Abominable Infestation

Bio-engineered, constantly evolving species of insect-like flesh creatures. Although resembling insects in some behavioral patterns and sometimes in appearance, the larvae are "asssembled" out of remains of other organic creatures. After growth period has passed, larva grows into an egg that after some time turns into a new caste within the hive. This process(evolution or metamorphosis) isn't exclusive to larvae, as all castes constantly repeat it to grow into more complex creatures seemingly with no limit, although growth and incubation period grows with each such evolution, which could eventually result in hybernation time up to hundreds of years, leaving the egg very vulnerable to attacks. The process can be done voluntarily by each caste, aside from larvae, and as such, they will avoid doing so while in the middle of combat or otherwise in danger.

Mechanics

All Infestation creatures are extremely hostile to all that isn't them. Rarely you may find structures that serve their purposes, which should immediately be destroyed, lest you die a horrible death.

All infestation creatures are extremely weak to fire. Flashes and other confusion-causing weapons may also be a great idea to utilize against them.

They are immune to cold temperatures or lack of atmosphere and may survive in outer space.

Abominable Infestation may be encountered in many ways:

• Infested Exoplanet: A relatively rare type of an exoplanet, completely covered in flesh and infestation creatures. Almost always, however, the exoplanet will contain safe atmosphere and incredibly rich ore depots, making it a worthwhile risk to venture downwards.
• Away sites: Certain away sites/ruins may contain infestation creatures on them.
• Random event: A random amount of larvas, depending on severity of the event, will spawn near the vents throughout the ship. Some of the spawned larvas may be implanters, so be careful!
• Leviathan: A catastrophe-level event that creates the so-called Leviathan somewhere on the overmap. If you fail to defeat it in alotted amount of time, the entire sector will be lost to the infestation. If you directly approach or it approaches you - the ship will be bombarded with randomized spawns of infestation throughout the ship.

Castes

Picture	Tier	Name	Description	Health
	0	Larva	The absolute beginning of all abominable life. Very fragile and has no means of defending itself. After a while - turns into an egg before transforming into one of the proper castes.	10
	0	Implanter Larva	Fast and dangerous sub-type of a normal Larva. This one will rush at the enemies, attempting to "implant" itself into one of your limbs. If it manages to hitch a ride - it will emerge after a while, quickly turning into an egg before transforming as usual. Can be surgically removed.	10
	1	Broodling	The fastest and most common caste. Attacks are very fast but deal little damage and can be completely blocked by most armor.	70
	1	Floatfly	A fast and deadly caste. It is both slower and more damaging than a broodling. Occassionaly flies upwards, temporarily becoming invulnerable to untargeted ranged attacks and gaining slight bonus movement speed. When attacked - will shift its position on the tile slightly, attempting to dodge incoming attacks.	80
	1	Spitter	A weak ranged caste. When outside of melee range - shoots mildly damaging projectiles. Melee damage is subpar, below the level of broodling.	100
	1	Eviscerator	Rather slow, but deadly caste. Has moderate damage in melee.	300
	1	Assembler	A relatively weak and slow caste whose main purpose is assembling new larvae. Constantly consumes nearby organs and limbs, as well as tearing them from nearby dead or unconscious humans.	200
	2	Rhino	A defender caste, evolution of the Eviscerator. Deals high damage in melee and completely blocks weaker attacks. When attacked - may temporarily become enraged, gaining a hefty bonus to movement speed. Will always return to its "home" after losing sight of the target.	850
	3	Aggregate	Slow, resilient creature with extremely lethal damage in melee. When damaged - flings meatchips at nearby humans. Constantly regenerates its health.	1200

Origins

The infestation initially began on one of the planets within independent worlds, far away from Sol system. From that point they rapidly spread all across the sector until their territory was simply enormous(~10 times more systems than SolGov currently controls). After that, they chose a different strategy, and launched large amount of "infestation nodes" into all directions to begin new colonies deep in the territory of unsuspecting governments and colonists.

Each infestation node is essentially an asteroid made out of flesh, compressed many times to survive the impact on the planet, which contains up to a hundred of larvae, which venture outside after making contact with habitable planet. Though they are quite vulnerable during first few days, given enough time, they will spread out and consume entire planet and even the system, if left unmanaged.

Nobody really knows of who or what created the very first abominations of their kind. Many speculate that it could've been an experiment gone wrong, while the others suspect it to be a deliberate use of bio-weaponry.

• Terran consensus on this matter is that unknown alien civilization launched it to destabilize the human space, saying how the abominations launch their nodes only towards human space. This is, however, not true, as many alien worlds fell just like the human ones.
• Opinions on SolGov territory vary. Some, taking a more scientific and theoretic approach, consider the possibility of it being a natural evolution process from already existing species on one of the independent worlds. Although government officials did not come up with a unified response, many within it put the blame on independent worlds for "performing dangerous biological experiments that went out of control".
• Most of the still independent worlds outside of ISC are bordering the sector of infestation, and have to deal with the most vicious of attacks almost every month, and they have gotten quite experienced in the art of exterminating the abominations. Due to having to defend themselves, many dedicated their time to that, instead of debating on their origins.