Would you like to know one of the most annoying and depressing things about being born into the starcraft universe? There was always the chance of being one of the zerg, which has the nifty little feature of losing your junk along with the many, many other issues that come with it. And then there comes being something distinctly non-standard, as I had been born too late for the first big war and the Brood War, but just A little early for the great big apocalyptic hell-war that was to come. And then there was my mess of a body. I just thanked my last scrap of luck I had a cheat.
Still, I should probably talk a little about the body, about my new species and the massive and thankfully not crippling body dysphoria. See, at my base, I was a lurker. A nice little burrowing ambush predator and defensive/raider strain. Deemed obsolete and so no wonder I was 'feral,' but the other main component that mixed in? Roach. Yes. The ones that could tunnel while burrowed and healed faster while underground, at partially effectiveness on the base species whose entire thing was burrowing to attack. That actually made sense. The queen aspects did not.
Well, I was assuming it was queen, based on how I looked overall, like a more savage brood mother. It could just be, given how the acid seemed to function like a banelings regenerative acid, that I was part suicide bomber. Frankly, the jokes are morbid as hell once you realize that yes, your new species could also be labeled as 'acid bomb that also heals your allies.' I sure as hell did not get the ability to mentally make some of the other zerg obey me, even if I am willing to admit that could be a skill issue and I needed to get good.
Truth be told though? The upside of being on a feral world, before the events of the games? There was a lot of experience hunting to be done, biomass to consume and ability to survive woven into my being. Something to at least try and do before any of the big names, or at least the Hybrid show up. Because yeah, I was going to surrender to the big names and would do my damn best to kill the hybrid. All in all, being a twisted weapon meant for the destruction of all life and the end of the cycle of creation... yeah, that was bad news.
So, I was just going to, after venturing out again to check on things, dig a nice and deep hole and do some meditation and studying. Maybe also engage in some pondering of the greater galactic mysteries. But, all said and done, I would have a way off world sooner or later, given the sheer scope of the war to come. Unless of course, I could find a way off first. I paused, considering... as there would be a few, depending on the exact approach I would take.
Unique Zerg
While Garrxax is responsible for the birth of the Baneling and Roach to terrorize the sector, perhaps the most notable to emerge from it would be Mattrax the Earthshaper. An singularly power geokinetic, it is widely accepted that this particular zerg, which is capable of communication with terrans, was the result of a combination of hypermutation and exposure to psionic enhancing compounds that have not been able to be replicated since. At least a part of the process is that he had been feral for some time before the Queen of Blades established control.
Taken from the tropical mountainous rainforest, he has been sited on dozens of worlds as a commanding figure. However, unlike most zerg, it will seek to preserve itself and is far more cautious than normal. At the same time, it possesses advanced stealth abilities that outstrip the majority of detection measures, both technological, biological and psionic in nature. Combined with its ability to freely move without solid rock and stone without disturbing it before launching its attacks, the high speeds it can move while underground and the fact it is capable of freely reshaping and manipulating earth and stone via its psionic powers, it seeks to control any engagement it finds itself in.
However, it is also possessed of powerful regenerative abilities, the acids that seethe inside of it actually acting as powerful healing agents to the zerg. Acids and bio-weapons it is known to be able to create and deploy in far greater amounts that should be possible, even coating its claws and spines with toxins that defy the laws of physics and are likely psionic in nature. Further evidence is found that of several attempts to mentally connect with it, only those it was aware of were not subjected to an instinctive veil of toxins that work on the purely mental level.
However, it remains a solitary organism, as it appears the Zerg Swarm has had no luck in replicating the circumstances that created it.
The Lurking Horror
While the Earthshaper remains unique, there has been success among the swarm in the creation of the Lurking Horror. Taking the strengths of the lurker and the roach, the resulting creature becomes a nightmare to defend against, and the bane of many mining worlds. While slower than the roach, and its regeneration less potent, the fact that it is a lurker able to move without exposing itself is all that needs to be said.
Worse yet, there would be three particular strains of the horror that would be created over the course of the second great war and end war.
The first would simply be known as a Ravaging Lurker. Trading in the spines of the lurker for a ravager's acidic artillery, some have taken to calling it the 'Stealth Siege Tank.' A fact that burns worse than its acid.
A support strain was seen in the Creep Horror. While stationary, it can spread creep around itself and releases spores that stimulate zerg flesh, while also eroding and consuming weaker forms of biological life forms.
The final version would be the Swarming Horror, which melds the same underground mobility with the Swarm Hosts ability to generate combat capable offspring in the middle of combat and retains the lurkers bladed spines, for highly effective area denial.