Colonial (All Tomorrows)

The Colonials were a posthuman species created by the Qu from a colony of the Star People. Since their colony fought especially hard against the Qu invasion, they were punished in the worst way.

The Colonials had cuboid bodies with orifices for filter feeding and reproduction, sexual as well as asexual. They retained the complex eyes and the high intelligence of their human ancestors, so they could suffer the most from their fate as living filtering devices for the Qu for the next forty million years.

After the departure of the Qu, the Colonials reproduced until they covered the planet in fields of human flesh until they evolved into diverse forms who formed specialized colonies. Every individual had a different function in each colony and benefited from the functions of the others. Some colonies grew enormous tap-roots that were able to siphon resources from far away. Others abandoned roots altogether and began to move themselves on starfish-like foot segments. Some colonies came up with units equipped with claws and poisons, taking competition to a brand-new, deadly level. Others responded to the threat with armor-plating, or watcher-cells equipped with enormous eyes. One of the colonies were the Modular People.

Appearances

 * All Tomorrows, by C. M. Koseman (2008)