Deathworm

Deathworms are worm-like creatures which can be anything from the size of a small dog to the length of a medium-sized pleasureboat. They come from the pocket universe Hell, and are Angeror's pets. (TF: Highway to Hell)

Appearance
Deathworms looked like big worms, with spikes and 15 eyes. They had a beak for a mouth, which was surrounded by thousands of extremely thin tentacles that were used to secure prey in the mouth. They would feed on anything, and the victim be slowly digested.



Castes
Deathworms are actually divisable into several different castes, depending on their habits and breeding methods. There are three main types, with a few sub-groups.

Queen
Deathworm Queens are extremely rare, intelligent version of Deathworms. Their spines are not used for combat, but instead are transmitters to each Deathworm. Also, their bodies are much larger towards the back, and the eldest Queens have such massive rear bodies that their heads are merely tiny protrusions in the front. Queens communicate through telepathic means to non-Deathworms. This is not presented in actual words but through a series of subliminal pictures and symbols that automatically translate into the words of any language. Provided the Queen lives long enough, her mouth-tentacles can grow extremely long and extremely dextrous, to the point where they can operate in a similar fashion to hands, allowing the Queen to mold items such as weapons for her colony.

Queens, like all other Deathworms, produce asexually, but Queens produce eggs without having to dissolve any part of herself. Like ants, Queens can produce thousands, perhaps millions of eggs daily.

Soldier
Deathworm soldiers are the standard Deathworm. They have few extraordinary features. Soldiers have three sub-groups - standard Soldiers, which are white-cream in colour, hunter-killer Soldiers, which are red, and stalker Soldierss, which are able to change colour, like a chameleon, or even turn slightly transparent.

Soldiers reproduce by breaking themselves down into tiny, centimetre long grubs. These grubs create a cocoon in which they grow until they hatch at the size of small dogs.

Hive
Deathworm Hives are very bizarre versions of Deathworms. They lack any sort of direct combat ability, and yet serve an extremely important purpose in a colony: construction of the hive. When an area has been severely infested, with a population of thousands of unthreatened Deathworms, certain eggs and grubs become Hives. When they hatch, they select a certain area, then flatten themselves to create a living surface. Other Hives then come along and flatten themselves out alongside, and then start to couple their nerve and blood systems. After a while, huge areas can be covered in Hive surface. Later on, Hives can intergrate with other Hives to create huge structures, such as spined pillars or termite-mound-like-constructs.

After intergrating, small buds start to pop out of the Hive's skin, which later develop into grubs and eggs.

Locomotion
Deathworms are similar to slugs in that they leave a trail of slime, but unlike slugs they use this trail of slime to their advantage, by spewing it out in front of them and then "surfing" it to their destination. This ingenious method provides extremely fast travel. When the hive has developed, slime trails are automatically created to allow Deathworms to travel even faster.

Lifespan
Deathworms, with several different types, cause difficulty pinning down an approximate age, but on the whole, Soldiers can live for about 112 years, Queens 2,058, and Hives practically infinitely. Unlike normal creatures, which grow when young and start to shrink when older, Deathworms keep growing until death. When they are young, they grow fastest - grubs will reach hatchtime within hours of sealing themselves in a cocoon, and eggs last no more than a day before a Deathworm emerges. This period of extreme growth lasts about a week, as the Deathworm consumes it's internal protein stocks, until it can feed itself.

Diet
Deathworms typically eat meat, and all they can get of it. However, Hives consume any plantlife underneath them, and they use excess energy to manufacture food for other Deathworms, a sloppy green paste that fills Hive-built pools and drips from stalagmite-like projections. Apart from this, Deathworms also allow types of lichen and bacteria to grow on themselves, which take energy from the host Deathworm. These bacteria grow fast, so when the host absorbs a bacteria colony, more quickly spawn. Deathworms never ever resort to cannibalism.

Infestation rating system
The GDG have developed a rating system regarding how much an area has been infested by Deathworms. 1 is least severe, 10 is most severe.


 * 1) Single Deathworm.
 * 2) A few Deathworms, breeding.
 * 3) 50 or more Deathworms, breeding.
 * 4) 100 or more Deathworms, breeding extensively.
 * 5) 200 or more Deathworms which are breeding and some Hive.
 * 6) 500 or more Deathworms which are breeding and at least 100 square metres of Hive.
 * 7) 1000 or more Deathworms which are breeding and have 1000 square metres of Hive.
 * 8) 2000 or more Deathworms which are breeding, have four square kilometres of Hive, and some Hive Structures.
 * 9) 5000 or more Deathworms which are breeding, have covered 30 square kilometres of Hive and many Hive Structures.
 * 10) More than 10000 Deathworms which are breeding rapidly, have 100 square kilometres or more of Hive, have extensive complexes of Hive Structures, and have started acidic terraforming.

Hive
"Hive" is the name given to both the type of Deathworm or the name of the "living flesh" in a Deathworm Colony. This section is referring purely towards the latter.

Appearances

 * Souls of the Damned ( First appearance )
 * Revenge of the Alone Oness
 * Highway to Hell
 * Chase
 * Reunion of Fear ( Illusion )
 * Paradox Ultima ( Illusion )