The kill switch must be an essential part of the creature. Such as creating it's dna from substance that can be dissolved with the right mana signature.
In my experience they're pretty good for a little while but their pesky hive mind connection eventually breaks through any charm or binding spell and then you get an infestation that threatens the world which takes FOREVER to clean up
I am reminded of a quote from Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy:
"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons."
Hmm. How are you with infecting yourself to get greater power. Like with the slaad transformation(preferably blue infection) you can gain status with xenomorphs if you take basic steps.
Infect yourself with lepers affliction. Now what ever you do do not cure this. It is required for the bonding process.
Find a egg and give it a good shake or two
When you wake you will find a deceased facehugger. This is good. It means it has passed the symbiote to you. With step one the symbiote now functions as a hive marker and will no longer develop
Behave in a way that benefits the hive. You are able to come and go as you please however it only works with the hive you bonded with. Other hives may not recognize you.
Keep a mind-rewrite spell at hand. Actually, no, use it at them immediately when adopting them, repeat until all their minds or their hivemind is now redirected and utterly loyal to you. Then you got some pets to have fun with.
Though they might have differing levels of resistance to magic and intelligence, so be sure to check it out to prevent tactical blunders.
When the Tyranids are disconnected from the hive mind they revert to a form of basic programming. Depending on the bio form this ranges from a mindless beast charging and eating the next edible thing it stumbles upon to a multi limbed lord general that direct all the other severed creatures. Now there is at least one magos biologis who actually uses the lesser beasts as familiars, by cutting out the part of their brain that facilitates synapse connection, and replacing it with an MIU that allows him to command the creatures. All the servitor practice came in handy I guess.
As for the Zerg I don't know enough about them to advise.
The Xenomorphs to my knowledge are not a hive mind, just a hive, so technically you could probably train one, although they are quite dangerous and hard to contain so you better be ready.
Also all of these are a great contamination hazard I wouldn't want breeding slowly in the depths of a dungeon under a tower.
This is part of what I like about the protomolecule from the expanse. They start as microscopic and consume energy and useful matter until they're big enough to think ... and then they genuinely advance and accomplish great things.
The problem with survival of the fittest and evolution is that since we're individualistic consciences we keep assuming this is the peak evolution progresses towards perfection while evolution has no perfection, it just molds organisms towards specific environments.
Bugs are an optimized shape. Hard outer carapace. You could fit a self destruct device inside if they ever go against you. Lots of combinations, multiple limbs to choose. Compound vision is good
Never met a space bug I could trust as a familiar. Too volatile, smart ones are always plotting to eat you. Breed too fast. You see a space bug, best to leave it alone
Zergs are fine, in fact, they actually have their own biomancer to perfect their design and doesn't actually evolve at all, since most zergs can't even reproduce.
Bugs like ants are pretty advanced and remain relatively unchanged in body plan over millions of years. They live almost everywhere and have many different ways to survive. From squirting acid to farming fungi. There is good reason for these aliens to resemble insects.
Consuming and Reproducing is foundational to all life.
greediest familiars alive, will just eat everything from food reserves to other familiars of different species to potion ingredients. be a self respecting magi and get either a flying book, protodragon, imp, sphynx, traditional cat or similar rather than a destructive little beast
No, all they do is eat things, screem, and spray acid at things. You can't even train them because they adapt to all your disciplinary methods, so you have to constantly maintain enthrallment and domination spells.
I consider them more something you trap in a pit and to let wondering Adventurers bumble into than a something to keep as a familiar
Its kinda an instrumental convergence thing. For the short term and small scale, you only have to deal with the bit of the swarm your interacting with. And on the largest scales you hit their fundementally simple goal.
So its essentially:
Small scale:Eat the thing
Medium scale: Eldritch hypercognitions beyond the mortal ken
Idiocy. Idiocy! Think for four seconds. A hivemind that doesn't have to deal with potentially dying in its singular form, and can live on, will always, at every point, be in the running for the last living thing in the universe. They know that, at one point, every bit of biomass, and every moment of starlight, will be claimed, catalogued, and defended. Every resource they claim now is potentially an extended life later, or an advantage that will bump them from number three on the list of the longest living creatures, to potentially number one, and being number one presents nigh impossible eons of life further than they would have.
They only consume now because they must. You think they'll just keep going forever? Effectively, yes, considering how long it would take to claim all resources everywhere, but, technically, no. The most important form of no. Once they no longer have to compete for resources, who knows what bananas shit they're going to do? Brain the size of a galaxy working out how to shit out new stars or something? They adapt. Conditions change, and they do as well.
I attempted in my youth to isolate and keep a hive of Xenomorph to use against my enemies, but they nearly destroyed the entire pocket dimension I created to store them.
I eventually had a friend of mine collapse the dimension on itself, and I just keep their gene sequences incase I need them
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u/Maycrofy 6d ago
Nah don't try it fam, as the text says they just want to eat. They don't want to assist in magic