Morthren

The Morthren are an alien species from War of the Worlds.

History

Origin

The Morthren were an alien race that were native to the planet Morthrai. (Episode: The Second Wave) Their home planet was a paradise world that was filled with energy rich crystals. The Morthren were the only intelligent form of life within their galaxy and lived a perfect harmonious existence with Morthrai since their race first began. This peaceful species became highly advanced by the mid-20th century when they detected the first atomic bombs being deployed on Earth in 1945. The discovery of this tremendous release of energy and disruptive anomaly in the galaxy attracted the alien's interest. By this point, one of their scientists known as Malzor had helped create energy crystals that could be use to power interstellar craft. Thus, the leader of the Morthren race known as Tallick decided to send an expedition to the planet Earth. This act required large scale use of the crystalline resources that would seriously threaten Morthrai's stability by destabilizing its ecosystem but the Morthren leader was determined for the launch of the expedition. In 1953, the aliens arrived on Earth where their forces were engaged in outright hostilities with mankind only for them to succumb to the planet's native bacteria. This led to Malzor being determined to conquer Earth and killed Tallick whereupon he fabricated a lie to install himself as leader as well as ordered mining of the remaining crystal resources on Morthrai. Their homeworld changed into a desolate ice planet as a result and Malzor ordered the remnants of his people's best as well as brightest to journey on their new starship to begin the second invasion of Earth. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Telepathic flashbacks shown by Seft showed the Morthren to have an alien form resembling that of the Mor-Taxans. The obelisk also showed the early history of the Morthren when they were more peaceful and they shared the appearance of the Mor-Taxans.

Their homeworld's environment was akin to the polluted ravaged atmosphere of Earth in the 20th century. (Episode: Night Moves) One engagement known to their species was the Battle of Niyantes located in the fourth quadrant of the Lorr galaxy where troops were deployed to defeat rebel forces. (Episode: Loving the Alien) At an unknown point in the past, they were known to had encountered the human looking inhabitants of the planet Emun. This species had the natural ability to grow crystals who welcomed the Morthren and were willing to share their goods which the aliens used for their technology. The bargain was seemingly beneficial between the two races but the Morthren ended up betraying the inhabitants of Emun by destroying them and their world. Millions were killed on Emun with the planet itself being left as a burning wasteland. Among their conquests from the invasion was the High Priestess Lady Seft who was a Crystal Master alongside her son Tori who were both held hostage as well as kept in stasis seemingly for the purpose given by the Eternal. As a result, the Morthren were considered enemies of the survivors of Emun. (Episode: Seft of Emun) At a distant point in their past, their home planet suffered a cataclysmic event that engulfed it. This event was so fierce that its inhabitants witnessed a powerful lightstorm that saw many of its people die which lead to an explosion that ripped the planet apart. (Episode: The Second Wave) These aliens were well aware of the failure of the previous soldiers that were sent towards Earth with some Morthren commenting that they were fools. It was claimed that the previous invasion forces would pay for their stupidity in eliminating the few humans that were aware of the aliens existence. (Episode: The Second Wave) The race was noted to had crossed the galaxy during their travel to Earth. (Episode: Seft of Emun) They retained a collective memory of their arrival on the planet and how mankind greeted them. (Episode: Loving the Alien) The race of Mor-Taxans were considered the first wave of warriors. (Episode: Time to Reap)

Almost Tomorrow

These aliens ultimately decided to intervene in the affairs of the invasion of the planet Earth in the late 20th century. This came at a time when the Human race's society had spiralled into a dismal state where its economy, environment and government had greatly suffered. Upon arriving on the planet, members of the Morthren told their people that the Eternal would be arriving on Human homeworld and turning it into the new Morthrai. Among these Morthren stood one of them that acted as a leader for their actions who was known as Malzor. After a long journey, the Eternal emerged on the planet and was greeted by his followers who declared that they were in the process of creating a new homeworld. The entity spoke to the Morthren and commanded that the planet Earth be purified whereupon the Eternal departed. Thus, the Morthren intended to eliminate Human resistance and decided to execute the "traitors" from the previous invasion. This saw the leaders of the Advocacy of the Mor-Taxan assault being executed for their failure in conquering the planet. All Mor-Taxans were thus gathered and "cast out" by the Eternal where they were killed by the newly arrived Morthren. Members of Project Blackwood came to learn of the Morthren when a pair of them attempted to abduct Harrison Blackwood. Thus, the Blackwood team came to believe that the alien invaders had not departed but had changed their infiltration techniques as they none of the prior detection methods used on the Mor-Taxans were effective with the Morthren. Whilst investigating, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ironhorse of the Blackwood project was captured by the Morthren who created a clone of him and sent him to eliminate his team members as well as all records that they had accumulated. They succeeded in destroying the Blackwood headquarters and continued their campaign of infiltrating the Human race. (Episode: The Second Wave) The threat posed by the humans also came when they infiltrated their replication facility and stole one of the Engram devices that were vital to the cloning process of humans. These aliens attempted to track the machine when Harrison Blackwood attempted to activate the Engram. At the same time, the Morthren had replaced a minor religious official in charge of a shelter where they intended him to spread the faith of the one true god; the Eternal and that the outcasts at his residence would be secretly abducted for use in experiments without alerting humanity. This plot ended when the replicant was killed and the original copy, Father Jim, managed to escape back to the shelter. (Episode: No Direction Home) A deeper obstacle faced by the invaders was a heat wave that was threatening to kill the original human templates for their clone agents. This was during a heatwave that was affecting the planet Earth where the Morthren used organic membranes to steal sources of water for their own needs. At this time, they intended to manipulate Earth religious beliefs by creating a Human messiah and diverting mankind's faith to the Eternal Spirit of Morthrai. To accomplish this, they had their agents indirectly prop a local man of faith by creating supplies of water at his religious gatherings in order to create a prophet for their own needs. After creating a number of "miracles", the Morthren created events to allow them to replace their messiah with a clone with the intention of creating human believers of the Eternal. However, an electric storm prevented the Morthren from achieving their goals of deception. (Episode: Doomsday)

Following the near death of chief scientist Ardix at the hands of humans, there was growing fear over the new base selected and it was believed that the Eternal was not safe in this quadrant. The dangers of the region were demonstrated when numerous casualties amongst the Morthren showed that their numbers were dwindling in this new territory. Furthermore, their attempts at breeding had only produced a single offspring in the environment. In order to survive, they attempt to control humans through the use of music of a rock band called Scavengers to influence mankind's behaviour. However, Blackwood's team killed the band leader and the organic amplifier thus ending this plan. Malzar believed the initiative was a failure and that all attempts would be made to eliminate mankind. (Episode: Terminal Rock) Due to lack of medical knowledge on humans, the Morthren began operating on mankind to place seed implants within them and used Doctor Justain for this task. (Episode: Breeding Ground) The aliens began suffering from energy shortages that impacted their technology and thus staged five assaults on transport trucks in order to acquire human energy supplies. This saw a depletion in radioactive supplies as the Morthren began acquiring it in the hopes of fulfilling all their power needs. Whilst attempting to clone a human to lead them to new energy sources, their technology suffered a discharge as it was unable to cope with the human energy leading to the destruction of the clone template. As a result, the Morthren faced dwindling power reserves and a low number of vital crystals with their scientists being unable to find a solution. In desperation, they consulted the Eternal who ordered that Lady Seft be released from stasis even if it reduced their power supplies. Using her son as a hostage, they had her grow crystals for their needs but the sheer number of crystals needed and her hatred of the Morthren led to her telepathically contacting Harrison Blackwood for help. At the time, the aliens required enough crystals to power their base of operations. Contact with Blackwood led to humanity first learning of the true name of the alien invaders. (Episode: Seft of Emun) They began hiring local human mercenaries to act in their operations in order to prevent further Morthren losses whilst making it appear as another local gang fight. (Episode: Loving the Alien)

At an unknown point, the central feeding chamber of the aliens became contaminated by bacteria and deprived them of its use. As a result, rationing methods were employed amongst the Morthren leading to discipline breaking down and certain aliens wasting the nutrients in fights. Full rations were not capable of being restored as a result of the lost chamber and alternate sources were being considered. This included the implantation of Morthren vegetation in altered Earth soil and treating the samples with particular spectra to sustain them. The controlled environment of the Morthren base was not enough to grow enough of their food to support their numbers for a great length of time. A greenhouse was acquired by farmland where the initial vegetation managed to develop heathily which would allow more to be grown and masqueraded it as a government based agricultural work. The experiment proved to be a success with the mature plants being prepared for harvesting. Around ten such agricultural units were under the aliens control with another twenty targeted and only a single one failed. (Episode: Night Moves) Earth during this time suffered from the legalization of narcotics that saw the rise of increased violence and creation of numerous drug companies. In this environment, the Morthren decided to introduce their own drug which they called Crevulax and began seeking human agents to distribute the substance. Among the companies included Pharcil Drugs and LeMar Labs but they determined that LaPorte Pharmaceuticals had suffered a financial loss. Thus, they approached its founder LaPorte and offered them a potent drug to be used as part of rehabilitation treatment at special centers operated by the company. The company scientists were unaware of what resided within the drug and the Morthren intended to use it to deal with mankind's malignant population as well as gain currency. Mr LaPorte himself, however, saw only profit in the use of the legalized drug and began putting it into production which the Morthren themselves controlled. This ended when the composition of the drug was determined leading to the end of the corporate alliance whilst the Blackwood team created a serum to remove Crevyulax's effects. Despite this being the case, the aliens planned to use this perfect drug in the future for their next campaign against mankind. (Episode: Synthetic Love)

Next Phase

The aliens also had trouble in interfacing with human computers with a project being made by Kemo to create the perfect system. A great deal of time and resources were placed on this project with it a prototype ready for testing to destroy key human operators. It was intended that the device would allow access to any computer in the world to absorb their knowledge, take control of financial bases and nuclear warheads. Once created, it served as a means of accessing the hidden advanced human network system known as the grapevine. It was then used to hack the grapevine as a test of its own capabilities where it faced some problem with the hacker known as Ace who managed to gain access to Morthren code. This led to the second lethal option of the device being initiated to kill Ace but a feedback emerged that led to both Ace and Kemo being struck by an energy burst from the computer. Ace was killed and Kemo badly wounded to the point that his scars made him rejected by the Morthren people. Instead of dying as dictated by his peoples civilization, he went rogue and adopted the life of the human hacker Ace. Whilst the Morthren targeted human operators, Kemo became influenced by the memories of Ace and saw horror in the actions of his people which saw him attempting to destroy his great weapon. With the help of the resistance, he succeeded in destroying the alien computer weapon. (Episode: The Defector) The Eternal tasked the Morthren with a mission to travel back in time to 1957 to ensure the success of the Mor-Taxan invasion forces by preventing their fall to Earth's bacteria but were stopped when Harrison Blackwood travelled back in time with them. (Episode: Time to Reap) At some point, the first child of the Morthren was born on Earth who in the span of two months grew to the equivalent of a nine year old human. However, the child known as Adam was not growing emotionally which threatened to endanger his life. As a result, the Morthren decided to send him to a human government installation known as the Creche that was growing genetically engineered test tube children. The purpose was to allow his human side to grow whereupon he would steal the data in the facility for use by the aliens to engineer hybrid children to better survive on Earth. Taking on the identity of Adam Warner, he succeeded in befriending the human children and managed to steal the data whereupon he attempted to take his "friends" to his fellow Morthren. Adam failed in taking the human children with him but did return to his kind with the information from the Creche. (Episode: The Pied Piper)

By this point, the alien invasion of the planet suffered a setback when an unknown disease began infecting the Morthren and their technology thus slowly killing them. As a result, they sponsored a co-project with the United States government at a secret laboratory with the intention of creating a revolutionary new medical tool. Project Solomon was under the control of Colonel West with the intention of making the Medcell which the Morthren desired to cure the infection and in exchange they would offer hyperdrive propellant. However, Kevin Grey stole the device from his superiors and took it to the Exchange in order to sell it. The Medcell's ability as a micro-robotic doctor that had the capacity to analyse and repair damages to cell structures which was why the Morthren sent their forces to retrieve it whilst attempting to stop Project Blackwood from gaining it. Malzor managed to acquire the Medcell to cure his people whereupon he eliminated Colonel West. (Episode: The Deadliest Disease) The aliens in order to survive on Earth intended to acquire the services of a powerful human patron. They managed to find one in an influential millionaire called Mr Samuels who was dying of old age. The Morthren approached him and offered to prevent his impending death by providing him a serum but in exchange they wanted to use his power, wealth as well as influence to mask their operations. However, the alien activity attracted the attention of a reporter called Trainer who was following their operations and taking pictures of their activities. This threatened to expose the secret alien invasion and the Morthren used the revived Mr Samuels to bury the story whilst sending their agents to eliminate the reporter and using new political links to force him on the run. (Episode: Path of Lies) As one attempt at controlling mankind, the aliens captured Doctor Van Odder and created of a clone of him with the intention of using his influence of media tycoon Hardy Galt. Galt was the CEO of Hardy Galt Industries that was a massive advertising company which the Morthren intended to use to spread subliminal messages that would induce psychotic behavior. (Episode: Video Messiah)

In an effort to better combat humans, the Morthren pioneered a virtual training program with the aid of the Nikita who desired a gambling arena. The aliens created a virtual simulator where combatants fought each other in a lethal game with the loser dying in the battle. A Morthren infiltrator was tasked as playing the reigning champion where the aliens intended to learn from the experience to anticipate instinctive behavior as well as responses. Nikita profited by having audiences to place bets and thus earned profit from the victories. This plan was foiled by the intervention of the members of Project Blackwood when the aliens had to terminate the software to prevent detection. (Episode: Totally Real) One experiment into fielding their own warriors saw the Morthren revive the captured Max Kincaid and turn him into a cyborg soldier. This was with the intention of creating an army that the aliens needed to decimate their foes. Max was tasked with a programming to eliminate his former compatriots but Kincaid failed in killing his brother John Kincaid due to his memories of his former life. Thus, they sought to terminate him and ultimately the cyborg was destroyed. (Episode: Max) By this point, the Morthren were dangerously close to defeat as their population had dropped in number and they began suffering from malnutrition. Furthermore, they were no longer able to create functional clones thus threatening their invasion with defeat. In order to combat Project Blackwood, they framed the human members through disguises in order to get mankind's authorities to defeat their enemy. However, the plot failed with the aliens facing more casualties forcing them to rely on workers to protect their base and a further 20% drop in rations. (Episode: The True Believers) The Morthren were threatened with extinction by this point whereupon Malzor decided to unleash a spore weapon to eliminate mankind. It was only the action of Ceto who revealed the treachery of Malzor and the deception he used to embark on the invasion. This allowed Mana to learn the truth about the death of her father and revealing this to her comrades who turned against Malzor who in turn was killed. The repentant Morthren decided to destroy their base and disappear on Earth though offered their help to mankind through Project Blackwood in order to prevent the same tragedy that affected Morthrai from coming to Earth. (Episode: The Obelisk)

The fate of the Morthren after this point is unknown as Mana took charge of their race and offered co-existence with mankind though no answer was given nor was their official presence on the planet revealed to the general public on Earth.

Overview

The true form of the Morthren was shown to be quite alien in form and resembling that of the Mor-Taxans with greenish skin along with three digit hands. (Episode: Seft of Emun) This form had rubbery skin and a single eye on their heads which closely resembled the form of the Mor-Taxans. (Episode: The Obelisk) They generated unusual alien vocal sounds as a form of communication to one another. (Episode: Time to Reap) Their biology was vulnerable to certain breeds of infection such as types of bacteria native to Earth. (Episode: The Deadliest Disease) Earth bacteria were devastating to their kind until they created an immunity in the form of a serum that allowed them to live in such environments. Whilst vulnerable to such bacteria, they were immune to other kinds such as the kind generated by Telesion Spores. The species had a long lifespan with the average life of a Morthren being 1,000 years. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Those that took the form of man did so by being present within fleshy green sacs that the Morthren emerged as naked Human specimens. Whilst externally no different from a Human, their internal structure different to the point that the aliens had bright green blood. Once killed, their bodies emitted a green gas before beginning a quick dissolving process as the flesh decayed whilst their green blood spread from any wounds until no trace of the deceased Morthren was present. They were notable quite different from the Mor-Taxans in the sense that there were no radiation scars amongst the Morthren infiltrators and were capable of almost completely fooling Humans once they assumed that form. (Episode: The Second Wave) Their strength was also greater than a typical human and they were able to overpower a member of the human race. (Episode: Loving the Alien) Morthren had the ability to incapacitate a human by touching a specific point in the neck which left the subject in pain for a brief moment as they went unconscious. (Episode: Time to Reap)

At least one Morthren child born on Earth demonstrated abilities unseen in his comrades. This male offspring grew to the equivalent of a nine year old human in the span of two months but his emotional human side did not develop adequately. The Morthren had the highest ability in physical or mental skills amongst his kind which was far above that of mankind to the point that he was able to accomplish complex equations. A more advanced ability was seemingly the power to communicate telepathically with others of his kind. This trait included the capacity to project images into the minds of others. These imagery ranged from fantastic forms of entertainment to more dangerous ones such as forcing a subject to relive nightmarish memories to kill them or make them believe they were being burnt alive thus killing them. (Episode: The Pied Piper)

Scans of their internal physiology demonstrated their more alien nature with a different lung and heart structure. (Episode: The Pied Piper) They were seemingly were unable to digest Earth foods with the resultant action being similar to an extreme allergic reaction. A Morthren suffering from such a condition swelled to uncontrollable levels and were in extreme agony until their skin ruptured leading to a violent death. The only possible means for eating Terran-based food was by altering their own plantlife to adapt it to Earth environment. (Episode: Night Moves) When mortally wounded, Morthren within their human bodies gave an unearthly shrill-like scream that was another indicator of their alien origins. (Episode: No Direction Home) Wounded members of these aliens had a danger of infection to their blood when exposed to Earth's air. (Episode: Loving the Alien) Human Morthren bodies disintegrated after death after a few minutes. (Episode: Path of Lies) Morthren were capable of reproducing though the environments was a factor in breeding more of their kind. (Episode: Terminal Rock) The species were noted to hold some form of collective memory. (Episode: Loving the Alien)

Society

Morthren were a strictly segregated society where their population was split between workers and warriors. If their population was depleted, then it meant workers would mean lower food resources being present and inexperienced warrior hunters being sent on tasks leading to a higher risk of failure. (Episode: The True Believer) The goal of their society was perfection with this being the ultimate state their species was capable of achieving. True Morthren saw themselves as the perfect race with the imperfect selected to be eliminated which was why it was not considered murder among their kind. As a result, imperfection in any form was something to be despised by the Morthren race. This meant that even aspects such as scars and wounds were a sign of disgust to their people. Those Morthren suffering from such scars were expected to terminate themselves and willingly end their lives. This was because perfection could no longer be achieved by those suffering from permanent wounds. A last act some of these aliens were capable of asking was to be brought before the Eternal and asked to join it along with the host of Morthren within it in order to be reclaimed. However, the Eternal similarly despised imperfection and was capable of rejecting such individuals that approached it. As a result, scarred Morthren were simply taken into disintegration platforms to be eliminated. (Episode: The Defector) Leadership of the species was largely concentrated on the elder members of their council who passed on their role to a worthy successor. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Originally, the aliens were a peaceful species who were capable of love and various emotions. (Episode: The Obelisk) Following the destruction of their homeworld, some Morthren came to believe that they had no home. However, others believed that Morthrai did not represent a place but rather an idea that could not be destroyed. As a result, these individuals held the view that they could take other worlds and allow Morthrai to be reborn. (Episode: The Second Wave) The reasoning for this was because of Malzor's vengeance against the Earth leading him to sacrifice the remains of his people and only selecting the best as well as brightest to come to Earth. Thus, they severed all ties to Morthrai where they sacrificed their traditions and memories in order to become a new race of colder more ruthless beings (Episode: The Obelisk) This meant the mandate for their kind was to make the planet Earth safe for the Morthren race. (Episode: Terminal Rock) The species highly valued discipline and thought before action. In fact, they believed the use of discipine and rational thought were the root of Morthren success as it separated them from the other "weaker forms". (Episode: Loving the Alien) Acting as an individual was contrary to all the teachings of the Morthren. Their children used computer system simulations to educate them that resembled screens connected by umbilical cords to their machinery. Upon query, the child was required to input an answer with an incorrect response leading to a shock created by an implant on the ear which serves as punishment. Those children that showed disobediance and ill disciplined behavior were inflicted with shock impulses to teach them their races values on rational thought. (Episode: Loving the Alien)

One figure important amongst the Morthren was a figure known as the Eternal with the aliens believing that he created Morthrai where ever he resided. Those Morthren that relocated to Earth came to believe that the Eternal was going to move to Earth and turn it into the new Morthrai. This being emerged from a white sphere of radiating light that turned light blue before the figure emerged. The form presented to the Morthren was that of a larger than human jellyfish-like creature with a membranous top with a single central eye and thick tentacles that hung by sides. This upper grayish hide covered a lower domed white flesh substance where numerous smaller whiter tendrils hung by the bottom. The Eternal commanded great respect from the Morthren who bowed before the being when they were within his presence and spoke the words "The Eternal spirit of Morthrai, we greet you". This entity spoke in haunting alien melodies that could only be understood by his subjects. (Episode: The Second Wave) It was also known as the Eternal Spirit of Morthrai. (Episode: Doomsday) They believed that the Eternal was their equivalent of mankind's god but scorned humanity's religious beliefs and believed their sacred texts were mad confusion myth mixed with contradictions. Another reason for their derision of Earth's religious beliefs was because humanity's god was "invisible" which was a contrast to the Eternal that had a visible impact amongst their society. (Episode: No Direction Home) The Eternal demanded of the Morthren that they rid the universe of imperfection. (Episode: Seft of Emun) It was considered their god and everything that knew an individual's birth from before their birth. (Episode: The Obelisk)

On Earth, the Morthren were committed to the completion of their mission and were desperate to ensure that the did not repeat the failure of the previous invasion forces. They viewed the previous soldiers as "fools" who should be punished for their "stupidity" with these traitors being executed. Failure to the Morthren race and the Eternal was deemed punishable by death. Thus, death was considered a high price for failure amongst their society. Equally, the Morthren held little regard for Humanity and were content to test new weapons on them. They saw mandkind as vermin that infested the Earth and nothing compared to the Morthren people. Those clones of Humans instilled with Morthren ideals saw mankind as a plague on the Earth that needed to be eliminated. These clones believed that Humanity would lose in the war because they would not abandon even a single child instead of survive. Furthermore, these cloned Morthren subjects believed themselves expendable and were capable of allowing themselves to die instead of escaping. (Episode: The Second Wave) The Morthren also did not believe in the concept of charity as they saw it was a waste of resources to provide for those that were unfit to survive and that such individuals should be allowed to die instead of preserving them. (Episode: No Direction Home) They ruthless nature meant that they left no survivors from their attacks. (Episode: Loving the Alien) Fear was a trait that the Morthren attributed to mankind only as death was not of importance among their people. They were also taught that humans were weak and disorderly. (Episode: The Defector) Humanity were seen as a unique race as they were unpredictable and illogical by the alien standards. One of the qualities they were unable to fully challenge was mankind's capacity to rely on instinct. (Episode: Totally Real)

The aliens saw Humanity as being a race filled with imperfections and were astounded by the fact that the species were composed of water. They also believed that everything had a rational explanation and that humanity were superstitious for believing in sources of divine power. Members of the Morthren were amused at the human belief in fables that were conditioned to them from childhood. (Episode: Doomsday) Morthren saw some members of the human race to be so full of rage and hate. One of the factors though they recognised in the control of human behaviour was in music. Rock music was believed by the Morthren to be an expression of decay and imbalance. (Episode: Terminal Rock) They also believed mankind to be the only species that killed their own kind. (Episode: Loving the Alien) The concept of celebrating the day of ones own birth was an alien idea amongst the aliens. In fact, they believed that this was a vain notion and that it was a sign of self-centeredness amongst humans. (Episode: Candle in the Night) However, they did not consider themselves murderers and were horrified at their actions after learning that their entire invasion was based on a lie. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Season Two of War of the Worlds implied that the Mor-Taxans and the Morthren are from the same race but does not delve further into this fact beyond stating that the previous invasion consisted of soldiers that failed on their mission which sees them being terminated in "The Second Wave."

Cycles were a unit of time measured by their species. (Episode: The Defector) One sacred icon in their culture was a blue crystalline obelisk shaped container that held two smaller crystals. The blue one was used by their leaders to help guide their people in the future whilst a green one allowed them to experience their past. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Technology

Construction

Elements of Morthren technology had a distinctive organic design element to it. They were able to construct small remotes that fit in the size of a Human hand that appeared as yellowish oval-shaped masses with tendrils on its surface. These were able to hover in the air under their own power and used as surveillance tools. The images they gathered were transmitted remotely to organic membrane-styled screens for the Morthren to observe. Any intruders detected by these screens allowed the Morthren to activate a shrilling alarm system to alert their kind of infiltration or attack. (Episode: The Second Wave) Large organic masses that served as computers were used to track Morthren technology. (Episode: Terminal Rock) The alien organic technology such as their cloning chambers and feeding stations were vulnerable to alien infections. (Episode: The Deadliest Disease) Their construction material included using green membranes that were able to block sources of water. These included organic plant-like vines that were spread through underground and redirected sources of water. They were able to create organic remote devices that fit in the hands of a Morthren and were able to be used to activate machines that allowed for sources of water to be directed at specific sites. (Episode: Doomsday) The Morthren made use of small handheld communicators in order to communicate with one another in the field or send messages to their headquarters. (Episode: Candle in the Night)

They had constructed an advanced surveillance tool known as the Watcher that was a floating green skinned sphere that remotely relayed its visuals and audio feed to its control system. This machine was an advanced information gathering tool as it contained its own cloaking device that masked it visually from sight and was able to easily evade human alarm or security systems. However, the technology was capable of suffering from malfunctions that was able to affect its directional transmitter that prevented it from being shut down from headquarters. Whilst a valuable tool, it had its own self-destruct sequence that caused it to destroy itself to prevent it from falling into enemy hands though malfunctions were able to stop this aspect of the Watcher from operating properly. (Episode: Candle in the Night) Watchers consisted of two key compounds that included a receiver and a scanner. These were capable of being reverse engineered by humans into a liquid that was smeared onto bodies that allowed for one to witness the visual feed of another. (Episode: Totally Real)

They were able to create a breed of combat cyborgs that were engineered from living subjects that were forcibly transformed against their will. The process led to them being emotionless creatures with enhanced strength, immunity to disease and greater endurance allowing them to survive normally fatal injuries thus making them nearly impossible to destroy. Its optical system included one eye being implanted with a telescopic sensor and the other with a Watcher that fed data to the alien headquarters whilst allowing the Morthren to direct the cyborgs actions. Their memories were normally blanked and instead were programmed with a simple directive to eliminate targets. However, a critical flaw led to a resurgence of strong memories that caused the cyborg to malfunction and even turn against its creators. (Episode: Max)

Morthren were able to place neural pattern within music to serve as triggers for emotions and bring about increased aggressive behaviour amongst humans thus making them more violent. The technique was theoretically able to control the direction of the human behaviour. Such a process was capable of being accomplished by placing a transmitter within an amplifier to project the music over a large area. The machine resembled a organic green mass that attached itself to the necessary equipment that took the form of the amplifier. This process was capable of being refined and produced in the future at a much more faster rate. (Episode: Terminal Rock) They were skilled in the use of subliminal messaging to induce behavioral changes in humans. This included bringing about psychotic violent changes to create conflict. (Episode: Video Messiah)

Among their power generation technology was the use of vital crystals that were used for power rods. These were used to power their equipment and the production of crystal supplies was a vital component of their supply chain. Failing in this task meant that they attempted to consider alternative and more local power requirements but discovered that human energy processes were incompatiable with Morthren technology. (Episode: Seft of Emun) These were based on energy rich crystals that were native to their homeworld and were harnessed by their science to power hyperspace drives allowing interstellar craft to travel through deep space. (Episode: The Obelisk) They were able to make use of time travel technology. This made use of planetary alignments that occured once every century. During such moments, they were able to gather electrical energy from the power of supernova for the task. In such jumps into the past, the travellers had only twelve hours to accomplish their mission before they were returned to their native point in the timeline. (Episode: Time to Reap)

Their computer technology was noted to be quite different from humanity's to the point that interface between the two was difficult at first. It was believed that Morthren code made use of geometric progression and their firewalls were called relay screens. This was until they made use of an interface between human computers and Morthren Engrams allowing them to break into any system whereupon it was drained whilst the energy was used to kill the operator. This allowed them to use Morthren codes to track down users of the grapevine and trace their locations The engram that were able to latch onto a human computer and provide access. It was believed that it would allow secret remote access to the human networks and hack them. A secondary more dangerous disruption function was the capacity to create electrical energy burst that went through the computer and eliminate the human user. An initial flaw with the technology led to a dual feedback that killed both the Morthren operator and the human user. In the first incident, it actually linked the Morthren's mind with the dying humans and imparted the latters memories on the alien. (Episode: The Defector) They were able to construct a software to form a virtual reality with realistic experiences and included sensors that linked Morthren as well as humans to one another. Experiences in the game led to increasing difficulty with the responses being stored and studied for future analysis. (Episode: Totally Real)

They made use of organic electronic wands that were tasked with checking for instabilities in their computer systems. (Episode: The Defector) Morthren were able to use crystals to quickly sift and absorb data from human computer systems. (Episode: The Pied Piper)

Weapons

Their hand weapon technology appeared organic in design with these devices resembling gray-greenish fleshy orbs that were held within the hand. These handheld weapons contained an umbilical that was attached to the arm which snaked upwards from the wrist to the forearm and fired at their users command where during these moments that sphere in the hand glowed yellow. The blasts generated by them took the form of green beam-like shots that were capable of disintegrating humanoid targets. Those struck by the beams had a hole punctured straight through their bodies before they disintegrated whilst glancing shots to the arm wounded targets. Strikes against inanimate objects such as obstacles led to fire emerging from the targeted section. (Episode: The Second Wave) Their weapons were able to disintegrate humans and leave no bodies behind. (Episode: Time to Reap)

An alternative form of weapon was a device that generated reddish energy bursts that left targets paralysed for capture. (Episode: The Second Wave) Another hand held weapon contained grips that fired red pulse beams at targets. (Episode: Candle in the Night) Another weapon was a larger one was capable of being held in the hand and when activated it disintegrated those that came into contact with it. (Episode: Loving the Alien) Similar overhanging crystalline devices were used to disintegrate dead organic matter such as deceased humans. (Episode: Almost Tomorrow)

Another device was a tall tripod shaped structure of apparently organic design with a spherical fleshy green orb that stood on top. Its purpose was the execution of subjects who stood beneath the dark green mass where beams of green energy caused them to convulse and die. (Episode: The Second Wave) These machines were referred to as vaporizers that were intended to dispose of dead bodies. (Episode: The Deadliest Disease)

Biological Sciences

The unique dietary requirements of the aliens meant that they used central feeding chambers to sustain their populations. However, they were cpaable of being contaminated by unique bacteria thus preventing their use. In such circumstances, the aliens were required to consider alternate sources of nutrition. On Earth, they were unable to eat the food native to the planet so they had to alter soil samples to support Morthren spores needed to grow their own plantlife. Such vegetation needed to be treated by spectras of light generated from their technology to encourage them to grow. A prism device was used to generate an atmosphere for the plants with the air becoming poisonous to Earth based life that died upon continued exposure though the Morthren themselves were able to survive unharmed. Upon growing, the vegetation became aggressive in its spread with vines expanding throughout the immediate environment. Once treated, the nutrient took the form of a greenish liquid substance. (Episode: Night Moves) They were able to create a serum that provided what could be called eternal youth to humans. However, this was not a cure but a treatment and needed to be tailored to the sick individuals blood. (Episode: Path of Lies) They were able to use a serum designed to encourage prisoners to reveal secrets. Once injected, the liquid rewarded the subject with sleep but if they lied then they experienced a pain so agonizing that it destroyed the prisoner. (Episode: The True Believer)

A skilled art of this species was in the field of biological sciences where they managed to create a device that allowed them to transform from their normal forms into Human appearing ones. These machines resembled large membranous masses that contained two alcoves on the ground and a ring shaped structure above it. A naked Human specimen was contained in one of the alcoves whilst a Morthren stood inside the ring shaped structure where they supplied the machine with energy. Once done, the process gave some pain to the Morthren but saw this energy mingled with the Humans to create a cloned mass in the second alcove that grew at an accelerated rate. In moments, the cloned subject was ready to function who retained the memories of the Human subject but were completely under the aliens control. This process saw a clone version of the original being formed who were completely subject to the will of the Morthrens. Typically, the original Human shells were discarded but sometimes they were retained in case there was a problem with the clone. Theoretically, the process was deemed perfect to the point that it was both elegant and simple. This allowed the Morthren to move among the Human race who would be unsuspecting of the aliens and be trusted as well as welcomed by the inhabitants of Earth. The clones had a more ruthless streak and considered themselves expendable whilst able to kill anyone to accomplish the aims of their masters. These copies were somehow linked to the original to the point that if the original died then their clone died as well in the exact same manner. (Episode: The Second Wave) These creations were referred to as alien/human replicants though humans described them as mutants. Death of a clone replicant did return the strength to the original and thus potentially allowed them to escape from the cloning chamber under their own power. (Episode: No Direction Home) Clones were a perfect copy of the flawed original specimen which meant that they lacked any scars or other defining traits thus serving as a possible means of identifying a Morthren copy. (Episode: Loving the Alien)

These cloning chambers had one problem in the sense that environmental conditions that affected their original templates. As such, heat waves that were able to dehydrate and kill human hosts affected their clones which killed both of them. These humans were kept hung in organic membrane sacs in order to keep their templates in good conditions. (Episode: Doomsday) They used organic constructs that fed on power to provide nutrients to their kind. (Episode: Seft of Emun) Technicians were needed to ease the transition of a subject from stasis which were pod-like constructs. (Episode: Seft of Emun) The chambers were equably capable of killing the original template once it had served its purpose. (Episode: Loving the Alien)

One component of the replication process device was a hand-held organic green membranous construct. This Engram glowed with a pale yellow light from its centre and its function involved the use of memory. Simple contact with the device allowed it to record the memories of the user and any further contact with it by other individuals allowed them access to that memory. As such, the users experience ranged from fleeting memories of words being used to actually experiencing the events of another person whose memory became encoded within the device. The experience was not simply observing the events of the memory but actually becoming the person within it and feeling what they had felt. Thus, it was believed the device functioned by recording memory to transfer to the new clones during the replication process and were hooked into the cloning device by the feet of a subject trapped into the greater machine. It was believed humans did have the capacity to activate the Engram or understand it but once activated it generated a signal that could be tracked. Once activated in a proper manner, some memories in the Engram were projected in a holographic manner though such experiences did drain the users as the device fed on its users in a vampiric fashion. Being constantly fed to gradual growth of the Engram which doubled in size and allowed its signal to grow stronger. The Morthren were able to remotely activate other Engrams and forcibly use the memories of anyone nearby against them where it overloaded them with past experiences. The only way was to utilize those memories and turn them against the device which began to die as a result though the Morthren were able to gain access to those experiences. As such, it was possible to use the Engram as a weapon to turn memories against others but when fatally damaged the device simply disintegrated. (Episode: No Direction Home)

Amongst their feats were intra-cortal implants that were living machines placed around the ear and capable of taking control over a organic host who registered no brainwave activity. Such controlled hosts were completely dedicated on their mission without regard to their safety and took intense pain such as three bullets into their bodies yet still desperately cling on to life to accomplish their directives. These receivers were capable of using neural programming such as those embedded within music but produced severe brain damage as a result. They kept their hosts alive with removal killing the ones they control and the Morthren were also able to track the implants. (Episode: Terminal Rock) Seed implants were surgically implanted within a body but were very precious and had the tendency of being rejected by a human host where they became a tumour-like growth that caused extreme pain before exploding that killed the host. These living implants were a mutant combination of alien and human cells that binded cell structures from two species. Such a process was described as some form of transgenics that involved grafting Morthren DNA onto Human cell structure. (Episode: Breeding Ground)

According to Susan, the hybridization experiment had been conducted before by the aliens that can possibly be the previous encounter by Project Blackwood with the Mor-Taxan hybrid child.

They were able to heal injuries done to their kind and hook them up to organic machinery design to repair life threatening damage so long as they reached it in time before their wounds took their toil on their bodies. (Episode: Terminal Rock) Injured Morthren were placed in cocoon-like machines that were hooked into umbilicals that fed them. (Episode: Night Moves) Wounded Morthren were taken to their laboratories to be placed in diagonistic suspension where they were encased in organic material whilst transparent straps were used to heal the damaged parts. (Episode: The Defector) Other medical styled equipment included organic machines that opened up similar to cases and had living tools within them. With them, a medical practioner was able to place alien implants within human bodies with such Morthren constructs resembling spherical glowing green eggs. (Episode: Breeding Ground) Their technology allowed them to re-engineer Morthren humans to resemble another human as part of infiltration efforts. Morthren medical science allowed them to engineer a green serum that immunized Mor-Taxans from Earth bacteria. (Episode: Time to Reap) Useful subjects were kept suspended in a green sac-like container that hung from the ceiling. (Episode: Video Messiah)

They managed to create their own special drug that they called Crevulax. This was cultivated from living humans that were strapped on harnesses where pods extracted human endorphins as well as brain tissue whereupon it emerged as a sap-like substance from Morthren technology but at the cost of the test subjects. Its was called synthetic love by Morthren agents and usage of it led to correction of personality disorders and created instant euphoria with their minds in perfect balance. A sophisticated masking agent was introduced that prevented modern human technology from determining its chemical composition with the agent itself acting like a virus as it adapted to any chemical used to identify thus blocking analysis. In fact, corporate scientists determined that the drug was impossible to create as its molecules could not be combined or taken apart. All that could be determined that there was saline and some common alkainoids. Only through detailed analysis was one able to separate the masking agent and determining its true nature whereupon serums could be used to remove its effects. (Episode: Synthetic Love) They also made use of parasitic organisms placed in the ear of a human who experienced a great deal of pain but were turned into a loyal followers of the Morthren. (Episode: Time to Reap) In addition, they were able to use forbidden Telesion Spores that were dispersed in the air and highly deadly as they killed humans with moments by molecularly shattering their tissues though the Morthren themselves were immune to it. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Known Morthren

• Tallick : a male member from their homeworld who was their former leader and ordered the expedition to Earth leading to the attempted invasion in 1945. He was the father Mana and was killed by Malzor who blamed him for the death of his wife. Tallick's death was covered up by Malzor who usurped the leadership of his people. (Episode: The Obelisk)
• Malzor : male Morthren who was the scientist that developed energy crystals for interstellar travel and was the husband of Lady Tila. He objected to Tila being sent to Earth and after her death he became fixated on getting revenge against humanity. After murdering Tallick, he fabricated a lie to launch an invasion against mankind with over mining of his homeworld's resources turning it into a desolate planet. He was killed by Debi McCullough after his deception was uncovered by Mana. (Episode: The Obelisk)
• Tila : female Morthren who was the wife of Malzor and leading scientist in the development of crystals that could power interstellar craft. She was dispatched as part of the expedition to Earth in 1945 where she died after exposure to Earth's bacteria in the invasion. (Episode: The Obelisk)
• Mana : female Morthren who was a leading scientist of her people and daughter of Tallick along with being the mother of Ceto. She created an immunity to Earth's bacteria and served as co-leader with Malzor. Mana turned against Malzor after learning how her father was murdered and that their invasion of Earth was based on a lie. (Episode: The Obelisk)
• Ardix : Chief scientist amongst the Morthren. (Episode: No Direction Home)
• Ceto : a young male Morthren who acted more on impulse and decided to go to the surface where he met as well as befriended Debbie from the human resistance. He desired to come to his own conclusions about mankind and fell in love with Debbie as a result but was forced to return to his kind. (Episode: Loving the Alien)
• Kemo : a male Morthren technician who created the interface with human computers where his mind was joined with the dying Ace leading to him adopting human traits whereupon he rebelled against self-termination and destroyed his own weapon in the hopes of peaceful co-existence between his kind and mankind. (Episode: The Defector)
• Adam Warner : male Morthren that was the first of his kind born on Earth who in a matter of two months developed physically to a nine year old human. He was dispatched to the Creche institute in order to help him develop emotionally but also to steal data in the installation. (Episode: The Pied Piper)
• Salo : male Morthren sent to eliminate the reporter Trainer who had discovered Morthren activities. (Episode: Path of Lies)
• Sendac : male Morthren inserted as a champion of the Totally Real virtual arena who dismissed humans as a threat and fought Debbi in a gladiatorial simulation only to die as a result. (Episode: Totally Real)
• Bayda : a female Morthren scientist charged with deploying the Telesion Spore. (Episode: The Obelisk)

Notes

• The Morthren were introduced into the television series second season as antagonists for the show.

Appearances

• War of the Worlds:

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