Iratus Biology
The Wraith originated in the Pegasus Galaxy, but it is unknown what their original homeworld might have been. They are carbon-based, like most Milky Way species. It is assumed as fact that the Wraith evolved from the Iratus Insect, a Pegasus-native creature that rapidly advances its own evolution through the assimilation of prey DNA.
Traits
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The Iratus Insect is also known as the Iratus Bug or simply the Iratus, though it is actually neither an insect or a bug. It is about 18-inches long, with the body being about 5 inches, and the rest of the length being made up of a long, double-ended tail. Iratusi have four legs and a blackish-blue carapace, with a soft orange underbelly. As the possess a rudimentary spine called a "notochord", they are technically Chordates. They have modified biting pincers and prefer to trap very large prey by building sticky, ovoid webs, usually about 7 feet tall from ground level, in dark, cool, damp environments. The webs themselves are extremely strong but thin, and built in a messy criss-cross fashion in no organized form.
Feeding
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Iratus Insects trap their prey either by waiting for the victim to get stuck to the web (which is usually destroyed at this point), or by actually attacking the victim. While the insects cannot fly, they have extraordinary jumping powers, and they target the neck, clamping themselves on with their strong legs. They prefer a large blood vessel, from which they proceed to drain the prey subject directly of its cells' ionic energy, which appears to be extremely painful for the subject. The subject eventually loses both voluntary and involuntary muscular power and dies, at which point the Iratus stops feeding. Attempting the remove the insect causes it to tighten its hold and drain energy faster. Iratus Insects are extremely aggressive, and will attack unprovoked or even after just feeding.
Reproduction
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Iratusi live alone to hunt, but they gather in massive hive colonies (usually in caves) consisting of thousands of insects in order to breed. They breed every few years. The hive is dominated by a core group of queens, which are larger and much more aggressive than the male majority. The queens mate with a large number of fertile males, after which the males are fed upon. Unfertile males build huge cocoons suspended from the cave ceiling, about 10 feet in diameter, which is then filled with the sticky white eggs. DNA from recently fed on prey can become incorporated into the Iratus Insect's young at this point. They guard the nest with extreme ferocity against any non-Iratus intruders; any creature containing Iratus DNA is ignored.
Young Iratus Insects are called "callows". Callows are pale white just after hatching, but they soon turn dark black. They mature very rapidly: 8% are queens, 92% are males. Male insects are divided into two castes: soldiers and regular males. The soldiers mature much more rapidly than the others and they live only to help defend the nest. The other males become fertile or unfertile depending on the amounts of pheromones received from a queen for an extended amount of time. For the first few weeks of life they have an operational digestive system and cannot feed in the same manner as the adults do. They often fight and devour each other.
Wraith Biology
The Wraith may have evolved from Iratus Insects that made human beings their chief prey item. Indeed, Wraith DNA is incredibly similiar to Iratus DNA, and it seems to contain human elements.
Sociology
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Wraith, like Iratusi, live in hive groups. However, Wraith hives are controlled by a single Queen. Wraith hives are very territorial and will attack any intruding hives or hive members at the slightest provacation. Like the Iratusi they are extremely aggressive. It is considered acceptable in Wraith society for an invading Queen to assume control of another hive if she murders the former Queen.
Feeding
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The Wraith feed very similiarly to the Iratus Insects, though they are specifically adapted to feeding on humans. Non-human creatures cannot be fed upon, unless they are very humanoid or contain human DNA. Wraith have a feeding organ in the palm of their right hand.
Wraith feeding is much more efficent than the Iratus counterpart. When a Wraith is preparing to feed, they often telepathically subdue the victim, draw back their hand, and then slam it bodily into the prey's chest. The action pumps an enzyme into the prey's body, temporarily strengthing them for the feeding. If they weren't so strengthened, the feeding process would probably kill them instantly and defeat the purpose of draining the cellular energy.
A Wraith's fingernails are long, thick, and clawed. They lock onto the victim's chest by hooking these modified nails into the epidermis and convulsing the muscular "mouth" in their palm into the skin. The victim almost immediately loses the ability to resist as their energy is used to strengthen the Wraith. The victim undergoes an extremely painful effect like aging as they are fed upon. The end result is achieved in only about 2-5 minutes: and is a dessicated corpse. Humans partially fed upon often die of shock afterwards, or seldom ever fully recover. The feeding process reputably feels like "being burned alive" to the victim.
Wraith usually need to feed every couple of weeks, though unusual conditions, like radiation sickness or injury, will drive them to feed sooner. Feeding supplies the Wraith with renewed energy and extreme regeneration. A Wraith can live several months without feeding, though the process of starving to death is agonizingly painful (ironically described exactly as the humans describe being fed upon), and causes delerium in later stages. If supplied with adaquate prey, a Wraith's lifespan is biological immortal.
Telepathy
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Any creature possessing Wraith DNA can access the Wraith telepathic system, as well as any normally telepathic creature. Wraith telepathy is strongest in the Queens, with commanders and hybrids having weaker telepathic powers, though still very strong in respect to most species.
Usually, the telepathic communication takes place in the form of images and emotions, rather than words. Wraith can also generate ghost-like images into the minds of large groups of prey, which is the supposed origin of the name "Wraith". Wraith Queens can forceably take over and control other beings through telepathy, usually to cause them to surrender weapons or information.
Humans genetically modified to possess Wraith DNA have been able to communicate with Wraith telepathically, to an extent. While the Wraith can communicate with any species, normally non-telepathic species can only communicate with Wraith provided they have the DNA. Wraith can sense basic responses from similar, yet non-intelligent species, like Iratus Insects.
Large Wraith ships, such as cruisers or hiveships, are built to responsive only to telepathic control from Wraith. Many door locks and switches are also activated by telepathic control.
Traits
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Wraith, like Iratusi, have a soldier caste. Unlike in Iratus Insects, the soldiers do not die off any sooner than regular members of their species, but they do grow faster than regular callows. While all other Wraith castes are intelligent, Wraith soldiers do not have any more lucidity than animals. They are typically controlled telepathically by regular male commanders or a Queen.
A Wraith's appearance is vaguely humanoid, with many differences.
Wraith eyes are vertically slitted, and are usually gold though green-yellow and sometimes bronze is common. They are color-blind, and fail to recognize the differences between reds and greens, or blues and violets. However, they do see thermal signatures in blue tints. They see best nocturnally, and prefer dark environments. Wraith have a blue eyeshine.
Skin and hair colors are very variable in the female sex, but much less so in males. In Wraith Queens, hair color is usually black, but red, white, or even extremely rarely brown is possible. Most Wraith have blue or green skin, and all males do, but occasionally a Queen may be white or tan colored.
Wraith skulls tend to have flatter faces than the average human. They tend towards broader noses and wider cheekbones, with rather slight chins. Forehead ridges are also common. Wraith possess two secondary nostrils on the cheeks, and much of the inner sinus space within the skull is devoted to balance and smell. A Wraith's skin is usually completely hairless except on the scalp and occasionally the area around the mouth on males.
The average height for a regular Wraith male is 6'1". The averages for Queens and soldiers respectively are 6'3" and 6'5".
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Reproduction
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Wraith reproduction takes place in specialized spawning grounds or on the hiveship. The Hive Queen selects several fertile males with desirable genes and is internally fertilized by them, sometimes actually raping the males. Only Queens experience an active sex drive. Males must be subjected to a Queen's mating pheromones to desire intercourse.
Eggs are fertilized by competetive sperm. The Queen then begans ejecting a viscous liquid, which she attaches to the ceiling of the spawning grounds and allows to draw to the floor. It sets into a firm mucus-like membrane after a couple of minutes, and contains eggs. The Queen may create thousands of these egg strands, and only one egg per strand will eventually survive. Sometimes the strand creation is done artifically.
The Wraith embryos grow for two months, feeding off energy contained in the strand. Eventually, they began feeding off each other until one is left. This embryo develops for another two months very rapidly, becoming a Wraith callow. The callow hatches able to walk and understand language. All Wraith callows have white skin for their first month, but soon develop a human-like skin tone. Except for soldiers, they will take on their adult color at 8-12 years of age. All callows except soldiers have black hair at hatching.
A Wraith matures at 12-16 years of age.
Soldier-caste Wraith are hatched fully grown to adult size. They are hatched pale, but will acquire a blue skin tone in several weeks. They are hatched bald but may grow hair in about one month. Soldiers differ from normal Wraith in that they never possess the human-like cartilage of the nose.
Wraith-Human Hybrid Biology
Wraith-human hybrids are usually humans who have been genetically modified to carry Wraith DNA and characteristics. The advantages of hybridization are the abilities to use Wraith telepathy and super-human strength without the need to feed on humans. Hybrids are much weaker than Wraith, but still much stronger than humans.
Traits
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The down-side to hybridization is the fact that neither Wraith nor humans will accept a hybrid as a blend of both species. Wraith see too many human characteristics to respect the hybrid individual, and humans see too many Wraith characteristics to trust them. Another factor is that diseases that were rendered ineffective against the regenerative Wraith and immune humans may affect hybrids.
A Wraith-human hybrid will appear as the same individual as when he was hybridized, except with Wraith eyes and secondary nostrils. The secondary nostrils are occasionally rudimentary or non-functional in hybrids.
Another, rarer, version of the Wraith-human hybrid is the hybridized Wraith. These are former Wraith individuals. They possess a more human skin tone and human hair color, and the secondary nostrils may become deformed. The area on their palms were the feeding organ used to be dissappears to sometimes leave a scar, and their digestive organs become functional.
No hybrid is a truely stable blend of both species. They often require special monitoring and may suffer poor health throughout the rest of their lives. The Iratus elements in Wraith DNA are especially voracious, and often the hybrid's body may deteriorate through insufficent cell replacement or even actual brain damage.
After about a decade of hybridization, the subject eventually begans to feel extremely painful headaches and sudden fatigue. The causes and eventual end are unknown.
Technology
Wraith technology is primarily grown, though some non-organic components are sometimes used. The entire process centers around Wraith hiveships, and all lesser technology can be genetically analyzed to trace its orginating hive.
Hiveship
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The hiveship itself begins as a basic artifical pathogen. Analysis of the pathogen shows heavy Wraith DNA content, as well as heavy minerals such as trinium and trace naquadah. In building the hiveship, first, a large non-organic metal frame is built in the basic shape of the vessel, on a planetary surface. This frame will be eventually absorbed and digested into the body of the hive, allowing it to grow larger than its orginal size later on.
After the frame is built energy systems are installed and run in conduits along the main structure. The hyperdrive and sublight engines are partially constructed from non-organic materials.
A human is infected with the pathogen at this point. The subject begins to feel sleepy and falls into a coma within 36 hours. The pathogen slowly gains control of the nervous system, which will eventually become the ship's main sensory systems and computers. Tentacled organic structures grow from the subject's abdomen and secures the host body to the structural frame and energy source.
After tapping the energy source growth is very rapid. The human never regains lucidity again after the pathogen controls the brain, and once control is gained data can be fed into the growing ship's systems to guide the building process. The hiveship will detect intruders and defend itself violently during this first growing stage.
How long it takes for the ship to reach operational size depends on how much power is being given to it. Given unlimited power very rapidly, the ship can grow to its 2 kilometer operating size in one week. However, power is at a premium using classic Wraith generation techniques, and the usual rate is about 10 months. After reaching operational status it is launched, though many of its systems, such as technology-growing or jamming fields, are not yet mature. The ship will continue to grow slowly until reaching a size of about 11 kilometers for classic hives, and about 25 kilometers for so-called "super-hives", which use powerful, non-Wraith energy generation techniques.
Weapons
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Most Wraith hand weapontry is designed to stun human beings, the Wraith food source, rather than kill. In recent years several modified versions of regular stunner weapons have been created to deliver lethal force, but they are still uncommon. As Wraith weapons are designed with just enough force to render a human target unconscience, it takes considerably more shots to take down a Wraith or other super-human enemy. The energy blasts delivered appear blue in color. The stunner rifle is most commonly modified for lethal force, and it always comes with a double-pronged bayonet on the rear. The stunner blaster is usually carried by commanders. The stunner staff is a rarer weapon variant.
Tactical or Support Technology
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As Wraith see best in nocturnal habitats, in different color schemes than humans, and in thermal and movement-based glows, it is sometimes helpful to use goggles designed to detect spectral differences in color and exaggerate them to the Wraith, so as to display an almost human range of color accuracy.
Wraith scanners are designed to telepathically relay information on nearby lifeforms, energy readings, and minerals.
Other Technology
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Current Politics
