History
There MIGHT exist in some forgotten tome aged beyond eligibility that MIGHT have some mention of the Cast's true origins as beings who came to
Arethil from the stars.
That same tome, should it be intact enough, may also mention the
event as a great apocalypse that swept the land and only the heroes of old had the power to defeat and imprison said race deep beneath the earth in the underdark.
The Cast race was re-discovered by ancient gnomes who delved too deeply into the earth and the magic of
Entomancy. The well that gave birth to this new magic was a pit of entropy, a place of origins and change. They experimented with this substance and magic until they found a way to recreate the original Cast creature, Cast Prime as it were.
This resulted in the recreation of the swarm and nearly destroyed their civilization in the very ancient days of Belgrath.
The Cast burst from their caves in countless numbers, maddened by the magics that recreated them they attacked and consumed anything that challenged them, the strengths of their enemies became their own as they grew and expanded.
The Cast escaped captivity and seemed to regain a portion of their original sanity and instincts. They worked for the benefit of the whole. As they waged war with the gnomish nation and assimilated the strengths of their enemies there arose intelligence among the ranks of the Cast, individuals of the swarm who rose above the drones, their sentience allowing them to learn how to guide the very evolution of the Cast. Soon these sentient creatures grew in number to the great benefit of the swarm and a new hierarchy was able to be formed.
In those days of the bloody conflict the Cast have had victory and defeat, but eventually heroes once again drove them back to their caves where they were ultimately sealed away and forced into deep sleep with powerful enchantments and wards to entomb them.
Hidden in the warrens and tunnels below Arethil the swarm slept.
For centuries the swarm slept in a aestivated state deep in the caves where they were sealed across Arethil, indeed many of them would never awaken again. But the presence of the swarm even effected the underground
plants and surrounding flora, instead of dying the swarm became flowers baring the spores of their rebirth. Over time these plants seeded and spread, effecting beyond their imprisonment. Affecting the water in one place, infecting the animals in another, tainting the air itself in another location...
Across Arethil these infested places are popping up, bringing about a plague that can't seem to be cured or healed by any known medicine or magic... Save fire.
Lore
The Cast takes the genetic information of their prey through consumption, and in doing so incorporate the desired strengths of the victim into themselves.
It's like their own form of magic, being able to alter genetic codes and steal them or add them to other creatures, using
plant matter mixed with cast DNA to create myriads of living tools and weapons designed for general or specific purposes.
The swarms are as complex as their strange abilities and nature, but are capable of great diversity between different broods and swarms.
Notes
Brood: a generation of young Cast, produced at one hatching.
"a brood of chicks"
Cast: a creature made by shaping biomass or genetic strands in a template.
"bronze casts of the sculpture"
Colony: a community of Cast living close together or forming a physically connected structure.
"a colony of seals"
Drone: A generally low intelligence Cast creature adhering to a common template in a swarm or colony of Cast, which exclusively responds only to a hierarch.
Genetic Code: the nucleotide triplets of DNA and RNA molecules that carry genetic information in living cells.
Genetic Strands: a nucleic acid that carries the genetic information in cells and some viruses, consisting of two long chains of nucleotides twisted into a double helix and joined by hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases adenine and thymine or cytosine and guanine. DNA sequences are replicated by the cell prior to cell division and may include genes, intergenic spacers, and
regions that bind to regulatory proteins.
Genetic Material: any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin that carries genetic information and that passes it from one generation to the next. The information contained controls reproduction, development, behaviour, etc.
Hierarch: a chief priest, archbishop, queen, nexus, or other leader.
Hivemind: A unified consciousness or intelligence formed by a number of Cast individuals, the resulting consciousness typically exerting control over its constituent members.
"there is a Queen who controls the hive mind"
Swarm: A large or dense group of Cast.
"a swarm of locusts"
Queen: a reproductive or authoritative female in a colony of Cast creatures.
References
Roleplays:
Swarm - The Birth Of A Race
Extermination Or Expansion
The Disappeared
Running to Nowhere
Skirmish for Taimin
False Sanctuary
Alone in the Chapel
Creatures:
Brakka
Worker
Drone
Leviathan
Drone
Behemoth
Drone
Swarm
Drone
Hemolisk Drone
Ka'Gi
Larva Drone
Minkk
Warrior
Drone
Scabbers
Groups:
The Sovereign Swarm
The Swarm of Harvest