Fiction:Scelus Purification

Welcome to the garden of the hive. Come taste of this lotus fruit we have grown and forget all memories of home.

Scelus Purification
Creator	Gorzill
General information
Capital	Hive World 0
Location	Mirus Galaxy
Tier Scale	High Tier 2
Technology	There biology is their technology
Notable for	Ravenous Crimelords
Governmental information
Type	Hive Mind Ravenous Hive
Military	Scelus Horde
Societal information
Currency	None
Archetype	Necrophage Devouring Swarm Strength of Legions Subspace Ephapse
Color	Gold
Alignment	Pragmatism

History

Origins

The Scelus were first created when one of the ancient and eldritch race known as the Prerunners died upon a mysterious planet in the far north of Mirus. Dissolving into fungal spores that became the first Scelus these original Scelus lacked sapience until they were discovered by a race known as the Affonire. The Affonire saw that the creatures infected by the Scelus never died accept by injury or sickness. Wanting that immortality for themselves an Affonire cooperation known as BioSynth began to develop a drug based on Scelus fungal spores meant to extend one's lifespan. While assuring their customers that the drug was safe BioSynth cut corners and eventually a plague was unleashed resulting in the majority of the Affonire being assimilated into the Scelus.

This introduced sapience into the Scelus hive mind and the ability to self-reflect and introspect. Finding itself disgusted by the corruption of the Affonire state and its weakness which prevented it from actively responding to the crisis that had allowed the Scelus to consume its people, the Hive Mind would resolve to purge such corruption and weakness from the galaxy and unite all life under its singular, strong rule. It would then purge itself of the ideals of things like empathy and compassion, finding these to be weaknesses, ejecting them far out into space.

Society

Structure

The Scelus Purification is a hive mind composed of untold quadrillions of souls merged into a single gestalt consciousness called the Pleroma which is commanded by a singular central consciousness called the Monad. Every Scelus is connected to the Plemora to one degree or another and all Scelus must follow the will of the Monad, though how they interpret the Monad's will varies from Scelus to Scelus. Because of this the Scelus are not fully unified but broken up into many different swarms. Each swarm is lead by an Aeon who have high degrees of autonomy in carrying out their interpretation of the Monad's will. After the Aeons are the Pneumatics which are fully assimilated Scelus who act as the kings and generals of the swarm's fiefdoms and armies. Psychics are below pneumatics and are partially assimilated Scelus who serve as nobles and courtiers, acting as elite warriors on the battlefield. Finally there are Hylics, the completely unassimilated who the Scelus treat as nothing more then slaves, food, and cannon fodder.

The Scelus are grossly reliant on these Hylic slavery in-order to run their society. When worlds are conquered by the Scelus they typical harvest genetic material from all inhabitants before breaking them down into primordial ooze. This ooze is then used to remanufacture the citizens of a world into a tailor designed labor force, nerve stapled to prevent rebellion and genetically engineered to for specific tasks. So deep does the Scelus' reengineering projects go that their slaves now find pain and suffering to be pleasure and bliss and the thought of freedom and independence to be existentially terrifying.

Outside but still adjacent to the Scelus swarms are various cultists who have been infected by Scelus spores and serve to infiltrate and upend societies a swarm intendeds to invade. These Scelian Cults are sent ahead as a form of grim vanguard, infecting native populations and spreading their religion which worships the Scelus as gods and promises ascension from a doomed existence. While some cultists may indeed be granted full assimilation most will simply become food or twisted in horrifying monsters by their "gods" to spread further chaos since the Scelus have no concept of gratitude or reward.

Culture

The Scelus are first and foremost motivated by their desire to purge the universe of pain and suffering. As they see pain and suffering as the results of flaws and weakness those who are flawed and weak must die and feed the strong so that the strong may survive. When the Scelus invade they break down all those they have conquered to have their biomass reconstructed into the perfect slaves, as described above, create for labor only to be eventually worked to death and consumed as the Scelus devour everything, even the cores of planets which they have drained of all other resources. Those few who survive the harsh labor conditions may be reassessed and assimilated latter.

So strong is the Scelus belief in purging weakness from the universe that the Monad even encourages its children to fight amongst and consume each other in order to ensure only the strongest survive, to the point that the Monad even gives contradictory and vague commands that can be interpreted in various different ways by the Aeons to foster such conflict. Indeed the most common way to ascend up the Scelus hierarchy is to kill your peers and superiors in order to gain their rank for yourself. This leads to Scelus swarms being filled with intrigue and backstabbing as the Pneumatics and Psychics seek to exploit any weakness they can find in one another.

Beyond their obsession with pain and suffering, their quest to annihilate weakness, and their reliance on slavery the Scelus cannot truly be said to have anything in the way of culture. Art, literature, film, even mythology or cultural archetypes to do not exist within the Scelus who find such things utterly useless. The Scelus neither understand nor find any value in the abstract or imaginary and express very little in the way of creativity. Only the concrete and material matters to the Scelus are their architecture and vehicle aesthetics imitate this, being highly brutalistic and geometric, as well as often built into the surrounding materials of the world arpund them such as asteroids or planetary crusts.

Religion

The Scelus are highly religious though they worship no gods. Rather the Scelus religion is devoted towards seeking the end goal of the assimilation of all life into one singular gestalt consciousness, where all weakness and flaws are purged and only strength remains. This end state is the what the Scelus see as the only true god, one whose existence they must bring about. To them their constant conquests of other races as part of a never ending crusade to bring about this end goal. The cults that the Scelus spread will seek to either wipe out or even syncretize existing belief systems with the Scelus own religion, twisting their teachings into something more fitting of the Scelus' own beliefs and end goals

Technology

The Scelus are dependent upon the Plemora to function which is supported by the Scelus Mycelium Network. Scelus assimilation involves the growth of mycelium threads into the brain and nervous system which connects an individual to the Plemora. These mycelium connections expand the mental capabilities of the individual granting them greater capacity for cognitive function, abstract thought, and memory storage. However, this comes at the cost of less freewill and an ever increasingly more alien mentality. Eventually the mycelium connection becomes so great that an individual utterly abandons their material body to dwell completely within the Plemora. The Scelus can cover worlds in their mycelium threads transforming worlds into giant supercomputers which the Scelus can use for mass calculations. Connection to the Plemora also grants psychic powers with the Scelus being able to use the power of their minds to assault organic minds and synthetic computer systems alike.

Economics

As mentioned above Scelus economic activity are almost completely reliant on legions of manufactured slaves who are produce in-mass and specially created for all different kinds of labor. So reliant are the Scelus on slaves that they tend to delegate any task that does not directly involve combat in some way, shape, or form to specially designed slaves. Everything from administration, diplomacy, and scientific research is handled by slaves genetically engineered and psychically brainwashed to see the Scelus as benevolent masters and to take joy in their own bondage and suffering. Scelus slaves are treated with exceptional brutality and typically worked to death. The reason for this is not cruelty in and of itself but rather by creating an oppressive and soul sucking environment the Scelus can literally such the soul from their slaves when they die through the Mycelium Network. The slave's Psychic masters harvest these souls and tribute them to their Pneumatic and Aein masters who devour the souls to increase their own power. All of the Scelus' higher castes keep stockpiles of harvested souls to act as form of currency, exchanging them with one another for favors or bribes, access to resources or land, and so on.

Swarms

When the Scelus first invaded Mirus they attempted to do so as part of a single unified front. The first two swarms sent were probes, sent to test the defenses of the western Mirusian states before the min invasion. When the main invasion force fell short of expectations and was stalled the Monad chose to break up its invasion force into several swarms, each specialized to combat a specific opponent.

• Henosis - Swarm Henosis was a swarm created to counter the Empire of Zarbania. Focusing on coordination, discipline, and planning Swarm Henosis is unique in that it does not tolerate its Aeons infighting that other swarms encourage. Their color is black.
• Akinetos - Created to counter the Mendel Pact, Swarm Akinetos is by far one of the most aggressive swarms focusing on pure offense and constantly seeking to breed the most physically powerful bioforms around. Their color is red.
• Ageratos - Focused on adaptation and diversification Swarm Ageratos was created to counter and combat the Waptoria Alliance of Species. Swarm Ageratos is constantly seeking to assimilate new traits and create new, specialized bioforms. Their color is green.
• Synesis - Created by the Monad to counter the United Persan Descendants, Swarm Synesis is focused on weaponizing essence to counter and destroy its foes. While small in number they wield the highest number of essence wielding bioforms of any swarm. Their color is purple.
• Aletheia - Created to invade Tyris Major and combat the local powers Swarm Aletheia is well known and feared for their study and use of the Void. They are held in suspicion by other swarms who see Alethia as heretics. Their color is blue.
• Pistis - Masters of psychological warfare Swarm Pistis intentionally crafts its bioforms to be as horrifying as possible, often evoking religious iconography in their warped forms. It was for this reason they were created to counter the Miruisian Theocratic Congregation. Their color is white.

Military

Readiness

Doctrine

The Scelus military is primarily focused on massed armies of weak, disposable Hylic serf warriors given minimum training and cheap equipment before being thrown into the meat grinder. These serf warriors are backed up by far more powerful Psychic Courtier Warriors and Pneumatic Royal Warriors. While Courtier Warriors dominate thanks to the raw physical power of the Scelus bioforms they pilot into battle, Royal Warriors meanwhile wield immense psychic powers to mentally dominant and destroyer their enemies with their mere thoughts. Royal and Courtier Warriors are a cornerstone of Scelus armies as their psychic presence allows the Scelus to control their bioforms and serf warriors. Without this psychic control bioforms become little more then beasts and serf warriors will tend to immediately surrender and flee.

This makes the Scelus slow to move on a strategic level, as they need to be especially watchful of their logistical supply routes to replace any lost commanders, though on a tactical level Scelus troops and bioforms are blisteringly fast and aggressive with powerful close-ranged combat options. Their ships usually wield some kind of carrying or launch capacity and Scelus naval doctrine often focuses on boarding actions to capture ships and crew for assimilation.

To outsiders the Scelus can appear to be little more then a ravening horde of mindless beasts that exist to do nothing but consume. While indeed many Scelus bioforms are little more then beasts many of the higher order Scelus are viciously cunning and tactical beings. However, lesser Scelus bioforms are reliant upon the presence of their commanders in order to retain any coordination and become little more then mindless beasts when said commanders are killed. The ruthlessness and savagery the Scelus fight with only furthers the impression of them as beasts since the Scelus have no sense of honor or rules of engagement. Every possible tactic and weapon is permitted as long as it furthers the swarm's goals, no matter how vile and depraved.

Command Structure

Traditions

Foreign Relations

Allies

Neutral

Hostile

At War

Quotes

• add your own!

“There's no telling what'll happen if we let these things and the other hive mind hordes shack up. It's best that we eliminate them before that time comes.”

- Lord Protector Magmos of the Grand Republic of Tyris Major

Trivia

In Universe

Out of Universe

• Inspired by Instrumentality from Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Post-Human Coalition from Ashes of the Singularity, the Hive from Destiny, the Vord from Codex Alera, the Flesh-eater Courts from Age of Sigmar, and the Tyranids and Genestealer Cults from Warhammer 40k.