| “ | The federation has decided that the Bug threat is becoming too great. Senator John W. Killjoy declared "The Bugs have been a plague in this galaxy for far too long, they must now be eradicated before they spread to other worlds. | „ |
| ~ Bug war announcement from Helldivers |
The Terminids, also known as the bugs, are a hostile species from the Helldivers series and one of the main antagonist factions of Helldivers 2. They produce at an alarming rate, and are the primary source of fuel for Super Earth, single-handedly fueling space travel and vehicles across the galaxy.
Overview[]
| “ | The ravenous Terminids are guided solely by an instinctive urge to reproduce, spread, and destroy Democracy. They are a fast-evolving plague, a shapeshifting infestation that threatens to devour and disenfranchise every single child on every single planet. | „ |
| ~ Helldivers 2 PlayStation page |
The Terminids, formerly known as the bugs, are one of the main antagonist factions from Helldivers, the other being the Automatons and The Illuminate. They are a species of incredibly adaptive insectoid aliens that spread across the galaxy. They seek to spread across the galaxy and eradicate and consume the forces of The Federation of Super Earth. Coming from the north eastern front of Super Earth space, the Terminids began an onslaught against humanity, spreading across worlds like wild fire and killing anything that stood in their way.
The Terminids are considered a valuable species to Super Earth. Although they are very destructive in nature, upon death, they decompose rapidly into Element-710 making them vital to Super Earth's development and space travel. The Terminids seek to destroy and kill all of Super Earth. Whether they possess a higher intelligence is unknown. Super Earth has fought hard to try and keep the Terminids at bay. Despite their best efforts, worlds shift possession between Terminid and Super Earth control frequently.
Origin[]
| “ | You know the Terminids are the same bugs we fought during the first galactic war? Years of rapid evolution, genetic modification, and farming on E-710 farms have changed them a lot. | „ |
| ~ Ship Master in Helldivers 2 |
Before they were known as the Terminids, they were originally known simply as the bugs. During the early days of Super Earth, the bugs were found on many different worlds colonized by Super Earth. They were a peaceful and intelligent species, simply spreading and coexisting along with Super Earth's colonies. They were not able to properly speak with Super Earth due to a language barrier. The bugs kept to themselves, not bothering Super Earth and simply propagating and living their own lives in peaceful solitude.
Eventually, Super Earth came to the realization that upon death, The Bugs decomposed into Element-710, also known simply as oil. This presented a lucrative proposition for Super Earth to farm them. However, this would not be easy as the bugs were viewed as an intelligent species. Super Earth launched a propaganda campaign, portraying the bugs as murderous fascist insects, hellbent on killing humanity. With a public view set on them, Super Earth began a campaign to massacre and farm the bugs.
At first, the bugs were confused as to why Super Earth was attacking them, and offered no resistance. Eventually, the bugs managed to find a way to properly communicate with Super Earth, but Super Earth disregarded this and continued their genocidal campaign against them. Eventually, the bugs refused to tolerate the abuse further, and began to violently fight back against Super Earth. Despite their best efforts, the bugs were defeated, and began to be forcibly farmed and harvested by Super Earth forces. Though these farming attempts failed many times, the bugs would be defeated time and time again, until the end of the first galactic war.
For over 100 years, the bugs were treated as livestock by Super Earth. They were genetically modified on mass to make more efficient farming of E-710. This however did not last forever. Years of genetic modification and rapid adaptation resulted in the birth of the Terminids as they are known now. Eventually, a mass break out of Terminids from E-710 farms happened, evolving into an outbreak that threatens Super Earth itself. The Terminids now seek to destroy all of Super Earth to reclaim their freedom, though it is unknown if they possess a higher intelligence, or are now merely feral animals.
Types[]
- Scavenger: Juvenile Warriors that are the most abundant and common form. Weak on its own as such, they are on the bottom of the food chain, they are often a threat in numbers.
- Spore Burst Scavenger: Scavengers mutated by the Gloom. They can now explode upon death and emit a small fog of spore upon death.
- Pouncer: Juvenile Hunters that are capable of leaping at great heights to either pursue or pounce on their prey.
- Bile Spitter: Juvenile Bile Spewer that can spit acidic bile at their target which can also slow them down. They can also explode and release their lethal bile upon death.
- Hunter: Agile Terminids specializing in pursuit. They can pounce on their prey and use their elongated tongue imbued with acidic enzymes to slow down prey. They are also able to swerve around to avoid gunfire.
- Predator Hunter: A strain of Hunters mutated by the Gloom, now providing them with camouflage like the Stalker, making them an even more dangerous manhunter.
- Spore Burst Hunter: Another strain of Hunters mutated by the Gloom. They can now explode upon death and emit a small fog of spore upon death.
- Warrior: Terminids specializing in melee attacks. They are capable of decimating a Helldiver in a few hits.
- Hive Guard: Warrior with a sturdy shell tasked in defending Terminid Nests. It is believed to be a metamorphosis between a Warrior and a Charger. They can also perform a defensive stance to block incoming attacks.
- Bile Warrior: Appears to be a young adult version of the Bile Titan. Much like the Warrior, they primarily focus on melee attacks. Can burst lethal acid on death.
- Alpha Warrior: Warriors spawned by the Alpha Commander. Having red carapace instead of black, they are more aggressive and faster than their regular counterpart.
- Spore Burst Warrior: Warriors mutated by the Gloom. They can now explode and release a small fog of spore upon death.
- Bile Spewer: Terminids spewing deadly bile. They are also able to rain down volleys of bile midair.
- Nursing Spewer: Believed to be a female variant of the Bile Spewer. Egg sacs can be found protruding on its abdomen.
- Brood Commander: Terminids in the leadership class. They are able to call forth Warriors and Hive Guards.
- Alpha Commander: Larger version of the Brood Commander. They are able to call forth Warriors and Hive Guards, also Alpha Warriors with enhanced attributes.
- Shrieker: Aerial Terminids specializing in swarm tactics. They can dive down and overwhelm their prey.
- Stalker: A mutated version of the hunter specializing in hit-and-run tactics. They ambush their victims to catch them off-guard and deal tremendous amount of damage. They can also camouflage from their surroundings, making them almost invisible as well as leap backwards to recuperate and avoid enemy attacks.
- Predator Stalker: A Stalker mutated by the Gloom, providing them more aggressiveness and speed, albeit at the cost of lacking their ability to camouflage to their surroundings. However, Predator Stalkers hunt in packs.
- Charger: Large, brutish Terminids specializing in charging attacks. They can relentlessly charge at their victims, crushing them with their hulking claws.
- Charger Behemoth: Heavily-armored Charger with sharp carapace. Far more durable than its regular brethren.
- Spore Charger: Chargers emitting thick fog of spores from its body which limits visibility. Can explode deadly bile upon death which has far more wider radius although this lifts the spore fog almost immediately.
- Impaler: Enormous Terminid that can sprout three sharp tentacles from the ground to impale its target. They use their tentacles to force Helldivers to continuously retreat or divert away.
- Bile Titan: Gigantic Terminid said to be the final evolution stage of a Bile Warrior as well as the largest known Terminid strain. It can spit deadly corrosive bile on its targets and can also use its massive claws to crush its prey.
Structures[]
- Bug Hole: The Terminid's primary nesting ground. It can be destroyed with explosives.
- Shrieker Nest: Nesting ground for Shrieker. Will spawn Shriekers upon detecting Helldiver activity.
- Spore Spewer: Large mushroom-shaped Terminid structure that can exhume a thick fog of spore, limiting visibility within a wide radius.
- Stalker Lair: The spawning ground for Stalkers. Often seen as two large Bug Holes with a pile of Super Earth citizen corpses beside them.
Biology[]
The Terminids possess a rapidly evolving biology. They are able to evolve themselves into all sorts of various forms to fit their needs. These range from scavengers, to soldiers, to the colossal Bile Titan. They are all deadly fighters, fighting with an animal like ferocity that even Super Earth struggles to manage against.
Terminids have an astonishing reproduction rate, able to lay eggs at an alarming rate. As a result, Terminids often attack in massive numbers with little strategy and zero regards to casualties. Different breeds of Terminids evolve into various different strains. One branch of evolution, speculated to be Male Terminids, start as Scavengers, and eventually evolve to Warriors. They can take numerous branches from this point, from turning to Brood Commanders, to doing special gestations to become Hunters, and then Stalkers (extremely deadly Terminids that possess the ability to go invisible to the naked eye).
The female branch, also named the bile branch, are able to spit toxic bile from their small Scavenger form. After some time, they evolve into Bile spewers, and eventually, the colossal Bile Titans.
Terminids are able to able to adapt rapidly to most enviroments. The most notable example of this are the Shriekers, a flying breed of Terminids that evolved mid war in order to fight against Super Earth Forces.
Stronger Terminids such as Brood Commanders are full of excessive amounts of adrenaline to ignore pain. Such high amounts often result in a Terminid being able to shrug off blows with ease, and even continue to fight briefly when their head has been completely blown off.
To get across the stars, Terminids proceed to launch spores into space. These Terminid spores drift through space and spread to local worlds. Upon touching down, they quickly evolve into Terminids and then begin to invade and overtake the world.
The adaptability of Terminids is insanely efficient. To originally stop their spread, Super Earth deployed specialized "Termicide" towers across a sector of worlds to stop their spread. At first this worked well, and completely halted their invasion of these worlds. After a few months however it had horrifically backfired. The Terminids not only managed to adapt to the termicide, but it mutated them, causing them to reproduce at an insanely alarming rate. Within a few hours, they managed to overtake the 4 worlds in the core sector, and completely envelop one of the worlds, Meridia, in a "supercolony" which dominated the entire surface. The super colony proceeded to spread Terminid spores on mass, to the point where Super Earth chose to simply destroy the world by the use of weaponized dark fluid, turning the world into a black hole.
On August 6, 2184 a probe was sent to the planet "Enuliale", but failed to return, with its last photos/messages documenting strange spore clouds around the planets. These spore clouds began to spread planet-wide, and the Ministry Of Science collectively refers to them as "The Gloom". Planets affected by the "Gloom" have even more aggressive Terminids, with them developing more exaggerated traits. The most notable of these is the "Impaler", a type of terminid who sticks its head in the ground and erupts several tentacles designed to pinch, or as it's name implies, "Impale", Helldivers.
One of the more interesting qualities of Terminids is that they decompose into Element-710 on death (which, if read backwards, spells "oil"). This is one of the main reason Super Earth prizes them so much. E-710 is used as Super Earth's primary fuel with power generators around Super Earth, but the most notable use of Element-710 is for FTL Space Travel using the Alcubierre drive installed aboard each Pelican, Eagle Class Ship, and Super Destroyer. Propaganda can be seen aboard a Helldiver's Super Destroyer broadcast system that heavily emphasizes the importance of how the bugs are a tool to be used as much as they are to be eradicated.
On February 2nd, 2185 a distress signal was sent out from the planet "Fenrir 3", reporting that SEAF squadrons had been picked off one by one due to an evolving strain of termini enhanced by the gloom, later dubbed by the Ministry of Science as the "Predator Strain." These terminids can pounce at higher distances, and also have the same cloaking biology that the Stalkers have, in addition to hunting in packs and having the ability to call for backup when needed. Predator Hunters also have the additional ability to spew bile at the Helldiver or victim. It is heavily implied (with various charger corpses around the map), (in addition to animations with them feasting on said charger corpses) that they cannibalize their fellow terminids in order to gain strength.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Terminids also use the original logo of the bugs. This is used by Super Earth on the galactic map to show what territories the Terminids currently control.
- The element Terminids convert to upon death, Element-710 is literally the word "OIL" flipped upside down and made numerical.
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 Villains
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Federation of Super Earth Enemy Factions Crossovers | ||