Most Powerful Biological Race?

Which of these would you consider to be the most power biological race?

1. Species 8472; Star Trek (Voyager): Considered the apex of biological evolution, Species 8472 was discovered by the Borg when the Borg tore open a dimensional rift into Fluidic Space. They turned out to be impervious to Borg Assimilation Technology, and declared that our galaxy would be purged for defiling their dimension. They possessed the ability to heal almost any wound, and had ships capable of destroying planets when linked. They were defeated by Voyager and the Borg working together to create nanoprobes that would self-destruct when in contact with the alien cells rather than assimilate them.

2. The Many; System Shock 2: When the god-like SHODAN - a computer virus become sentient - was defeated on an orbitting space station, SHODAN ejected an experiment capsul to Alpha Centauri. Here, her creation, the Annelids, growed and thrived. However, they became more p0werful than their creator (still alive within a barely functioning onboard computer system), and when discovered by humanity 30 years later, infected nearly every person on the ship - forcing humanity through strange and perverse evolution into massively powerful psychic organisms that existed in constant psychic harmony with the mass that had become The Many.

3. The Zerg; Starcraft: The Zerg were the second creation of the ancient race, The Xel'Naga, and were blessed with the gift of essence. Based on a creature which could gain control of the neural system of surrounding creatures, and genetically modified to become sentient, the Overmind was able to secretly build an army which was able to overthrow the Xel'Naga. Since then, the Zerg have consumed everything in their path in their search for genetic perfection.

4. The Tyranids; Warhammer 40,000: From beyond the galactic rim has come the Tyranids - millions of biovessels and creatures that descend upon worlds, killing every living thing before entirely removing the planet of biomass, surface minerals, and atmosphere. The Tyranids have multi-mile long Hive Ships that store the mountain-sized Norn Queens, who constantly splice genetic codes and creature newer and deadlier bio-constructs to overwhelm the defences of mankind. Guided by the Hive Mind - a psychic, collective will of the Tyranid race - and armed with explosive beetles that burrow into an enemy's skin, hordes of scuttling Gaunts, and massive Carnifexes and Bio-Titans, the Tyranids are poised to overwhelm the entire galactic south, and are an ever increasing threat on the galactic east.

5. The Yuuzhan Vong; Star Wars (expanded universe): Fearsome invaders from another galaxy, the Yuuzhan Vong are the greatest threat faced by the New Republic since the collapse of the Empire. The Yuuzhan Vong are singular in their goal of conquering this galaxy filled with infidels, and transforming it into the new Yuuzhan Vong home, as dictated by their gods. They will sacrifice anything for their religious beliefs, and many worlds have been sundered in their crusade.

6. The Shadows; Babylon 5: Ancient creatures, the race that has become known as The Shadows were of the very first sentient races to exist in our galaxy. When the First Ones left the galaxy, the Vorlons and the Shadows stayed behind to nuture and protect the younger, emergeant races. However, while the Vorlons demanded strict obedience and progress through order, the Shadows would pit the younger races against each other to ensure that only the strong would survive and be fit to rule the galaxy. The last time the war was fought, the Shadows were defeated, but not destroyed. Now, as the year 2257 comes to a close, the Shadows have begun to move again, slowly stirring the young races to war each other, meanwhile, oh so silently, rebuild and redeploy their forces. The shadows we eventually defeated, though more by the younger race's refusal to be puppets to either the Vorlons and the Shadows, and that the galaxy now belonged to the young. The Vorlons and Shadows have since left - though on occassion, portent Shadow Technology left behind has ended in the hands of the corrupt, and used to subvert and destroy.

7. ??? If there's some I've missed out (like the Insects from Lexx - though I don't know enough about them to post), please feel free to vote for them!


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Myself, I vote for the Tyranids - but that's because I play them. They consume entire planets, evolve, and repeat. Combat with them only makes them stronger, for should they be victorious (which they often are), then they consume the dead bodies, and so still gain bio-mass, while they continue to evolve and become even deadlier.

"The more I come to understand these aliens, the more I come to see what drives them, the more I hate them. I hate them not for what they are, or what they may someday become, but because they are incapable of good, honest, human hatred."
-Inquisitor Agamar on Tyranids

The only ones I am familiar with are species 8472 from Star trek and the shadows from Babylon 5. Both of them were defeated in the end (by humans!) so that implies that those two species cannot be the most powerful. Maybe one of the others I am not familiar with...

Yes, but you could say that they weren't really defeated. They left the galaxy because they, and the Vorlons, realized that they had fulfilled their purpose now. The young races no longer needed to be watched over - and so they could leave the galaxy to rejoin the First Ones.

In other word, they were defeated in the same way the Minbari were defeated - for reasons other than power.

Since they weren't defeated, they could still be the most powerful. Their ships were mighty impressive, they had superweapons that could destroy, or enslave, whole planets. They could deny their enemy's access to jump-space, and had the firepower and resilience to fend off almost any attacks.

I'd just like to note thta the Tyranids and the Zerg are pretty much the same species (or collection of species). In fact, pretty much everything from Starcraft was ripped from Warhammer 40K. Space Marines in power armor, Zerg=Tyranids, Protoss=Eldar.

As far as the most powerful bio-tech race...I'm not sure. I'm actually dorky enough to know ALOT about all of your listen choices. Lexx really isn't a race, it's a ship that can blow up planets. Though that's no big deal because all of the other races can blow up planets as well (I'm not sure about The Many).

I think I'd have to agree with your choice of the 'Nids. They're pretty unstoppable, consuming every planet they come across, with limitless "manpower". Most of the other races can be stopped and/or reasoned with. Or I might just be biased because I've read every 40K novel there is...



[edit on 12/20/2005 by Flinx]

I just now found this thread... wish I'd done so sooner, this is a debate my friends and I have had before.

I too am drawn to the Tyranids on this one... in terms of numbers, the enormous scale upon which they can launch an attack, and sheer visciousness, the 'Nids are a pretty tough contender. Taking into account their ability to dust a planet with spores and launch a surprise attack after a few years, those damn bugs are tough to beat.

(and anybody that says a Hive Tyrant couldn't rip Kerrigan a new one is a liar.)

However... consider that the Many grew to the size it did using only the biomass of the Von Braun's crew. If the creature had made it to Earth and consumed even a small fraction of its denizens, it would've gotten a lot bigger... couple this with its enormous psionic talent, upscaled exponentially to account for further evolution and accumulation of neural biomass, and that thing could threaten an entire Tyranid force.


Only one more thing... while it's true that Starcraft pretty much ripped off 40k (and did a damn good job of it, too), 40k (as far as the marines in power armor and the hive-mind enemy are concerned) more or less ripped off Robert Heinlein's novel 'Starship Troopers'. So I wouldn't feel too bad, if I were Blizzard.

Part of the allure of sci-fi is the similarity of games and stories like these... being able to fight the same timeless battle from numerous different perspectives is a lot of fun.