Brood Types
There are 5 known types of the creature known as the Brood.

Drones/Workers: These stay mainly inside the hive. They won’t attack, but will defend themselves with both claws and acidic spittle if threatened.

Warriors/Hunters: They serve as the scouts for the hive mind and also bring back food for the rest of the hive. They will attack anything living that they can. They do know to run from a superior force.

Executioners: The most deadly of the types that will leave the hive. These creatures can carry infection and cause any living creature wolf size or larger to become infected with a brood. Implanted or altered humanoids are generally Warriors or Executioners. It is rare for a Queen to occur, normally only one per hive, but it has happened. See section on Brood Infections for more.

Queen’s Guard: Born only to protect the Queen, the Guard will never leave her side. Though fewer in number than the Executioners, they are almost as dangerous as the Queen, herself.

Queen: Brood Queens will not leave their hive unless it is threatened to near destruction. If an area can support more than one hive, a second queen is hatched and escorted to an already prepared hive by 2 to 4 Queen’s Guard and several Executioners. The Drones, Warriors, and Executioners go before the Queen to prepare for her arrival. A Queen is topmost in Brood evolution. Strongest, smartest, and fastest, she is the most deadly. Her acidic venom can stagger the heartiest of warriors, and her claws and tail deliver a terrific blow.

Tyrangel Brood vs. Common Brood

In late 593 or early 594, Sorn Everhate was infected with a Queen. Rather than popping Brood in 24 hours, as is common, he remained infected for more than a year. He became a hybrid and, when the Queen finally emerged, she had Sorn’s memories and abilities as well as her own. This was the beginning of the Tyrangel Brood mutation. Only 2 hybrids are known, Sorn and Nyla Al-Kahn. Both are dark elves of the same blood line. A hybrid can be spotted by the purple veins at the temples, the ability to grow claws, and the fact that they are healed by necromancy.

The modern Tyrangel Brood can speak, cast spells, use alchemy, has knowledge of formal magic of both realms (but has no scrolls that are known), and know the hierarchy of Tyrangel, Draelonde, and Evendarr.

They are intelligent enough to give first aid to someone that has just been infected, and to avoid causing harm to that person until the Brood has emerged. They use tactics, they will target specific people for infection or death. They are 100 times more dangerous than the Common Brood. And, as of this writing, there is still a hive in Tyrangel.

Brood Infection

An Executioner can infect between 1 and 5 creatures. The infection is carried through the body and instantly insinuates itself in the organs, blood, and bones. As the infection progresses, the person becomes more like a Brood and the Brood assimilates the body for its own, except for the skin, which splits open when the Brood hatches. The host’s spirit is forced out during this process and must resurrect in order to receive a new, whole body.

The Executioner will seek out people whose knowledge and abilities will strengthen the hive. It is not uncommon for an Executioner to remove its victim from a battlefield to a safe and secluded area to be infected. It will return the newly infected creature to the area from which it was taken so that it can be cared for by its friends.

The first stage of a Brood infection lasts 10 to 12 hours. It feels good. Warm, comforting. This is its defense against destruction. A person who has been infected will not want to tell anyone or be Identified, as the almost euphoric presence of the forming Brood overrides all other concerns.

Second stage infection is not nearly as pleasant. By the 13th hour up until near the 20th, the person infected can feel the Brood growing, taking over their body. It starts as a mild discomfort, and, by the end of the second stage, it is horribly painful. The protection from notice is gone. Wolven and some scavengers can scent the Brood on the infected person.

In the third stage, the hive mind has taken control. Expect the infected person to fight or attempt to flee if they fear the hatchling’s destruction. They do not have the Brood’s strengths, however, and can be bound by various means for the duration of the Destroy Earth ritual.

Ritual magic or resurrection are the only known cures for a Brood infection. The sooner the infection is caught (it can be picked up under Identification) the easier the ritual. However the euphoric effect of a first stage infection may render it necessary to trap the person in the circle for the ritual.

Should the infection come to term, the Brood hatchling will emerge, fully formed from its host. It will gain strength by the second and flee to the hive. Its host will be beyond the power of a Life spell.

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