Terminids

The ravenous are guided solely by an instinctive urge to reproduce, spread, and destroy democracy. They are a fast-evolving plague that threatens to demolish humanity on every single planet. As school children know Terminids were allowed to live in specialized locations on human worlds known as "farms". Despite this generosity the Terminids showed their fascist nature by slaughtering the innocent civilians on the world. (Remember to report any disloyalty!)

They are one of two factions Helldivers can currently fight against, with the other being the Automatons.

Recent breakthroughs by Super Earth scientists have produced a chemical called "termicide" which is lethal to Terminids but harmless to all other life forms. Thanks to the bravery of engineers and Helldivers the worlds in the Umlaut Sector were secured via the distribution of termicide and the culling of larger Termanid populations. Citizens are reminded that rumors of Terminids mutating from exposure to termicide are (not) dissident rumors.

On March 21st, 2024, an evolution among the ranks of Terminids was confirmed by the Ministry of Intelligence. These Terminids are capable of flying, and were named Shriekers.

Terminid Biology and Morphology
Since most of the information on the Terminids is heavily censored and redacted by the Ministry of Truth, this will mostly be speculation based on the information available to the public.

Terminids are a species of extraterrestrial insectoids, which share many similarities with Earth arthropods, such as multiple limbs, insect-like mandibles and an exoskeleton. However, they also appear to have adaptions and trades found in mammals and most other vertebrates, which includes an endoskeleton (internal skeleton) and respiratory system. And having also characteristics belonging to fungi, suggesting that Terminids are a fusion of animal cells and fungus cells working in a symbiotic relationship.

Several other notable facts about Terminids are that they are highly adaptable, able to switch between warm-blooded or cold-blooded metabolism based on the environments they inhabit. Suggesting that the Terminid homeworld of Kepler Prime either has an extremely elliptical orbit resulting in extremely hot summer and cold winter seasons or that there are extreme temperature differences between day and night on the planet. Terminids have several methods of reproduction, both sexual and asexual, even able to produce asexual by releasing extremely resistant fungal-like spores that are said able to survive in the vacuum space for very long time.

Terminids are, or were, sapient beings, with their own language and culture, and were said to be the first alien race to make peaceful first contact with humanity. But either before or during the First Galactic War Super Earth discovered that dead Terminid bodies decayed into a oil-like substance which they named Element 710 (Oil).

After the First Galactic War, the Terminids were enslaved and harvested by Super Earth and put them on "farm" planets to farm them for Element 710. Super Earth became to preform genetic experiments on the Terminids to lower their intelligence and increase their Element 710 production.

However, due to genetic tempering result in that the body chemistry of some Terminids has become highly unstable and overproduce massive amounts of a highly acidic substance, which Super Earth Scientists call "Bile" (which might be either a biological byproduct or waste product when Terminid bodies produce E-710 or it might be E-710 in its raw, unrefined form). It resulted in creation of the so-called "Bile Cast Terminids", Terminids who are able to spit and spew a highly corrosive acid at their targets. Other mutations include gigantism and gaining the ability of become nearly invisible.

Terminid Casts
There are four major Terminid Casts; the Warrior Cast, the Hunter Cast, the Hardshell Cast and the Bile Cast. Due to Super Earth genetic tempering, there is now some overlap between casts.
 * Warrior Cast: The primary soldier, worker and leader cast of Terminid, the Warriors Cast are protectors, hunter-gatherers and farmers of the Terminids. They able to digging, moving dirt and maintaining tunnels, to make massive underground tunnel network of Terminid Hives.
 * Hunter Cast: Known for their speed and agility, Hunter Cast appear to be built for pursuit and ambush hunting, able to preform quicky attacks with their claws or tongs.
 * Hardshell Cast: Easily recognizable due to their size and heavy exoskeleton plat armor, the Hardshell Cast are believed primary diggers and borrows of Terminids.
 * Bile Cast: The result of Super Earth’s genetic alternation and tempering with the Terminid DNA, which resulted in these Terminids produce massive amounts of highly corrosive acids. These acids are used by these Terminids dissolved hard rocks to help dig tunnels or to dissipate or kill their prey or intruders.

Trivia

 * The Terminids are often derogatorily referred to as Nids, Future Element-710 and Bug Brains.
 * Despite having their own logo, Super Earth also used the Bugs' logo to identify Terminids' presences (specifically their controlled territories).
 * Molted shells of Terminids resembling Hive Lords can be occasionally seen throughout Terminid planets, suggesting that a century of rapid evolution has allowed them to attain even more advanced forms, but living individuals of whatever made these has yet to be seen.
 * Terminid corpses can be found on planets being invaded or occupied by the Automatons, implying the bots do not see the value of E-710.