Reynathrone — The heart of the Tollen Dam Hive.

"This whole goddamned hive. It's all connected."

—Sgt. Marcus Fenix.

Swarm Hives are the physical spaces where the Swarm originate, inhabit, and reproduce. Evolved forms of Locust, known as Scions, used the burial sites they were placed in to cultivate the original hives. With each hive that propagates, the collective Hivemind grows. Every hive has a "heart" that is the source of the organism. Eliminating the heart effectively destroys the hive network. During the Swarm Invasion, the Swarm built hives outside of Locust burial sites within the ruins of Sera. Locust Wardens found in an area were often an indication that the Swarm were building a hive there. Hives were targeted during the Hivebuster Offensive, in which Gears infiltrated the hives through Snatchers and detonated Venom Bombs at the heart to destroy the network.

History[]

Prelude[]

The Locust Horde were the result of genetic experiments created by Dr. Niles Samson by combining the DNA of human children afflicted with Rustlung, the indigenous creatures of the Hollow, and Myrrah - a child born with a genetic immunity to Imulsion. Due to Imulsion's fungal nature, a psychomagnetic link was established between all members of the Locust Horde known as the Hivemind. Because her embryonic stem cells were used to create the Locust, Myrrah had the ability to control the Locust through the Hivemind telepathically. Samson also designed the Locust to evolve against environmental conditions to ensure generational survival.

In 17 A.E., Professor Adam Fenix detonated the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon following the death of Queen Myrrah. The ICW was a targeted-radiation device designed to destroy Imulsion. Organisms with cells colonized by Imulsion would be disintegrated by the radiation wave, but the evolutionary mechanism designed by Samson forced the Locust's cells to expel the Imulsion before they could be killed. The Imulsion emerged from their skin to form an impenetrable crystal shell. This acted as a cocoon while the Locust hibernated and evolved over twenty-five years. The human survivors of the Locust War transported the Locust shells into various underground facilities to act as burial sites.

Swarm Invasion[]

Creation[]

In 42 A.E., the Locust completed their evolution and emerged from their shells as the Scions. These new forms of Locust were faced with not only a low population, but also the humans were able to repopulate and gain technological advancements. In addition, they were without their Queen. While Myrrah's consciousness still survived with the Matriarch, she was unable to properly lead without her physical body. To grow their numbers, the Scions returned to their methods of transforming humans into members of their army.

Through an unknown process, the Scions materialized the Hivemind into a fungal-like organism within their burial sites, creating their Hives. As the tendrils grow and emitted spores to spread the Hive, the nest produced creatures called Snatchers to pod their prey and transform them into members of the Swarm by connecting them to the Hivemind. Other creatures, such as the Carriers and Hive Beasts, were created to protect the Hive. While all Swarm are connected, there is a specialized connection between Swarm members that originate from a particular Hive. Each Hive contains a "heart" at the center where the nest originates and operates. As the Swarm Invasion escalated, they began looking for more areas to build Hives. The Wardens would personally scout areas to determine if the location was suitable. If the conditions were adequate, construction of a Hive began immediately.

Swarm Outbreak[]

Myrrah's influence grew as more Hives were built. The Swarm was able to locate her daughter, Reyna Diaz, and physically connected her to the heart of the Tollen Dam Hive where Myrrah was able to possess her body. Due to having a Queen, there is a Hive in an unknown location that acts as a Nexus and houses Queen Reyna, where she is able to control the Swarm through all the Hives. Reyna Diaz's daughter, Kait Diaz also possessed a telepathic connection to the Hivemind. First Minister Mina Jinn intended to hook her up to the Hivemind so that the COG could locate the central Hive that contained Queen Reyna and destroy it, effectively ending the Swarm permanently. This plan was interrupted by the Battle of Old Ephyra.

In response to the Swarm Invasion and near-destruction of New Ephyra, Colonel Victor Hoffman devised the Hivebuster Offensive, an operation where specialized teams called Hivebusters would infiltrate and destroy Swarm Hives using gas bombs created by Doctor Hana Cole, using the deadly gas recovered from the New Hope Research Facility. However, Jinn wanted to use DeeBees to do the job and the argument led to her forcing Hoffman into retirement. Nevertheless, Hoffman still continued with his operation with assistance from Cole and Major Donneld Mathieson.

Hivebuster Offensive[]

Operating from Galangi in the South Islands, Hoffman was able to recruit Team Scorpio, made up of Lance Corporal Jeremiah Keegan of the Onyx Guard, Lieutenant Lahni Kaliso of the Brash Brigade, and Outsider Leslie "Mac" Macallister whose village had been destroyed by the Swarm. The first operation on Pahanu proved to be a failure with the team unable to reach the heart of the Hive and a premature detonation by Macallister, revealing that the gas bomb was not effective on the heavier Swarm forces. Having witnessed the Wakaatu kill the Swarm with its acidic venom, Scorpio sought out the creature and successfully obtained a sample of its venom.

Combining the venom and the deadly gas from New Hope, Cole was able to synthesize a new, more deadly Venom Bomb to use against the Swarm Hives. By allowing themselves to be captured by Snatchers, Scorpio managed to infiltrate and destroy the Hive on Pahanu, killing thousands of Swarm creatures. Cole theorized that every Hive acted as a quasi-central nervous system to the Swarm connected to it, and thus the remaining Swarm on the surface would die. Scorpio was redeployed to destroy the Hive in Mac's home village of Bravelle. Although the mission was a success, it revealed that destroying a Swarm Hive did not kill all of the Swarm connected to it as Cole had believed, but it was effective in destroying their home and disorganizing the Swarm of a particular Hive.

Known Hives[]

Azura Research Facility (Azura, Serano Ocean)
Bravelle Outpost (Bravelle, Tyrus)
Bronn Clocktower (Bronn, Tyrus)
East Barricade Academy (Ephyra, Tyrus)
Kadar Nethercutt Mine (Kadar Valley, Tyrus)
New Ephyra Outpost (Ephyra, Tyrus)
New Hope Research Facility (Kadar Valley, Tyrus)
Orzabal Crater (Wilds, Tyrus)
Osmium Mine Bravo (Fort Reval, Tyrus)
OZP-11 (Vasgar)
Sanctum (Pahanu, South Islands)
Speyer Metalworks (Speyer, Tyrus)
Tollen Dam (Tollen, Tyrus)
Tomb of the Unknowns (Ephyra, Tyrus)
Weilehi Village (Weilehi, South Islands)

Swarm Hive

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