Impact of the Swarm in your game.

[Haborym]

Little information can be found about the impact of the Swarm War in the Starfinder books, how long did it last? How many casualties etc?

How is this handled in your games? In my campaigns it was apocalyptic in scale, a swarm of creatures so wast in numbers that the Veskarium and Pact Worlds had to cooperate or be totally annihilated. The number of casualties were in the billions. Cities were totally destroyed and whole fleets lost.

"I always thought the population on the pact worlds were very low, so I use this as an explanation, as well as a reason for why the veskarium and pact worlds are still allied, they fear their return"

This conflict is a powerful glue which holds the pact worlds together, and the anniversery of the end of the war is celebrated every year on all the planets.

[yukongil]

yeah, more or less the same, though I replace cities with planets.

Now they are the boogeymen hiding out on the fringe. My players recently ran afoul a Swarm hive as the evil expansionist corporation/religion they were trying to infiltrate had recently come in contact with the Swarm. Used them like the bugs in Starship Troopers as a backdrop for the actual scenario (and to show off the sweet new terrain pieces I'd recently made) in kind of a Tower Defense esque combat

[EltonJ]

I'm not using the Swarm. Using something else. Like D-R-A-G-O-N-S.

[ForeverQueen]

One of my PC's in my game is 'swarmborn'- a Shirren that was recovered as a larva. His connection to the swarm was severed, but he retains an overall aggressive tendency, and looks more dangerous than the average shirren, ie, has a spiky shell, etc.

In my headcannon/universe, the Swarm are actually good guys in a round-about sorta way. They are capable of absorbing and storing DNA from any plant/animal, and they are doing it to try to save the Universe. There is a fungus/mold organism out there trying to make the universe 'stop'. The Swarm devour everything organic before the mold can get there to deny it traction, and to save the genetic material of the organisms to recolonize the planets once the conflict is over. They think of themselves as living Arks.

In my headcannon, the Pact Worlds/Veskarium didn't actually stop the Swarm. Rather, the Swarm had to abruptly turn a different way to cut off the path of the encroaching Mold, which took them out of conflict.

Collectively, the Swarm has been through the song and dance of 'we can take care of ourselves' with so many different cultures, they don't bother talking anymore, they just devour everything and move on.

During the War:
The overall casualties were massive, I'm inclined to agree.

Post War:
I think 'Swarm liberation day' sounds like an excellent holiday to celebrate in the Pact Worlds/Veskarium.

As a side note, we are getting a Swarm AP starting in Aug this year. (As a general rule I don't like Adventure Paths, but I will absolutely be buying these, since I am mad-curious about the swarm in general)

[Haborym]

ForeverQueen wrote:

One of my PC's in my game is 'swarmborn'- a Shirren that was recovered as a larva. His connection to the swarm was severed, but he retains an overall aggressive tendency, and looks more dangerous than the average shirren, ie, has a spiky shell, etc.

In my headcannon/universe, the Swarm are actually good guys in a round-about sorta way. They are capable of absorbing and storing DNA from any plant/animal, and they are doing it to try to save the Universe. There is a fungus/mold organism out there trying to make the universe 'stop'. The Swarm devour everything organic before the mold can get there to deny it traction, and to save the genetic material of the organisms to recolonize the planets once the conflict is over. They think of themselves as living Arks.

In my headcannon, the Pact Worlds/Veskarium didn't actually stop the Swarm. Rather, the Swarm had to abruptly turn a different way to cut off the path of the encroaching Mold, which took them out of conflict.

Collectively, the Swarm has been through the song and dance of 'we can take care of ourselves' with so many different cultures, they don't bother talking anymore, they just devour everything and move on.

During the War:
The overall casualties were massive, I'm inclined to agree.

Post War:
I think 'Swarm liberation day' sounds like an excellent holiday to celebrate in the Pact Worlds/Veskarium.

As a side note, we are getting a Swarm AP starting in Aug this year. (As a general rule I don't like Adventure Paths, but I will absolutely be buying these, since I am mad-curious about the swarm in general)

Interesting take, I like it :)

I think it's important to emphasise scale when it comes to conflicts, if the Swarm or Veskarium consists of two ships and a few thousand soldiers the Pact as a concept would'nt make any sense.

[Carla the Profane]

An android operative in my game called her character "The Swarm" -after her hacking tactics. But she didn't realize that it was already an actual threat in the galaxy so I made it into a McGuffin sidequest.

Now all the other players are scared of the swarm, and she isn't.

[Pakishi]

I am currently using The Swarm as a tertiary threat and warring with two different star-faring empires. The three factions are actually set far in the Vast but the PC's originated in the Pact Worlds.

They exited the warp at a location in the Vast to accept work on a new remote colony but re-entered real-space near a singularity that shot them clear across the galaxy (or universe, I haven't decided) and into the middle of a war between the three factions.

There is a mysterious empire that is driven by a hidden figure(s)

There is the ancient aristocracy whose political in-fighting is only overshadowed by the ongoing war.

Then there is the ravenous hive worlds of the Swarm whom I've modeled loosely off of a insectoid race in a certain unnamed scifi wargame and the "Starship Troopers" movies.