Creature: Zergling

Zerglings are most likely intellectual property of Blizzard. Tyranids are probably the property of Games Workshop. Mechanics and world-specific information are my own.

Zergling

A zergling.

This creature is about the size of a large dog, with a short tail and tough carapace. Its back legs are long, while its front legs end in razor-sharp talons; two arm-like appendages protrude from its shoulders, ending in sickle-like claws. Beneath its head rest two equally sharp fangs, and it chitters and jumps about restlessly.

Small, covered in a thick layer of chitin, and armed with razor-sharp talons, claws, and fangs, the zergling is a well-known creature on both Ganymede and Arcturas, and to anyone familiar with the Tyranid Invasion of the Fourth Epoch.

Zerglings are unnaturally swift, able to move far faster than their size would indicate, and able to leap and jump with incredible skill. They also tend to be found in groups - almost never has a lone zergling been reported.

Like most tyranids, zerglings are not capable of speech, but do have some amount of background psionic ability, and seem able to communicate on a basic telepathic level with others of their kind. It is unknown if zerglings understand humanoid languages of any kind.

Combat

Zerglings leap rapidly into the fray when prey is sighted, usually lacking tactics or strategy of any kind beyond that evidenced by pack animals. If a synapse creature - generally a larger tyranid - is present, the zerglings may act much more shrewdly, depending on the intelligence and ability of the synapse creature. Barring leadership, a zergling pack behaves much like a pack of wolves.

Zerglings are almost completely devoid of any kind of survival instinct. Once a target is engaged, the zergling fights until it or its prey is dead, and will not flee from creatures that outmatch it with anything other than obvious, raw physical force.

Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Psionics), Knowledge (Technology), or Knowledge (Xenobiology) check.

Knowledge (History)

• DC 15: Zerglings made up the brunt of tyranid forces in the Tyranid Invasion of the Fourth Epoch.
• DC 17: Zerglings are specifically the lowest-level member of a tyranid subset species known as the zerg.
• DC 20: As with all of the zerg subset species, zerglings were biologically-engineered for the invasion of the planet now known as Arcturas.

Knowledge (Psionics)

• DC 15: Zerglings made up the brunt of tyranid forces in the Tyranid Invasion of the Fourth Epoch.
• DC 16: Tyranid telepathy, while similar to psionic telepathy, is not actually a psionic ability. It is similar in nature to moogle telepathy.
• DC 17: Zerglings are not generally synapse creatures - that is, creatures that serve as "repeaters" for the psionic hivemind signal, that are sometimes also capable of independent thought - but there are have been instances of zerglings with the required neural systems present.
• DC 19: Sufficient zerglings in one location can generate the "psionic shadow," an effect that suppresses psionic abilities around locations at which the tyranid hivemind presence is particularly strong. (The "psychic shadow" is rather similar to a catapsi effect.)
• DC 20: As with all non-synaptic tyranids, a sufficiently-skilled psionicist can temporarily control a zergling with proper application of psionic ability, though doing so can bring one in contact with the hivemind itself...
• DC 22: ...and contacting the hivemind itself can lead to a psionic feedback loop that can burn out a psionicist's psionic abilities, or worse.

Knowledge (Technology)

• DC 15: Zerglings made up the brunt of tyranid forces in the Tyranid Invasion of the Fourth Epoch.
• DC 16: As part of the tyranid meta-species, zerglings are technologically-aligned by nature, though they exhibit abilities that seem psionic in nature.
• DC 18: Zergling technological application is primarily biological and organic in nature. Zerglings are not able to use technology, but are the direct result of species manipulation - similar to how the various mementos were brought about.

Knowledge (Xenobiology)

• DC 15: Zerglings made up the brunt of tyranid forces in the Tyranid Invasion of the Fourth Epoch.
• DC 17: As with all of the zerg subset species, zerglings were biologically-engineered for the invasion of the planet now known as Arcturas.
• DC 18: Zerglings are not generally synapse creatures - that is, creatures that serve as "repeaters" for the psionic hivemind signal, that are sometimes also capable of independent thought - but there are have been instances of zerglings with the required neural systems present.
• DC 19: Sufficient zerglings in one location can generate the "psionic shadow," an effect that suppresses psionic abilities around locations at which the tyranid hivemind presence is particularly strong. (The "psychic shadow" is rather similar to a catapsi effect.)
• DC 20: The "psionic shadow" effect created by zerglings and other members of the zerg subset species is specifically engineered to disrupt the ancelari touch, though is also disruptive to normal psionic effects.
• DC 28: It is entirely possible that, due to having been specifically engineered to interfere with ancelari abilities, the "psionic shadow" effect zerglings and other zerg subset species produce may interfere with the thran fold, as well.