Magog
From The New Systems Commonwealth Wiki
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While the Magog did not themselves destroy the Commonwealth, they certainly gorged themselves in feasting on its remains. Since their catastrophic attacks in the waning days of the Nietzschean uprising, the Magog have roamed through the Known Worlds nearly unchecked, launching devastating raids against populated worlds only to retreat again, leaving devastation in their wake. Thus far, no political or military entity has been strong enough to check their depredations, though the worlds of the Than Hegemony and more powerful Nietzschean Prides stay relatively safe. But despite causing widespread death and destruction, the Magog have not expanded their former range in a concerted fashion, aside from turning a handful of former Commonwealth territories such as Double Happiness, Dyhedra, and Zinn's World into breeding worlds For their own mysterious reasons, the Magog largely prefer to live on their own planets in the former Quarantine Zone. The other significant change since the Commonwealth's fall has been the conversion of some Magog, namely Reverend Behemeial Fartraveler(aka Rev Bem) to the new religion of Wayism (see People of the Way). Unfortunately, Wayism's tenets of peace and cooperation have only appealed to a tiny minority of Magog, while vast majority remain as violent and bloodthirsty as ever. [update-over a billion Magog on the breeding world of Dyhedra were recently killed when their solar system was nova bombed by their former victims, a group of child warriors living on a nearby abandoned High Guard space station. The station has since become a protectorate of the restored Systems Commonwealth, with the governments of Xinti and Castalia helping rehabilitate the station and its inhabitants.]
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[edit] History
The Magog's origins are unknown. However, they attack the Known Worlds in great force, forcing the High Guard to send the Andromeda Ascendant to ascertain the source of the invasion. They discover the World Ship. The Magog swarmed the ship just as it retreated back to slipstream.
The Treaty of Antares was soon signed to ensure an armistice. But when the Commonwealth and the Nietzschean fleet practically annihilated each other, the Magog crossed the Quarantine Zone in great number, destroying all forms of civilization.
Three hundred years into the Long Night, the Andromeda, this time under the command of Captain Dylan Hunt rediscovered the World Ship. In a small battle, the Swarm ships invade the innards of the ship while the World Ship's Point Defense Projectors blasted a hole in the ship. They barely escape, but they dropped a nova bomb, destroying the World Ship's sun. But it is estimated that it would take two years before the Magog replace their sun.
[edit] Physiology
The most frightening and formidable adversary yet faced by Commonwealth civilization, the Magog are coarse-furred bipeds which average 1.5 meters in height. The Magog secrete paralytic venom from their fangs and are also armed with razor-sharp claws, superior senses which include echolocation abilities, swift reflexes and physical strength a Nietzschean would envy. They're also incredibly resistant to injury and damage and extremely intelligent, though Magog cunning seems almost entirely directed at killing other sentient beings or using them as unwilling hosts for their progeny.
Reproductive Method
The Magog are all one gender, and reproduce by laying eggs in the paralyzed bodies of large organisms, preferably sentient ones. The Magog "parent" then watches over the host for the time it takes for its young to hatch and eat their way out of the host organism, which in the process dies a slow, agonizing death. Interestingly, the resulting Magog young seem to contain small amounts of DNA from the host as well as the Magog parent. The rate at which Magog offspring grow to physical adulthood is believed to be a function of how much food is available to the young.
[edit] Culture
Magog society seems to be little more than an aggressive all-consuming horde. The Magog produce no art, no music, no literature. It's not known how such an aggressive, uncooperative species could have developed the spaceflight capabilities and sophisticated technologies the Magog are known to possess. In fact, some researchers theorize that the Magog are not a natural species at all, but rather some kind of bio-engineered weapon, programmed to replicate themselves and destroy everything they come in contact with. But only the Magog know for certain, and they've steadfastly refused to answer questions regarding their own origins.
[edit] Technology
The Magog are a savage race interested only in eating and reproducing, but have been able to be a spacefaring race. It is unknown where their technology came from. They could have stolen what they needed from a local race to expand, but it is strongly hinted at that the Spirit of the Abyss taught them how to create, or at least gave them, their technology. Even if they did steal their technology, they are intelligent enough to learn how to operate it effectively. Currently they use gauss guns for personal weapons and possess powerful spacecraft.
