Kharaa Data :: Species: Evolutions
Summary: the Kharaa can travel up their own family tree, changing their "race", and evolving extraordinary abilities. Evolutions are broken down into three categories – Defensive, Movement, and Sensory.
When it was first noticed that the aliens seemed to be modifying themselves over the course of a prolonged engagement – growing more resistant to gunfire, or becoming utterly silent – it was assumed that they were reacting to our actions, and developing immunities much like a virus does. The truth is more complex. Just as a marine structure contains coded information that allows a ship or base's nanotech to perform new, military grade, functions, so do the aliens begin with base-level resources, and construct structures to increase their combat abilities. The difference is, a Kharaa defensive tower (for instance) is less like a computer, and more like a time capsule. It contains information similar to a Hive's, but more specific – this information describes variations of creatures from the Kharaa's history: a genetic family tree. When a Kharaa gains a new ability, it is evolving from its base form, down some specialized branch of that tree: growing more sophisticated, and without fail, deadlier. This fast-forward evolution allows for dozens of variations of alien: each supposedly suited to some environment, lost in the Kharaa's past. Similar to Earth species that may have arctic, desert and jungle variants, that while all the same kind of animal, have evolved into unique sub-species. Multiple chambers appear to also offer more and more information, improving the effectiveness of each evolution. Once more than three chambers are active, this improvement plateaus. Since the Kharaa have probably never seen man-made environments like ours, and since humans don't always attack the same way twice, they don't choose just one variation. They tend to evolve a wide range of species types – ranging from brawlers, with increased speed and armor, to assassins, with silent movement and enhanced senses.
Defensive | Sensory | Movement