"Any Background Info On Spug BIOLOGY???" Topic

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Seems to me that the Spugs should have a story to them . . .

Are Spugs meant to be closer to grasshoppers in look and habits? Or more comparable to ants and other social insects?

Are they lead by a queen? Do they have a caste system? Or are they a swarming entity of equals like locusts?

Do they have larvae? Grubs? Do they have nurseries?

What do they prefer to eat?

Do they enslave other insectoid species (as ants do with aphids) for food or labor? Are they after humans to enslave us, eat us, or to simply erradicate us?

Do they prefer to live below ground, or above? What should their structures look like? Do they prefer rain forests or deserts?

Are they allied or enemies with the "Aphids"?

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Anything else I may have missed?

CC
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Man, they look so cool!

TMP link
matakishi.com/spugs.htm

They deserve to have an epic written about them, don't they?

Any bards among all of you out there?

CC
PS. If they do have larvae . . . this might work:
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CC
I've just finished painting some of these to be spug larvae for my spugs

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As for background I'm working on incorprating them into my 40k (1st edition) stuff. I'm thinking of them as a colony type insect spieces which means almost all spugs are female. I'm also going with differnt spugs being programmed into a role at birth i.e. warrior or worker with sub-divisions so a spug is programmed to be say a jumpspug or a light infantry spug.
Weapons wise I'm trying to choose things that mmimic natural defenses so neddlers with posion, acid sprays that sort of thing
Finally I've decided that bad eyesight will make them poor shots. Of setting this will be good natural armour and high strength mimicing ants abilities to pick up stuff heavier than they are.
Thats it so far it's still a work in progress. I'm sure others will have other ideas.

Jon

I wrote this while I had some spare time at work a couple of weeks ago, background I plan to use for the Spug in 'my' universe. Some bits borrowed from Chitin and the Umiak from Outsider.

The Spug, a History-

The Spug species is native to planet Spriggan II. Spriggan II is a warm, dry world with lower gravity then Terra. The dominate life form on the planet is the Spugs and their progenitor species, an insect like clade that operate in a hive structure. The Spugs refer to this species as the 'First Ones' and that term will be used for the rest of this document.

The First Ones, while having insect-like features are more complex then Terran insects. They have internal skeletons and a complex vascular system. The First Ones are grouped into hive-like social structures. Unlike Terran hive insects, the First One 'Queens' are not fully capable of independent reproduction once the colony is started- they rely on continued input of gametes from their colony members. In many ways the 'Queens' are more like surrogate mothers or incubators for the offspring of the colony.

This offspring can vary greatly in appearance and size- there are many castes in a First Ones colony, and the Queen accepts or rejects gametes based on the perceived needs of the colony. The Queen is also capable of doing a limited amount of genetic 'editing' to offspring before the egg is laid.

The early Spug were the scout/gathering caste for the colonies- they were in charge of leaving the hive and locating food in the wilderness. If the food item was small the Spug would return to the colony with it- if it was too large the Spug would remember the location and return with a larger colony member. It was this need to remember and navigate that was the spark of the Spug's later intelligence.

<more about Spriggan II and the 'Harvest Wars' here>

This cycle of life and destruction continued for millions of years uninterrupted. Then, a close brush with a passing comet changed things forever. The comet did not impact the surface of Spriggan II but broke up in the atmosphere and put enough debris in the air to alter the planet's climate. The traditional food sources began to dwindle, leading to even more competition between colonies for survival. An evolutionary 'arms race' more intense then any ever seen before began. One of the major advantages that soon became apparent was that smarter and more capable Spugs were capable of locating and gathering more food reliably. As the pressures of natural selection on the Queens became more intense the Spugs gradually become fully sentient – tool use was discovered, and Spugs from one hive after another discovered the basics of agriculture. The need for the still relatively short-lived Spugs to pass on knowledge led to writing.

A few thousand years more and the Spug were quickly becoming the dominate caste- Spugs capable of passing on knowledge their accumulated knowledge to younger ones became an advantage, so selection pressures lead to longer-lived Spugs and the start of a true Spug culture and more rapid technological development in many colonies. The Spugs, with their superior intellects, were also capable of controlling access to the Queen, preferentially making sure that more Spugs were produced then other castes. Finally, the Spugs also began to meet Spugs of other colonies not in warfare, but in trade. The development of technology meant that several colonies in resource-rich but food-poor regions could trade with colonies who's new agricultural techniques allowed them to produce and manage a food surplus.

This sea change lead to a blossoming of Spug civilization and technology. The greatest change, one that is in the process of redefining Spug civilization, was the advent of cloning and artificial eggs. The more progressive Spug cultures had long searched for a way to fully take control of their own destinies in terms of reproduction. While the Queens were not as intelligent as their Spug 'children', they were not mindless, and many Queens sensed, and resented, Spug domination and manipulation. Some Queens deliberately undermined their Spug by refusing to produce Spug eggs or editing the Spug DNA to produce less intelligent Spug. With these new technologies Spugs could bypass their Queens and add directly to the population.

More conservative colonies were horrified by this development- seeing it as an abomination against the natural order. Soon the Spugs were engaged in thermo-nuclear war- conservative colonies vs. progressive ones. This war did rather less damage to the Spug civilization then one would imagine- Spug naturally spent much time underground and Spriggan II was always bombarded with relatively high levels of radiation. The war ended in a stalemate, and the eventual peace treaty left both sides feeling they had achieved at least some of what they had set out to do. Progressive colonies kept their Queens and were mandated to improve conditions, while Conservative colonies were brought up to speed on cloning and were required to submit genetic templates for the process. The greatest benefit of this war was the committee formed to hammer out the peace deal stayed on and gave rise to the first Spug inter-colony government.

The modern Spug make extensive use of cybernetic enhancement- most Spug off-world are usually cybernetic-ally enhanced to deal with higher gravity and different atmospheres. About 30% of the Spug population is directly cloned or otherwise vat-grown (and this % is rising). Most Spug vehicles are cyborgs themselves- a fusion of grown and built components. The Spug also still sometimes make use of use of First Ones warrior castes (particularly the more conservative colonies).

-Will

Wow. That is amazing! Great deal of detail and told well. I was a bit sad when I realized I was on the last paragraph.

Thanks so much for that. Exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for.

Any other TMP Bards here???

CC

Wow. That is amazing! Great deal of detail and told well. I was a bit sad when I realized I was on the last paragraph.

Thanks so much for that. Exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for.

You're welcome CC, and thanks for the compliments on the writing. I have a bit more to add (particularly the Human-Spug Contact War!) but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'm also interested in seeing what other people have in mind for the Spugs- some idea cross-pollination never hurt!

-Will

I wonder if the current army lists going round (like THW) contain any background material, either "official" (from manufacturer) or non.

CC

Well, wminsing, I gotta hand it to you. I doubt I will think of the Spug in any other way than the way you has described it. Nice work.

Cacique Caribe- we meet again, on another spug thread :)

My official background material is officially whatever you want :) I had vague ideas in mind when I was sculpting them but I decided not to do any official fluff as I thought if I headed down that road I'd end up writing a novel and then a set of rules, which would disrupt my plans for the novel I'm already writing, (which I've taken a brief five year break from, lol).

I figured that people who liked the minis would come up with their own way to incorporate them into rules they already used and imagine their own backgrounds and I like to encourage that, it is in no way is a reflection of my laziness :p just look what wminsing came up with.

I can confirm that spugs have grub like larvae which look a bit like a bloated caterpillar- I have a theta drone variant holding one tucked under it's arm at the master stage which I'll probably dish out as an occasional freebie.

"I figured that people who liked the minis would come up with their own way to incorporate them into rules they already used and imagine their own backgrounds and I like to encourage that"

I love your way of thinking!

From what Prince Rupert and Wminsing have shared so far, and what others may add after this, I think your strategy has resulted in amazing new ideas and scenarios.

Can't wait to see what backgrounds others have developed for them here on TMP! It will provide excellent fodder for further adventures and settings.

Thanks.

CC

I haven't come up with any fluff, but I did buy a bunch of Aphids when Mega-Minis was clearing them out specifically to use with Spugs. I think they'll look cool together.

What do the Megaminis Aphids look like???

Are they the same as the Zombiesmith ones?

CC

Yes. They sold off the molds after the clearance and Zombiesmith bought them.

Rupert, Wminsing . . .

What do you suggest for this?

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Thanks.

CC

What do you suggest for this?

Well I saw these and thought they might work for my spugs

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I don't know why but I see spugs as having a very clean style of building. These buildings sort of look similair in style to the spugs equipment IMO quite clean lines. I'm using some of these to give support to my spugs
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Sadly they're not as big as I first thought. More of a one spug attack craft than a tank I've also swaped out the big side guns with spares from my spagnuaght to make it feel more spug like.

Cheers Jon

Jon, I love those dome buildings! Do they work for 15mm?

And does anyone in the US sell them?

Thanks.

CC

CC,
I believe they are from the kryomek range. In the u.k. the range was picked up by Scotia-Grendel. I don't know if anyone picked that range up in the U.S.
As for using them with 15mm I imagine they would look very imposing, the range does seem to be on the small side for 28mm (i.e. more like 25mm).

Cheers Jon

Because you mentioned "Kryomek" I was able to do a quick search and found this for the USA:

kryomekusa.com/terrain.html
kryomekusa.com

Thanks!!!

CC

What do you suggest for this?

Hmmm, I always envisioned the Spugs as building underground when able. So the settlement would be a couple of (well concealed) tunnel openings, not too exciting from the surface. There would still be some surface emplacements for things like antenna, sensors, solar panels and the like, but they would still likely be camouflaged as far as possible (maybe pop-up weapon emplacements). On worlds with inclement conditions the tunnel entrances might have airlocks. That's just what I had in mind though as I was writing- the Kryomek terrain looks really good!

-Will

Here's a link to some photos using those Kryomek bunkers with 15mm figures (no Spugs, though):

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Wow! I had seen those photos, but was focusing more on the figures at the time. Completely forgot they were the same Kryomek ones.

Thanks so much.

CC

Not finished mine yet nor the background, but I'm using some of the Hasslfree alien as 'diggers' for the Spugs (look at the big clawed hands), and am also painting to albino drones as special bodyguards for the leader. They are the only bodyguard/honour guard used (only type of Spug used) due to their abilities (these will depend on the rule system). I've also got some pound shop giant insects to conver into Spug flyers (they're about a foot long!).

Alien,

Wounds intriguing. What sort of setting(s) are you planning to do?

CC

CC – not sure yet, just going to finish up the Spugs I have (only 3 squads done so far) and try to convert the giant toy insects into craft. Haven't thought too much about a setting per se, more just what figures I can mix in with them. I'm tempted to chop a spug in half and try to mount it onto the legs of a SST arachnid – I may use a spug with the heavy weapon for this. I'm toying with the idea they use/modify other insectoid species for their own needs, plus use/ally with other species – eg the 'diggers', especially if they have skills/abilities the spugs don't. The diggers will allow the spugs to move underground – quietly and hopefully undetected – as opposed to using machinery – this idea came from Matakishi's Alien Invasion rules where he uses a giant worm to allow spugs to do this. I'm also toying with ideas for some assault/close combat spugs, and some alternate weapons.

Alien,

Any progress on your project?

Thanks.

CC