Harvesters Draft

The Harvesters are an insectoid species that originated from the mining world Shabas.  They were first discovered when a mining crew blasted into a large Harvester catacomb which lead to the miners being overwhelmed and killed.  Originally the area was simply quarantined off and it was thought that due to the Harvesters being a deep-world species that they'd not attempt to go to the surface.  Within a few weeks however the quarantine area was flooded by a swarm of Harvester warriors and the quarantine broke.  The mining crews that survived the outbreak quickly fled off world while the previously ground dwelling Harvesters swept over the planet like a plague of locusts eating anything they could get to.  Within a few short planetary months the entire planet save for a few sparse patches of green were completely barren, stripped of resources and life.  Due to their massive appetite they were thought to consume all the resources on the planet and slowly starve themselves out like other species of animal that had made similar domination of the biosphere.  However a few cycles later a League of Independent Systems Patrol swept the area and found that not only had the Harvesters not died out, but that they'd infested the nearby asteroid belt and were using them as space-faring nests.  In this revelation the League decided to rally together a Purge fleet to eradicate the species before it could spread to other planets or systems.  The hastily assembled fleet quickly started to purge the planet and it's outer-lying asteroid belt of all Harvesters.  They destroyed all the asteroids and resurfaced the planet via orbital bombardment.  Several cycles later it was discovered that splinter fleets of Harvesters managed to escape the mass genocide of their species and one such fleet had found it's way to the Corvus System and took root on one of the outer-lying planets.  Quickly stripping it down and using it as a giant nest which spawned virtually endless numbers of Harvester fleets that continue to ravage the system today.


Eventually a derelict Harvester transport was found, having been injured and being unable to break free of Corvus's gravity was captured and a massive boarding effort went underway.  Thousands of marines and Harvester Warriors were killed in the battle but in the end the Harvester's transport was captured and brought back for study.  It was found that with a certain combination of psycho stimulants and modifications that people could pilot these behemoths like a starship.  Furthermore it was found that with enough manipulation that the Harvester's bio-weapons could be seeded on standard starships and manipulated to fire as if it was a mere gun and not a living creature.  It's still considered to be a dangerous procedure but the abundance of Harvester Spores allow a quick ready supply of weapons that are too good to pass up despite the risks.  After several cycles of research and development the League managed to clone and grow new passive fleets of Harvesters that could be used by man as beasts of burden and war.



Harvester ships have been seen in two types.  The first and most common type is a living ship made out of an ultra dense caparace that is more or less atonimous in function thinking and acting without a pilot or controller.  The less common but much more fearsome are giant asteroids that the Harvesters use as breeding nests and seeds for planetary attacks.  Harvester ships tend to come in very large overwhelming numbers.  The individual ships aren't any match for existing ships but they usually overpower by sheer numbers.