Need inspiration for a galactic menace

[ShadowDragon8685]

Depending on just how hopeless you want things to be, you could co-opt the Beast organism from Homeworld: Cataclysm.

Essentially a growing, learning, intelligent parasite, it 'infects' whole starships, co-opting them - biomechanical in nature if interfaces just as readily with machines as people, capable of breaking down organic matter and using it to grow - turning the poor folks who were aboard whatever vessel it conquered into the control systems.

Nasty stuff. And worse, if it captures a large enough vessel, that vessel can project more of the stuff out as an infecting weapon attack that can convert other vessels in a hurry.

Making it chain-lightning through multiple craft is probably overkill, though.

 

[kristof65]

This actually makes Virus much more interesting, as it spreads itself, and each "individual" comes to terms with it's growth pains and starts to realize the damage it's doing.

That's pretty much the way TNE did handle it, actually. The whole "killer AI plague wiping out humanity" was part of the setting's backstory, not its central concept.

Yeah, I know - that's the way I played TNE, and I loved that aspect of it.

My point was that if you ignore the killer AI aspect of the backstory when introducing Virus, you can introduce those elements into a campaign without completely "destroying" the universe like the TNE backstory did. Your Virus infestation can then be as big or as small as you like, depending on the personalities you assign to each of the Virus AIs.

 

[Thlaylie]

I have the most insidious infection to ever befall a planet for you. The disease appears after a climatic catastrophy, displacing the naturally superior life forms and begins to breed without constraint. It destroys all the flora and fauna with it's relentless drive to manipulate it's environment. (It's herbivourous fear of closed in spaces causes it to deforest), Eventually it destroys the host world and itself, perishing of poisoning by it's own filth.

They are called primates. In the Traveller universe, my characters, decended from Theropods (the galactic standard or most common races), do their best to rid the planets of this filth.

 

[grymlocke]

since I'm too lazy to read all the pages of this thread I'll just cut-to-the-chase and throw in my idea...if it's already been mentioned, all I can say is...'great minds think alike..'

the Moties

from niven/pournelle's novel's
'the mote in god's eye' and ' the gripping hand'

if you haven't read them..do.
The entire imperium like civilization's existence hinged on keeping these guys 'contained'.....

very travellerish....

 

[Thlaylie]

Moties! Cycles! That's an Awesome Idea! Good Book Too!

 

[AdrianH]

Based on Kevin Anderson's "Saga of the Seven Suns" series:

Until now, nobody knew that anything lived, or even could live, deep inside gas giants. Now someone has done something to upset them. They will now attack anything which comes close to a gas giant, including but not limited to ships skimming gas giants for free fuel, colonies on moons of gas giants, ships attempting to visit or evacuate said colonies, and definitely Bespin-style cloud cities.

Another possibility:
A high tech research institute has been working on an AI computer program and have finally succeeded. Being intelligent, the AI escaped, but not before copying and assimilating a few viruses, which means it can now reproduce through communications systems. Every computer system on the planet of origin is now infected. So is the computer system of every starship which visits that planet. So are the computer systems of any planet or ship contacted by those ships. Which means if you receive a warning message telling you of the existence of the virus, it probably means your computer now has the virus. The AI hasn't yet managed to infect organic computers, e.g. brains, but is working on it. By the way, you've just read this warning about the virus...

 

[alex_greene]

Colin Wilson's Ubbo-Sathla, from the book "The Space Vampires," retitled "Lifeforce" in that Gods-awful Golan-Globus movie adfaptation starring Mathilda May and nothing else.

You'd have to tweak the thing a little, perhaps make it a Psionic affair or have fleets of those huge city ships just riding along in the tails of comets, scattered from a solar system that exploded " two billion years before your Sun burned hot in the sky," etc.

Oh, and speaking of huge city ships riding along in comets, you could look at the Necromongers from The Chronicles of Riddick.

 

[grymlocke]

there's always...

Zurg, the grubs, brain pods and hornets from the tv series 'Buzz lightyear of star command'....


:lol:

 

[Zowy]

Tribels or some other harmess seeming creature that is introduced into the pet trade. To bad their reproductive cycle spikes into overdrive every 11 generations or so as a locust like surival mechanism. To overcome the preadators on their native planet eating them all up.

If they get free on your breadbaskat planets, start eating and spreading like a wildfire, then look out.

Do not make them big and dangerous.....

Traveller could do with a few more invasive and out of control pests.

 

[lastbesthope]

Since I've been watching lots of Anya era Buffy recently, bunnies. I mean what do they need such good eyesight for anyway?

LBH