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LeSingeAffame

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Note for the reader:
You have been authorized by the United Nations of Earth's Scientific Council to have access to this document, presenting the results of an experience led by some of the Isarian United Words scientists.
As per your agreement with the Council, you are not authorized to share this document in any form, nor do you have the right to reveal any sensitive information it could contain. If you have any question or doubt, please refer to your Head Scientist before taking any action.


Dr. Klen'Moral Observations on the effects of isolation on Hive-Minded drones.

Their psionic bound, the leader's central importance, and the possible diplomatic repercussions.


Author: Dr. Klen'Moral, Head Scientist of the Isarian United Worlds, served by President Pros'Moral and his government.
Target of the report: Milia'Poral, Listener of the Hand Council.
Report priority: Type-2 (Critical New about other empire).
Recommanded divulgation: Hand Council only.


Context of the report:
After a succesful covert operation, my team and myself got our hands on 47 specimens, from the Havoll Hive. As the Hand Council asked, the research we made on them was entirely confidential, as only myself and my closest associates had the full data. Most of the team I led only had enough information to pursue their research.
As such, they are not to be considered a threat to the interests of the Council.


First observations:
These specimens were quickly subdued and put into an interrogation wing. As expected, they were not able to communicate. One of them, however, distincted itself. When we tried to get it into the interrogation cell, nearly all the other specimens tried to intervene and protect it from us. Agressive reactions were observed when manipulating every speciman, but the ones for this one required stronger methods to keep the Havolls away.
We kept this speciman under close watch, as it seemed to be important, maybe a leader.

When studying their brain signals, it appeared that none of them had more than basic subsistence capacities. This seems to contradict the battle reports, suggesting complex strategies and even sometimes independent operations. The supposed leader was more capable than its peers, but still not theoratically enough to succesfully lead an army.

After a few days, the specimens' situation started to slowly, but steadily, degrade. Their skin was losing its blueish color, and they tended to move less and less. We were of course feeding them, and making sure that they could not get any sort of infection, as otherwise the results of the study would have been non-relevant.
It also looked like each specimen took one turn to watch the one we thought was the leader. Their held their head against each other, and their gills seemed to transmit some sort of liquid, however it was not possible to know if the leader was giving something to them, or if they gave something to the leader.

After another day, their situation stopped its slow descent, as if they finally could sustain thanks to something. It was around this time that one of my associates, a member of the Children of the Sacred Light, came to my research station, after I called him for help. Some of my hypothesis were confirmed. A psionic cloud was detected all around the specimens. This would explain why they were not able to individually communicate, as the whole Hive could rely on this psionic cloud to exchange information.

Thanks to our own psionic ally, our research saw great progresses quickly. We developed new tools in order to study this psionic energy, under the condition that my associate would keep most of the blueprints and prototypes. I only managed to keep a fraction of what we built, which you should find in the cargo ship which came with this report.

The psionic "cloud" was actually a network of psionic connections. The leader, it was at this time confirmed that this specimen was indeed the leader of the other Havoll, was bounded to all the other specimens. We also learned that the leader was acting as a relay, as we managed to find a signal coming from outerspace. It also appeared that the leader was both receiving and sending a psionic link towards space, but the end of the signal could not be found – it could be a space station, a planet, or something else for all we knew.

We were also able to measure the strength of the psionic signal, and it appeared to decrease day by day. After a week, we observed one of the drones being cut off the leader. We propose that the leader is spreading the psionic signal to all the drones it can control, and when the signal is not strong enough, it has to separate itself from some of the drones.

This left alone drone died a few moments later. When studying its corpse, and the ones of the other drones which were cut off as the signal was decreasing, we found that the death was caused by a massive cell suicide, in some key parts of their body – the nervous sytem, the respiratory system, and the circulatory system. Interestingly, some part of their brain were left alive for a time, even after their death. When exchanging a living drone with one recently dead, making so the leader would lose the first drone but get back the second one, the psionic bound would be possible between the relay and the dead drone. So this part of the brain might be responsible for their psionic sensitivity. It was confirmed a few hours later, when we surgically removed this part of the brain in one living drone. The psionic signal should have been enough to keep it alive, and we indeed saw the leader trying to bound itself with the drone, but to no avail. The mass cell suicide still occured, and the drone died quickly.

We then tried to apply a strong psionic signal, with the help of the Child of the Sacred Light, in order to see if it could take control of a drone. We could not, but when the psionic signal was strong enough, some drones were cut off their leaders. If the signal was interrupted, the normal psionic bound was back, and the drones stayed alive. If the signal was not interrupted, the drones however died.

We tried to "psionically high-jack" (that's the expression the Child used) the leader, but the amount of energy required was too much for my associate. The leader seemed far more resilient than the regular drones. When we finally managed to cut the leader from the outerspace, thanks to several other Children, the leader suddenly emmited a very potent psionic signal, rendering the drones still alive extremely agressive, and affecting both the Children (some of them suffered terrible headache, most of the other lost counsciousness, and one of them even died very quickly), and the non-psionically affected individuals (such as myself) – we did not suffer as much as the Children, but my team and myself suffered from a moderate headache. One of my other associate, a member of the Meta-Human Ascension, did not seem to suffer any effect, most probably due to its positronic brain lacking any psionic receptor.

The drones, still bound to their leader but cut off the origin of the signal, died quickly, while trying to espace. It indicated that being bound to the leader is not enough, they need to have a link, even if indirect, whith what is the origin of the signal. The leader managed to stay alive for a far longer amount of time, nearly two days, when the drones died in three hours at most.

A short time before the leader died, it seemed to broacast a signal. We were not able to identify what it was, but there are several possibilities : Coordinates, a call for help, or it could state that this was place a danger. No matter what it was, it did not seem to attract any reinforcment, which we feared quite a lot...


Final results, in their order of discovery:

  • Drones will tend to and get around what looks like their leader, even putting their own life in danger if needed
  • Some sort of psionic could around the drones
  • The drones seem to have a psionic link with the leader
  • The leader acts as a relay
  • The leader is both sending and receiving a psionic stream
  • Overtime, the psionic stream decreases
  • When the psionic stream is not sufficient to be sent to all the drones, some are "disconnected", or cut from the psionic bound with the leader
  • These drones die soon after
  • Seems that the death is caused by a mass cell suicide, which can only be prevented by a constant psionic stream from the leader
  • When another source of psionic energy is applied to a drone, it's not sufficient to keep it alive
  • This source can however cut some drones of their bound with the leader, causing their death soon after
  • The leader seems far more resilient to this "psionic high-jacking" than the regular drones
  • When the leader is finally cut of the psionic link, it'll emit a very powerful signal, rendering the drones still alive extremely agressive and affecting even non-psionically affected species (headhaches). Synths are not concerned, as they have no psionic receptors or emetors. Psionically ascended species however, suffer greatly from this.
  • A few hours before the leader's death, it'll broadcast a psionic signal instead of trying to affect only its environment. Content unknown, may be coordonates, call for help, and danger signalling.


External additions:

When the leader died, the Mind nearly immediatelly contacted the Isarian government, which was left with no information about these experiments. The resulting diplomatic backlash, as the government try to deny what happened, but the Hive knew the truth, led to the War of the Havoll Supremacy, where the Hive invaded the Isarian worlds. The Isarian were backed by the Children of the Sacred Light, and the Havoll Hive was allied to the Milshar Collective.

This war would devastate the galaxy, as these four empires were the biggest of the galaxy. Even neutral empires would be affected, as for example the Xer'Rasi State relied heavily on the Children's food supply to sustain their population – as they lost most of their slave population to a plague a decade before. Overall, this disrupted the galactic balance for about a millenia, before they all finally crumbled.

This document also let us know more about the Isarian government. It appeared as a democracy, and was in nearly all its aspects, except that a small council, the Hand Council, was actually ruling. Their tried not to interfere too much, as otherwise they could be discovered, but it seems they made sure that the Isarian United Worlds would not fall into ruin – which seems quite ironic as it is the research they asked which sparked their final war. This Council was led by a Listener, but we don't have enough information about its other members to be sure of anything except that.

It also gives some information about their culture. We learn here that the male members of their society have 'Moral in their name, when the females have 'Poral. Science was, it seems, an important part of their society, as several scientists were tied to the Hand Council, more than the generals – except the key ones of course or the sector governors – who were under the authority of the Isarian government and not the Hand Council.

We can't learn everything about the Isarian just with the reports we have had, including this one, but hopefully we keep discovering new data about these precursor empires, how they rised, how they changed while doing so, and how they fell.
 
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Well this is an interesting report. Very intrigued.