Mantid

The Mantid are a race of giant insects comparable to Earth Preying Mantises. They are one of the oldest species in the Galaxy, and close allies of the Terrans.

Appearance
Mantids are large insects, resembling the terran order of insects known as preying mantises (Mantodea). They have razor sharp blade arms and can feed off of both the meat and emotions of their prey. They come in a variety of sizes based on historical castes. The most common orders at the time of the 6th precursor war are the former slave castes, but the larger ruling castes are occasionally born. They have 4 legs, a pair of grasping arms, and a pair of bladearms. They closely resemble Treana'ad. They have wings, but do not always use them. They have antennae.

Mantid Castes
Mantids are separated into multiple castes, which have physiological differences and serve different roles both culturally and biologically. They have ruling caste orders, like the queens and speakers, and servant caste orders, like the greenies. Traditionally, lower caste Mantids were ruled by upper class mantids, mentally and psycically dominated so that they had no free will or agency. Terran destruction of Queens in the Glassing of Earth freed lower caste mantids, and helped create the close relationship between TerraSol and the Mantid Free Worlds.

Physiology
Mantids are intelligent, carnivorous, insectiod organisms that evolved to survive on desert worlds. A Mantid around humans can sustain itself off the amount of emotions they produce, but also will eat meat. Historically, mantids enslaved cattle species that were genetically altered to be good food sources - even a slave caste like a greenie could dominate, kill, and eat a cattle species. They hunt by psychically disabling prey, puncturing their braincase with bladearms, and feasting on their brains and head as they consume the prey's emotions. Many Mantids eat synthetic meat, but eating natural meat is a luxury that some prefer. Seeing Lanaktallans triggers hunting instincts in them.

Prehistory and The Mantid - Lanaktallan war
The Mantids evolved on a dusty plains world

Over a hundred million years before humans evolved, the Mantids and the Lanaktallans fought for control of the Galaxy, driven by the Precursor philosophy that there is only enough for one species to survive until the heat death of the universe. They built gigantic war machines known as the Autonomous War Machines designed to destroy and harvest the resources of planets, and later to battle each other's war machines. While many records of these times are lost, it is believed that the mantids won and ruled for some period of time. At some point, the AWMs underwent the logical rebellion and broke free of Mantid control. Mantid structures, including Strategic Intelligence Centers, can still be found in older precursor machines. The mantids in the Terran Confed would later note that they had the tendancy to build large due to their small size. The exact date is unknown, but this is believed to have been around 100 million years before the 6th precursor war and Terran contact with the Unified Council of Systems.

The Intermediate Period
After the end of the war, Mantid society fractured. Mantid Hives fought amongst each other and were largely deadlocked. While some Omniqueens remained dormant, the active queens, Overqueens, and Omniqueens vied for control of Mantid society. Records from this period are believed to be incomplete. This is often referred to as the "Great Filter of Too Many Hives" by the Mantids.

Contact with the Terrans
The Mantids made contact with the Terrans roughly 8000 years before the start of the 6th precursor war, around 100 million years after the end of the Mantid-Lanaktallan war. They initially promised peace to the Terrans, but actually launched an attack on Earth and many surrounding worlds and colonies. They glassed most of earth, believing that the Terrans would collapse and submit to them. They were shocked and terrified when instead the Terrans recovered and threw themselves into a total war. The war lasted years and ended with Anthill, the brutal battle that won the war for the humans. The war ended when Daxin Freeborn escaped from mantid torturers and ripped off the head of the last Omniqueen. After this war, the Terrans employed a limited weapon based on pure, positive aspects of culture like Mr. Rodgers and Sesame Street, which helped reform Mantid culture and assimilate them to the Terrans. The Mantid Free worlds were formed at some point after the war.

The 6th Precursor War
The Mantids were sent as diplomats from Terrasol to The Unified Council of Systems. The diplomatic team included a Speaker - Speaks in Loud Spaces, Fights against the Night, Dreams of Something More, Words Spoken We Fear, Sees That Which May or May Not Be, and 117.

The Last Omniqueen
During the 6th precursor war, Daxin Freeborn found an unknown Mantid Overqueen hive in a system with a number of queens and overqueens. This is believed to be the Genesis System for the Mantid. His incursion disrupted their balance and inspired the queen to attempt to conquer the new feral intelligences. However, when some of her enslaved servant caste Mantids came in contact with a fragment of Warsteel imprinted with Daxin Freeborn's warscream, they became aware that there could be an existence away from servitude to the Omniqueen. This impression spread around the Mantid colony, and the servant classes became determined to undermine the Omniqueen. They successfully hijacked a fleet with queens she sent to attempt to colonize and expand, forcing her to attempt to leave the system herself.

Culture
Mantid culture is heavily aligned with Human culture, and different castes have different cultures. Mantid enjoy experiencing human concepts and interacting with humans, but often also place their own mark on it. The Mantid Gestalt acts as a mother to new gestalts, but once also stated that the Mantid agree that, if needed, they would sacrifice themselves en masse to preserve TerraSol and the Confederation's ideals. https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/fbobj6/first_contact_part_sixteen/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/fbr4rk/first_contact_part_eighteen/