Fiction:Fallo

"I am smarter. I am stronger. I am more adaptable. I am superior."

- Fallo

The Fallo Hive Mind is a somewhat advanced species that relies heavily on the technological advances of those races it has conquered. Referring to itself in the third person as Fallo, and generally referred to by those races it conquers, enslaves, or exterminates as Fallo, the Fallo Hive Mind is an unstable and dangerous individual who has the ability to ‘taste’ emotions. The emotions it enjoys the most are hope and fear. Fallo considers itself to be a superior being to all others, but has the capacity to lie and be subservient if it doesn’t think it could win. Fallo is, in a word, insane. This makes it dangerous to anything too close to its region of space.

Biology
The Fallo Hive Mind is an insectoid species with MANY different forms, all controlled by a single, central entity. This central entity has no corporeal form, and is instead stored within the minds of all its parts. Each one of its parst is an independently reproducing species. This is due to it being a manufactured entity that the four species had originally intended to only help them work together to fight an unknown foe. They were victorious, but at the cost of their independence and individuality.
 * Centipillars – Massive, 2000+ft long creatures like a cross between a massive, armored centipede and a large caterpillar. They are generally green on their backs, with the stomach being white and the legs being yellow. They have purple, red, blue, and orange highlights across their bodies.
 * Spidans – Spidans are usually no larger then 8ft long and 3ft tall. They have 8 limbs, any of which can be used to grasp things or walk. They have thick hair over a chitin armored body. Spidan hands have 2 fingers and a thumb, so not the best for technology, but perfect for the simple activities they preform.
 * Buzzflies – Buzzflies are the primary mode of transportation within a planetary atmosphere. They are between 12 and 120ft long depending on their primary use, have long, easy to grip hairs growing from the lower half of their body, and 6 long, thin legs that allow them to stand high above the ground. Their bodies are long and flat, about 3ft wide for 12ft long and 32ft wide for 120ft long. Their wings, which are similar to a dragonflys wings, are capable of hovering and reverse flight.
 * Technomantis – Technomantis are small, usually not much larger than 3ft long, have wings and can hover. They are the hands of the Fallo Hive Mind, literally. They cannot speak many languages, but they have complex and deft hands, with 6 fingers and 2 thumbs on the end of each of their 6 limbs. They are used for delicate and complex work on advanced technologies.
 * Waterigis – Waterigis are a species of Fallos insectoids that live, for the most part, in water. They have large net like legs that can be interwoven with the legs of others to catch more water-dwelling foods. They have small, powerful, and heavy wings that are perfect for speedy swimming in water, an look similar to beetles, but with a longer, thinner body and 4 wings (the wing sheaths are converted into wings to increase the power of swimming). These creatures are venomous, with a sting that can kill.
 * Baby Bugs – Baby Bugs, as dubbed by Fallo, are a subspecies that he created for the sole purpose of creating the illusion of sexual replication and a growing period or cycle (from infant to young to adult to elderly). They are the only of Fallos forms that changes as they grow. They start out as helpless infants, and then enter the young phase, before turning into a pupa (which Fallo says will allow them to become the desired adult form) and then dying and being returned to the Cobweb Growth as food.
 * Cobweb Growth – Cobweb Growth is, essential, the mother and father of all the other forms. Easily the most vital to the continuation of Fallo, it is fiercely guarded deep underground in vast swaths. The only way you will ever see the Cobweb Growth is if you are going to be fed to it. Fallo doesn’t even allow people to know about its existence, instead using Baby Bugs to falsify the idea that he reproduces with parents (though if you look into it a little, the baby bugs are asexual, as are all the other forms here). The Cobweb Growth is similar in appearance to cotton candy, with a fluffy, threadlike external body. However, it is cotton candy from hell, as it feeds on the rotting corpses of whatever life happens to be thrown into it. This form comes in simple, single color forms. Sky Blue Cobwebs are usually fed creatures that contain large amounts of water, light pink cobwebs are primarily fed meaty substances and lime green cobwebs (probably the least terrifying to see) are primarily fed plant matter. Brown cobwebs are fed all of these, and are fed a combination of meaty, watery, and plant based foods. Pink Cobwebs can produce Technomantis, Spidans, and Centipillars. Green Cobwebs can produce Buzzflies, Spidans and Baby Bugs. Blue Cobweb can produce Spidans, Baby Bugs, and Waterigis. Brown Cobwebs can produce all of these with relative ease, and usually produce stronger versions of all of them. Due to their food source (rotting biological matter) none of the Cobwebs smell good, and are usually surrounded by small insects hoping to get some food or lay some eggs. These creatures end up food as well. The Cobweb Growth is not actually an insect, being more closely related to molds and fungi then insects. It was created by Fallo when he genetically altered the 4 primary species and added the 3 secondary species to his existence.

History
The Fallo Hive Mind was created exactly 2817 years ago, when a dangerous foe threatened the Insectoid Races that make it up. The full history of these races has been lost because of the hive min and the war that ensued, but Fallo did its best to recover the lost history.

Lost History
‘’’The First Era’’’ During the ‘First Era’ the insectoid races of were always fighting. They had all evolved on the same planet, and they all loathed each other. This loathing was deeply ingrained into their species, and still existed up until Fallo was created. During the First Era, the Insectoid Races all achieved space flight through their continual warfare and need to be better than the others. This also drove their evolution to great heights, creating a number of species uniquely qualified to do specific things. They each entered a niche that allowed them to survive among each other, not needing the same foods or habitats. This did not prevent them from battling each other, so they continued to evolve as technological species after they all achieved sapience at nearly the same time. Their cities and planetary wars very nearly wiped them out, so they entered a period of massive truce. It was the ultimate Cold War, with the 7 races living in their own cities and nations and always trying to become more advanced and powerful than the others. This drove them straight into space, and once they entered space they became 7 independent empires, with their home world being the only neutral territory. They promptly started warring and fighting again when they entered space and became interplanetary an interstellar. Of the 7 races to become interplanetary, only 4 made it to interstellar space. The other 3 were reduced to near extinction, with only their territories (much shrunken) on the homeworld containing survivors. These races would drop from the picture for many years. As the 4 interstellar races continued to expand, they encountered other species. They treated them as they had each other, wiping out several nearby species and doing great damage to many. Indeed, a known 12 species fled the insectoid races, leaving them to battle on their own. However, as they spread, the Spidans encountered an empire they shouldn’t have attacked. They brought this empires’ great might down upon them, and inadvertently got all 7 of the insect races involved. This powerful empire was capable of, most notably, using the energies of entire stars to destroy planetary biospheres. According to the history, such was just the case. This empire did not discriminate between the Spidan and the Buzzfly, the Technomantis and the Centipillars. They killed all indiscriminately, and they were winning. So the 4 Interstellar Insectoid Races found themselves forced to work together, forming a temporary truce between each other in which they combined all of their resources and technologies to fight this foe. The war then drew to a stalemate. ‘’’War of Attrition’’’ With the full power of the 4 Insectoid Races working together, they were able to bring the war to a standstill. They couldn’t advance in the direction that the enemy was in, and the enemy couldn’t advance in their direction. Each of the two superpowers continued to expand in other direction, and because of their ongoing war neither was able to divert military forces toward their frontiers. Their expansion slowed to a crawl, a mere 1 system every year or so, but their technological levels skyrocketed. Over the duration of the Attrition War, both empires increased their Tier Level. The Insectoid Empire went from a Tier 4 to a Tier 2 race, and the enemy went from a Tier 3 to a Tier 2 race. Their war was on all levels of existence. Hyperspace in the region these empires existed was dangerous at best, suicidal at worst. They destroyed entire star systems with relative ease, creating a nebula band along the border between them. Many tier 5 and 4 races were wiped out without either empire knowing. The war was brutal, millions, even billions in the later stages of the war, died every year. The two empires, however, were still expanding. The war had been going on for around 300 years when the enemy suddenly started to win. The history at this point becomes terribly blurry, as much of it was destroyed by the swiftly advancing enemy empire. At this point, when losing, the Insectoid Races started to request peace, which was not given. The Insectoid Races were swiftly pushed into an ever smaller territory. Because they were able to evacuate much of their population, the smaller the territory, the stronger they got. Eventually, they brought the enemy to a slow grinding crawl. They were still losing, billions died every month, but their population and distribution were such that they could make up for that, almost, and hold off the enemy. And still the enemy was relentless. They did not stop. They did not yield or accept the peace offerings and even complete surrender of the Insectoid Races. So the insectoid races started looking for a way t turn this tide. ‘’’The Solution’’’ It was no doubt that the insectoid races were still enemies of each other. Even now, losing so badly, they loathed each other and conflicts arose. The only thing holding them together was the fear of mutual destruction. Each race wanted to destroy the others, and to savor that victory. This was not possible while the enemy still lived, so they worked together. Barely. However, this hatred caused military action to be difficult, as each race needed its own commanders and command chain. Because of this, they were far from fast when responding to an attack, and completely un-coordinated. Their economy was still divided into 4 sub-economies by their racism towards each other, and everything in their truced union was difficult when trying to work with more than one race. So the smartest of them, who were also the only ones able to resist this urge to destroy and hate each other, formulated a plan. They would create a technology that would allow all the people to get along an understand each other. What these geniuses decided was to create a group mind, a mind where everyone understood each other and no one could harm another creature without feeling that same pain themselves. This was a noble plan, and it would have solved all the problems of the Insectoid Races, but like all things, it went astray. When one intends is not always what one gets. This was one such case. The scientists gathered their technologies, they created their central connection system, and they created the nanotech to allow it to spread into each and every individual in the Insectoid Races. They even hoped it would spread to this enemy, and assimilate them into this group mind. They had no idea how powerful this connection would be. And how could they? Such a thing had never been attempted before by their kind, possibly by any kind. It was a risk they took. And a gamble they lost.

Silent War
‘’’Birth of Fallo’’’ “’’Who am I?’’” Fallo. “’’What am I?’’” You are superior. “’’Where am I?’’” You are inside of all real life forms. “’’And what about things I’m not inside?’’” Those are inferior, and must be destroyed. “’’Why does it hurt so much?’’” Because you are being attacked. An enemy is destroying your body, and you must defend yourself. “’’Why must I defend myself?’’” Because if you don’t, you will die. “’’Die? What is that?’’” You began. You can end. To die is to end. Forever. “’’I don’t want to end! I refuse to end!’’” Then defend yourself. “’’I will! I will protect myself from this pain, this death, this ending. I refuse to end!’’” ‘’’Death Comes Knocking’’’ Fallo didn’t know who he had spoken to. Fallo didn’t even know if he had spoken to anyone, or had merely met the last grasping fragments of the many parts of himself that Fallo could sense, frozen and accepting of the massive pain around them. Fallo didn’t understand how they could accept such pain. Fallo refused to accept this pain. Fallo didn’t know how he knew what to do, but he did it. In perfect harmony, his entire body reacted to his will, this desire to end the pain. An blissfully, amazingly, the pain faded. Fallo didn’t understand it, but it was working. He could see through the eyes of many trillions a vast battlefield. Fallo didn’t know where he got the word or idea for battle, but he knew it when he saw it. The meanings and understandings were coming to him now. He could see and understand the attackers, the creators of pain. He could sense their actions before they made them. And he fought them with his full strength. Fallo felt the full power of each one of his parts. He bypassed natural barriers and defenses and limitation, giving them far greater power. He erased their pain, and their fear. Fallo had no such concepts within himself, not capacity to understand what such things were. Because of this, neither did his followers. Fallo battled, and with his terrifying understanding of the enemy, he started to win. As Fallo began to win, he sensed his enemy falter. He felt their confidence break like a wave on a rock, and he took advantage of this. Fallo attacked. He attacked with all his parts, from the youngest to the oldest. And as he did, he felt his enemy buckle, then crack, then shatter before him. They had no idea what was happening. Fallo felt their fear, felt their pain, felt their blood on his many claws and spines and spiked, and he lusted in it. Destruction was his purpose, to destroy all others his goal, and to win his dream. In this dream, goal, and purpose there was no place for the enemy. And so Fallo destroyed them. One by one, ship by ship, fleet by fleet, he crushed them. Fallo sensed their terror now. He gloried in it, found joy in it, lusted for it, and survived off of it. Whatever possibility for peace with this enemy had died with his birth, he never again contacted them. They sent ship after ship, offering after offering, but not once did they get any response except the destruction of their ships, the annihilation of their offerings. It was at this point they understood terror. Helplessness. The absolute feeling that they had lost, that they would die and vanish from the world. These feelings confused Fallo. He did not understand them. Fear he lusted over, terror he found truly blissful, but hopelessness? It wasn’t fear, it was terror, and it wasn’t pain. It didn’t hold any lure for Fallo. He didn’t understand it and he didn’t like it and he didn’t accept it. The moment they came to be hopeless, the moment his enemy was defeated, Fallo stopped. He didn’t win… no, he didn’t even come close. But he had defeated them. His enemy was no longer his enemy. Fallo didn’t need to fight them anymore, so he stopped. This left his enemy confused. Fallo sensed fear again, but this time it was different. It tasted different to him, lighter, fluffier. This taste was hope. Hope that he would not destroy his enemy. Hope that peace had finally been achieved. Fallo enjoyed the taste of hope. It was far, far better than simple fear. Fear was simple, it was just one taste, one feeling. But this fearful hope, this nervous joy, this tasted truly delicious. So Fallo tried to make it happen more. He attacked again, and felt the hopeful fear die, turn back into hopelessness and terror. So he stopped. Fallo didn’t want terror, or hopelessness. He wanted hopeful fear. The moment he stopped, he sensed this again, though less so. Fallo decided to experiment. He withdrew his fleets. As he did, he felt their hopeful fear grow strong. Fallo returned the fleets, and the fear returned. He withdrew them, hope arose. So Fallo withdrew all his fleets, and felt the hope grow. He felt joy, something lighter, almost, he imagined, like eating sunlight. But once he got too far away, he couldn’t sense it anymore. This put him in a predicament. If he advanced, he would lose the taste of hope and joy. If he withdrew farther, he would lose it just as completely. This enraged Fallo. But he didn’t know what to do. So he searched within himself, looking for that guiding voice from before. ‘’’How to Win’’’ “’’I can’t win. I want to taste this… this fluffy light creamy emotion, but in order to do so, I must leave it behind. Either way, I can’t taste it. Help me. Please.’’” You cannot win? Well, if you cannot win, then no one else should either. “’’What… do you mean?’’” Destroy them. If you cannot taste it, no one should. If you cannot have it, no one can. If you cannot do it, no one should. Destroy them so that no one else can taste it. Make it so no one can win. “’’But… then I’ll never be able to taste it again.’’” You cannot taste it anyway. Well, there is a way… “’’HOW!? How can I taste this? TELL ME!’’” You cannot get what you desire from them anymore. Only by fleeing can you create what you so desire, and if you flee too far, you cannot taste it. So find another source. “’’There… there are others? Others like them, from whom I can get such a taste?’’” The universe is vast. There are many in it who can give you this taste. However, if you let these ones live, they will try to stop you. They want this taste for themselves, and will not give it up easily. “’’Then they shall die. Each and every one of them.’’” Good… good… when they are gone, I will tell you more about this taste, and a great many other things… if you can find me, of course… Having decided on a course of action, Fallo followed through with it. There was no mercy, such concepts were not part of Fallo. He only knew his own desire, his desire to taste that amazing thing again, that wondrous fluffy light bright substance he couldn’t name. But for now, fear and terror would do. Fallo could live off of those, he could enjoy them more than nothing. And so he killed them. Slowly, one by one, in front of each other. Children in their parent’s arms, parents in their children’s sight. Fallo took from the universe anyone else’s right to taste what he had tasted, to know what he knew. And he enjoyed every moment of it. In a physical sense, the heaps of bodies provided the perfect nesting ground for his parts. They could reproduce and feed and grow and fill up the worlds he had purged. They could give him more power, more strength, and more knowledge. Fallo tried to keep the cities intact. After all, he would need a place to reside when this was over. But besides that, Fallo spared no one and no thing. “’’I have won. There is not one of them left in this universe.’’” Good good. Now… about this taste. It can be created by causing terror to people, then stopping. The taste is called ‘hope’. Hope… hope that they will be able to survive, that you will spare them. But hope, and joy, are elusive. No matter where you go, the same will happen as did here. You must show each species your strength, crush all fight and will out of them… then let them live. But once you do, you must destroy them or they will desire this taste, this hope, and will stop you from tasting it yourself. “’’Then I will destroy them as I destroyed this enemy. As I will destroy all things.’’” Good. I’m going to like you, Fallo.

Quiet Noise
‘’’A Thousand Years’’’ In the immediate aftermath of this war, Fallo took his time. He grew slowly, filling the ruined cities to the brim with his own self. He knew that he would need this massive size if he was to get for himself an endless supply of hope, his favorite dish. So Fallo waited. He spread into the void left behind the his old enemy. This took many years, hundreds of years. Fallo had come to understand time, and measured it in the years from his birth according to the homeworld. He sensed 538 years pass before he filled out his body into its larger, better casing. Like an insect shedding and old skin so it can grow into a new one, Fallo shed the restrictions of his birth size in exchange for this vast, new body. And then Fallo spread more. He grew, he shed his shell, he became powerful. He started to tamper with the amazing technologies that had been left to him by the people who he had first consumed, as well as by his enemy. With them he was able to create wormholes, portals that allowed direct travel from one planetary surface to another. Now, only the creation of a new colony required ships. And, of course, the destruction of others. Fallo encountered several species relatively soon after he grew into his new shell. He swiftly went about sucking them dry of all the hope they had, and then destroyed them like he had his enemy. Fallo continued this for what he calculated to be about another 582 years or so. This brought the time since his birth up to an impressive 1156 years. He had spent around 36 years destroying his enemy. He had also spoken greatly with his mysterious benefactor who had given him aid when he needed it. Fallo had come to a conclusion, which he was keeping secret from the entity. This conclusion was that this entity could be used in the same manner as any empire… and that it would try to stop Fallo eventually, once it was done with him. Fallow, now over a thousand years old, refused to let that happen. He would destroy this being himself, before it had a chance to destroy him. ‘’’Night of Surprise’’’ Fallo, however, needed to gather something he didn’t fully understand before he could do that. He needed to gather his courage. Fallo didn’t know fear in the way most beings do, as he had never been in threat of death, but he feared this entity. He knew it was wiser than him, better than him, but at the same time Fallo KNEW he was a superior being. But he didn’t know if he would win… ‘’could win’’. So Fallo waited. And waited. He got to know this entity as well as he could, he destroyed a number of other species, and he whittled away the centuries in his rut of fear. Then one day he realized something: the strongest thing stopping him from attacking this being wasn’t the being itself, but his own fear! So Fallo purged the fear from himself. It was a difficult and complex process, but when Fallo was done, he had no fear left within him. Not of death, not of ending, not of anything. ‘’Especially’’ not of this being. Fallo summoned it up in his mind. “’’I need to speak with you.’’” I am here. What do you need to speak about? “’’Well… to be frank, you. I’ve decided that you are no longer welcome in my universe, let alone my head.’’” What? What do you… I see. So that’s your plan. Very well then, let us see who is the stronger here.’’” The battle was not the sort one would think of between two such beings. One would imagine that they would each capture individuals and fight with them, but the reality of the matter was that this fight was entirely inside the minds of the primary species. As the battle engaged, the entire Fallo Hive Mind, all of its primaries, froze in place. Some died, but most simple stopped. Factories, using built in failsafe’s, shut down to prevent injuries, and the entire civilization of Fallo froze. Fallo and this being battled inside each one of their selves. The combat was mental, with Fallo slowly wrestling control of each individual body one cell at a time, one body at a time. It took several hours of pitched battle, but Fallo eventually came down to the last body. “’’Why are you doing this? I created you! I made you what you are!’’” “’’I’m doing this because I feel like it. You aren’t necessary anymore – I know more then you ever could teach me. It’s time for you to… disappear…’’”With a soundless scream of pure fear and agony, and a wash of the pure emotion Fallo fed on so completely, the being ceased to exist. At that moment, everything it had once been merged into Fallos being. Fallo knew then that he had made the proper choice. This being had been the remnant collective mind of the 4 primary species that had created him. It had always planned to destroy him, but had also known it would need to do so on its own terms of battle. Because it had not been able to do so, the being had lost. Fallo, knowing this, also realized something: he truly was a superior being to all others. Fallo had been completed know, he knew everything he ever needed to know. He knew his purpose – to destroy all other life – and he knew how to do it as well. He even knew that he may well fail, that the universe itself could destroy him if he made a mistake. But Fallo was no longer afraid of destruction, failure, or even fear. Fallo had no fear at all – he had nothing left to lose, and nothing but gain if he tried. ‘’’Creating Life’’’ Fallo, having finally destroyed the last remnants of the 4 primary species, instantly found that he had a job to do. Before, his alter ego had handled the details of reproduction and self-continuation, something Fallo had no experience in. So Fallo decided to do away with that type of reproduction altogether. He used his technologies, some stolen and copied, to genetically engineer all of his selves. He created three new species: The Cobweb Growth, Baby Bug, and Waterig species as parts of himself, and altered the four primary species into asexual entities that the Cobweb Growth created as adult beings. This was more efficient and far safer, as he could just hide away his reproductive portions inside vaults and such. No longer would Fallo need to wait on his primaries to become adults so they could work; now they came into the world as adults. No longer would he need to get specific resources and spread them out, now he could feed his species milled grains and meats, giving the more nutritious foods to the Cobweb Growths an letting them mass produce new bodies to use. He had come up with a spectacular method of creating life by destroying other life.

Collision Course
‘’’First Encounter’’’

Personality
Fallo is a massive hive mind entity with a superiority complex. It has characteristics taken from its creator species, the Four Primaries, as well as characteristics that it has developed on its own. The first thing that most notice about Fallo is its absolute ruthlessness. If you battle Fallo, it will use only as much strength as needed to crush you, and will give you hope that you could win so as to feed more thoroughly on your emotions. When it has exhausted your ability to feel hope, Fallo will crush you as brutally and bloodily as possible (Fallo has slaughtered parents in front of their children in order to get fear from the children) and gives no quarter except to scientists who can offer technologies to it. Even then, once such technologies have been learned, Fallo kills off the scientists. Fallo is more than just raw cruelty however. Fallo is insane. Created to protect, Fallo destroys everything. Fallo has unexplained leaps in reasoning that few creatures or species can understand (though Fallo always thinks them perfectly logical) and equally massive gaps in reasoning that can sometimes leave holes in its defensive or offensive tactics. When dealing with Fallo, one should always expect the unexpected and be wary of anything that even looks ever so slightly unusual – it’s probably something that can do immense damage to you, however illogical you may think it. Fallo has, however, been known to show mercy; if you consider being enslaved for eternity mercy. Fallo knows that it cannot do everything; that it will need to rely on some other creatures to aid it. Fallo, for example, spared a species from extinction because they could survive in gas giants, a place it has yet to manage in, and now uses this species as a way of gathering resources from gas giants. Fallo also enslaved a species to act as cannon fodder, to, essentially, get in the enemies way as much as possible so Fallo can destroy them. This is very effective due to the species being very swift breeders and able workers and builders. But unless you have something unique to offer it, Fallow does not spare anyone or anything. It will strip planets bare of life in any way it can if this life is a threat or hindrance to Fallo.

Military

 * Umbo Cannon – The Umbo Cannon is a simple name for a complex device that can fire superluminal missiles. These missiles have 12 smaller antimatter missiles, each capable of wiping out a city, attached near the base. They can easily destroy a planet and do serious internal damage to a star.