Just to start off, this isn't like a novel like The Behemoth or anything like that, its just me writing about NS for school. My teacher told us to do a Descriptive Essay on anything, and because I had no inspiration, I did it on Natural Selection, more specifically on skulks. I decided that I might as well post it on the fan-fiction forum since I can't play NS at the current moment .

Here it goes:

The Kharra and the Skulk

For all of humanities existence, they have always pondered 1 question, are we alone in the universe? But soon we were to discover that we aren’t alone, the Kharra are here. The Kharra is an evil, living bacterium that destroys anything and everything in its path. Its damp, mossy, greenish-yellow appearance is not to be underestimated, for at any moment it can strike with such indescribable ferocity. With its hatred for anything human, it spawns many lifeforms bent on killing us; the most frightening of all being the skulk.

The skulk is a guard dog looking alien standing knee length high. Don’t be fooled by its size, for this death bent alien can tear anything, metal and flesh alike, to pieces in a matter of seconds. With its razor sharp teeth, it can bite any part of your body quickly and effortlessly off and come hungrily for more. With its razor sharp claws, it can climb walls and get into anywhere at will.

The skulk has many devastating abilities, which has caused the death of countless solders. It can come charging at you like a freight train with its stunning leap abilities or it can parasite you with the tentacles on its back, marking you as “fresh meat” for the other Kharra to devour. If all else fails, it can come charging at you with its war cry, apparently blowing up in your face like a suicide bomber. This creature has tremendous hatred for us that a few of these things exterminated most of my squad today in a terrible battle.

As I record myself talking to this old, beaten up tape recorder, I stare at the vent above me. A cool yet unpleasant breeze comes down from the vent, along with the constant ticks of the skulks roaming around the ship. With my pistol ready in my hand, I hear the distant cries of my fellow soldiers, wondering when my time will come. The Kharra are here, and they are coming for us.

[End of recording]


Idea based on the video game Natural Selection, by Charlie Cleveland of Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

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It's kinda unlinked, it feels like it has some plot holes, but good thing it isn't a story .
I also added a few maybe over drastic explanations of certain things, but it conveys fear and wanting to pick up a HMG and shoot all skulks nearby .

Let me know what you think, this is more of a random impulse than anything else.

Actually, I've always argued that the Kharaa aren't evil but simply extremely aggressive defenders who will defend the hivemind collective without question. The TSA is an organization which sent in marines to investigate places that suddenly went off the grid, which as it turns out was due Kharaa infestation take over.



So in otherwords the Kharaa is respesentative of the natural order and the TSA is representative of human technology. So Natural-Selection is an allegory of the balance between nature and humanity. Only that this nature has teeth.

<3

I so agree with this.

Can't say it better.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh.......... the teacher doesn't know that

At the beginning you should of put some emote that you were talking in a recorder in the first place. Sounded like an essay at first then at the end you turned it into something else when you put it in first person. Oh well too late now anyways

yeah i think its a stretch to call a skulk "evil"

Ive always though that the hive was so sophisticated that the organisms it produced were really extentions of itself. Only to an extent are these creatures autonomous, ultimately they will do everything in thier power to ensure the hives survival, and they dont have a choice on that matter.

This all comes back to the "hive mind" concept. the aliens dont take direct orders, they just instinctively attempt to drive off invaders, not aware that in technical terms it is them who are the invaders.

Despite this though there are indications that the kharaa are capable of a level of self-awareness. The way they chuckle, roar and intimidate DO indicate a degree of (understandable) personal resentment toward the marines.

As much as jaws slicing through would hurt, im sure futuristic nano enhanced bullets tearing through your body would too. theres no goo or bad in ns... just bioloogical competition vs.

True that it does sound like an essay but then turns into a story... I'm not a very good writer (I also did them at completely different times).

And for the essay I take the perspective of a marine....


WARNING: Complex sentences ahead
Most likely most marines will look into the skulks eyes and see that it wants to kill him, and so think it is evil to some subjective extent. Humans aren't completely objective people, we are much more subjective (and like to stereotype (if it helps my argument)).
It's true they aren't technically evil, but the word "evil" drives my main point (if there is one) better than most other words I could come up with. In conclusion, I have 3 things to say:

1. Its more what the marine thinks (subjectivity) rather than knows (objectivity)
2. Humans rule
3. bah.....

[End Warning]


PS. I'm surprised I got these many replies, I thought I would get 1 or 2 max.