MaBarry had written...
The next step in true technological evolution (according to my dream) is that once humanity has figured out the basic puzzle pieces to matter, that there would be these shrouds or skins which would be fed to machines to create what humanity needed.These machines were called "Spiders" because of the way they looked, and they were tossed out into space to use all the raw materials of asteroids and the like. However, their limited AI heard the name "Spiders" and the creatures started taking some odd characteristics. For example, they would slowly develop huge egg sacks of mini-spiders, and the minispiders, when "hatched" would fight each other program-to-program in order to devour the materials of their fellow siblings and become huge, planet-sized spiders in space.
My dream talked about how some of the Spiders went bad, and would grab passing ships to harvest the material.
Some of the planets called the instructions "skins," and some of them "shrouds," which was interesting in consideration of the use of each... both materials of the dead. When I saw one in my dream, it looked like a map more than any kind of blueprint. They were offered up to the Spiders almost as if in prayer.
Name: Spiders
Genre: Space Opera
Race: Robotic Spider
Occupation: Materials Processor?
Age: Old
Gender: N/A
Height: N/A
Weight: Huge
Note that this is a 200 point Mecha...but that may actually be a little low for a planet-sized robotic spider. The gargantuan Spiders are VERY tough, but NOT especially intelligent - as I understand it, they've modelled their AI on spider-like behavior, modified by their original purpose of processing raw material into useful goods...but where they become dangerous isn't out of any design. It comes when they come across, say, an inhabited planet, and think (in their own way), "Ah, plenty of raw material here! Why, I can even incorporate some of that organic gunk crusting the edges!" In short, a very good idea that's spun a bit out of control...
As I have it here, they can function forever (by the time they're planet sized, I'm sure they have internal reactors). There is perhaps not as much room inside one as you'd expect from a planet - too much integral machinery and whatnot - but there is plenty of room inside for a small civilization or two, all the same. If we're looking at mid to large sized planet comparisons, some might even be capable of supporting an atmosphere, however. They can repair themselves, even during battle, though they're so large it is, comparatively speaking, not as fast as you might expect. Still pretty fast. Their special equipment, transmutation, and `mechanical genius', *combine* to justify their ability to process just about anything into just about anything else, and the very large ones really can do exactly that. (Lead into gold? Just a matter of sorting some electrons out, really.) Note that there is some bit of hope for the hapless small ship (or elite-class military cruiser) that gets classified in a Spider's mind as "raw materials": They were built to function in a specific area. The original Spiders were dropped in asteroid fields and set to work...their Sensors aren't made to scan out terribly far (though that is from a planet-sized beings perspective), and they're not that *fast* within or between systems...but that's pretty much it, hope-wise. Note that if something IS caught in their `mandibles', with their Strength, that does 135 points of damage, and regular armor is just so much more material to a Spider...a Force Field can still help, albeit only so far...(a level 6 force field still only blocks 90, so that leaves you to take 45 and weakens your field...and they get to bite twice more that round.) Note that their webbing is, on some levels, not that strong...if you have something that can affect it. Spiders themselves create a compound that will dissolve it pretty quickly. Ordinary things like cutters, lasers, fire, etc, won't affect it at all. Some ships that are expecting to be in a Spider-infested part of the galaxy, or those specifically sent to deal with a Spider that's become a danger to something important enough to someone to protect, are often sent with sprayers specifically loaded with this compound...because if a ship DOES get caught in the web, it's done for. The `subordinate mecha' are meant to be smaller Spiders; when one comes close to a giant Spider, their own `minds' are subsumed and they become part of a `hive'. As I have them here, they're actually not according to `the rules' - Subordinate Mecha are supposed to be 10% of the main with a cap of 10, and these don't have the cap, so they're 20 point mecha still...but given the nature of the Spiders and the fact that some still relatively large ones can still be seen as `tiny' compared to a big one, that made enough sense that I just went with it...really, a planet-sized Spider may be attended by anything up to the size of, say, LA. Maybe even Hawaii. (Actual continent-sized Spiders are big enough to not get subsumed. They're your creation, but as I picture it...groups of `small' spiders (the size of spaceships on down; Awkward Size 5 max) can "swarm", getting along just fine and working as a group. A larger Spider can also get along well with smaller ones, as they get pulled into its mind - a Size difference of at least 3 points means that the smaller will lose its own `volition' and become a drone if it comes in close proximity to a larger one. Spiders that are too close for that - within those three points - and size 6 or higher, will fight. You get a continent sized Spider finding itself within sensor range of a planetoid-sized Spider, and they're going to have at each other. The biggest usually wins; if the smaller does, they take the raw material of the bigger and build themselves up...so either way, you still wind up with a single planet-sized Spider leaving. Note that they have an instinctive understanding of that `sublimation' effect - any smaller Spiders they've subsumed will end up fighting each other, but both of the big ones essentially ignore them, knowing, on some level, that if they take out the "core" Spider to the hive, any remaining drones will come to the winner...)
Note that the Spiders are incredibly dangerous to anything they catch, but a well-armed vessel DOES have a chance. The Malfeasance, for example, would definitely want to think about getting the heck out of there, but she's easily fast enough to do it. The Joy of Being probably couldn't escape, but actually has guns capable of really hurting even a giant Spider...enough I think they'd have a chance, though it would mostly depend on how much damage they could do before the Spider closed to `melee' range and just bit right through...
Oh, and yes, that is ten levels of Awkward Size. The ones they have run on a somewhat irregular scale, but six points gets you from a centaur to a `giant Tokyo-eating monster'...and when those have been diverted to New York instead, they generally come out as still a bit smaller than the Empire States Building, but bigger than most of the rest of the skyscrapers...so I figure 7 probably jumps you up to the `town-to-city' range (Dark City would probably have been near the small end of a level 7 AS Mecha, I think...); level 8 probably brings you up to the "State" level (granting that Rhode Island is probably still level 7, but otherwise this runs up to the size of Texas); level 9 would be Continent sized (yes, everything from Australia to Pangaea), while level 10 covers planets from Mercury to Earthish...really BIG planets are probably 11, maybe even 12...
Body: 10
Mind: 2
Health Points: 160
Combat Value: 6?
Defense Value: 2?
Attributes:
Skills (20 points left out of 20)
Own a Big Mecha (OBM) 10x4 = 40
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) 4x2 = 8
Body 10x1 = 10
Mind 2x1 = 2
Extra Endurance 6x1 = 6
Extra Capacity 6x1 = 6
Mecha Regeneration 4x4 = 16
Special Equipment 6x2 = 12
Toughness 6x4 = 24
Poor Manoeverability 2x-1 = -2
Mechanical Genius 6x2 = 12
Transmutation 6x4 = 24
Anything
Extra Arms 3x1 = 3
Heavy Armor 5x4 = 20 (50 damage stopped)
Obvious
Life Support 2x1 = 2
Sensors 3x1 = 3
Analytic Only
Space Flight 2x2 = 4
Star Flight 2x1 = 2
Awkward Size 6x-1 = -6
More Awkward Size 2x-1 = -2
Still MORE Awkward Size 2x-1 = -2
Cannot Talk 1x-1 = -1
Super-Strength 6x3 = 18
Entire Body
Multiple Mecha Attacks 2x10 = 20
Weapon Attack: Mandibles 6x4+ 3 = 27 (75 damage)
Muscle Powered (Mecha Only)
Penetrating (Armor)
Penetrating (Armor)
Melee
Alternate Attack: Webbing 6 (45 damage)
Tangle
No Damage
Long Range
Incurable
Alternate Attack: Web Bombs 5 (30 damage)
Trap
Area Affect
Area Affect
Tangle
No Damage
Only In Environment
Uses Energy
Incurable
Subordinate Mecha 6x1 = 6
Limited Endurance 1x-1 = -1
Poor Manoeverability 1x-1 = -1
Reduced Capacity 2x-1 = -2
Awkward Size 2x-1 = -2
Mechanical Genius 2x2 = 4
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) 2x2 = 4
Special Equipment 2x2 = 4
Extra Arms 3x1 = 3
Heavy Armor 1x4 = 4 (10 damage stopped)
Obvious
Weapon Attack 2x4 = 8 (30 damage)
Melee
Penetrating (Armor)
Penetrating (Armor)
Cannot Talk 1x-1 = -1