So I've just remade the first chapter after 6 years which is hilarious , I don't really know what brought me back or what to expect but hopefully my writing has improved from since i was barely a teenager and hope you guys enjoy!
Those of you who had read the original first chapter let me know if this was a good improvement, I tried to fix some issues that was pointed out in the reviews from eons ago, particularly the first one about the transformation being fleshed out a bit more.
PLEASE REVIEW I READ EVERY SINGLE ONE AND THEY HELP A TON. THANKS
REDONE CHAPTER 1 AFTER 6 YEARS !
Hello! I've had some sort of love for Vorcha. To me they seem cool and have a lot of potential. I decided to make a fanfic about their rise. (like 6 years ago haha i dunno why i'm redoing this but why not!)
Leave a review and enjoy reading!
Deep in the Collector Base
The Collectors were interested in the Vorcha:
their unique biology allowed them to adapt to most environments easily; they lacked a central government or military that could organise resistance, instead favouring a clan based culture of aggressive competition and their exceptionally fast breeding could prove useful.
They have clusters of non-differentiated cells. These cells allow the vorcha limited regenerative abilities, as well as the ability to adapt quickly to its environment, such as developing thicker skin after being burned or increased musculature to survive in high gravity. When a vorcha is injured or in distress, these cells move to the affected area and rapidly mature to specialised forms that will alleviate the issue. However, their short lives make it very difficult to use this unique trait efficiently or effectively.
The Collectors saw potential in these unevolving species. If they could alter their DNA to make them: live longer lives; hold on to multiple adaptations and perhaps a touch smarter, they could have an adaptable army with limitless potential - useful as tools for a species that want to keep their own existence a secret.
The Krogan were undoubtedly the better choice. They were stronger and lived longer than the Vorcha, but the genophage had done too much damage to them, and the Collectors wouldn't want to meddle with such a volatile species as it would alert the council species. The Vorcha's lack of cohesion as a group made them perfect. No one in the galaxy minds a few missing Vorcha - if they could even realise they're missing.
Laying on a grotesque cocoon-like pod was a usual, ordinary Vorcha, Gryll. He spoke like them, he fought like them, he acted like them and was considered a mere rat by the other species. The average "advanced race" wouldn't have a care in the world for him, only making sure that him and his bloodthirsty kind does not act out.
Yet the Collectors chose him.
Gryll was a shade of yellow, with a black, flat nose and razor sharp bright yellow teeth that protrude out. Like all Vorcha, he lacked lips, or a closable mouth for that matter, which didn't exactly help their standing in society with saliva escaping from between their unflattering teeth in every conversation. His skin was slimy and eyes dark red. Three holes in his forehead stood out, along with a multitude of spikes on the back of his head. Unsightly veins covered the surface of his entire body, from his thick neck to the deer-like hooves. His left forearm held a long scar in which the amber flesh protruded outward. Undoubtedly, his body quickly responded to whatever had caused the damage and undifferentiated cells had matured to create scar tissue stronger than the tissue which had originally been cut open, all occurring in a couple hours, showcasing the brilliant unappreciated biology deep within the Vorcha DNA.
His neck held another swiftly healed wound - a small hole only a few millimetres across. A puncture from a sedative used by the Collectors was the cause. He didn't exactly agree to his kidnapping and although it was too late to succeed in resisting, his primitive Vorcha mind still attempted to fight his way out of it anyway.
He was born on Omega 4 years ago, and still had nothing to adapt to. Omega had been a tough life for him, unable to make his way out of the slums in the Kenzo District, Gryll struggled, as was the life of a young Vorcha in Omega. Stuck between the harsh poverty of the slums and the barbaric treatment of his kind from the Blood Pack, he'd tried to escape numerous times by smuggling himself aboard cargo ships full of Batarians. However, Omega's reputation for gun and drug smuggling led to frequent searches of ships coming out of the asteroid. It wasn't rare for customs agents and police to find the small frail vorcha youth hiding in a corner or box, accompanied only by mice.
The Collectors were studying him, and a couple others of his own kind. The abduction was quite simple really, the Collectors knew of the Vorcha tendencies to hitch rides to get out of Omega or other space stations on the darker parts of the galaxy. The ship they found Gryll hiding in happened to be a human one perfect for harvest, killing two birds with one stone. The others were obtained in a rather regular manner for the Collectors; they exchanged their advanced technology for a couple of Blood Pack runt Vorcha.
They ran multiple tests on them, one had a larger skeleton, larger muscles, higher stature and larger heart from previously experiencing a high gravity planet. Another had extremely tough skin after being trained in a Blood pack ship where he was cut, shot and beaten several times. An older one had particularly strong lungs and gas exchange system, when born on the Blood pack training planet of Flett where the gases in the atmosphere kill you along with parasites and bacteria and every other imaginable cause of death.
But Gryll had nothing unique.
Being the age of 4 is enough for a Vorcha to mature physically into adulthood - not that he had much of a "childhood". However, his time on Omega was not enough for him to develop any characteristics aside from his usual limited regenerative scar tissue.
Considering the Vorcha were unable to adapt more than once, due to their short lives, Gryll was as valuable to the Collectors as a Vorcha could be. If they could take DNA from all of the other adapted Vorcha and add it to Gryll, they could have one of the deadliest, rapid breeding, unstoppable forces in the galaxy, proving useful when the coming of the Reapers occurs.
And so, the insect-like people got to work.
An immediate problem was figuring out how to deal with the Vorcha's immune system. Their overactive immune system had many benefits, they were immune to almost all diseases thanks to their body's fast reaction before an infection becomes serious. However, to the problem of the Collectors, this meant that anything foreign that is detected in the body will also be targeted.
A study done by Salarian scientists into Vorcha biology was commissioned within the first year of contact with the savage race. It highlighted that their transplant rejection rate was the highest of any race they'd ever come across. Transport rejection is usually an extremely problematic and tough obstacle for other species - yet it did not hinder a Vorcha's survivability as they simply regrow damaged organs! The more shocking discovery was that Vorcha could actually regrow whole limbs in mere months!
Hindered in their ability to alter Gryll's DNA, they used their superior technology to find an alternative. They already had deep extensive research done on various ways to alter immune systems from their experiments done on more live bodies gained from their exchanges. Krogan men affected by the Genophage were widely tested on by the Collectors, along with previously long lost records of the Salarian programme of creating the Genophage - they had to exchange quite a lot of tech for that one, especially compared to the price of a couple lowly Vorcha. The price of a dozen "pure" Quarians free of any illness indicated their rarity. The Omega 4 Relay natives had trouble finding Gene Therapy information for exchanging and had to rely on their own work. The Citadel Council had many restrictions and legal guidelines that made the practise heavily restricted and monitored, as seen with the Alliance banning any mixing of compatible genes of non humans into human recipients. The areas of the galaxy not governed by the Citadel Council have a great deal less to restrict their research, but they have different things on their mind - such as drugs, money and violence.
The combination of their previous research allowed them to develop a way for Gryll's reactive immune system to be brought down a notch to levels similar to Quarians with a "plague" administered to all body cells mimicking the deployment of the Genophage. This plague didn't actively damage his body, rather putting his immune system in an inert state. He would, of course, have to be shielded from any possible microbial threats, which was easy to do when inside the Collector's fleshy test pod. After shutting down his immune system to a barebones state, they would be able to replace his DNA with that of his adapted kind which in itself is a relatively simple procedure.
Finally, they planned to slowly reopen his immune system. Using the Vorcha's own adaptive physiology was not out of the question, Gryll's body could then be cultivated to a state where it accepts the DNA as part of his single adaptation, given many months pass and his body is allowed to slowly get used to its changes.
And so they spent 2 months substituting the three old adapted Blood Pack Vorcha's DNA into Gryll, and they succeeded.
Gryll had changed massively. He was taller than most Vorcha, almost a sixth taller than average. His chest was larger, thanks to his stronger lungs. These lungs were able to survive and filter in even the most poisonous of planets. His muscular system, skeletal system and heart were more advanced than a Vorcha adapted to Jupiter's gravity! Gryll's skin was hardened and became rough to the touch, not that it was exactly smooth before.
Truely, he was a sight to behold. An imposing figure, the "youngster" would surely get gawks in Omega, especially from Blood Pack recruiters looking to bully another into their group.
However, the problem of ageing needed to be solved.
Such great amounts of time and technology used on a single specimen just for it to have a chance to reach twenty was not ideal for the Collectors, who had aspirations of using them as a more versatile tool than even husks.
Another month was required in order to obtain another rare commodity. They wanted Asari who had died in the Maiden stage naturally. After obtaining half a dozen of these carcasses, they got to work immediately, discovering that these Asari had genes that were pivotal for developing a method of increasing life expectancy.
There was a defect in these Asari that had shortened their life, they all held the same gene mutation which was similar to the genes determining the lifespan of Vorcha, allowing them to finally detect the genetic sequence that caused the Vorcha to be the shortest lived of all the sapient races in the galaxy. All the Collectors had to do was hybridise the newfound gene in Gryll that shortens his lifespan with Asari who lived to a minimum of Matron stage.
After two more months of experimentation, the Collectors predicted that Gryll's life expectancy had nearly doubled, still short in the galactic sense but manageable.
And finally the new Vorcha was complete.