True Form Insect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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True Form Insects are characters in Shadowrun Returns.
Background[ | ]
Alien spirits from an alternate plane of existence. They are summoned to this one through a shamanistic rite including human or metahuman sacrifice, the sacrifice becomes a bug.
There are three types of insect spirits in the game, with a fourth mentioned only. While in spirit form (temporarily kill the physical body) they are extremely weak, but can still inflict AP damage. When their physical form regenerates it does not fully heal, making it easier to keep them in their weaker state.
- True Form Worker (melee)
- True Form Spitter (ranged, single target)
- True Form Bombardier (ranged, area of effect)
- True Form Queen (breeder)
Interactions[ | ]
The first mention of them comes while exploring The Redmond Barrens, a distraught addict and former shaman named Vlad. He reports seeing the insects moving above ground, right across the street from the Seamstresses Union. This, along with the bite marks on the corpse of Blind Lucy suggests that the bugs were assisting the Ripper in his murders.
They are not encountered until the quest Beneath the Brotherhood, where they become central to the story of the game. Shane is a failed sacrifice, though it's not clear why he failed to fully transform into a bug. Jessica Watts intends to summon a queen (it's unclear why a member of the Telestrian family is required), and allow the world to be overrun with billions of the creatures. The player character and crew must then find a way of slaying the bugs, as normal methods result in failure.
The quest Telestrian Industries deals with obtaining a biochemical and magical insecticide sample to synthesize and use against them. The run goes sour, and Telestrian Industries CEO, James Telestrian III intervenes and requests your assistance in dispatching the threat posed by the bugs. He gives you and two other runners the Aegis Mk. 1 Launcher (a shotgun), so that The Hunt Begins. It soon leads Into the Depths and to the final confrontation against The Bug Shaman.
Jessica claims there is a hive in every major city, and the epilogue supports this claim. Refinement of the Aegis insectide, and large scale production manages to contain the threat for now at least.
Gallery[ | ]
From left to right, spitter and worker variants.
