Whoa there! Nice thing thing on the Vular, Battle! Gotta make a new post to fit it all
DATA FILE: VULAR
History: The Vular were first encountered in by the current galactic powers in 2200, when the mining colony Alpha Five inadvertently unsealed a dormant Vular hive. The colony was wiped out, along with near 60% of the UC relief force sent to investigate after contact with the colony was disrupted. After the fiasco, the UC reorganized, redesigned its organization to better defeat any future incursions. The UC’s preparations were put to the test sixty years later, when dozens of Hives became active across the frontier, and scores of colonies were under siege. Fortunately, the UC was able to repel the incursions, and destroy the infestations.
In the modern age, the Vular remain dangerous, especial to smaller, poorly defended colonies. Due to a the particulars of Vular biology and the large garrisons of militia personal, Vular are rarely able to establish a presence on planetary colonies, though those based on moons or asteroids are more vulnerable to Vular.
Origins: The Origin of the Vular is unknown. Given they lack any method of space travel, aside from hitching rides on unsuspecting starships, it remains unknown how they have managed to seed hives on dozens of planets and asteroids. One common theory is that they once possessed the means to travel among the stars, but somehow lost the ability to do so. Another theory, supported by a number of military personal, is that the Vular are/where biological weapons of some kind, set up in hives as a defense to prevent intruders from setting up colonies in certain regions, or used to wipe out an enemy of some kind, then abandoned once their mission was complete. There are other theories, ranging from the Vular being created by terrorist, and the inevitable accusation that they were created by any number of alleged conspiracies or secret organizations.
General Biology: The Vular are widely believed to be insectoid in nature, and their appearance and the various names of the different Vular forms support this perception. However, the Vular are actually warm blooded mammals, though given the number of traits they share with other forms of life, the misperception is quite understandable.
The Vular are also thought by many to be sentient, but a number of research projects and evidence from the field have established that they are not. However, they are remarkably intelligent, and are quite adapt at hunting even well-armed opponents, as well as being dangerously good at instinctively hiding until they can emerge and overrun defenders.
Most Vular share a number of common traits. They possess both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton, and have muscles much stronger and denser than most creatures. Their mouths are circular, and their bite wounds are concave holes, and are consequently more difficult to treat than more conventional wounds. Vular claws are also oddly shaped and leave puncture wounds that are very hard to close. They have poor to no hearing, and appear to lack a sense of smell. They see in infrared, and their blood is toxic to most life. Bizarrely, Vular blood also has a number of addictive properties. They also have a number of redundant organs, which coupled with their twin skeletons makes them far more resistant to injury then would be apparent. Given the bizarre mix of traits possessed by the Vular, and how incredibly dangerous they have proven to be, one can see why some believe them to be unnaturally created.
Vular Subtypes: The Vular are a species with a number of distinctive forms, much like Earth ants or Alterran wasps.
Drones are the most common form, and compose around 90% of the average hive. They stand about half a meter tall, and are fully a meter from head to tall, and mass in at almost 135 pounds. They are semi- quadrupedal, normal walking on four legs. However, when they encounter a threat, they will use their forelegs to attack. They are remarkable tough for a creature of their size, capable of shrugging off moderate amounts of gunfire. Their thick carapace is almost immune to handgun rounds, and rifles have a tough time punching through. They have two hearts and a pair of lungs, though they only need one of each for a creature of their size. As they have two, they are quite a bit faster than would be suggested for a creature of their size and weight. However, they are not very nimble, as their exoskeleton limits their movement.
Soldiers are the only other Vular form to be commonly encountered, and they make up around 9% of the average hive. They are two meters tall and a little more than three meters long. They share the same semi-quadrupedal walking style of drones, and in fact they often behave like oversized drones. Given their greater size, they are much tougher than drones. Their carapace is fully immune to most pistol rounds, and even high powered rifle rounds will only break through once out of every three or four hits. They have much longer claws that drones, and can bit through grade three body armor with ease. However, they have very poor mobility, due to their weight. In fact, Soldiers are considered something of a joke in planetary combat situations, as they have extreme difficulty moving about. In a low gravity environment it’s a different story, as they can compensate for their low weight and become much faster and more dangerous.
Vular Tanks are extremely rare. They are a massive creature, perhaps a meter and a half tall and four meters long, but weighting more than a ton and a half. They are nearly blind, and instead use some form of echolocation to find targets. Their massive claws are extremely sharp, and coupled with the huge muscles that power their claws, can cleave through even the heaviest body armor in the UC. An extremely thick exoskeleton makes them virtually indestructible, only heavy weapons have a chance at punching through. They are not found on planets, as they would be crushed under their own weight if subjected to normal gravity. They can only grow in low gravity environments, where they are extremely dangerous.
There are other forms of Vular rumored to exist, though little evidence supports such rumors. Rumors of human looking Vular called Sirens that sneak up and ambush their prey, massive wormlike leviathans that can crush tanks and swallow men whole, invisible creatures called stalkers, and other rumors even more fantastic. It need not be said that most biologists do not buy into such rumors.
Vular Behavior: Vular exhibit a number of unusual behaviors. Much of the information regarding their behavior comes from combat recordings, as research studies focusing on Vular are extremely dangerous, and tend to end violently.
Vular frequently engage in claw sharpening behavior, scratching their claws against hard surfaces to make them more lethal. It’s unknown how this behavior developed, but all Vular seem to engage in it.
Vular Soldiers and Drones display a noticeable reluctance to attack when confronted by flamethrowers. As they don’t exhibit any other fear of fire, researchers do not believe this is a sign that they recognize the danger of fire. Rather, they believe that since the Vular see in thermal vision, the Vular perceive flamethrowers as part of the person holding it. Thus, the Vular see a normal, human sized target, which frequently grows several times its size, every time they get near it. As a result, they avoid engaging. The reader should not that Vular Tanks are not deterred by flamethrowers, as they use a different sensory system then other Vular.
Despite lacking any way to perceive it, Vular are bizarrely fond of lurking in dark spaces. In fact, Vular excel at sneaking about, in spite of the fact that their sensory organs are not capable of detecting darkness. Some biologists believe that Vular must possess some form of light detection, as they cannot imagine any other way the Vular would be so adapt at find dark, hidden spaces to lurk in. However, no trace of such an ability has yet to be found. As Vular do not noticeable react to light sources (like the spotlights of military forces), this theory is not given much credence by most experts in the field.
Despite almost supernatural sense in some regards, like the aforementioned ability to find hidden spaces to lurk in, the Vular can also be incredibly oblivious. Their poor hearing has frequently allowed military forces to ambush concentrations of Vular one at a time, without attracting attention of nearby Vular. This tendency of Vular to bunch up in small groups is another odd instinct, one that is aids the Vular as much as it hinders them.
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