soul, and the Conquering Worms are driven by cold pragmatism and ambition. Pleasure to a Conquering Worm is survival, a safe and comfortable place, power in their society, and perhaps the latest subsonic album. That's not to say that individual worms lack personality; each have their own prefered methods, goals they believe to be most beneficials, and quirks of character, but none of it is easily distinguishable by mortalkind.   As such, the aliens work together as survival demands of them, and because it is efficient. Love, friendship, or parenthood aren't abstract concept, they are absent all together. Likewise, the emotion of other are smells and chemicals, interpreted data rather than the lived experience of another being. They are unable to understand the passions that drive the mortal races, for those are as alien to the worms as the worms are to the inhabitants of Lagash.   Conquering Worms have names, expressed as a subsonic pulse. Important (or, self-important) worms might accompany that with a waft of chemicals, the equivilent of a title. The most important worms are shrouded in a thick, chemical haze that forces all around them to know who they are.  

Society

The Conquering Worm has a society that is united by common purpose and divided by ambition in equal measure. It is a society that exists to regulate function, to keep the Conquering Worms safe and comfortable. This is chiefly achieved by controlling resources, from water to biolabs to anything else the Worms consider important. These are held by powerful cartels, authority derived from what resource they hold and how much; the most powerful hold monopolies and through that control to shape the future of the Worms. Through these, they tug and pull at Worm society towards the ends critical to them. When these faction act as one, it is less decision made and more like the formation of a storm that inexorably draws their species towards a single goal.   These corporate cartels form the primary basis of what could be called fellowship among the Conquering Worms. It is where they are born (or made), and they become part of its whole. If a cartel should fall, the scattered worms will be absorbed by others and continue on. Work and function among the aliens are fluid, with most being drawn to whatever needs to be done that suits their capabilities and mindset. When a project ends, or a Worm changes, so to does what they do. Crime is rare, and treated as if the individual is defective, either to be corrected or discarded. Merit and work affords them access to resources, and resources to be traded. There's no currency in Worm society, no concept of debt or accumulation of wealth. Everything not stored is geared towards ensuing the Worms will survive.   To this end, the Conquering Worms have taken to the stars; to secure new homes, more resources, and more knowledge. War and peace are simple calculations, and so far war has always given them more worth. There's value even in new enemies, as useful material for experiment, sources of food, and more. Nothing drives the Conquering Worm's conquest beyond the inevitable need to expand.   Although competition between cartels can be fierce, harmony usually reigns within them. Entire cartels consist of a single worm's endless generation of clones, with every layer being born from the same individual. Work, housing, leisure - nothing is static. Instead of homes, worms share and swap communal rest-areas, with different spaces offering different commodities and relaxations, and access to shared infrastructure. Leisure consist of things like vibrational pools, subsonic "music", or chemical bath, usually enjoyed as wriggling mass rather than in solitude.   On Lagash, the Worms are acting mostly as one. Representatives of five different cartels are present but cooperating until the extermination of the locals is done. Even so, each of them maintain some independence operations, trying to secure resources, materials, and captives. On more secure planets, cartels might specialize on a couple of resources and rely on barter of access for what they need. In the midst of an omnicidal war, the cartels have had to diversify and exploit everything they can.