#ant-civilisation

[in-parkour-civilization]

thanks to that one person who put that fic link under one of my posts

this is the funniest shit i've ever read holy fuck mate

[kideternity]

Most important thing in the world to me is that IMO in order to be ant man you gotta be fucked up in the head*

[officialspec]

too often when talking about emergent civilisations people do not consider the humble ant. because of Woke

[lilacargent]

At it again, from another angle this time.

‘Old’ weapons. Or at least redundant, as a species traverses into space the new technology makes an old gun or even older sword/arrow/spear and so on useless and nearly powerless. The new weapons are ‘ray this’ and ‘beam that’ ‘plasma so and so’ .

Ofcourse this makes sense, the energy based weapons are far less wasteful and lighter, easier to carry and easier to handle. No need to sharpen weapons with a plasma blade and even then, why use close quarters weapons if you have access to stun, kill or poison rays and many more.

On top of that many civilisations prefer to forget their less then stellar past and make analog weapons obsolete. When the humans joined the council many expected them to do the same. They didn’t, production stopped yes, but interested people could still partake in lessons and the old fashioned ways were shown off in museums. Training to be part of a spaceship crew still included lessons in their old weapons as an opportunity to be prepared for going to “newer” worlds.

So with that in mind i have a few little vignettes ideas and for ease’ sake its gonna be on the same ship, the Serpentine.

Important crew:

Primoz, captain -Limoyh a four armed species-

Krag, second in command (brother of Primoz)

Kit, dokter -avian, bird like, she has feathers like a swallow-

Ortez, ASR (all species resources, human resources in space) -kiltak, insectoid species, think ants but exoskeleton-

Lugea, helmsperson (does the steering) -rock like alien-

Artex, engineer/mechanic 1 -also Kiltak-

And then our humans:

Kamari, navigator -Eritrean woman- (has cat named Sidra)

Markus, weapons expert (knows how to use them and upkeep, also shields) -Swedish man-

Petrus, mechanic/engineer 2 -Italian man-

Lilly, administrator/note keeper (learns languages for fun)-english woman-

Yes i know all of this could have also been accomplished by saying they are all from America… nope this is more fun. This is under the assumption that to get into the joint academy for space faring you need to be able to speak and write English.

Obviously there are more people on the ship but these are most important

~~~~~~~~

1. Sparring

Ortez was having a good day, the serpentine had left port and was making good progress toward their next destination on w-kl-18, referred to as deltax by it’s residents, for a routine drop off.

In port on Unity (the planet where the council resides and the universal court is) they picked up the final crew members among who a ‘team’ of humans. Pre bonded humans were supposed to be less chaos inducing and easier bonded with the rest of the crew. Ortez was rather happy the captain listened to him on this matter.

The humans had been more diverse than he expected and were currently what they called ‘settling in’. He was on his way to the rooms they had.

‘Stop it please we’ve been here less than 4 hours!’ The soft voice he recognises as Lilly’s is barely audible over the loud clanging sounds. Rounding the corner Ortez sees a terrifying scene. The two human males locked together with two sticks made of metal baring teeth at each other, with a push the olive skinned man, he remembers is called Petrus, breaks the hold and goes in low swiping at the tall mans legs making Markus fall over.

Ortez is about to intervene when without a sound the dark skinned leader of the group seemingly appears without a sound behind him and runs into the fray with a similar stick.

Whacking Petrus stick away from Markus’ throat she steps inbetween “stop it. You’re scaring our ASR. We want to make a good impression remember.” The men look right at him and both put down the sticks, Markus puts his hand up in a ‘wave’ “sorry about that, Ortez it was right? We were just sparring.’ Moving further into the room he uncurls his front two claws tapping at the metal poles “sparring with this? We usually only do body to body training, this seems rather old.” Petrus speaks up to that “ah yes those are old earth weapons, we like keeping up a bit of skill with several kinds as a side activity. Don’t worry tho, we train with blunt weapons.”

Not entirely appeased the insectoid looks to the imposing woman, who seems entirely at ease even though two people had been fighting. When she caught his eyes, she smiled that terrible toothy grin “truly don’t worry, like Petrus said they are blunt and it is a way for us to let of some steam and keep in shape. But next time we’ll do it in the training rooms… right boys?” Pinning the two men with withering stares they nodded quickly.

Ortez did not know humans released steam, but he felt right now was not the moment to go into that. Saying his goodbye he skittered to inform the captain.

This was bound to be interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~

2. “The Roman empire”

“So you are telling me that at any given moment you could be thinking about a several thousand years old society that no longer exists and it would surprise nobody?” Artex was perplexed, when he and Petrus were working on the reactor core Lilly had wandered through and mentioned this old civilisation sparking heated debate. She thought the greeks were far more interesting but Petrus had been unmoved by her arguments. The other man speaks while pushing some buttons “well yea, the empire made great strides and amazing structures, Lilly just prefers the mythos of the greek while i enjoy the focus on millitary prowess.” Shrugging he looks up “don’t you guys have something like that?” Artex stretches his legs, all 6 of them in a wave like motion “not really, when change happened the history books were changed to make it seem like it was always that way” the human makes eye contact “wait so how do you know how to play -old civilisation- as a kid? We play fought with wooden sticks, wooden swords and branches we cut to look like guns…” that horrofied the insectoid, raised with violence like it was a normal thing.

Almost like they never left their dark ages

~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. Whats in a name (bit off topic but the idea just kinda happened)

Te very first time the humans were introduced to their new crew there was a bit of a hiccup. When Kamari introduced herself they looked up a bit confused but went further down the row. After Lilly they came back around and referred to Kamari as moon. Now Kamari recognised the strange look, they had translators that only had basic human translation, which means that her name “Kamari” which comes from Arabic and is a word for moon/soft glow of the moon, is translated fully but not as name so when they speak to her it translates out of their language to English which would be moon. This is luckily easily fixed with an update, but it was something that stil spoke of how new the human race was to the cosmos.

Her cat Sidra made them laugh as that means Star so she was the moon with her star.

(Random thought about how multiple human languages could screw with translations)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soooooo kinda had a 4th story that is pretty sad but also bad ass, but this is getting too long already

Imma write that in a new post over the coming days

Hopefully people like this, if you have prompts you’d like to see with this crew feel free to ask.

[huggingtentacles]

Magic is real. The discovery shook the whole world: speaking certain words out loud can cast "spells". The thing is, those words are in a dead language of a long-lost civilization.

Suddenly a lot of things that were a mystery to science make sense with this discovery, it's as if the whole world can be formed and molded with those spells, but only if you say them exclty right. Linguistics becomes the most important science in the world: they are the ones leading the frontier, discovering rules and patterns and grammar of this ancient language, slowly, sound by sound, learning new spells and enchantments.

Some spells are harmless, like creating a mirage in the distance for a short time. Some are very confusing, like closing your eyes and seeing through the eyes of the closest ant. They are rarely dangerous, but someone figured out how to turn leaves into glass and that spell got leaked online.

You are an immortal who has enjoyed life on earth for many many years, disguised as a human. You are the only remaining native speaker of that language, and you know why your civilisation didn't make it.

You have to stop humanity from making a terrible mistake.

[sentimental-darkness]

I have no scientific knowledge here but it’s interesting because isn’t it hard to tell? Like, with animals, who never really evolved in a way we did, they would be at that stage humans once were. So if an animal or alien ancestor had some weird telepathic sonic waves or something, such abilities, then it could be something totally different for communication but still elaborate like our ‘spoken’ language. But if they didn’t and it were just primitive sounds or like dog barking at first stages, then surely it would be something written and maybe comprehensive “spoken” speech later, because what else? The only problem could be different bodies and inability to replicate their sounds

People dreaming of establishing communications or common language with aliens is such a funny concept. It's always expected to be spoken or written language, but if we look at human history with pets, it's what is most likely to happen, conveying our intentions with intonations, repeating words and showing their meaning, not actually creating a language in between. Hell, we can't even agree on one common language among ourselves, let alone with someone alien.

It's almost as if nothing else matters unless it's our equal, or rather, functioning the same way.

[wolfythewitch]

i have to know so much about the odyssey for my classical civilisations test at the end of the year. pls catch me up thanks

Everything that happens in the book is because everyone is stupid. Odysseus being the smartest of the Greeks is like saying largest of the ants. All you need to know is he will also lie for no reason any time he can

[kikunai]

had an interesting thought of what would civilisations look like if humans and ants swapped their intelligence and lifespan

[tyrannuspitch]

6,14,19,23 :D

6. Have you watched any of the deleted scenes from Thor 1, The Avengers, or Thor 2? If yes, choose one deleted scene that definitely deserved to have stayed in.

Odin and Frigga's fight from Thor 1! I'm on my hands and knees beginning the MCU to spare Frigga a scrap of complexity, and the combination of this fight and Frigga fervently defending Odin to Loki during the Odinsleep could be so interesting. To me it looks a lot like she fears Odin here, but she also seems to sincerely believe a lot of the fucked up things she says in his defence. But she's also kind of known for lying. So like... Is she lying? Or has he won her over? Is she choosing harmony over justice? Is she choosing herself over her children? Does she really believe she's doing the right thing? I don't have the answers, but I wish there was more discussion of it. And maybe even more Frigga scenes in TDW as a result of living in the Complex T1 Frigga universe. Put it back!!!!

14. Do you have any headcanons about Jotunheim?

I'm not the best worldbuilder so I basically have two in total, which you might already know about:

A) That Jotunheim and Asgard's rivalry is ancient. The two civilisations have been in contact since time immemorial and they define themselves in relation/in contrast to each other.

B) That bilgesnipe are Jotun cavalry animals.

19. Find an insect/arthropod that reminds you of Loki (aesthetically, behaviourally, etc.)

Ant; boot.

I'm partial to a bit of spider imagery. The webs, the dark hiding places, the intricate schemes and need for control. The kind of elegance and dexterity that people find inexplicably unsettling. Being unjustly feared and persecuted for their "creepy" appearance and for their vital role in the ecosystem/narrative that they did not choose. It's all very gothic and fun. I should use it more.

23. Headcanons about Loki's Jotun form?

LOKI! HAS!! DWARFISM!!! This is deeply Real To Me, to the extent that I was genuinely surprised when I first realised that there are other interpretations. His father thought he was "too small" and abandoned him to die. Does that not sound like a disability narrative to other people? Does it not resonate perfectly with his pervasive but unsubstantiated weakling-coding?

I do see people's point about Loki not quite looking like other Jotuns and so possibly being partially another species, but IDK. That option just doesn't quite compel me the same way. The idea of Loki being caught between cultures/species is *already covered* by his fucked up adoption situation. Physical disability is a whole new thematic layer.

-> Ask me about early MCU Loki!!

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

The End of the World

She hobbled beneath the canopy of soul-oaks. Their bone-white branches intertwined, blocking out almost all light, casting a haze of crimson onto the grove. Her body felt infinitely heavy, like she was dragging the weight of a world with her. In a way, she was.

Her golden trail of blood dragged like a snail's slime, staining the scarlet leaves with the last dregs of a god's life. Her wings drooped on the ground, limp. It was the end of her, and she knew it. Yet she continued walking, through the faint dappled light filtering from beneath heart-leaves, into the clearing beyond.

Her job was completed, her succession settled. She could lay down her arms and die peacefully. Oh, how her heart yearned to do so, and her body was falling apart with the need to take a final nap. But she knew she would never awaken, and she had one tiny task to complete.

In all her millennia of wandering through the planet, she had never found the End of the World.

The soul-trees were thinning to reveal a rocky beach, and a pitch black starless sky. Wind howled against the remaining trees, screaming a mournful harmony to a world long gone. Just a few steps away lay a precipice, a thin carcass of stone overlooking the Void. An endless darkness. Infinite. All consuming. The End of the World.

And if she had it her way, it would be her end too. No reincarnation, no restless ghost roaming the galaxy in search of a cure to its lassitude. No, she would have nothing but eternal sleep.

The wind caroused with her hair, toying with the battle braids, nipping at her exposed skin like a rambunctious child. But she had no eyes for anything save that ledge. 

Sour bile and sickness. That was what she smelled of. A dying woman. She had lived so long, so very very long. Long enough that she thought herself to be immortal.

"But the sun will rise and the mountains will fall and all things will come to an end," she croaked, reciting a trace of a poem from another age. The rest had been lost to the void, just as she was soon to be.

One step closer to the edge. Another step. The pain was excruciating, every millennia of her life weighing down on her body. 

She had been beautiful, once. Fearsome, awe-inspiring, worshiped by all. But she was old, old, old beyond belief.

And her skin, once clear and milky pale, had crumpled like paper, folding and crinkling until her face was an old map of all her travels, becoming ashen and waxy.

Her hair had once been the passionate scarlet of fire, her eyes the crimson of blood and battle-lust. The colour had been drained away from her, leaving naught but a shell of her magnificence. 

She had towered over the mere mortals, made them cower and whinge with her great magic. Yet here she was, hunched over herself, unable to so much as summon a spark. 

She would have wept to see herself reduced to this, but she was too weary to feel such passions. 

One more step. She stood on the tip of the ledge. The Void stared into her, an ancient enemy. She met its gaze evenly. From the very beginning, she knew she would die in its maw. 

In the fathomless depths, she saw her past. Empires wrought by her hand and obliterated at her will. Civilisations, rising and falling like ants. Temples and cathedrals alike raised in her honour, whilst every other god dwindled to nothing. Feasts and festivals in her name, vast tributes of meat and wine. Wars of faith, crusades to appease her. Luxuries and pleasures beyond a mere mortal's comprehension.

But everything she had treasured, everything she had truly loved, was gone. Her children, slain at her own hand to keep her throne. Her sisters, lost to the annals of time. Her love, her one true love, resting beneath the ocean waves. And now, she would die too. Her name would be snatched away by the wind. Her statues and temples would crumble into oblivion. 

She closed her eyes. Clumsy fingers removed her necklace, the mark of her power, tossing it onto the sandy bank. Perhaps someday, an explorer might stumble upon it. With the last dregs of her heart, she wished it was so. In the end, she did not want to be forgotten.

She took the last step.

Then she fell into the Void, and welcomed its cold embrace.

[starryeyesmasc]

me: no babe I won’t get potilivtal tonigth

Me after fige drinks: haha what if ants had their own civilisations and rose up against humans haha wouldn’t that be crazyyy

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Sensorites

Synopsis

The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive in the TARDIS on board a spaceship. Their initial concern is for the ship's human crew, who are suffering from telepathic interference from the Sensorites, but Susan communicates with the Sensorites and finds the aliens fear an attack by the humans and are just defending themselves. Travelling to the Sense Sphere (the Sensorites' planet) the Doctor seeks to cure an illness to which the Sensorites and Ian have succumbed but finds it has been caused by deliberate poisoning. The political manoeuvring of the Sensorite City Administrator poses another threat to the TARDIS crew as he seeks to discredit and implicate them.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Planet of Giants

Synopsis

The doors of the TARDIS open of their own accord just before it materialises, running out of control. On emerging, the travellers find the ship has been reduced in size and they are now only about an inch tall.

Propaganda

God it looks good (anonymous)

The Web Planet

Synopsis

On the planet Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are swept up in the struggles of the butterfly-like Menoptera, the original denizens of Vortis who were forced to flee the planet for the moon Pictos to escape the encroaching web of the Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi, and their living weapons, the larvae guns.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Crusade

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in 12th century Palestine where a holy war is in progress between the forces of King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin. Barbara is abducted in a Saracen ambush and the Doctor, Ian and Vicki make their way to King Richard's palace in the city of Jaffa.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Mission to the Unknown

Synopsis

On the planet Kembel, Space Security Service agent Marc Cory is investigating a recent sighting of a Dalek spaceship. His suspicion that the creatures may have established a base proves well-founded. He learns of a plot by the Daleks to invade and destroy the Solar System, but he is discovered and exterminated. The Daleks and their allies vow to conquer the universe, beginning with the planet Earth.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Massacre

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in Paris in the year 1572 and the Doctor decides to visit the famous apothecary Charles Preslin. Steven, meanwhile, is befriended by a group of Huguenots from the household of the Protestant Admiral de Coligny. Having rescued a young serving girl, Anne Chaplet, from some pursuing guards, the Huguenots gain their first inkling of a heinous plan being hatched at the command of the Catholic Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Celestial Toymaker

Synopsis

The travellers arrive in a strange domain presided over by the Celestial Toymaker — an enigmatic, immortal entity who forces them to play a series of games, failure at which will render them his playthings for all eternity.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Savages

Synopsis

The TARDIS has arrived on a far-distant and seemingly idyllic world. Yet the Doctor, Steven and Dodo learn it hides a terrible secret: the apparently civilised Elders maintain their advanced society by draining and transferring to themselves the life-force of the defenceless Savages.

Outraged at this exploitation, the Doctor is seemingly helpless to prevent it when some of his own life-force is tapped by the Elders' leader. In the process, however, the leader, Jano, also acquires some of the Doctor's attitudes and conscience. Turning against his own people, he enlists the Savages to destroy the Elders' transference laboratory — a task with which the time travellers gladly assist.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[moth-short]

The Fire-Circle Tantra | Moth 8 | Author Unclear

The one known extant copy of this in Western Europe was stolen from the British Library in 1892. One Harvey Hattington confessed to the crime and claimed to have eaten it, with butter and garlic, in a moment of ungovernable whimsy.

Herein the Great Hooded Princes are shown beseeching the Wood to rise and devour an invading Timurid army. The 'Dapple-King', the 'Honey-Tree' and the 'Sea-Twins' all deny their request, until they enlist the help of a burrowing secret-keeper...

Armed with blackmail material from the 'burrowing secret-keeper', the Great Hooded Princes petition the powers of the Wood for a second time, and are successful. One quarter of the Timurid army is devoured by bees, one quarter drowns themselves, and one quarter 'disrobe themselves until nothing remains.'

I feel that the most important question here is: who are each of these characters? The Dapple-King is most likely to be the Moth, the Honey-Tree is almost certainly the Malachite/the Ring-Yew, and the Sea-Twins are the Witch-and-Sister, or the Sister-and-Witch. The Dapple-King is identifiable not by means of having heard the name before, but of what happens in the third paragraph - one quarter "disrobe themselves until nothing remains." This is identifiable as the shedding that those affiliated with the Moth undergo to Ascend - and thus, as aspected with the Moth in the moment of death. Additionally, there is the 'burrowing secret-keeper', who can only be the Velvet, associated with secrets and, in their very occasional depictions, takes the form of a mole.

As amusing as the thought of the Velvet having blackmail on the rest of their fellow Wood-Hours, the important question to me is: who are the Great-Hooded Princes? What are the Timurids? As much as I search, I have only seen the Timurids mentioned in this specific Tantra, and the Great-Hooded Princes I feel I have seen before.

Ah, yes. In the Twin-Serpent Tantra, and in the One Hundred and Eight - I have read the former, but not the latter, and it is since lost to me. I will keep an eye out for another copy.

In the Twin-Serpent Tantra (Knock 8 | Author Unclear), it describes the Great-Hooded Princes are described as "a dynasty of unclear origin", made up of 54 individuals, who existed in a History secret to our own. Having learnt of their destined death in that History, they escaped by means of the Mother of Ants (source: One Hundred and Eight | Scale 4 | Author: Eva Dewulf) into a different History in which they still live, and met the alternate versions of themselves, which they joined to become a hundred and eight. Hence the names of the Twin-Serpent Tantra and the One Hundred and Eight.

This is as much detail as can truly be gathered about one of the Histories' civilisations, however I feel it is truly informative - the Great-Hooded Princes are truly powerful Knock-Long, whose dynasty stands strong in another History. I originally read a replication of the Fire-Circle Tantra because I had heard from the Librarian that it was related to the Moth, however this is more fascinating than I had expected, and I'm glad to have read it.

[ghastmaskzombie]

A conversation I had with my brother recently has me thinking too hard about Pikmin biology and ecology. So off the bat, obviously, they’re eusocial and asexual. I also think they have extremely heteromorphic castes, by which I mean, their reproduction only makes sense if pikmin, onions, and candypop buds are all a single species. The various colours are probably subspecies, or perhaps distinct species. I’m going to ignore the fact that onions of different colours can fuse, because we won’t get anywhere if we try and account for that. Now, Bro put forth the idea that candypop buds are juvenile onions, and I agree. I’d like to further hypothesise that they’re effectively carnivorous in that stage of their life cycle, and in fact cannablistic, luring in stray pikmin with nectar and converting the nutrients to their own pikmin. It helps them establish an initial colony. A candypop bud’s wilting is actually a sign that it’s prepared to emerge as an onion, but the player never sticks around long enough to see, and it always dies of starvation soon after, due to its pikmin having been taken.

Now, the fact that almost everything on the planet seems to prey on pikmin can easily be attributed to their unique nutritional profile, being both animal and vegetable. The fact that they’re small, plentiful and reproduce rapidly also helps.

But the real question is why they behave the way they do. They clearly comprise a hive mind, and hive minds think in signals. An ant colony, for example, thinks partly in pheromone trails, and they’re very specifically evolved to recognise them. So why do pikmin so clearly recognise shining lights and whistles as important signals, when no part of the species can produce them? If we combine this with their extreme submissiveness in the presence of captains and the passivity they display in their absence, it points to them having evolved to serve some class of leaders that no longer exist.

Add in the clear signs of former, recent* habitation on the planet, and all the bizarre technological and biological hazards found there: live machinery, devices spewing poison for no particular reason, pikmin-zombifying fungi, strange mutations, and seemingly supernatural creatures like the water wraith or the plasm wraith, an interesting possibility begins to take shape.

Maybe the pikmin didn't evolve into their current form naturally. Perhaps they were bred. Highly specialised livestock, surviving in the decaying ruins of a civilisation that left in a hurry. We must let ourselves consider that perhaps... the planet of the pikmin is not a place of honour, and no highly esteemed deed is commemorated there.

...is what I was going to say, before I actually watched the trailer that prompted that conversation in the first place. This throws everything we know about their universe into question!

*on an evolutionary timescale

[mattydemise]

If you could only save the animal kingdom or mankind which would you pick

I’d save the animal kingdom and it isn’t even close. It’s the original sin principle. We are tainted from birth and corrupt all we touch. Even the holiest and most pious among us pale in comparison to the grace and purity of the animal kingdom. Animals know no pretence, they don’t cause the wanton destruction of their home and then provide pathetic, thin justifications as to why, and animals don’t routinely abuse and exploit other animals. The worst thing that ever happened to this planet was us. Perhaps not the us of a thousand years ago, prior to industrialisation, but definitely the us of today. The more our kind perpetuates, the less meaningful individual existence becomes, until eventually we’re like one big ant colony. A universal embarrassment that one day, millennia in the future, civilisations vastly more wise than ours, will examine our ruins and laugh at how good we had it only to still fuck it all up.

[eyesoverinfinity]

Different, yet the same au

this is an au where the survivors are all inhuman shape shifters but think everyone else is human and are trying to hide their inhumanness.

They are why the uncanny valley exists, they hunt humans by using what's called aggressive mimicry, essentially pretending to be a human to get close to one. Like the ant mimic spider, they act and look like humans then lure one away from the group and eat them.

But then civilisations began to make mass amounts of food and so it because easier to just steal from them. they still eat humans occasionally, for health reasons.

More under the cut:

They used to hunt in large packs, but has humanity got more and more aware of their surroundings, it became harder to find people of their own species without getting caught themselves.

When the age of the internet appeared they went from near threatened (A near threatened species is one that is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.) to Endangered (less than 250 mature individuals in the wild, or in this case, worldwide.) in the last 30 years.

They're only saving grace was that humans forgot about them. Mostly...

So many have never met others not of they're family group that most colonies assume that they are the last ones. Nick barley even HAD a colony.

That's where the government comes in, they have secret files on these guys, and believe that there is a lot more of them then there actually is.

They have killed colonies before, framing them as cults or kidnappers (which to be fair they do do that.) Including Nick's colony. But as long as the shapeshifters look like humans, they will never be weeded out by humans.

So the government develops a flu like sickness that will ignore humans and target the shifters directly. Because this isn't my mimic infected au I think you can guess how this goes.

The virus, that only had shape-shifter DNA that was in storage for 20 years to go off of mind you, imminently jumps to humans because there are far more of them and they made it WAY too volatile.

The original idea was to make a virus that spread so quick the predators would die without any survivors and the virus would fizzle out without new hosts. Now they had the opposite of what they wanted. A just as deadly virus that targets humans instead and makes them attack each other.

Of course the shifters don't know this, all they know is that there is a zombie virus and a rampant military and they are stuck in the middle.

They eventually figure it out that they're all the same species, one group before the other (but I won't tell you who yet >=) Until then, this will be the hijinks that come from hiding inhumanness from other non humans.

Here's the logo: