What are the Nautilids?

4 April 2164

I've been doing what I can to gather any info about this species seemingly intent upon our utter demise. I'm afraid to say, despite the numerous press conferences I've attended, and what few declassified research documents I've managed to get my hands on, any information presented in this following article should be taken as hearsay at best.

The following information is a summary of what I've managed to compile, and yes I know it's not much. I'm going to repeat again what I have said in the past, and that is I am in no way a scientist, or officially linked to the government in any way, and yes it is certainly a sad day when a anonymous blogger becomes the people's primary source for this stuff. I guess, as they say, write to your Colonial Senator about it, I'm sure they'll take your concerns into account… after golf.

So what is known of these creatures known as the Nautilids?

Alliance xenobiologists publically speculate that the Nautilids are at the core, a hive based life form blending the basic genetics of a crustacean and an arthropod, so like a space, crab ant, or Crabant… I just made that up.

Anyway, there are two profound qualities the Nautilids have. The first is the sheer vastness of forms that the Nautilid genetic system expands to. As we've seen so far, these creatures are ranging between the size of a medium dog, to literally the size of a moon, and that's just the ones we know about. There also seems to be no limit to their abilities; many are purely warriors, with the ability to project condensed energy beams, or seemingly intelligent symbiotic projectiles that burst upon contact with destructive results. Others however take a purely service role, in support, or for transportation, or even healing of their fellow Nautilids.

The second distinctive characteristic of these creatures is an apparent total reliance upon water. They do not seem to breathe air, or eat, but instead store water in bladders which then act as their method of sustenance. This also allows these creatures to survive within outer space. It is suspected that Nautilids periodically visit planets with large water bodies, such as oceans and lakes, in order to replenish their supply.

They are a highly territorial, and extremely aggressive in nature, showing no tendency towards cohabitation with other species. It is assumed that they communicate with each other, though the exact method of how this is done remains a mystery. So far there appears to be two broad groupings of Nautilid sub-species.
 

The smaller individuals (less then 10 meters in length) - have been referred to as 'Krill', and have been observed to operate in set groups of up to a dozen. Though large scale battles have involved upwards of thousands of these creatures at a time, the Krill always seem to move in separate groups no larger than this.

Several larger sub-species have also been encountered. The larger Nautilid are generally more specialized in there function, the largest of which so far was the 'Dreadnought', that crash landed into the surface of Novus in the opening days of the conflict. Upon doing so, it disgorged thousands of smaller creatures, though it is not known if the dreadnaught itself still lives. The 'dreadnought' was by far the largest of the support Nautilids that has been observed, though there are many of differing size which share the dreadnaught's shuttling, and support ability.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve managed to gather so far. I’ll try to keep you guys as up to date as I am in the future, which unfortunately isn’t much.

In the meantime, keep it large, and keep your heads down

Rant Junkie.