THE COLONY (from Sub-Attica)

The basic premise behind the entity known as the Colony is that it is an organism with a hive-based
mentality that is slowly bringing creatures into its fold and under the control of the hive. It all began
with the discovery of an unusual series of coral growth off the Arabian coastline in the Arabian Gulf.
Similar to Fire-Coral (the tips of the coral are equipped with stingers and a mild toxin), this type of coral
seemed to be able to produce a toxic ink from ink sacs growing in the place of the numatacyst stingers.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the coral would spray fish that ventured close to it. At
first, the sea life exposed to the toxin did not seem to react adversely to the properties of the poison,
but soon after it was discovered that exposed sea creatures began 10 act differently than the
conventional norm. When the researchers stepped in to remove samples of the coral, the 'infected' sea
creatures began to attack the science teams with a suicidal vengeance. Unable to get close to the coral
growth, the researches noticed that all the different species of fish that attacked the team seemed to
operate in a similar fashion despite the fact that many were of varying species and genus type.
After several failed attempts, samples of the coral were finally acquired, the remaining coral was
ordered destroyed to avoid an infestation, and the problem was considered solved.

THE ADVENTURE
The adventure begins when a brief distress signal is intercepted by the party from the BIOSMal
(Biotechnica Oceanographic Institute for the Study or Marine life) station located on the edge of the
Cayman Trench some 4,200 feet under the ocean, just north of Jamaica) before all communication is
lost. Completely baffled about the origins of the coral, the BIOSMal research station decided to grow the
coral under supervised conditions. One of the divers tending to the new growth of coral snagged and
ripped his wetsuit on the coral outcropping and was exposed to the toxic inks secreted by the Colony.
Viewing this as a tremendous opportunity to study the effects of the toxin on a living being, the BI0SMal
scientists soon learned that the toxin destroyed certain parts of the brain that allowed for independent
thought . The coral itself was somehow telepathic and would control the now lobotomized being. What
they did not discover until it was too late was that the telepathy was also a means for the coral to learn
and become more intelligent. The coral not only controlled the diver (who was now quarantined) but
also had access to his knowledge.
This proved to be a fatal miscalculation on the part of the scientists. who believed that the coral and the
now-controlled diver operated on nothing more than an animal-level intellect. The diver was able to
escape his confinement area and began infecting the rest of the station's personnel by carrying the toxin
from the coral in a hypo spray gun and injecting whoever he came across.

THE CHALLENGE

The base is now predominantly under the control of the Colony with 14 station personnel infected and 4
dead from the skirmishes. The remaining 6 personnel have managed to lock themselves into a secured
section and are awaiting rescue (hopefully). The Colony is planning on expanding the hive by infecting
the nearby stations and is making preparations to do so. The distress call came from an uninfected
station scientist who was subsequently captured after the call was made.

WHAT IS THE COLONY

The origins of the Colony is unknown and a GM's toy to fool around with. Ideas about its creation range
from a side effect stemming from the biological, biochemical and chemical disasters that befell the
region amidst the 1990s and year 2000 Gulf Wars, to the rumors that the Colony that was found in the
Arabian Gulf was a minor infestation compared to the ones reported off the Australian coast.
All that is known is that the Colony is a sentient form of coral and is capable of using a neuro-toxic ink
that destroys parts of the brain and allows for telepathic control of the living creatures infected.
Whether or not it is following a specific agenda is unknown, but it is thought to be intent on spreading
its control over a greater range.
The Colony can also use its telepathic abilities to learn the information present in a creature that it
controls. Its intelligence levels are, therefore, variable. When confronting the Colony, the greatest
danger the players are going to face come from any creature or human that the Colony now has control
over. The Colony has no power save its toxins and the telepathic manipulation. The major weaknesses of
the Colony are:
1) Its immobile state; the coral makes it an easy target to fire on. Destroying half of the present
coral mass will eliminate the mental control it has over its victims, while destroying over 75% of
the coral mass will kill the coral. If, however, the entire mass of coral is not destroyed (95%+), it
will regrow and begin again at INT level 1. In order to determine the amount of damage the
Colony can take, assign the coral an SDP rating of 2d10+10.
2) Due to the mental control that the Colony exerts, the reaction time and speed of a dominated
life form is greatly hindered. To determine how fast the Colony reacts in matters such as
initiative, use only a 1d10 without the additional bonus of using the REF stat. Skills based on REF
are halved, with fractions rounded up.
3) Because the Colony thinks as a hive-based life form, the creatures under its control act
uniformly or in a similar manner. In high-action situations, the Colony has not yet developed the
ability to multi-task its servitors. In other words, because of the influx of information from all
the controlled organisms, the Colony will dispense with independent actions that might save
one life form such as dodging or taking cover. In combat situations, if the Colony has more
people or creatures than Its current INT rating to control, the controlled creatures will begin
attacking en masse, opening fire en masse, running en masse. To a normal observer, their
actions would appear to be suicidal or fanatical. The minute the Colony begins controlling less

people or creatures than its current INT level, then it becomes more sneaky, relies on various
skills, multi-tasks its servitors and acts on more tactical-based decisions.

Those subjected to the toxin (against bare skin or injected with it) must make a successful Death Save or
lose half their INT stat and forget half their skill levels (fractions are rounded up). A total of 4 rolls are
required before the toxin no longer affects them. Those who hit an INT of 1 are now considered
controlled and effectively dead. Even if the control of the Colony is removed, the freed organisms and
humans now possess the mental faculties of a newborn baby.
Characters who managed to make at least 2 successful Death Saves can recover their lost INT through
regenerative brain surgery. Their lost skills will have to be relearned, though, at a fraction of the original
cost (GM prerogative).
As a final note, the Colony increases its INT level by one point for every 10 points of INT it gains through
its servitors (i.e. for the Colony to increase its INT by one, it would need to control 20 Goldfish or 10
dogs or 2 average people or 1 gamer or 50 politicians). For every point of INT the Colony possesses, the
range of its mental control is increased by a one mile radius.