The Swarm

by ThornS September 8th 2016, 9:29 pm

THE SWARM
Maybe just one too many...

Basic Biography

Real Name: None
Renegade/Hero/Villain Name: The Swarm
Title: Force of Nature
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Age: ??
Gender: ??
Race: Ant/Psychic Presence
Hair: N/A
Eyes: N/A
Height: Varies
Weight: Varies
Blood type: N/A

The Looks

The Swarm, while capable of taking most shapes, is a large collection of common black ants, crawling one over another to form a humanoid shape. They have no discernable facial features, and no singular ant is particularly different from any other, leaving from afar the impression of a black liquid taking shape, while upon closer inspection, it is in fact countless numbers of ants moving in unison with a supernatural synchronicity.

The Legacy

Personality:
While there seems to be no distinct personality to the Swarm upon first inspection, the Swarm indeed has a personality, acting in self defense or in response to a great threat against life - the Swarm, however, seems to have fluctuation as to what can be considered a "great threat to life", arbitrarily coming to the aid of either those in a hostage situation, counting in the tens, or to rise against those threatening a large population of wildlife, or even genocide, and though the Swarm acts in defense, it seems to just disregard intention in sight of action.
History:
The Swarm has appeared throughout history's pages sparsely, but each time it acted against a force of destruction, defending life on Earth with a silent fervor. The Swarm has appeared in different places throughout the world, and on occasion, even in places where ants do not live, though it's impact seems to be greatly lessened in such a place.
Meanwhile, The Swarm is in fact a psychic presence, tied to the minds of the ants under it's control working and thinking in unison, each mind's processes combining to something more. At the same time, The Swarm exists outside of the minds of these ants, though without any sway over the realm in which it exists, it is powerless without the bodies of the ants it inhabits, and without the link to those minds, however tenative or weak, it would break away from this world entirely.

The Powers and Weaknesses

Powers

Power 1: Swarm Body Strengths
The Swarm is, as expected, made up of countless smaller bodies, forming a larger body. This comes with several advantages. First and foremost, with a lack of internal biology, the damage the Swarm takes is proportional to the surface area of the attack harming it - bullets being a particular example of an ineffective form of attack. The Swarm can also shape it's body to whatever it needs, provided it has the amount of ants needed to do so. It cannot replicate complicated machinery, though it can squeeze itself into tiny cracks, become a hand-like shape, form into a "pool" which can travel across walls (provided they are not absolutely flat surfaces,) and even shape holes in it's body - though generally not with the degree of swiftness required to avoid attacks. The Swarm also has the ability to see from every point of it's body at once.

Power 2: Ant Addition
The Swarm can add new ants to it's current mass, the ants automatically joining to the Swarm psychically. The Swarm can do this within 5 metres of any linked ant, though an individual ant cannot remain more than 500 meters away from the bulk of the Swarm's mass without losing psychic connection. The Swarm cannot handle control over any more than 2000 pounds worth of ants, and around 300 pounds of ants makes up a 6'0", roughly-average build male shape. The Swarm is also psychically aware of any ant within range of addition.

Power 3: Proportional Strength
The Swarm possesses strength equivalent to an ant of the Swarm's current size - it is capable of feats of strength in the range of 100 times it's own current, combined mass.

Power 4: Mindmass
The Swarm is immune to any form of effect which affects an individual - each ant is it's own for the purposes of single-target spells, mental effects. As well, the Swarm is immune to any form of mental control or analysis.

Weakness(es)

Weakness 1: Swarm Body Weaknesses
Being made up entirely of ants, there are a number of weaknesses associated with having a countless swarm as a body. Attacks involving a wide surface area - explosions, waves of force - these kinds of effects, while not usually lethal to the Swarm as a whole, can deal massive amounts of damage to every ant on or near the exterior of the Swarm. The Swarm is, also, funnily enough, vulnerable to insecticides, though they also generally only affect outwardly facing ants on contact. Flame is also dangerous to the Swarm, as the fire can spread throughout, leaving it splitting apart and scurrying away. The Swarm cannot also maintain any more than one continuous body of ants over the scale of 30 ants, the results being too discordant and chaotic to maintain properly. If the Swarm has no living physical bodies remaining, then the psychic presence that controls the Swarm will immediately and permanently depart this plane of existence.

Weakness 2: Communication Barrier
The Swarm cannot speak, it's ability to comprehend language is limited, and it has no discernible body language, resulting in the Swarm being unable to communicate in a meaningful way with anything beyond basic gestures and images.

Weakness 3: Technologically and Magically Illiterate
The Swarm has difficulty using even remotely complex electronic, mechanical, or magical devices - anything as complicated as a lock or more is generally something the Swarm is unable to utilize. As a side note, being made up entirely of ants means that the Swarm also can't use touch screen devices.

Weakness 4: Multitudinous to a Fault
The Swarm is immune to ANY effect that affects an individual. Trying to hold a staff that lets the holder breathe fire only lets the ants touching it do so, as well as with any single-target spells or mental fortifications.

RP Mechanics

RP Mechanic(s): The Swarm acts somewhat as a force of nature in whatever situation it is placed - acting in a way that would improve the ecosystem of the area around it, it is meant to be difficult to permanently displace, and acts generally against technology, magic, or other "unnatural" presences, using it's physical strength and flexibility in shape to adapt whatever foe they face. The Swarm generally acts on it's own, though it is capable of cooperation despite the difficulty it has in communicating any such desire.

Whenever the Swarm appears at a scene, they would start at roughly 250 pounds worth of ants or less.

Any attempt to read the thoughts of the Swarm is met with the sound of a busy, bustling crowd, no individual voice discernible enough to understand.

Items/Minions
The Swarm has no permanent item implements - not even a regular set of clothing.
By technicality, The Swarm is comprised entirely of minions. However, each is extremely insignificant as an individual, with virtually no autonomy.

Physical Priority
(You are to put these physical attributes in order from 1 to 4. 1 is the highest priority, 4 is the lowest.)
Endurance 1
Strength 2
Agility 3
Reaction 4

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by **Rozmer** September 9th 2016, 8:43 am

I'm very curious and excited to see how this operates in a topic. Approved until stated otherwise.

The Swarm

The Swarm

Re: The Swarm