Necromorph

The Necromorphs are an parastic alien species that feature in Dead Space.

History

Necromorphs were a species whose origins were largely unknown though it was known that they derived from deceased organic matter. Their origins were tied to the Black Marker that in turn were created by the small planetoid Brethren Moons who launched the relics across space. Around 2 million years ago, a Red Marker came to land on the world of Tau Volantis where it was discovered by the semi-aquatic native alien inhabitants of the world. From study, they came to learn that the relic offered a means of harvesting energy and they began creating multiple copies of the artefact. It was then that the Markers came to influence the species causing them to worship it as most of the race fell under its thrall. This saw the rise of Necromorphs among the species as the entire alien race sought to create a Convergence Event that would create a new Brethren Moon. However, a faction of the aliens came to resist the Marker's calling and sought to prevent the Convergence where they created a device called the Codex to stop it and linked it with a terraforming machine. Their efforts were only partially successful as they came to stop the Moon from fully forming as the surface of the world suffered a deep freeze leaving it a frozen wasteland. The alien species thus caused their own extinction in the desperate attempt at halting the Necromorph infection with the Brethren Moon in orbit of Tau Volantis remining incomplete and left in a dormant state for millions of years.

In 2214, the Black Marker came to be exhumed on Earth where its existence came to defy mankind's knowledge of science. Similar to prior events, humans came to believe that the relic generated limitless energy that could be exploited. Due to resources being sparse, humanity secretly sought to harness the energy potential of the Marker and began replicating it where they began creating the Red Markers on numerous colonies. During the continued study, the surface of the Markers contained DNA patterns which unknown to the scientists were the codes to the Necromorph infection itself. In addition, scientists discovered that the Red Marker was not generating a signal but rather was receiving one from distant world. A widescale search was made at finding the source as it was believed this would be the secret of limitless power leading the discovery of Tau Volantis. Meanwhile, the engineering project by the scientists of Aegis 7 created the Red Marker by studying the Black Marker and discovered the pattern on the surface of the relic. The doctors using the information gathered copied and recreated the pattern in order to create a lifeform. The first specimen existed only in a petri dish and was dormant; it did not react to tests that were made upon it and it was believed the project was a failure.

However, when one of the doctors failed to fully decontaminate himself, his dead skin cells fell into the petri dish in the laboratory containing the recombinant lifeform. This act immediately activated it and the organism reanimated the dead skin cells. Later, during the study of the lifeform, two doctors accidently came into contact with it due to mishandling. Thus, they were infected by the infection and placed in a quarantine dome for observation. It was there that the infection killed the doctors and reanimated them into the first Necromorphs. One doctor was transformed into an Infector strain whilst another became a Leaper. It was the latter of these two that managed to escape into a nearby ventilation shaft and brought about disaster upon the colony.

The Leaper strain was involved in killing a number of the colonists and the freed Infector began the process of spreading the infection and creating more Necromorphs.

Overview

Biology

The Necromorph infection was unlike most diseases that were experienced by the Human race as once it passed onto a host it began to mutate the body as well as evolve it at a rate that was faster then any that had been medically classified before. This meant that new subspecies of Necromorphs continually developed at an accelerated rate making classification and study of them difficult to determine. However, certain facts were gleamed such as that the infection could only be spread to the dead with a requirement of no cardiovascular and nervous system activity in order for the infection to manifest. It was only then that a human host was transformed into a Necromorph.

After infection, the transformation process occurred at an extremely quick rate with it happening over a matter of seconds. This was a particularly violent process and quite disturbing to see for outsiders as the body was reshaped into new twisted form for its new purpose. Its unknown what factors determines what type of Necromorph the host transforms into but there was an apparent hierarchy among the species. Due to the nature of their existence, the Necromorphs were classed as a recombinant lifeform.

Certain breeds were designated as enhanced forms as the Regenerators that were Necromorphs that are able to regenerate any lost limb in a matter of seconds with the use of unlimited biomass.

The Hive Mind was the guiding intelligence of the Necromorph species.

Large numbers of bodies were used by the Markers to trigger a Convergence Event.

Their nature meant that shooting their bodies was no way of stopping them and that the only tactic that worked against Necromorphs was dismembering their limbs.

Society

There were numerous breeds of Necromorphs:

• Slashers : The most common of the Necromorphs which appear to be relatively human compared to the other strains. These organisms walk upright but their bodies have reshaped giving them large bone blades that had extended from their shoulders. Some of these appeared to have been new appendages with the former human hosts arms still remaining attached to the shambling body. However, others were noted to be newly created weapons that were created from the human hosts remains. Regardless of where the bones were made, the Slashers role was singular in the slaughter of hosts in order to create new carriers of the Necromorph infection.
• Spitters : a variety of Slasher born from female bodies where they had the ability to spit out an acidic vomit at short distances. Their green toned uniforms remain intact and they are the least mutilated looking Slasher. The only major modifications to the host's body are the blades protruding from their hands, flesh hanging from their arms and head having ripped from the body and connected by a new pink, fleshy neck.
• Lurkers : A disturbing sight and highlights that the infection was not restricted to only adults and capable of spreading to young children at the time of their death. These hosts were a shell of their former selves with tentacles remanting from their stomachs which they used to move about their environment. These were also used by the Lurker to crawl walls and ceilings. When engaged in a fight, the tentacles emerged from the back of the Lurker who flung quills at the tips of the tentacles as targets in order to impale their victims.
• Leapers : Necromorphs with the ability to leap long distances toward their prey. Sporting razor-sharp fangs along with a long scythe-tipped tail made from the victim's intestines and legs that made them extremely deadly foes.
• Pregnants : A variation of the Slasher organism though the apparent differences was their bloated stomachs. They carried an unwelcome surprise in their large abdomens which expelled smaller Necromorph mutations that burst out when their host body was ruptured. They were much slower then the Slashers but made up for this with increased toughness which allowed them to take a greater level of damage.
• Brutes : A twisted sight to behold and showed the higher limits of the Necromorph disease. The Brute was perhaps one of the most disturbing of all subspecies and was a combination of multiple hosts that were fused together into a single larger being. It was unknown how many reanimated host bodies were required to create these monstrous beings. They came with a hardened exoskeleton which protected certain parts of their bodies and possessed a great level of strength which they used by charging their enemies and pounding them into submission. This makes them the most powerful of the Necromorphs observed so far but fortunately their numbers are few.
• Exploders : The Exploders were another variant of the Slasher but did not feature the distinctive bone blades that were traditionally used by those subspecies. Instead, their bodies contained a large number of glowing sacs that contained an explosive acidic material which was hazardrous in close quarter engagements. These Necromorphs had their legs fused together into a strange fleshy mass with its body being radically twisted. This, however, made their movements slow though they were still considered dangerous if injured.
• Infectors : One of the sources of the Necromorph infection which was filled by these winged subspecies that served as a carrier of the disease. They only attacked or defended themselves when there were no new hosts to infect. Their wings protruded from the remains of the hosts legs and from the chest with a strange striking weapon present in its neck. This was the stringer that served as a delivery mechanism which was used to infect new potential hosts. Infectors typically did this quickly by swarming and enveloping the corpse until the infection took hold. THis made these Necromorphs a target in rooms where the dead were located as they were capable of creating new strains quickly that would attempt to overrun any surviving crew.
• Guardians : a variety of sessile Necromorphs. They are anchored onto walls, their flesh fused together with the Corruption. As a result, they cannot actively hunt for prey, but true to their name they serve as guardians to areas important to the infestation. While they are immobile and do not have any visible repurposed limbs, Guardians are capable of killing anything that draws near instantly, striking the victim with a lethal scythe-tipped appendage made from the host's intestines.

Those first exposed to the signals of the Marker began to experience dreams and those falling under influence suffering from unpredictable behaviour. Markers were not only used to reanimate the dead as Necromorphs but were also used to manipulate species into developing facsimile Markers thus spreading the infection from world to world on a galactic level. Thus, the propagation of a race and their expansion was seen as a means of generating more food that could be consumed by the Brethren Moons. As such, species that studied the Marker were being made to make more of the constructs and subtlety controlled them to achieve this goal.

Its unknown if the Necromorphs are the creators of the Markers or are in turn created by another race.

Necromorphs are highly aggressive; they will attack any living being on sight, regardless of species, for the sole purpose of creating corpses and spreading the infection as quickly as possible. In order to more effectively hunt their prey, Necromorphs share a form of collective intelligence that allows them to act in a coordinated manner. This shared consciousness originates from Nexus Necromorphs or "Hive Minds", large creatures that are able to receive the Markers' control signals and broadcast orders to the smaller Necromorphs. While the Markers create the Necromorphs by recombining dead flesh through their signal, they do not directly guide the creatures beyond sending out general commands to the Nexus forms, with the Necromorphs behaving as little more than animals with an insatiable drive to hunt and gather biomass. As such, the creatures will attack all living beings, even individuals who are under the influence of the Marker or otherwise trying to further the Markers' goal. To protect living beings who are useful to its plans, such as those who are better suited to become "architects" and build more Markers, the Marker signal creates a "dead space" around the artifact that keeps most Necromorph forms from approaching it - the "eye of the storm". This allows the Marker to draw useful individuals to its base, where they will be protected from the creatures while their proximity to the Marker ensures that it can easily infect their minds and bend them to its will.

Nexus Organisms, also known as Hive Minds, were massive Necromorphs that are able to receive and broadcast the control signal from the Markers and the Brethren Moons to smaller Necromorph variants, telepathically coordinating large-scale outbreaks. All Hive Minds possess nerve clusters inside their bodies containing synapses that are able to emit and receive bioelectric signals; using this neural network, the nexus' role is to serve as the second-in-command during Necromorph outbreaks, answering to the Marker and relaying its directives to the smaller creatures.

The Corruption was an encrusting mass of Necromorph tissue typically found wherever an outbreak occurred, growing and spreading in the presence of a Marker signal. Described as a "habitat changer", the Corruption has been documented to remove free oxygen from the atmosphere and metabolize it into unknown poisonous gases in conjunction with Wheezers, posing a threat to the long term existence of any individuals who have not yet been killed by the other Necromorph forms.

Notes

• The Necromorphs' creation and design were led by Ben Wanat, who served as production designer on the first Dead Space and creative director of Dead Space 3.
• Wanat's wife came up with the term "Necromorph" to describe the undead antagonists of the Dead Space series, after she perused the creatures' conceptual designs and thought they were alien forms made out of corpses. The composite words "necro" and "morph", of Greek origin, mean "death" and "to change" respectively.

Appearances

• Dead Space:
• Dead Space 2:
• Dead Space 3:

External Link

• Deadspace Wiki Entry
• IGN Entry

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