Arachnid

The Arachnids, also known as Bugs, Pseudo-Arachnids or Archies, are an aggressive race of insectoid beings from the Starship Troopers universe. While this species appears to be primitive at first glance, they are actually a sentient race that function as a hive mind and are capable of engineering bio-organic technology. These creatures supposedly originate from the planet Klendathu and have been at war with humanity since their first contact.

History
Long before their first encounter with humanity, the Arachnids had established their own empire across multiple star systems surrounding their homeworld of Klendathu. In the 22nd century, the United Citizens Federation of Earth began encroaching on the Bug systems and, taking note of the potentially hostile beings inhabiting those systems, established a quarantine zone around the Arachnids' territory and opted to colonize the outlying systems. Far from being as primitive as the humans believed, the Arachnids took notice of the Federation's attempt to isolate them. Despite the emplacement of quarantine borders, many humans attempted to establish colonies on Bug worlds regardless of the potential danger. This led to the Bugs destroying the fledgling colonies and launching attacks against other human-occupied worlds outside their territory. This resulted in the Federation declaring war against the Arachnids, thus beginning the Bug War.

Society
The Arachnids were originally believed to be mindless creatures. When Johnny Rico and Carmen Ibanez dissect Arkellian sand beetles, the biology teacher states that the Arachnids have millions of years of evolution behind them and are, in the case of survival capability, the perfect species. They have the ability to colonize planets "by hurling their spores into space" and possess a social structure which fits their mental capabilities.

As the Arachnid War progressed, it became clear that they have a caste system, with each subspecies filling a specific role. Brain Bugs and God Bug have extreme psychic abilities that can be used to control all bugs in the colony.

Most types of the Bugs are less intelligent, except for the Brain Bug, Control Bug, God Bug, and the Queen.

Variants
All of the various Arachnid subspecies are listed below.
 * Warrior Bug
 * Tanker Bug
 * Hopper Bug
 * Plasma Bug
 * Scorpion
 * Plasma Grenadier
 * Bombardier Bug
 * Control Bug
 * Worker Bug
 * Brain Bug
 * Arachnid Queen
 * God Bug

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 * The Pseudo-Arachnids of the original Starship Troopers novel are very different from the Bugs seen in other media. The original Bugs were described as being more akin to spiders than insects whereas none of the Bug variants from the movies, TV shows or board games even closely resemble spiders. These Bugs were also capable of using advanced technology and tactics; at one point in the novel, after luring human warriors into an unwinnable battle, the Bugs slowly dissected a human to learn about its biology.