Creep (StarCraft)

""What the hell is that? Looks like the ground there is alive."

- Jim Raynor during the Battle of Backwater Station

Creep is a living zerg organism. It has a purple coloration and feels thick and slimy. Creep is psionically-sensitive and may be influenced and controlled by psionic entities. It is used to nourish zerg structures and larvae.

Creep may be deposited in a number of ways. Some zerg structures, such as hatcheries, serve as loci for creep growth.[5] Hive spores may also be used in the initial stages of infestation.[5] [1] Post-Great War evolution have seen zerg creatures gain the ability to spread creep as well; overlords by direct secretion, and indirectly by queens through laid creep tumors.[6] If left unchecked, creep can consume an entire planet within days.[7]

Overview
Creep may be deposited in a number of ways. Some zerg structures, such as hatcheries, serve as loci for creep growth. Hive spores may also be used in the initial stages of infestation. Post-Great War evolution have seen zerg creatures gain the ability to spread creep as well; overlords by direct secretion, and indirectly by queens through laid creep tumors. If left unchecked, creep can consume an entire planet within days.

Biology
Creep spreads rapidly if left unchecked. This proliferation may be observed in real time. Creep helps to sustain itself and other zerg organisms by processing minerals extracted from the ground via deep tendrils

Creep may grow in anaerobic environments and over water. It may also grow over hollows in the terrain; attempting to traverse over such hollows may cause creep to tear and give way.

Removal
Creep is notably averse to extremely high temperatures and will not grow in unsuitably hot places. While it may be set alight by high explosive or incendiary ordnance, its remarkable regenerative properties makes complete extermination by brute force a difficult proposition. Removal may only be guaranteed by destroying the structures serving as growth loci. It may be difficult to tell when creep is truly dead.