Origin
It all started when a near omnipotent race called the Xel'naga roamed the galaxy in search for powerful life forms with the goal of uplifting them to a higher state of being. The two most notable species were the Protoss who were gifted with the purity of form and became a very technologically advanced race with psionic abilities and a superior intellect, and the Zerg who were gifted with the purity of essence and became much more biologically superior. The goal was for these two races to eventually merge and create one truly perfect species once the Xel'Naga died.
The Xel'Naga first found the Zerg on a planet called Zerus which was originally a barren wasteland but later evolved into a flourishing jungle planet. There the Zerg had piqued their interest due to an uncanny ability of their's, the ability to absorb other species and use their DNA to improve themselves, thus creating a powerful species that had near limitless potential as long as there was something stronger around to assimilate.
The one glaring flaw of the Zerg was their feral nature, so in order to counter that the Xel'naga created the Overmind, an incredibly powerful creature with a vast intellect and an ability to control other Zerg as a sort of hive mind. The Overmind in turn created the cerebrates and divided the Zerg into broods, each cerebrate holding control over one brood. The Zerg that did not bend to the Overminds will would split off and remain on Zerus after the Zerg eventually left, becoming a second Zerg species called the Primal Zerg.
One fallen Xel'naga called Amon had given the Zerg one overriding goal to forcibly assimilate the Protoss, and due to that the Zerg soon chased the Xel'naga off and set a course for the Protoss home world of Aiur. During this long journey they would assimilate many species and also draw the Terrans into what would soon become a long and terrible war.
The Xel'naga however had underestimated the vast intellect they had gifted the Overmind with, the Overmind was perfectly aware of the Xel'naga's true goal, despite being physically unable to prevent it. Instead in order to avoid the destruction of the Zerg race he set a plan in motion. This plan would involve the capture and infestation of a terran ghost called Sarah Kerrigan who the Overmind intended to make his finest creation as well as allowing her to retain her intelligence, a new cerebrate was also created with the one goal to protect her during her maturation in a chrysalis. The chrysalis was moved to Char in order to develop, a fiery volcano planet that would soon end up becoming a permanent home for the Zerg.
Sarah Kerrigan eventually emerged from the chrysalis, now as the Queen of Blades she served the Overmind until his eventual defeat by the Terran and Protoss, in the moment of his death Kerrigan became aware of his plan for her and set out to kill the remaining cerebrates in order to take control of the Zerg swarm for herself. Something that she would eventually accomplish and bring a new era to the Zerg.
Creation
The Zerg was created by Blizzard Entertainment as one of the three main factions in their popular RTS game series Starcraft.
Physiology
Most Zerg emerge as defenseless larvae from a hive, which is an organic structure of sorts that is responsible for spawning larvae and the spreading of creep, as well as maintaining other Zerg structures. Larvae are for the most part defenseless and appear as big maggots, their main goal is to morph into other types of Zerg, including Zerg buildings. They can reproduce at an alarming rates, having been known to create colossal armies from near scratch. Zerg have increased metabolism resulting in higher stamina and accelerated regenerative capabilities. While there are many different strands of each creature, these are generally the main ones that you will find in a typical zerg invasion force:
Drones - Drones are small creatures who are mainly used for harvesting minerals and morphing into structures. As such they posses limited defensive capabilities.
Overlords - The Overlords look like big floating balloon's, they have no offensive capabilities and exist mostly to sustain other Zerg units, as well as transportation.
Zerglings - The Zerglings are small creatures that emerge 2 or 3 at a time after a larvae has morphed into an egg, physically they look similar to spike covered dogs, they are the most deadly in big numbers.
Banelings - An offshoot of the Zerglings the Banelings look like big bloating Zergling's filled with a volatile green acid that explodes on impact. Due to their bloating physique they generally roll forward and explode on impact like bombs.
Roaches - Roaches are slightly bigger creatures covered in heavy armor, they are extremely adapt at burrowing and tunneling through the ground and are covered in a thick layer of armor. The Roaches also spit acid on its enemies.
Hydralisks - Hydralisk's are about two meters tall with a snake like body and two arms with claws instead of hands, their main attack involves shooting dagger like spikes at their enemies.
Lurkers - The Lurkers are evolved from Hydralisks, they rarely attack on ground but once they burrow underground they have the ability to launch spikes up from under people.
Swarm Hosts - The Swarm hosts are big hulking creatures that spit out zombie-like infested terrans from their backs.
Mutalisks - Mutalisks are a mid sized flying unit that launches acidic glaives from its mouth that can bounce between enemies. They generally attack in big numbers.
Scourge - Scourge are small flying suicide units that explode on impact in a similar fashion as the Banelings.
Guardians - Guardians are huge flying monstrosities that launches huge balls of acid on enemies from above.
Corruptors - Corruptors are specialized air to air fighters, they look similar to huge flying squid and launches bolts of acid onto other flying units.
Devourers - Devourers are much like the Corruptors in the sense they are also specialized air to air fighters though they resemble more insect-like than squid-like
Brood Lords - Brood Lords are some of the largest flying fighting units the Zerg has, they attack by producing and launching Broodlings onto their enemies, Broodlings are similar to Zerglings but smaller.
Vipers - Vipers are flying Zerg that don't attack directly, instead they posses a number of supportive abilities such as the ability to pull units across the battlefields with their long tongues, or launching clouds of gas at enemy armies.
Infestors - Infestors are another non direct combat type of Zerg that can launch eggs like a catapult that infested terrans emerge from. They are also adept at tunneling underground and can cover large enemy forces in debilitating mucus.
Defilers - Defilers are another type of none direct combat unit that has the ability to launch clouds of gas in a similar way to the Vipers.
Queens - Two types of Queens exist one is a flying support unit with the ability to infest units and structures, and the other more current version is ground based and generally stay close to base maintaining and defending structures. The can speed up larvae production as well as heal wounded structures and are armed with big claws and spikes they can launch at attack enemies.
Ultralisks - The biggest of the Zerg ground units, these massive 5 meters tall and 20 meters long tanks are armed with two massive scythes that cut through marine armor like tin foil and even make short work of tanks. They incredibly resistant to injury due to their armored plating and often work as both attack units and battering rams.
Leviathans - These are massive organic capital ships that resemble floating Zerg cities.
Other Media
Video Games
The Zerg are one of the main playable factions in the Starcraft series:
- Starcraft
- Starcraft: Brood War
- Starcraft 2
- Starcraft 2: Heart Of The Swarm
- Starcraft 2: Legacy Of The Void (Not yet released)
Zerg creatures also make an appearance in:
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