Silithid

Silithid are an intelligent insectoid race that have grown in strength and power in recent years. They first appeared in the region called Silithus, but have since founded colonies in neighboring areas, usually far from native settlements. They sometimes prove impartial to travelers, but defend their territory ferociously from invaders.Template:Cite

History

Scholars disagree on the origins of the Silithid. Some believe they are an offshoot of the arachnoid Nerubians, an insect race that mostly dwells in the northern regions of Azeroth. Others believe they are a new race heretofore unknown on Azeroth, possibly having arrived from another world elsewhere in the Twisting Nether, much as the orcs once did. Still others posit that they are servants of the qiraji, and that their presence in Southern Kalimdor is a harbinger of the qiraji invasion.Template:Cite

Before the Great Sundering, Kalimdor, the ancient continent of eternal starlight, was a nurturing mother to all of its creatures. At the continent's center was a mysterious lake of incandescent energies, the Well of Eternity. It was the true heart of the world's magic and natural power. From this magical ether the Silithid were born. As the fallen Old God C'Thun recognized their appearance, he attempted to sunder the world that it once held in its merciless grasp. The Old God created avatars from the Silithid in its own image. These avatars were eventually known as Qiraji. Sapient and with thousands of years the Qiraji worked feverishly to build a force capable of laying waste to the world that would betray their god with the Silithids as their minions.

Biology

To a humanoid's eyes, silithid are enormous bugs, most of man-size or larger, with powerful natural weapons at their disposal. They do not seem to use tools, although they do build structures out of natural materials using their bodily secretions.Template:Cite

Silithid are capable of communicating by touching antennae to one another. They can also send simple messages to larger groups by sending out chemical signals in the air. Individual silithid possess a certain level of animal cunning, but are unintelligent. They exist to serve the hive, and are specialized in their roles. Wasps attack, tunnelers dig, reavers defend, swarmers train, queens lay eggs, and so on. A silithid instinctively gives its life for the colony.Template:Cite

Silithid can range in size from a normal insect to gigantic. Size seems to depend on how long the Silithid are allowed to develop in their egg stage. It appears that size is also directly correlated with colony size.^[1]

Silithids — Some castes of the silithids.

Castes

Most scholars agree that a silithid begins life by hatching from an egg. At this point the young silithid is a broodling — a larval state as yet unspecialized for any role in the hive. Eventually, the broodling encases itself in a cocoon and changes into its new form — a wasp, reaver, swarmer, or possibly some other as-yet unknown type of silithid. While silithid haven’t been a visible part of the world long enough for anyone to accurately gauge their lifespans, some researchers think that after achieving adulthood, a common silithid can live for up to 5 years, although queens can survive for decades.Template:Cite

Name	Role
Silithid queen	Egg layer.
Silithid larva	Young silithid that have yet to molt into their adult forms.
File:IconSmall SilithidColossus Small.gif Silithid colossus	Huge battle creatures with brutal strength.
File:IconSmall SilithidTank Small.gif Silithid reaver	The hive's primary defenders.
File:IconSmall Silithid Small.gif Silithid wasp	The very aggressive, flying attack troops of the silithid.
File:IconSmall SandReaver Small.gif Sand reaver	Unknown, probably tunnel diggers.
File:IconSmall SandWorm Small.gif Sand worm	Worm-like creatures with burrowing claws digging through most kinds of soil.
Silithid scarab	Worker caste of the Silithids, who are generally not aggresive unless they are attacked.
File:IconSmall SilithidWorker Small.gif Silithid worker	Worker caste of the Silithids, who are generally not aggresive unless they are attacked.
File:IconSmall Scorpid Small.gif Silithid Creeper	Very aggressive scorpid-like creatures.
File:IconSmall Scorpid Small.gif Silithid Swarmer	Carrying young silithids.
File:IconSmall Crab Small.gif Silithid Protector	Crab-like creatures protecting the hive.
File:IconSmall Larva Small.gif Silithid Grub	Unknown.
Silithid light	Produces light to iluminate the dark caves.
Silithid pill bug	Produces light to iluminate the dark caves.

Locations

Silithidactivities — Locations of the silithids.

The Silithids burrow their underground hives all over southern Kalimdor. All of Silithus is under their control, and they have hives in Feralas, Tanaris, Un'Goro Crater, and the Shimmering Flats. They've even been sighted in small numbers in The Barrens. Most of these locations are deprived of water, and Silithid have been spotted at water posts in Tanaris. Perhaps their survival or nutrition relies heavily on water.

Hives

Rustmaul Dig Site inside — A part of the Rustmaul Digsite silithid hive.

The silithids build structures out of natural materials using their bodily secretions. Silithid hives are immense, alien affairs with towering antenna-like spires jutting out of the earth. In the maze of tunnels below, the creatures raise their young, tend to their wounded, manage food storage, and fend off invaders.Template:Cite

Each of the three hives in Silithus has a crystalline prism in it. They are apparently a means for the Qiraji and other unknown entities to communicate various messages to the Silithid. ^[2]

Major hives

Minor hives

As a mount

Main article: Qiraji battle tank mounts

Qiraji battle tank mounts rare drops in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. They come in several colors: [blue], [red], [green], and [yellow] and can only be used inside the instance.

There is also a [Black Qiraji Battle Tank], which can only be obtained during the War of the Shifting Sands. It is usable outside the instances, thus rare sightings of these mounts outside Ahn'Qiraj are possible.

As A hunter pet

Type

Diet

Abilities
Basic	Special	Exotic	Bonus

Only Hunters with the 51 talent point Beast Mastery will be able to tame these exotic beasts. As with most exotic pets, they amount to a juiced-up version of a more common pet. In the Silithid's case, this common pet would be the Spider.

Patch changes

Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Become tamable.

Speculation

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

Origin

One theory is that the avatars C'Thun created from the Silithid were the Aqir, with the Qiraji and Nerubians later splitting off and evolving differently. Another is that the Silithid and Aqir are in fact one in the same, and C'Thun directly created the Qiraji from the Aqir. But despite evidence to support it, the latter is often dismissed due to an argument of intelligence and its controversy.

Inspiration

Some believe the Silithid's insect-like appearance is derived from the movie Starship Troopers (1997), where a group of insectoids do battle with humans in space. Similar suggestions have been put forth about the Zerg from [Blizzard]'s Starcraft series. Blizzard has also claimed that they derived some inspiration from Starship Troopers for Starcraft (most likely the book given that the movie and Starcraft were in production at the same time). However, it has also been suggested that both Warcraft and Starcraft were derived from the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k franchises (which are themselves derived from Lord of the Rings and Starship Troopers respectively), making the tyranids another potential source for inspiration.

The silithids' hives show similarities to the works of surrealist artist H.R. Giger, possibly being inspired by his work.

External links

Template:Elinks-pet

References

Template:Silithids

[1] Parts of the Swarm

[2] Unraveling the Mystery

[1]

[2]

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