Praetorian Xenomorphs

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Hostile Species
Full Name	Praetorian
Alias	Royal Guard Elite Guard Young Queen/Princess (possibly) Young King/Princes (theoretically).
Origin	Alien vs. Predator
Homeworld	Xenomorph Prime
Abilities	Combat Royal metamorphosis Combat metamorphosis Support metamorphosis Acid blood Superhuman strength Superhuman endurance
Members	Specimen 6
Hobby	Killing other threats. Guarding their queen.
Goals	Protect their queen.
Crimes	Murder
Type of Hostile Species	Parasitic Aliens

“	This echelon of the brood is rare. They are more powerful than their sisters. A worthy challenge.	„
	~ Spartan regarding the Praetorian facing Dark.

Praetorian Xenomorphs are a massively powerful and extremely dangerous strain of the Xenomorph species. They are among the largest strain of Xenomorph encountered, dwarfed only by the Queen and few other castes. They are also the most common of the late-stage Xenomorphs, being observed in nearly all known mature Hives. A stage 6 strain of Xenomorph, they are sometimes referred to as Royal Guards and Young Queens.

Praetorian Xenomorphs were originally introduced in Aliens vs. Predator crossover-related media before eventually debuted in Aliens: Fireteam, and recently in Aliens: Dark Descent, the two of latest installments of mainstream Aliens series.

Characteristics

Biology and Physiology

“	The Praetorian is the warrior of the Hive, tough, massive and ferocious.	„
	~ Primal Hunt, Scientific Journals

A Praetorian towering over a Yautja Hunter.

Due to their genetic similarity, a Praetorian is almost indistinguable from a Queen alien, with the exceptions of their smaller size and lack of inferior arms. Like a Queen, it has a intricate fanning crown that sets it apart from other aliens. More than just an ornament, this crest can also be employed as a battering ram and is known to be bulletproof. The rest of the Xenomorph's body is covered in a hardened mesoskeleton that can severely blunt if not completely ignore all forms of small arms fire. Even for more powerful weapons, the beast can shake off damage that would be terminal several times over to simpler Xenomorph castes. One praetorian is capable of defeating entire squads of Marines single-handedly and are even a match for an Elite Yautja in melee combat. Since their circulatory and vascular systems intersect, Praetorians can disgorge acid in far larger quantities than other Xenomorphs. They typically do this when outnumbered by multiple enemies, engaging a single heavily armored enemy, or when sensing an enemy particularly vulnerable to acid. Praetorians have armor shredding claws and long bladed tails which they use as slashing and stabbing weapons. This makes them deadly at any range. In Aliens vs. Predator (2010), the Praetorian's upper jaw protrudes slightly, giving them an overbite. Unlike many aliens, the Praetorian even has some measure of fire resistance, comparable to that of a Queen.

Standing over 3 meters tall, the Praetorian is only a meter or two shy of a proper Queen Xenomorph. Other aliens can run a color range of blackened blues, grays, and even bronze, a Praetorian's mesoskeleton is most commonly a solid, jet black. It seems to be the least affected by the DNA Reflex signature in the species as most Praetorians are uniform in appearance despite a variety of host, with the exception of the Gunnison Predalien. Due to this uniformity regardless of host, Praetorians are sometimes considered "purebred" aliens. They have three pairs of dorsal spines to the typical two found on most castes (and zero found on others). It's massive size and weight translates to an equally grand capability for destruction, but this comes at a cost: Praetorians are physically restricted when compared to other aliens, being unable to utilize vents or even scale walls. They seldom even take to a quadrupedal stance, and maintain a mostly upright position when walking or running, though they will attempt to ram an attacker on all fours, as shown on BG 386.

Intelligence

“	One of the final evolutions of the xenomorph lifecycle, these creatures are much more intelligent and cunning than typical aliens.	„
	~ Prodos on Royal Guards/Praetorians.

Being genetically similar to a queen and a more advanced caste of Xenomorph, it is presumed that the Praetorian has similar intelligence or at least more intelligence that a standard Drone. However, since it is such a powerful creature with limited movement, the Praetorian rarely needs to make use of any cunning it may have. Sheer strength is usually enough to defeat foes, though it is smart enough to employ numbers as well, summoning lesser castes into battle with it to slay prey.

Position in the Hive

Royal Guard/Swarm General

“	Unable to move, the Queen must rely primarily on her royal guards for protection should she be attacked	„
	~ AVP: Unleashed on the queen.

As suggested in their names, the Praetorian is the 'praetorian guard' of it's respective hive, being one of a few heavy assault castes seen in the species. However, unlike other variants, a Praetorian is rarely seen far from it's hive. Instead of dominating the planet in question and securing host for species propogation, Praetorians stay in close proximity to the Queen and destroy any immediately or near-immediate threats to her livelihood. They also eliminate the genetically abberant eggs (called "Red" Xenomorphs) their Queen will sometimes lay, which are genetic anomalies to the Hive and thus culled. Praetorians are experts in combat and it usually takes a coordinated assault from many powerful weapons and expert agents to kill just one. They are a rare breed to encounter, and doing so is typically followed by death for those unfortunate enough to do so. Less commonly, these Xenomorphs will be found away from the hive, usually when it's simpler siblings have found stronger prey. Possessing the ability to rip, burn, and bash it's way through reinforced steel doors, the Praetorian is perfectly equip to dispatch heavily armored targets.

While rarely seen outside the hive, a Praetorian will sometimes travel with an entourage of other Xenomorphs, summoning Warriors and Runners to battle and acting as sub-commanders in absence of the Queen. Enemies will often focus their assault on the Praetorian in an ambush. This leaves them open to the attacks of the other Xenomorphs; while the Praetorian soaks up the bulk of otherwise fatal damage with it's hardened mesoskeleton, weaker strains are free to pick the attackers off. Should the Praetorian die, however, it's death would momentarily daze it's horde, suggesting a measure of neyral control, again not dissimilar to the Queen, from the Praetorian to it's smaller kin.

Royal Transformation

“	Chin's theory of competitive discourse clearly shows the Hive will react violently to the loss of the Empress. At a minimum, the young Queens will struggle to determine a new ascendant ruler.	„
	~ Mencus, explaining "Theory of Competitive Discoure"

Specimen Six evolving into a Queen.

Praetorians have two additional roles in the hive, subordinate to it's sentinel role. If a Hive is without a Queen a Praetorian can transform into one in a process called a Royal Transformation. Through this, they have the ability to found new hives. More commonly though, royal transformation takes places when the current Queen of a hive is deceased. Usually only one Praetorian will evolve into a Queen, often the strongest and most dominant of the sentinels, and resume ruling the hive as it's new ruler. If there are several Praetorians of comparable fitness, it may result in conflict to determine who will ascend as the new Queen, as detailed by the "Theory of Competitive Discourse". However, cases of several Praetorians from the same hive transforming at once have been noted, resulting in several Queens. Multiple instances of Queen Aliens results in a duel between the rival rulers, with the victor slaying or dominating her sisters.

Enemy hives will take advantage of a hive-less Queen, which is another reason Praetorians quickly molt to fill the role. Otherwise, rival Xenomorphs will subsume the members of weaker hives and enemy queens will destroy the eggs and praetorians, as they are instrinsically linked to the previous Queen, since they are her near genetic-copies. This may also be due to Royal Jelly, unique to each Queen, playing a role in transforming lesser aliens.

A Praetorian evolving may not always be due to a Queen's death or the instinctive need to create a new hive. It may be possible that an Empress will select a Praetorian to evolve into a subordinate Queen, over which she will then rule. Instead of being "sisters", the relationship between this Queen and the Empress would be more similar to "mother and offspring". Consequentially, the dynamic of the relationship may be different, although Queens have been known to show hostility to even their own daughters.

Alternate Metamorphosis

A Praetorian, specially evolved for speciated metamorphosis.

If a hive has a Queen and an enemy species has grown to be a serious threat to the hive, the Queen may alter the genetics of her children in order to better subdue and destroy prey. On LV-742, Praetorians are shown to have a Queen-given adaptation that allows them to morph into either a Ravager or Carrier, depending the hive's needs. The Ravager Xenomorphs typically occurs when the Queen determines it must keep pace with an heavily armored and armed prey species, being a vastly superior defensive and offensive force to the Praetorian itself. Carriers are less martially impressive, even compared to a Praetorian from which they evolve, but are uniquely dangerous and specially designed to spread the infestation further than a typical facehugger could reach. Both secondary variants have their strengths and weaknesses; the Ravager is excellent at dispatching foes, but a poor choice for a hive in desperate need of hosts as it always kills it's prey outright. The Carrier is effective at spreading the infestation farther and faster, but it's lack of armor makes it a poor combatant despite it's size and strength; it doesn't last long in a fight.

Ravagers

Ravagers are presumed to be the Xenomorph evolutionary response to the heavier military equipment brought to bear by more advanced species. This massive beast towers above other Xenomorphs, short of the queen, and has a uniquely terrifying presence in battle. Instead of just having hands, its upper extremities terminate in "hull blades" capable of easily slicing through even advanced armors and metals. Their appearance are depicted as a taller and more muscular version of warriors.

Unlike other forms of Xenos, the purpose of a Praetorian molting into one of these are solely for combat alone, as it can only kill their foes outright instead of subduing them: Ravagers' attacking methods often in form of beheading any enemies that they encountered.

Carriers

Carrier

Carriers are alternate life cycle of Praetorian that purposed for field infestation. Should be noted that in spite of majorities of xenomorphs could subdue their foes/preys that can be used for impregnation by facehuggers, it does not guarantee that they always succeed in doing so, as sometimes they ended up killed before able to took the said potential hosts back into their hive. Other problems would be that the facehugger themselves (though able to travel from the hive into the outside world) are vulnerable and can be easily killed. Carriers' presence within the hive would could counteract this, as they could bring around six to twelve facehuggers for instantly subdued potential hosts on the field without truly need for bring them back into the hive.

Carriers resemble Drones in appearance, but are thrice taller and lack clawed fingers. Instead, they possess a single blade on each arm much like a praying mantis. Also, they possess pairs of dorsal tubes that seemingly have joints on them, and generates nutrients for facehugger to feed on board. Carriers also use these tubes to propel the facehuggers on their foes' face like a catapult. Had Carriers facing enemies that cannot be infested, whether while carrying facehuggers or not, they uses their blades instead.

Creation

Lesser Castes

“	Alien royal jelly. The stuff that made the right land of drones into queens.	„
	~ Royal Jelly's role in Praetorian caste as described in Aliens: Genocide

Praetorians have many pathways from which they can arise, unlike the fairly straightforward gestation process of other simpler castes. As a late-stage morph, it's creation is complex and varied. Praetorians can molt from adult forms of more common Xenomorphs, such as the Drone or even Predalien. According to some Weyland-Yutani debreifs, even Runnerd can evolve into Praetorians under the right circumstances, though this may be unique to the Zeta Hive on LV-1201, as it has only been observed there. Usually, Runners evolve into the adjacent metamorphic line of their variant: the Crusher.

A "Young Queen" Predalien

Lower castes evolution is the most frequently observed mode of Praetorian creation, seen most clearly in Specimen 6, who evolved from a mature Drone after the death of The Matriarch. The Gunnison Predalien was also observed in Praetorian form, as the Yautja-spawned alien was in an intermediary stage between a simple warrior and mature Queen. This Predalien-Praetorian was unique, in that it possessed the ability to directly infect hosts, something warrior-evolved Praetorians seem incapable of doing. It was suggested from Meta sources that this was a side-effect of the Yautja DNA and that the Predalien in general is a more exaggerated result of the DNA Reflex owing to it's hosts strong genes.

Evolution often, but not always, involves exposure to a Queen's Royal Jelly. When a Queen desires guards to defend her, she can expose them to her jelly, which is unique to each Xenomorph Queen. In keeping with the scientific journals written on LV-1201, the process is timely and deadly for any prospective Praetorians. It is said to take years, with a Drone or Runner molting into a tougher organism with a thicker, harder exoskeleton. Mid-way through the process, the Praetorian emits a pheremone that would cause the hive to attack it in a "proving" phase that commonly results in death. Only the strongest Praetorians survive, where they escape and then lurk on the edges of the hive until their chitin finishes hardening. Afterwards, it returns to re-assert dominance over it's lesser siblings. However, most other instances of lesser-caste evolution demonstrate the process being significantly shorter; only a few hours to a few days.

Royal Guards

Xenomorph Royal Guard

Other sources state that there is an middle stage between chosen Drones and mature Praetorians, known as Royal Guards, a name which is also used to describe mature Praetorians. The Royal Guards are very similar to Praetorians but are smaller and weaker, have a less developed crest, and show more Drone-like features in their overall appearance. For this reason, it is possible that the Royal Guard merely represents a stage of molting for juvenile Praetorians as their bodies change from a Drone to a fully grown Praetorian and is not a separate caste or evolutionary stage. It may even be possible that this is "middling" stage referred to in the LV-1201 scientific journal.

Specialized Facehuggers

On LV-742, Queen Aliens were observed laying specialized eggs that produced Praetorian Facehuggers, which would go on to implant Praetorian larvae regardless of host. Praetorian facehuggers were large, robust parasitoids with reddish skin and lifespans thrice that of a normal facehugger. They were also not as easily dispatched and could latch onto a host item even after being shot mid-jump. A Praetorian facehugger was strong enough even to subdue a Yautja, even after being struck with wristblades, suggesting a level of armored protection. However, aside from that, Praetorian huggers were largely defenseless and dependent on adult castes of aliens for protection and successful infestation.

War on BG-386

The Praetorians on BG 386 emerged after Specimen Six broke a royal jelly canister next to the four siblings as she freed them from the Research Labs headed by Weyland Yutani. These four siblings fled with the Matriarch and Specimen Six to the refinery of Freya's Prospect. As the hive expanded and the Marines and Predators arrived on the planet, the Xenomorphs found themselves in a war of survival. While no Praetorians emerged during the early stages of the war, after the Matriarch was killed, four Praetorians quickly emerged and they began to lead the Xenomorphs into battle. One Praetorian attacked the dropship Typhoon, uttering a deafening scream that resulted in Corporal Tequila's capture. She noted the size of the Praetorian, twice the size of the others, and noted the scream was unlike she had ever heard before. This Praetorian would later confront the Predator Elite Dark in the combat arena. Dark repeatedly weakened it with his Disc Thrower, before killing the Praetorian with his wrist blades. A second Praetorian attacked Rookie in the Research Labs, preventing him from entering the pyramid to confront Karl Bishop Weyland. Rookie briefly disoriented the Praetorian with grenades, but then used his shotgun to deliver several critical blasts killing the Praetorian and allowing him to descend into the pyramid. In the pyramid, Rookie was attacked by two more Praetorians, but he used a Smartgun and a Sentry turret to gun them both down. Meanwhile, Specimen Six, who was captured after the death of the Matriarch, transformed into a Praetorian while en route to Weyland Yutani's space station and massacred the crew, capturing and cocooning Doctor Groves, before molting into a Queen, starting a new hive and ushering a powerful roar of victory.

Conflict on LV-412

The Praetorians who appeared on Planet LV-412 initially lived peacefully. Until their Queen was captured by the Super Predator Clan, the defeated Praetorians who survived were then imprisoned, and forced to become their slaves. However, they managed to escape, thanks to the help of one of their brothers, the alpha xeno who planned to escaping his siblings from their prisoned. The Praetorians who managed to escape from their prisoned, then went on a rampage killing many members of Weyland Yutani's troops, as well as the Synthetics. After escape from Weyland Yutani, the Praetorians also took part helping their alpha brother, in attempt to ambush and killing many Super Predators in ancient temple building, eventually roar of victory after reclaimed their hive. While celebrate their new queen leader, along with the birth of their alpha brother ''Berserker Predalien''.

Appearances

• Dark Horse Comics:
  • Aliens: Rogue
  • Aliens: Defiance
  • Aliens: Defiance - Extravehicular
• AVP Extended Universe:
  • Aliens versus Predator
  • Aliens versus Predator 2/Primal Hunt
  • Aliens versus Predator: Extinction
  • Aliens vs. Predator (2010) - Praetorians constitute two of the seven "boss" characters in the video game Aliens vs. Predator (designated by an on-screen bar showing their health during the player's battle with them). The others are Wolf, the Matriarch, an unnamed Predator, Karl Bishop Weyland and the Abomination.
  • AVP: Evolution
• Alien Series (mainstream):
  • Aliens: Fireteam Elite
  • Aliens: Dark Descent

Gallery

Raven

Chrysalis

Crusher

Ravager

K-Series Carrier

Royal Guard

K-Series Ravager

Razor Claw

Palatine

Colossal Ravager

K-Series Praetorian

Super Carrier

Konjurer

Carrier

Gorilla Praetorian

Concept Art

Trivia

• The word praetorian is derived from the Latin 'praetor', a prestigious title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men occupying in one of two official positions: the commander of an army or an elected magistrate. The Roman Praetorian Guards were the personal bodyguards of Roman emperors.
• Praetorians are considering to be rare breeds in the Xenomorph hive. Due to their rare existence, which only exist in the largest hive.
• Due to a Praetorian's head crest resembling that of a Queen, they are occasionally mistaken by people who are not AVP aficionados for Queens.
  • Until there was information that confirmed this issues, with the Xenomorph Queen being the only Xenomorph caste that was categorized as a Pure Breed Alien. While the Praetorians still maintain their reflex DNA side, from their various hosts.
• The Predalien in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is speculated to be a Praetorian, and is considered a "Young Queen" by the film's directors.
  • The Berserker Predalien that debuted in the AVP Evolution Game, likely being official Praetorian. These is due to the shape of his royal head like crest resembling a crown, and was spawned from a Royal Facehugger who impregnated a Super Predator host.
• The Crusher may be a possible variation of the Praetorian, spawned from a Runner evolutionary line instead of a Warrior.
  • These theory was later been officially confirmed since the release of Aliens Fireteam Elite in 2021.
• According to AVP Extinction, some Praetorians have abilities to create an egg sacks, and layed facehuggers.
  • However it should be noted, that these Praetorians begins metamorphosis into Queens.
• Praetorians are seemly shared clownfish hierarchy. The largest member is always been a female who acts as the queen in the hive, the second largest member is always been male who acts as the second in command in the hive, the other smaller unidentified members are genderless (hermaphroditic) regarding to their equal sizes. If their female leader suddenly dies, the alpha male will switched gender to become a new female leader, while the largest smaller genderless member would mature into newly alpha male. Its unknown was the writers aware of this when the Praetorians first debuted.
  • However, due to Disney and Marvel currently have owns the Alien and Predator licenses. These theory is likely semi-canonical.

Navigation

Villains

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