Vespa

Real Name:Vespa Cosmosis Regis (Queen cosmic hornet)
Renegade Name:Vespa
Title:The Hive
Alignment:True Neutral
Age:1
Gender:Female
Race:Cosmic Hornet hive
Hair:Grey
Eyes:brown
Height:5 ft 3in
Weight:120 pounds
Blood type:organic material







Vespa appears completely normal at first, only becoming strange after extended conversation. She emulates human conversation very well, masking the lack of human emotion fairly easily. Vespa is a machine to her core with very little actual moral or emotional understanding, rather mimicking what seems to be the norm around her with such extreme detail that she seems real. She is very perceptive as a species, able to detect even the slightest emotion from people and mirror what seems to be appropriate, however as she grows she is perhaps doing more than just mimicry?


Vespa Cosmosis, an alien hornet species known for building elaborate hives made up of organic materials meant to mimic sentient species to the best of their ability. Rarely ever is a Vespa seen outside its hive and when one is spotted it means one of two things, it is a worker drone in search of organic material to repair a damaged hive, or it is an attack drone sent to defend the hive amidst repairs.

Vespa Cosmosis Regis refers to the queen hornet, residing in the constructed cranium commanding the entire hive mind of hornets and laying out the blueprints for construction of the hive. Never has a queen hornet been seen outside its hive, however one has also never tried to emulate humans until now. This particular queen hornet seems to have settled itself into a high traffic area for humans and decided man would be the vessel she chose.

She built herself a body, based upon what she saw in passing humans piece by piece, gathering the organic material through her attack drone’s bites and worker drones reshaping the material into workable muscle, bones and organs. After a full nine months of construction the vessel had been complete, but now for the hard part… being human. Little did the hornet know, humans were rather complicated to mimic and were much more complex than lesser species. It was too late to turn back and form something easier though, so she threw herself into society. She gave herself a name “Vespa” even if it were on the nose, it was the only thing she could think of. She learned to speak, although rudimentary and how to emulate humans enough to gain a greater understanding of herself. Vespa could be the most advanced of her kind, perhaps even coming closer to being human than any other wasp had?




The Hive Mind- Vespa’s body is nothing more than a walking hornet’s nest constructed of stolen organic material. She has blood, bone, skin and even working organs. However she has perfect control over her body through the nest of hornets within it, the queen sends the orders and the hive obeys. Nothing is involuntary as she does not possess nerves, rather hornets running where bone marrow would typically be, or passing through a corridor where some major blood vessels should be. Vespa is completely operated by the queen standing in as a brain and sending pheromone signals to the worker drones operating as her nerves.

Defending the Nest- Upon taking significant bouts of damage two things will happen. One is that every attack drone in the reserves will flood Vespa's body from beneath her skin, through her ears, out her mouth, wherever is convenient and defend the hive from whatever threatens it. Vespa Cosmosis attack drones are big, inch long hornets armed with a sting so bad it can melt flesh from bone. Their stingers are barbed and are particularly good at ignoring armor and sinking into flesh. The second thing that will happen is worker drones will flood out from the damaged areas and begin to search for organic material to repair the hive. These drones do not sting, but rather have large mandibles that operate like a hole puncher, taking chunks of flesh to transport back to the hive and knit the wounds back together. The worker drones can be sent out independently, but in an attack it is very likely that the attack drones and worker drones will be attacking the same target and likely rebuilding Vespa’s flesh with that of her attackers. She would very much prefer to use human flesh, but improvising with what is
available is not something she is adverse to.

Organic material thief- The species Vespa Cosmosis is known for being able to steal any kind of organic material and revert whatever cells they steal back to stem cells. This is done inside the stomach of it’s worker drones. Most commonly the drones do not swarm one creature for material but rather sneak it off unsuspecting passer-bys who often do not realize a pea-size portion of flesh has been taken from their bodies. Once a sample is taken the worker drone’s many enzymes begin to shut down the functions of that cell reverting them back to easily moldable stem cells that have no assigned purpose. Once back at the nest the worker drone awaits orders to either use the stem cells to repair parts of the hive or to use it to build nesting sites to hatch more drones within the ‘brain’ cavity of the hive.

Emergency repairs- When no organic material or limited worker drones are available Vespa can still repair herself with a more traditional wasps-nest material much like a paper wasp. It is the saliva of the drones mixed with whatever bodily fluids are left over like blood or plasma. It is a temporary measure for self preservation and will act as temporary healing until more organic material can be found.

Swarm- Vespa’s wasps are not fully contained within her at all time, she often sends out attack drones in case she needs to defend herself without sending out every drone she has. She often hides these in her clothing as a concealed weapon. The danger in their stings is not just the flesh melting and blinding pain a sting can bring, but the pheromone signals that linger afterward. It drives every “bug” in a one mile area mad and calls them to warm that target, biting and stinging with all their might. The scent can linger for up to ten minutes. (Fun fact: the term “bug” can apply to some interesting outliers such as crustaceans, worms and mollusks)





Down with the Bloody Red Queen- All parts of Vespa’s body can be replaced, each drone expendable as there are hundreds of eggs in the skull waiting to take its place upon death. The one thing that cannot be replaced is Vespa herself, the queen. The queen is five inches long and is confined to the space where the human brain should be. If she is harmed it puts the entire hive in danger. It cannot act without her and will simply die with her.

Mixed Signals- Vespa’s complete control replies on her signals being relayed and understood. Pheromones might be faster and more precise than nerve impulses, but they are keen to being hacked by the right chemicals. 2-phenoxyethanol is a chemical known to mimic insect signals and is commonly found in pen ink. Someone crafty could possibly use it to confuse Vespa’s pheromone system delaying her control over her drones.

Flammable patchwork- the temporary patch material used to hold the body together is highly flammable and once lit can only cause more damage to the body that will then need to be repaired.

Broken bones- Bones are much more difficult to repair than soft tissue, they are also the only part of the body that would inhibit the hive’s movement if it's broken. Breaking Vespa’s bones could keep her down for almost a full day while the drones look for material to fix it… unless the perpetrator is close by to volunteer their flesh.

Start from scratch- If somehow the queen were removed from her hive, the hive would be ‘dead’. The pheromones controlling the drones would stop, the eggs would stop hatching and the whole thing would just decompose. However, not all is lost. If given time, and access to something dead, a new hive can be constructed. It would likely take up to three months to get something workable under the best of circumstances.

Commercial wasp spray- Commercial wasp spray works just as well against cosmic wasps as regular ones, turning their exoskeletons to mush and killing them easily. A direct hit to the hive puts the queen in jeopardy.

Photo Reflective light- Attack drones have trouble with reflective light. Too much light reflecting off something shiny can scatter the senses of an incoming swarm and ward off an attack.