Continuing the Xenocidaire bestiary (Patreon)

Long ago I promised more Xeno bestiary entries, so here we go. I plan to do more of these, possibly with a more graphical format inspired by Earthsiege character profiles and classic X-Com alien profiles. Hope you enjoy.

PHYTOLITH

The designation "Phytolith" refers to a variety of sapient and pseudo-sapient silicon-based lifeforms, all originating from from the "Tree of Knowledge" megastructure, an organic and seemingly dormant matrioshka brain orbiting Plaskett's Star.

It's speculated that the Phytoliths began as a self-replicating bioweapon, a sort of engineered virus introduced into the Tree's internal biome by enemies of the tree's builders--This theory is due to the damage that the Phytoliths cause to the Tree as they form ever larger production cysts that disrupt the Tree's self-renewal and possibly the the macro-cognitive process that similar megastructures perform.

Another theory is that the Phytoliths are a purposeful creation of the Tree of Knowledge itself, some form of probe or antibody or possibly even an externalized thought, a manifestation of some colossal mental process rendered in organic silicon-based biology. 

A hybrid theory, popular among the Cytherean intelligentsia and "god watchers" who study macro-cognitive structures, is that the Phytoliths are hallucinations of the Tree, self-transforming machine elves instantiated by a hallucinogen introduced into the Tree by unknown parties thousands of years prior. 

The full reproductive process of these maybe-hallucinatory beings are still unknown, but it is known that Phytoliths extract carbon and silica from the asteroids that impact the Tree or come within range of the megastructure's kilometer long sensory and feeding tendrils.

These materials are encysted into the tree, forming vast, rocky boils that eventually burst into a swarm of self-transforming Phytoliths, propelling themselves via organic chemical rocketry and vast solar sails they regularly shed and consume.

Swarms of these ship-like Phytoliths, carrying smaller, gravity-well adapted brethren have been observed traveling through the Gate Network, possibly in search of new organic megastructures to colonize. The swarms have been known to attack ships and habitats seemingly at random via their chemical rockets, though this may be an attempt at socializing. 

Phytoliths communicate with each other through direct chemical expulsions (it is possible this communication is also a form of sexual intercourse--though from the perspective of several theopolitical paradigms any form of poesis is a form of sex) as well as radio transmissions. 

The Phytoliths transmissions have been partially translated, their radio language being related to that of several 3rd Iteration cultures (reinforcing the self-replicating sabotage theory). Regularly, the swarm choirs orbit their colossal home, transmitting on every possible channel the same invocation: "VICTIM, AWAKE".