The Hive :
An alien hive-mind of insectoid beings with a highly advanced technology-orientated society. The ability to make improvements to Other technology (Other being the Hive name for anything that is not Hive) is highly valued in Hive society.
They are not controlled by a king/queen but by every member of the species (in a roundabout way). Every Hive thinks alike, so ideas pass between them almost instantly.
The Hive homeworld has an incredibly toxic oxygen-deprived atmosphere and very little liquid water. As such, the Hive are sillicon-based lifeforms as opposed to carbon-based like humans. The Hive home system looks like this :
Sun ... ... Scarbrun ... Homeworld ... ... ... Talochai
The sun is a red giant-type star. Scarbrun is akin to Mercury: A lethally (to humans) hot planet in close proximity to the sun. Scarbrun has a light side and a dark side, the dark side being hospitable for the Hive. Talochai is a rocky world like Earth, but further away from the sun, and much colder.
There are three distinct classes of Hive, each performing a diferent task within Hive society.
Brutes have a stockier build than the Scouts and the Hunters, and have smaller wings. This is compensated for by their increased strength and toxic bite. Brutes are the mechanics and engineers of the Hive.
Scouts are the smallest of the Hive and operate as scientists and traders. They are very, very fast but are physically frail. As such, most Scouts carry a particle barrier, a form of energy shield developed by the Brutes.
Hunters are the warriors and tacticians of the Hive. Bigger in stature than the Scouts and Brutes, Hunters have large, bladelike scales on their forearms that serve well in close combat.
The Hive have attained space travel, but do not yet have FTL (faster than light) drives, and are unable to leave their home system. They have outposts on Scarbrun and Talochai, the other two planets in their system.
