The Brood are a race of large insect-like (except for their heads, which have side-set eyes and jaws with rows of razor-sharp teeth) aliens that seek out genetically superior lifeforms to use as hosts for their eggs. A hatched brood can remain in its host's form for some time and even revert back and forth as long as there is some of the host's persona left. The hatchling can also use any powers the host may have had. They operate under a hive structure with a queen, warriors and drones. There are also a select group of armored assassins who serve the queen and protect her. (hunters)
The Brood first appeared while chasing Corsair to Earth. At the time they were in league with Deathbird, who was trying to wrest control of the Shi'ar Imperium from her sister Lilandra. The Brood were defeated by the X-Men, but returned to take the mutants hostage and implant each of them with an embryo. Wolverine's healing factor dealt with his embryo, but Storm began to change into a Brood. Before the change completed, she was swept out of an airlock, but saved by a young member of the space-whales called the Acanti, many of whom had been enslaved by the Brood to become living starships. The X-Men vowed to free the Acanti by recovering their leader's "soul," which was still held on "Sleazeworld," one of the Brood homeworlds, before they changed. After a pitched battle, the X-Men found the Prophetsinger's soul, and it healed them as it destroyed the Brood queen and returned to its people. The Brood planet then destabilized and exploded. Upon returning to Earth, the X-men found that their troubles weren't over. Professor Xavier had been implanted with a queen egg, whose psychic feedback had caused him to go into a coma even before the X-Men had been captured. He had woken up, and under the queen's control had collected mutant children into the team called the New Mutants. The queen Brood finally hatched, destroying Xavier's body, but the X-Men and NM fought long enough for Xavier's mind to reassert control. Rather than kill him, the X-Men took his Brood body to the Starjammer, which was still in orbit. The ship's doctor, Sikorsky, was able to clone Xavier a new body and transfer his mind into it.
Pro-File: The alien race known as the Brood or Sleazoids is one of the most vile in the cosmos. Itīs only interest is to reproduce at all costs, even the extinction of other races. In their hierarchy, the queen is the only one different than the others, and needed to be protected by any costs. The X-Men have fought this race more then once, but the greatest battle between them was by the time that the Brood infected Professor X with one of itīs eggs. Only the ability of the Shiar healer saved Xavier, cloning him a new body and transplanting his mind into it. In that combat, Storm was also almost transformed into one of them, virtually dying and resurrecting. In that battle we learned that the Brood used as ship a slaved alien race, the Acanti, similar to space whales. The X-Men apparently set them free, by releasing one of the Acanti leadersīs soul.
The Brood came to Earth more than once, possessing the Ghost Rider in one occasion. Only the X-Men Blue team could save the old flame-head that day. They later returned to absorb the Ghost Rider once again, but Wolverine and Gambit stopped them. The truth remains that this "people" must be approached with caution by all living forms of existence.
Typical Brood DroneYears later, a Brood Acanti ship crashed in the Midwest, and its occupants slaughtered a bunch of hapless campers. Only paramedic Harry Palmer survived, but he had been implanted with a queen's embryo. Over the course of the next few months, Palmer and his partner Josey Thomas implanted Brood eggs into people they had treated, specifically those that they detected had latent or active mutant powers. The idea was to create a force of Brood with mutant powers that could rival the X-Men. The X-Men came to SF? on the trail of the Brood and were ambushed by Palmer's Broodlings.F- Ex A- Gd S- Gd E- Gd R- Ty I- Ty P- Gd H- 50 K- 22 R- Ex P- (-40) POWERS Body Armor: GD Sting: have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Brood have Gd. proficiency with their tails, causing Gd. damage. If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (EX) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used at no penalty. Instant Disintegration: When a Brood reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot (no karma loss for kills.) Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace.
Brood Hunter
F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace.
Brood Queen
F- Rm A- Gd S- Ex E- Am R- Ex I- Ex P- Un H- 110 K- 140 R- Mn P- (-50) POWERS Body Armor: EX Sting: Brood have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. The queen is Remarkable to hit with her tail and does EX damage. If struck you must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: the queen does not instantly disintegrate as do normal brood. Flight: Queens have light, gauzy wings for TY speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared. Telepathy: The queen has Un. telepathy with her subjects and can communicate with them over light years. She has limited precognition that allows her to anticipate character attacks (she cannot be surprised or blindsided). She can inject eggs into a living host by successfully striking with her tail (no poison injected). She usually does this when the victim is unconscious-drug to her by her drones. The victim must be alive during the entire 1-10 week incubation process for the new Brood queen to live. The character is transformed into a Brood queen with all the powers of the queen who automatically dies when the new queen is born. The process can only be halted by characters with high natural immunities or by advanced medical aid. The queen has been known to plant eggs in more than six hosts at a time. The queen can also plant eggs in victims that will hatch as either drones or hunters. she can do this as many times as she has time for.
ACANTI F- Fb A- Ex S- Shift Y E- Class 1000 R- Mn I- Rem P- Class 1000 H- 1222 K- 1105 R- none P- 0 POWERS Space Flight: They are massive space faring creatures similar to space whales. They have Class 3000 speed. They are invulnerable to the cold and pressures of space. The Brood use them for space ships. The cybernetic controls the Brood have implanted give them Gd. control. They have Mon. lasers. DESCRIPTION The Brood have captured and enslaved many Acanti, lobotomized them and equipped them with cybernetics. These Acanti have been fitted with hundreds of laser batteries that can do MN damage. They also carry hundreds of Photon torpedos that do MN damage. The Acanti can easily carry millions of Brood inside them, but because the Brood are consuming the creatures from the inside, they are limited to about 100,000 in order to prolong the lifespan of these living ships.
As such, it appears that Mutants who are infected with a brood egg may retain some of their memories/personality/and powers, to be determined randomly. Not only were the following brood unique and retain some of these, but Proffessor Xavier too retained these memories and was ressurrected because they were able to transfer his mind to a new body...
...Thus, killing brood drones or hunters that are not unique yield no karma loss. Killing a queen nets a -50 penalty and killing a critter that is known to be a previous ally gets the hero a -100 loss. Any other brood are already considered dead and thus yield no penalty.
Blindside (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Teleportation: TY Stealth:GD Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. Brickbat (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- MN E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 135 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. Dive-Bomber (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Dive Bomber has better wings which give him EX flying. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. TALENT: He has the Ariel Combat talent (he is really good at this and gets a +2 CS bonus to these FEATs) Lockup (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Paralyzing touch:RM Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. TALENT: wrestlingThe X-Men, realizing that the people who hosted the embryos were already dead, pulled no punches. During the first round, Havok took out Dive-Bomber and Brickbat was impaled when a building fell on him and Colossus. However, prior to that, Rogue's bare skin touched Temptress, so Rogue turned to the Brood side, and used her pheromones to nab Psylocke. Together, the two of them took on Wolverine until Lockup paralyzed him, and Palmer implanted an egg inside the berserker mutant. The Brood ran, but the X-Men followed. As Whiphand was holding onto Dazzler and Longshot, he was killed as Colossus snapped his neck, and Blindside was fried by Storm's lightning. Rogue picked up Logan and the unconscious Temptress, but as they flew off, Wolverine woke up and although he was starting to change, gutted Temptress. Rogue, in her anger, threw him to Earth. As the X-Men waged war against the Brood escapeed, freeing Psylocke from Temptress's mind-control and zapping Rogue, Wolverine made his way to the meeting-place of the Glory Day Ministry, led by the Rev. William Conover. Conover thought Wolverine was suffering from drugs, but when he tried to talk to him, the Brood aspect took over and attacked. The Reverend asked the Lord to "smite the abomination," and it worked, because Logan's healing factor had time to destroy the Brood embryo. Then Tension grabbed the Rev, only to be blasted by Havok, who had arrived with the other X-Men. Spitball fired at Havok, but Longshot got his teammate out, and the fireball hit a wall, which crushed both Sptiball and Lockup. Palmer, last of his group, grabbed the Reverend's wife Hannah, but Wolverine crawled under the stage they were on, burst through the floor, and yanked Palmer down, where he killed him.Temptress (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Pheremone Emission/Control: EX (UPB##P8), this is an air-borne version of hypnotic control (only works when breathed in) Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. Tension (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Elongation (arms only): EX, strength is considered RM for grappling Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. Spitball (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Fires super-heated balls of plasma from his mouth: RM energy attack Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace. Whiphand (Brood Hunter, Mutant Hybrid) F- Rm A- Gd S- Gd E- Ex R- Gd I- Ty P- Ex H- 60 K- 36 R- In P- (-50) POWERS Arms/tentacles are made of pure energy: may be used for RM energy attacks. Body Armor: EX Sting: Hunters have double tails ending in wicked spikes that have poison spines. Hunters hit at EX proficiency for EX damage with their tail If struck, characters must make an endurance feat vs. the poison's intensity (RM) or fall unconscious for 1-10 hours. The tail can only be used in combat every other round. Bite: All Brood can bite for Gd. dam. They can bite every round, including those rounds the tail is used (at no penalty). Instant Disintegration: When a Hunter reaches 0 health, they disolve on the spot. Flight: Hunters have light, gauzy wings for poor speed. Vulnerability- Dragons: The Brood live in stark terror of an alien miniature dragon race that lived on "Broodworld" though they may not have been native to it. Lockheed is a member of that race. They have a cumulative 25% chance per dragon present of breaking ranks and running scared, even in their queen's palace.
The X-Men next came into contact with the Brood when Belladonna brought Gambit and the X-Men to New Orleans, where the Brood had captured the children of the Assassins' Guild and were going to use them as hosts. The mutants teamed up with Ghost Rider, which proved a little tricky when he was implanted with an egg. Luckily, his supernatural nature burned the embryo out before he could do too much damage. The X-Men saved the children, but Belladonna was gravely injured.
Unbeknownst to the X-Men, Harry Palmer's partner Josey Thomas was Brood as well, and had implanted a queen's egg inside Hannah Conover, when she was "treating" her arthritis. The egg "cured" the affliction, and people came from all over to receive Hannah's healing touch, which was actually her implanting of an egg, building her own force of loyal Brood. However, as Hannah's embryo started to grow, her humanity asserted itself and refused the telepathic orders coming from the Brood. The Brood Empress sent a squad of her "first-born" assassins to kill Conover and her Brood, but the X-Men, tracking a Brood signal, got there first. After a long and arduous battle in which most of Hannah's Brood were killed, Reverend Conover was captured by the Brood, forcing Hannah to convert to her Brood form in order to defend him. Her mind remained human, though, and she was able to return to human form when the X-Men had beaten back the first-born. Seeing no other solution than death, the Conovers agreed to allow Iceman to freeze Hannah until a cure could be found. The first-born, sensing that the rogue queen was no longer mentally active, destroyed themselves, their corpses turning to dust. Bishop said that in his era in the future, there was a group of peaceful Brood, and it is possible that Hannah Conover was the start of that line.
