Name: The Aeon Brood

Species: The Aeon Brood is a race of beings that, if originate from a universe at all, evolved in conditions far different than a normal universe. Their forms are chaotic at best, developing seemingly at random, but there are several definable traits that persist across their species. While they possess characteristics normal for creatures comprised of normal biological matter, such as mass and volume, they are made up of massless, ionic particles arranged into "hard" wavelengths, making them closer to "energy beings" in truth. They have few to none of the biological functions typical of lifeforms, such as respiration, and subsist by converting matter and energy into an almost-undetectable refined energetic state, which their porous bodies soak up like sponges. "Normal" universes are oppressive to their existence, and so the Brood mostly hide away in sub-realities when confronted with adverse physics. The gradual conversion of local physics to suit their existence allows them to manifest in reality in escalatingly large and powerful morphotypes.

Individual members of the Brood differ from each other wildly at times, but there are some physical "patterns" that can be recognized across their chaotic physiologies: brightly-colored spongy flesh filled with a thick, foul-smelling ichor, numerous lengthy, muscular tendrils, bone-like growths and plates (particularly about the "head"), amorphous lattice structures resembling baleen, and bifurcated appendages that may orbit completely separate from the body. The feeding patterns of the Aeon Brood have the effect of "erasing" reality about them, as matter and energy are converted directly into their food source. This energy is collected in vast quantities by the larger members of the Brood, giving them an intense energetic signature, and powering their reality-bending metaphysical biotechnology. The "castes" of the Brood can be loosely identified by their size, complexity and power. Weakest are the Aeon Spawn, the size of a medium-sized pet creature. Slightly larger are the Aeon Scions, which typically have more aggressive behavior and biology. Aeon Drones have more specialized biology, and are usually about the size of the average sapient creature. The Aeon Processors range in size from medium-sized vehicles to small buildings, and have the most specialized forms among their kind. The "true" Aeon Brood are creatures that can grow as large as starships, but are relatively simple and generalized in their features. The greatest of them all are the Aeon Titans, creatures of unspeakable power and hunger, which can grow to be as large as planets.

Government Type: The Aeon Brood has no formalized government, as what could be loosely interpreted as "intelligence" only exists in an extremely small portion of the entire species. The Brood even lacks the hivemind prevalent in many similar eusocial, invasive species. Even so, there sometimes appears to be a higher intelligence that directs the swarm-like behaviour of the Brood.

Description of Technology: All of the "technology" of the Aeon Brood is biological in nature, truly meaning that they themselves comprise all of the technology of their race. The Titans of the Brood house and transport the lesser members, propelling them through space at faster-than-light speeds. These biological monstrosities tear holes in realspace through sheer force of mass and energetic force, and are capable of exerting their alien will on reality itself, with apocalyptic results. As they can survive in nearly any environment and can willfully unmake reality around them, their march of progress is seemingly only limited by their slow expansion and exploration, given their difficulty in manifesting their more powerful forms in realspace.

Though they make no use of tools, worlds savaged by the Aeon Brood sometimes manifest strange geometric structures comprised of metals and other solid minerals. These "Aeon Hedrons" are theorized to be batteries for the unique energy source that the Brood feed upon, constructed by the Drones (though this has never been observed). These structures sometimes appear immediately prior to an invasion of the Aeon Brood, serving as an ominous warning of the doom to come. Often they are left behind where star systems consumed by the Brood used to be, floating in space like the gravestones of entire worlds.

Description of Culture: The Aeon Brood seems truly capable of two things: destruction and consumption. They destroy what they do not eat, and eat everything they do not destroy. If they even have minds, it seems that they are not disposed towards anything else. No strategy dictates their actions, only instinct and impulse. Despite the brutal simplicity of the vast majority of the Brood, strange patterns can be seen in the overarching direction and method of their invasions, suggesting some strange manner of higher intelligence at work among them.

History: The Aeon Brood have been a plague on interuniversal space for time immemorial, though most races are ignorant to their existence. Wherever they have spread, only death has followed. Upon incurring into an averaged-sized universe, it takes only a few decades for the Brood to establish a galactic foothold, and by that point it is usually too late for whatever spacefaring race within the galaxy to repel them. They slowly devour a galaxy from the outside inward, eventually reaching its core. Once the galactic core has been consumed, an impossibly massive gravity well takes its place, bringing in the remaining stars to be quickly devoured. Once an entire galaxy has been consumed, the Aeon Brood induce a hypernova of a galactic scale, which propels their "offspring" to new galaxies, or even new universes entirely.

From most perspectives, the Brood cannot be bargained and reasoned with. They are unthinking, unfeeling hunger in its purest, most primal state. However, rumors have persisted of some highly-advanced cultures managing to contact a form of over-intelligence that drives the Brood. This has not slowed their demise any, as most seem to have only earned the contempt of whatever impossible mind that they managed to reach out to.

Flag: The imposing sight of the massive Aeon Hedrons, often floating in defiance of physics, is the only symbol of the Aeon Brood.

Military: As the Aeon Brood is an inherently invasive species, its entire race could be considered its military. On a stellar scale, an incursion usually progresses as follows. A star system for invasion is scouted by a Titan from its secure vantage point in a sub-reality, and is then seeded with Drones. It is at this stage that Hedrons usually emerge on the planetary surface. Drones form Spawn from the available elements, and when a enough energy has been collected by the hordes of Spawn, Scions are then created in huge quantities to scout the terrain and pacify any potential threats to the Drones and Spawn. As the Brood gradually spreads across the planet, collectives of specialized Drones use the collected energy to convert the local physics to that which is conductive to the manifestation of their race's larger members. Once the planet is sufficiently "metaformed," Processors will manifest and greatly expedite the conversion of the planet's raw materials and native energies. Before long, the true Brood can manifest and either crush whatever resistance remains, or aid in the planet's consumption. Once the planet has been stripped to its core, enough energy has been collected to manifest a Titan, which will then set about devouring the remaining planets in the system, and bringing more of its celestial brethren into realspace. Once no planets remain, the small swarm of Titans will suck the system's star dry, and then relapse back into subreality to find the next system to be consumed.