Mollusc (Art by Emmanuel Dinardi)
Molluscs or Sarmaks, are an aggressive extraterrestrial race of beings inhabiting the planet Mars.
Overview[]
Molluscs at some point established a colony on Antarctica that has since fallen into disuse, though large subterranean sections of the establishment have remained sealed off and unable to be explored, the contents within largely unknown.
It is believed that the Molluscs launched a small scale invasion of Earth on October 30, 1938 in an attempt to colonize. However, the Federal Bureau of Control managed to destroy the invading forces thanks to their joint alliance with the enigmatic Men in Black and the United States military.
History[]
Exodus[]
The species is believed to have originated in another solar system, emigrating to this one ages ago for unknown reasons, though it is speculated that the catalyst for this migration was some sort of calamity that fell upon the homeworld of the Molluscs.
After hundreds of years of space travel, the Molluscs arrived within the solar system and established two major colonies, one on Mars that thrived for thousands of years and one in an area of Antarctica that was eventually destroyed due to climate change. The Molluscs performed a hostile takeover of Mars and its current inhabitants the Martians or the Hnau as they are referred to. Due the pacifistic nature of the Martians they were quickly enslaved by the Molluscs.
The Molluscs enjoyed the seemingly stable environment of the planet, and were able to flourish for several centuries on their new home planet, developing advanced technologies and engaging in selective breeding programs and artificial augmentation that created an advanced, immortal physical form for the species.
Discovery of the Old Ones[]
Throughout their existence, the Molluscs have encountered only two other intelligent species: the humans and a fungoid alien species known as the Mi-go. The Molluscs engaged in trade with the fungoid race, entering a golden age and building labyrinthine cyclopean structures before entering a steady decline marked with a population shrinkage and increasingly decadent works of art. This collapse culminated with a discovery beneath Syrtis Major: an underground series of impenetrable vaults that the fungoid beings explained as being the home of the elder godlike beings known as the Old Ones or the Ogdru Hem, that were Mars's first masters, and would return from their undead dreaming when the stars were aligned.
This discovery sent the normally logical and calculating Molluscs into a frenzy of terror, destroying as many of the elder gods' idols as they could find, before finally deciding to leave Mars for Earth, where these Old Ones held no interest. During this upheaval, it was revealed that the slow and steady decline of Mars's natural resources had been caused by the ravenous consumption of the a Great Old One known as Nyogtha who had used every resource the planet provided during its thriving days, leaving the planet barren just beneath the surface long before the Molluscs had settled upon the dying world.
Invasion of Earth[]
This upheaval led the Molluscs to invade Earth, beginning an event known as the Great Martian War. Luckily, this initial invasion was small in number and thus could not invade the entirety of the planet, encountering resistance from the Federal Bureau of Control, who fiercely fought back against the Molluscs alongside the surviving Séroni who aided the Bureau and heir human ally Elwin Ransom in fighting the invaders. This invasion ended with the battle dubbed as the "Black Smoke War" that took place in Boston. During this engagement, the FBC prevented all reporting on these events, throwing it off as a catastrophic "meteor shower" that struck Boston, with the FBC covering almost the entirety of the city in artificial fog, blinding any news outlet below and above.
The battle concluded with the Mollusc forces defeated and some individual Molluscs captured by the FBC, and with any eye witnesses given amnestics, wiping their memories of anything related to the event. However, the defeat of the Molluscs only heralded the beginning of a phenomena which would be spread all throughout the United States. According to the Department of Exterrestrial Research in the Federal Bureau of Control, the Molluscs' defeat was akin to that of a signal that reverberated across and beyond the edges of our solar system and reaching any listening ear of other extraterrestrial life. This drew these extraterrestrials to Earth upon being made aware of the Molluscs' destruction by Earth's military forces which started the widespread phenomena of UFO sightings and the founding of Project Blue Book.
Description[]
Molluscs are regarded as intelligent beings, with a physiology somewhere between humanoid and arthropod. They have three legs ending in blades made of cartilage, and their heads have no discernible orifices apart from an extendable proboscis, though they are capable of guttural growling vocalizations.
They can feed directly on human flesh and blood with their proboscis, like how mosquitoes drink blood. They prefer to move slowly, but are capable of surprising bursts of speed when threatened.
Little is known about the Molluscs language. They seem to use telepathy to communicate, and have very little spoken words. There is one exception: "Ulla" which is a form of war cry and it is uttered when the Molluscs are dying. Their telepathic nature seems to stem from their communication with another eldritch species known as the Great Race of Yith, likely indicating that the Molluscs learned how to speak using such methods of communication.
The main focus of Molluscs anatomy is their brains. Although they do have a heart and a bulky set of lungs, they lack any sort of digestive system and so they feed via blood transfusion from other beings showing a vampiric nature. They do not need to sleep and in fact are constantly active.
