[hider=The Perennials]
Flag: Dark Perennials (Fungal) | Light Perennials (Floral)
[img]http://flag-designer.appspot.com/gwtflags/SvgFileService?d=5&c1=4&c2=0&c3=4&o=6&c4=4&s=7&c5=0[/img] | [img]http://flag-designer.appspot.com/gwtflags/SvgFileService?d=3&c1=7&c2=4&c3=7&o=6&c4=4&s=5&c5=4[/img]

Entity/Organization Type: Alien
[hider=Societal Basics]
Main race: Plant/Fungal Based parasites
The Perennials are far from a single species raised to dominance like that which are found on other worlds (humans for example). Instead, they are a conglomeration of species that have risen to sentience together through a long and brutal evolution. An evolution that creatures of meat were late to the party for. Perennials take many forms, and that which could be called the part that [i]is[/i] the perennial is a spore-based parasite that infests a host. Once infected the entire being is reformed and a Perennial is 'born'. Spores that are ingested or breathed into a creature then take root and blossom; integrating into their physiology and dominating the subject's mind. While the drifting or nonintegrated spores themselves are no more sentient than a man's sperm, or a woman's ovum, a creature so made joins the collective of Perennials. Individually spore may share sensory data, such as temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions experience through touch to the great web.

Throughout their evolution the surface flora and the subterranean fungi have been at war for untold generations. That all changed, however, with the arrival of the humans. Apex predators in their own right the humans made too tempting of a target for the surface flora to ignore in their ever continuing fight for dominance. However, the humans that colonized the Perennial's world quickly became aware of the Perennials abilities and brought fire to the world. In that act the fungal Perennials became the dominant species of the two. 

History(what you did under the rule of the empire for roughly 300 years):
They evolved. 
Being only a matter of time before the humans discovered the subterranean Perennials, they scattered into far flung space, by pollinating other worlds with their spores. In that time they they evolved resistances to humans, and their technologies, as well as adapted countermeasures to the humans' native immune system using the few lost explorers, miners, and other foolish meatlings to over extend into their territory that they could find. 

From their first interaction onward the Perennials undertook purposeful evolution to overcome any and all weaknesses that the Humans could exploit (at the time of first contact) and perfected their evolutionary advantage to infest humans. Though, they were careful not to expose many healthy humans to the spore as to prevent their own exposure, and the humans from adapting a natural counter. Instead the Perennials focused on developing an exploit in the human genetics associated with deficiencies in the immune system (that not all humans possessed).

Culture:
Infesting the flesh and animating it is a difficult conversion process. A subject does not always survive, and in this way the parasites have generated an image of being both a plague, and their meatlings being a form of undead. As a result they are a very closed, secretive society, that keeps outsiders at the proverbial arms length, and have erected many societal barriers to give the allusion of normalcy. Prior to the arrival of the humans, the Perennials had little in the way of a culture of their own, and adopted that of those they infested. As a result they were tribal and primalistic as was the nature of the avian and animals they incorporated. When humans joined their collective, however, they brought with them all manner of culture, technology, and most importantly: ambitions. 

To outsiders the Perennials appear to be a singular alien entity spread across many bodies and forms. For the most part this is true, however, that truth is dependent upon the level of incorporation into the collective. The Perennials tightly observe a genetic caste system, not unlike that of the insect kingdom, as insects were the first to consume the Perinnal's spores. Fully integrated meatlings are little more than drones, or warriors, whereas only partially integrated meatlings fulfill other roles. [/hider]

[hider=Societal Specifics]
Type of Government: Confederacy with Caste System, Partial Hivemind
Description of Government:
The government is a strict genetic caste system as one would see in any natural species. The great web rules over all, and instills this system into all whom become infected with a Perennial spore. Among the less integrated extremities of the web's reach there is a facade of Confederacy. Collonies operate under a web of their own which may become instantly integrated in the great web when their strength grows large enough to facilitate the connection. The Thralls also present a facade of normal human behavior, to the best of their ability, but only when being observed (or expected to be observed) by other humans. Each infection of a human is done so with a purpose, and that purpose rarely results an a radical shift from the human's everyday normal behavior. It has been known to have entire colonies infested just to practice presenting the facade of of being normal human beings, and increasing the great web's welth of knowledge.

Minority races:
There are no minorities in the Perennial Society as all are one in the great web. Meatlings, however, make up a minimalistic amount of the species composition. while many different types of people (and animals) may fill the same caste, within that caste there is a fairly egalitarian view of other caste members.

Religion:
To become one with, or to return to, nature is a romanticized fiction of the very real Perennial dogma. Many human religions that possess this as a central tenant have found their way into the Perennial society as a form of meatling bait. While the Perennials themselves do not practice a religion, per se, they have invested considerable resources into integrating themselves into the religions of men to grow their numbers. And, while the dogma is a romanticized fiction it's reality is not far off. The Perennials are in effect living both the heavenly bliss, and hellish damnation of what has been a common galactic thread among other species. 

Demography:
It is a matter of legacy that only the minority of Perennials infest a human body. The slave caste often incorporated animals for labor. Though human machines have greatly outpaced and out performed those animals, they are also obscenely conspicuous, and require technical understanding that is hard to come by for the Perennial infestors. While a minority of Perennials are humans, a meager 20%, they do fill the most various of roles which results in them seeming more populace than they actually are. Humans most typically fill the roles of thralls, collectors, and harvesters. Humans also provide a face for the species to interact with other humans, and non-aliens. Of all perennials the thrall caste has the most varied levels of connection with the great web. They're often afforded the ability to keep much of their personality as there are many human ideas the great web can only comprehend vicariously through its human parts.

Animals make up another twenty to forty percent of the Perennials' species and vary wildly depending on demand. Infesting an animal is a trivial task, however, their life spans are short and their utility is limited. Animals also typically are able to remain incognito, hidden in plain sight, and provide little resistance to reporting back to the great web. [/hider]

[b]Heroes, Primes, and Elites:[/b]

[b]Leadership:[/b]
[hider=The Great Web]
All that is infested is a single cell in the great web. Its rule is absolute and it is as much a congress of minds as it is a single mind into and of itself. It possesses no singular body and is the will of the Perennials as much as the Perennials are an extension of its will. The great web is everything and nothing and there is little else to say about it. It is revered as a god and dismissed as myth depending on how well a creature is incorporated into it. 

The title of strategist and supreme leader is insufficient to describe what the Great Web is and does. However,
 it does fill these roles as all Perennials are part of it, and it is part of all Perennials.[/hider]

[hider=Aria Summers - Grand Matron (Priestess)] 
A dedicated Thrall and grand matron, Aria is at the helm of much of the species' religious outreach. She has little autonomy, but one would never guess by looking at or interacting with her. She has lots of personality, and access to a complete understanding of the religions incorporated into the Perennials hive consciousness which gives her an air of wisdom not found elsewhere in Perennial (or possibly all of human) society. 

Further, she has been genetically modified by the great web to produce pheromones that aid in the allure of her message in the same way that even venomous briers may produces flowers with an alluring scent. The scent is not one people consciously become aware of, and is not one that radiates any more than normal human pheromones, but they have been specifically designed to be more potent to those especially susceptible to the Perennial Spore transformation. 

Aria plays as important a role to maintaining the perception others have of the Perennials as Gretchen does, and may be regarded as a diplomat of another kind: incognito, and appearing unaffiliated. 

[hider=Expanded Motivations]
Aria's importance to the Great Web is expanded upon as she was one of the first humans consumed by The Great Web that does not possess the genetic abnormalities that they have been [i]explicitly[/i] targeting. More importantly she became a member by giving herself unto it. As such she brought with her some very 'hippie' philosophies of live, and let live. To peacefully coexists and be be one with nature. This has given the Great Web an understanding that it can coexist with humans but her willingness to become a part of nature has been a bit misleading for the Great Web as it does not accurately represent the motivations of all humans. Evangelicals proclaim that humans are temporary. Ethereal. And that (individually) their souls are more important than their meat. 

To an evangelical humans are engines of war, and of peace, depending on what wrong needs righting if any. 
[/hider][/hider]

[hider=Boar - Ground Assault (Prime)] 
An actual pig, and one of the oldest surviving members of the animal-warrior caste, Boar is a hearty and resilient leader that inspires the submission of other animals. Boar has since evolved the ability to speak and understand human tongue as required, but rarely does so, as his instinctual and tenacious nature has been only lightly tampered with. More importantly, Boar is the pinnacle of battle evolution possessing a hard skin, redundant vital organs, sinuous fiber sheathes around nerves, and mycelium enhanced muscles. His saliva possesses a powerful paralytic, and his quills a noxious poison. His tusks are hard and fragile, they regenerate quickly, and shatter in a foe leaving sharp shrapnel in anyone he gores.

Boar has seen a numerous amount of victories over the humans in the early days of colonization which has lead to the great web's investment into his development. [/hider]

[b]Research and Development:[/b]

[hider=Dr. Xaith Calhound - Technological Interface Specialist]
A mathematician with a specialty in Complexity Theory, Xaith is the inventor of simulated intelligence, a special kind of AI with unique characteristics. Unlike true artificial intelligence a SI is a being of modular intelligence that is modular and reconfigurable. It has no qualms about being unpluged, reconfigured, or turned off. Additionally it is able to simulate the true identify of a manifested AI based on the informational networks it is provided. 

Dr. Calhound is among the lightest integrated into the great web, with his connection being largely one way, and is unaware of its influence on him. Instead, the great web utilizes his models, theories, and mechanical creations to advance it's own self design and improvement. In relation to computer and interface design, as well as his mathematical field of study, Dr. Calhound is well known. However, his connection to the great web is undiscovered (even by himself).

Dr. Calhound is a double-agent of sorts and does not live in Perennial society. Rather, he serves more as an insecure access point to human society, technology, and research. The closest thing he has to contact with the great web is only through pawns manipulated by Alalia Wallice.

[hider=Expanded Motivations]
Simulating human intelligence is not something the Great Web itself can do and that is the specialty of this Complexity Theorist. Dr. Calhound's experiments and creations require a hard, unemotional, and unbiased look at humanity for what it is and the Great Web could not ask for a better source of information. For as much as the other Human Primes do to interact with the societies of the humans, and their population, this human helps the Great Web postulate on what it means to be human.

While the good doctor is not a point of contact for the humans to interact with the Great Web, he is none the less an important link to the humans for the Great Web.
[/hider][/hider]

[hider=Wing - Biological Interface Specialist] 
Like Boar, wing is among the eldest of infestations and predates the time of humans. Unlike Boar, however, everything that was human from the early days was poured into Wing and it was ever frequently modified to become and appeal to humans as a representative (that is until Gretchen was incorporated) resulting an peculiar [url=https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/2/25/GarudaPrime.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080511060324]avian-humanish hybrid form[/url]. After an extremely long development and evolution path wing has picked up a sense of Perennial integration. Wing's mind is incredibly sophisticated but wing possess no formal training the way humans truly do. Instead it has had a patchwork miss-mashed assortment of memories poured in and scrubbed out. Wing is an intuitive and instinctual being that communicates with biological components on a subconscious level. Noting that, for many of the components of technology not yet integrated into the great web, the subconscious level is all that exists. Wing possess the ability to fly and sing, as it always has, as well as an appearance that most humans find unsettling.

Wing's primary purpose is to provide oversight regarding deep incorporation of new Perennials and Perennial Tech into the great web. [/hider]

[hider=Myriam 'Mac' Makenzie - Salvage Specialist]
Also known as "Mac&Cheese" Myriam and wheel-rat Brianna (Brie) are 'acquisition specialists'. Mac operates a salvage yard and serves as a fence for unscrupulous people whom have little concern with whom they deal. Her connection to the great web is tentative, and her genetic advancements are sleight, possessing a more parasitic bond than actual incorporation. This happy-go-lucky girl from the school of hard knocks has developed the ability to sustain herself on eating just about anything. She's also more resistant to infection than any of the other primes save for Boar himself, and her body quickly adapts to the conditions she finds herself in, as well as the toxins found in her work. 

Mac is a mechanic of unquestionable reputation and her lose connection to the Perennials has granted her an unparalleled instinct when it comes to diagnosing and fixing mechanical things. Of all of the primes she is the least connected to the great web, but has been subconsciously seeded with an amenable disposition to their agents. While other primes are designed to be double agents, she is most closely represents the actual reality of the term, and the interests of the great web are represented through her to criminal organizations. Despite her not being the central nexus of a large criminal (mostly human) organization, she is the great web's access point to it.

Myriam's most defining characteristic by far is not one that the great web could impart, and that is the Luck of the Irish. [/hider]

[b]Diplomatic Corps:[/b]

[hider=Gretchen Gravage - Diplomat (Prime)]
A kindly old lady from the first generation of infestation there has been little effort in hiding her evolution. It was also well documented that, in her initial turning, she died. Her reanimated form speaks a cautionary tale to those whom would engage with the Perennials. The focus of her evolutionary path has made her quite hard to dispose of in nearly all non-combat capacities. Much of her meat has been replaced with more hearty plant and fungal components, and her immune system itself has undertaken a complete overhaul. While she cannot sustain the vacuum and cold of space for long she enters into hibernation instead of dying out-right. 

Personality wise, Gretchen is the least dominated by the great web, with only the command to represent it to the humans. As a result she has been granted unparalleled latitude in terms of anonymity and autonomy. An ex-colonist and designated baby factory, elevated to high station in the Perennial society she understandably possesses a very "well this is my life now, I guess," mentality and serves with dedication and distinction. She knows full well that any treachery will result in her loss of self and absolute reversal of fortune. Even with that threat over her she is a very loyal, and candid servant.

Gretchen possesses access to any human experience within the Great Web that she deems necessary for the conducting of her duties and her access to them, as well as her own, are heavily monitored but rarely interfered with. She is the face of the Perennials in every regard. While extremely difficult to kill outright, she is also extremely difficult to use outside of her role as ambassador, possessing none of the battle enhancements (such as strength and endurance) that any militant fighter would.

[hider=Expanded Motivations]
A woman of humble beginning, Gretchen has become the fruit of the the other three human's experiences and philosophy. By herself she's an unassuming old woman, and nearly an empty shell. As a Prime she's been filled up with--and built up as--the Perennials' ideal human. While on a galactic scale she's little more than a sock puppet, she serves as a gauge for what the Great Web considers humans to be. When humans interact with her and find her disconcerting that is because there is a discrepancy between what they think they are, and what the Great Web thinks they are. Because the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K1Kd9mZL8g]Uncanny Valley[/url] is a thing, there will always be discrepancies.
[/hider][/hider]

[hider=Alalia Wallice - Spymaster and Master Spy]
As integrated as one can be, and still retain some semblance of personality, Alalia has an absolute understanding of what she is and whose agenda she is furthering. Alalia is an extremely successful marketing agent, and has free access to the many doctorates of psychology, and physical education, that the great web has incorporated. She has also been modified on the cellular level to possess both extreme beauty, as dictated by her understanding of physical beauty, as well as being extremely capable physically. In a word she is a modern day ninja, acrobat, and athlete all rolled into one buxom supermodel. Alalia boasts the pinnacle of [i]human[/i] perfection in every aspect that the great web could endow her with without raising suspicions of her true Perennial nature.

It is very difficult for Alalia's genetic augmentations to be spotted, by comparison to Gretchen's, as Alalia's uses only base human genetic material for the evolved physical improvements. While the perfect human, by Perennial standards, she is far from the perfect Perennial and is antithetical to their design. Because of her design most Perennials do not recognize her as one of them, and only does so if the great web identifies her to them individually. Alalia spends most of her time among humans doing her super spy thing.[/hider]

[hider=Whisker Wishes - Scout]
Once an ordinary house-cat Whisker Wishes has been evolved only slightly to fully utilize its role as an infiltration arm of the great web. It possess all the training and ability to perform expected of that of a service animal, and a performance animal. Whisker Wishes can easily slip into any place that humans cannot go, that her physical form can accommodate, and easily blends into any place that animals are allowed or expected to be. Whisker Wishes has had her scent glands redesigned to produce Perennial Infestation Spores and can introduce them environments or people otherwise unreachable. 

Whisker Wishes is very similar to a witches' familiar in that it can behave as one would expect of an animal, or as one would expect of a person pretending to be an animal, as needed by the great web. Unlike Alalia, Whisker Wishes is not designed to infiltrate societies for complex missions, and instead is designed for general reconnaissance. [/hider]

[b]Organizational Expansion[/b]
[hider=Description of Military(ships and ground troops)]
Unlike most other species there is a focus on biological integration of ships, and an unabashed use of biological warfare. Perennials have encountered and infested numerous types of toxins in both flora and fauna over the course of their evolution and have a genetic memory (in the great web) of them. They approach the use of biological warfare in a very utilitarian way, in that: if it works use it.

Much of the Perennials' technology is also stolen, and the finer points on how it operates still escapes its understanding. Insufficiencies in this area are countered by biological adaptation. This has resulted in the development of bio-mimetic technology for the installation and infestation of the great web into ships of both organic, and non-organic design. 

The specifics of their ships are as wide and varied as any other species if a bit dated in design. They, like any other part of the great web, each fill a specific role and function. While not performing that function they may be adapted to serve another as ship technology is difficult to recycle in any other way.[/hider]

[b]Additional Detail:[/b]
[hider=Technology]
Biochemical Purification:
The foundation of all medicine and biological science is controlled breeding. While humans have developed other advanced methods of extracting and refining plants, animals, and other natural resources for the production of medicine their control over the art pales in comparison to that of the Perennials: a species that is the living embodiment of that scientific process. The Perennials medical technology is unrivaled, even if many of their processes may seem barbaric. Though few who understand the nature of the Perennials may feel comfortable being operated on directly by them, their supplements, supports, chemicals, acids, poisons and so on are all top tier. 

Bio-Technological Substitution: Bark Armor, [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing]DNA Computers[/url], etc.
Unique to plant and fungal species, especially species that infest others, this armoring is the pinnacle of grown form. It follows a central design of Regenerative Leaf-Plate styled forced evolution wherein living plant and fungal tissues were forced to evolve in a way that allows them to ingrain in non-organic technology and feed off of it. The hulls of many a ship have been painted green with the seed-paste and over time the armoring has fed on the minerals therein, weakening them but also growing in strength and flexibility. Given enough time non-organic components are replaced by organic ones, and have grown the ability to heal from damage and injuries.

Similarly circuitry is replaced by specially evolved strands of plant-matter that conduct like neurons, and are more resistant to tampering and damage their alloy-based counterparts. Where one may see copper and silica in a human's technological design, the same circiut in a Perennials' tech may have mycelium and algae slime.

Middle-ground Intolerance:
Technology outside of the biological domain, however, leaves much to be desired. Most forms of technology they possess are considered "last generation" by other species because acquiring, installing, and integrating with the technology is a process that take as much time as the natural advancement of technology. Both biological and technological development follow the same exponential curve, resulting in deviations between the Perennials' technology and that of the meatling species. Anything fully integrated in technological substitution may be considered to be on par with "this generation" level of tech but is generally completely incomparable with it. 

Similarly, any piece of technology not being integrated in the great web that can be operated by thralls of it may find itself in the hands of Perennials; suffering the associated pros and cons of each. Such technology rarely stays unincorporated for long. [/hider]

[hider=Additional]
Due to their emphasis on infestation and adaptation they do not conduct war in the normal manner. Rather than engage with a perceived enemy their preference is to simply consume them. Also, they do little to extend their reach to worlds they cannot control. As a result their boarders are incredibly small, but the thoroughness by which they are controlled is staggering. 

In case it has not yet become abundantly clear the Perennials are a subversive and pervasive lot requiring non-linear thinking to play. Rarely do they engage in hostilities unless required, and are as amiable to trade and diplomacy, as they are to war and planetary consumption.

Perennials were inspired in part by the Zerg, the Borg, and many species from the D&D monster manuals.[/hider]

[/hider]