Hey all, I'm new to the forum and this is my first post (so be gentle).
After I spent a nice girlfriend-free day sitting around in my underwear watching the Alien quadrilogy, I couldn't help but think how f**ked up and incosistent the Alien's life cycle is. Being the type of person who like his fantasy to be legit as possible, I felt obligated to explain why (even if only to myself). The following is what I came up with. It doesn't contradict the movies in any way save 2:
1. I'm guessing at the birth,implantation, molt times. They are all over the place in the movies and several factors could cause that (human genetics in Alien Res, Predator steroids in AVP). I tried to get as close as possible.
2. The Strause bros explanation of the Predalien as a young queen going through a phase never made sense to me. I love the design of the predalien, the face-rape is horrifying, and being a fan of the predator franchise as well, I like this monster. But the Face-rape doesn't fit in the context of the alien life cycle. If it can do that, why even bother laying eggs? I have my own theory.
The enigmatic Jockey race made use of sophisticated biomechanical technology. Spaceships, weapons and structures were "grown" rather than "built". Their most deadly creation (and for all we know the one that wiped them out) was the living biomechanical weapons that have become known as the Xenomorph. A deadly and highly adaptable hive-minded creature whos only instinct was to expand thier hive, and in the process, destroy indigeionous populations of entire planets. The method used was to load large amounts of Xenomorph Eggs onto their biomechanical ships of the type we've come to call "the Derilect" and drop them like bombs en masse into heavily populated areas. I'll start the life-cycle at the Egg...
Egg-(seen in all movies but AVPR)
-holds and nourishes Facehugger.Can keep it in stasis for centuries.
Facehugger-(seen in all movies)
-infects host with Chestburster in 6 hours and dies.
Chestburster-(seen in all movies)
-emerges in 6 hours.
- Molts into Drone by default (if no Queen is present) or Warrior (if Queen is present) in 6 hours.
Drone-(seen in Alien, Alien Res, AVP)
- A smooth-headed "Worker/Drone" caste. Builds hive, produces Eggs from hosts if no Queen is present, fertilizes Royal Eggs, captures hosts and defends hive if no Warriors are present.
-Can produce massive amounts of hive resin from the vanes on it's back to build the hive and cocoon hosts.
-Can transform a host into an Egg in 10 hours
-3 Drones, after building a small hive can transform an Egg into a Royal Egg in 6 hours.
-is at least moderately intelligent. Drones have been shown to employ simple tactics and rogue Drones will cooperate in forming a hive and Royal Egg in a Queen's absence.
Royal Egg-(seen in Alien 3)
-holds and nourishes Royal Facehugger.Can keep it in stasis for centuries.
Royal Facehugger-(seen in Alien 3)
-Infects host with Queen Chestburster in 6 hours and detaches
-Infects second host with Runner Chestburster in 4 hours and dies.
Runner Chestburster-(seen in Alien 3)
-emerges in 4 hours
-Molts into Runner in 4 hours
Queen Chestburster-(seen in Alien 3)
-emerges in 48 hours
-Molts into Queen in 48 hours
Runner-(seen in Alien 3)
- A smoothe-headed, extremely fast, quadrepedal caste with a short lifespan best described as a "Royal Watchdog".
-Cannot produce hive resin as it lacks the vanes on it's back
-Develops from embryo to Runner very rapidly and acts as the developing Queen's guardian, keeping watch on her host and killing any threat to it. Protects Queen Chestburster during molting.
-Dies soon after the Queen Chestburster molts into a Queen.
-is probably not intelligent and operates purely on instinct (protect the Queen during development)
Queen-(seen in Aliens, Alien Res, AVP)
-Can produce hive resin from the vanes on her back to build her hive, but this is usually done by Drones.
-Forms eggsack in 10 hours, and can lay one Egg per hour afterward.
-Once she has at least 10 Drones to build the hive, she will direct Chestbursters to molt into Warriors
-Once the hive has been established, she will keep hive population at about 25% Drones, 75% Warriors
-is very intelligent and can direct the actions and tactics of other castes in the hive.
Warrior- (seen in Aliens, AVPR)
-A Ridge-headed "soldier" caste. Heavier and more armored than Drones. Defends the hive and captures hosts.
-Can produde hive resin from the vanes on it's back (though not nearly at the same rate as Drones, Warriors mainly use their resin to cocoon hosts rather than for hive construction)
-Will only appear in established hives under the direction of the Queen.
-Sterile (cannot lay Eggs like the Queen or turn hosts into Eggs like Drones).
-is probably not intelligent and operates purely on the direction of the Queen.
Predaliens (here's how I crammed Chet into my cannon)
When the Jockey race encountered the Yajuta, they were confronted with a situation they had never encountered before; a civilized race able to stand toe-to-toe with the Xenomorph in combat. The Yajuta slew so many of them that the Xenomorph eventually found thier way into the rites and passages of Yajuta culture. The Jockey race , in response, modified thier Xenomorph to take on special properties when infecting a Yajuta. The resulting Predalien more closely resembles it's host and has a more rapid reproduction method; the ability to regurgetate rapidly developing embryos into the mouth of a female Yajuta. This makes the Predalien most offensive in the eyes of the Yajuta as it is made to look like a Xenomorph-mockery of themselves that "rapes" their women. It also makes the Predalien very effective, as it is bigger, stronger and develops and reprodces more rapidly than Xenomorph born from other hosts. Predaliens are reviled in Yajuta society and the greastest heros are brought to bare on them when they are detected. Predaliens are initially formed whenever a Predator is infected by a Facehugger.
Predalien Chestburster-(seen in AVP, AVPR)
-emerges in 4 hours
-Molts into Predalien in 4 hours
Predalien-(seen in AVPR)
-Can produce hive resin from the vanes on it's back (same rate as Warrior)
-Can produce an embryo every hour, and can store up to 20 embryos inside itself.
-Can forcibly regurgetate these embryos into the mouth of a female host.
-Can regurgetate 1-3 embryos which will emerge as Predalien Chestbursters (in a Yajuta host) in 3 hours
-Can infect female hosts of other species but the resulting Chestbursters will always molt into sterile Warriors.
-Appears to be able to implant more embryos into pregnant hosts.
-Assumed to have intelligence comparable to a Drone.
"The Newborn" -(seen in Alien Res)
-It's a genetic cross between humans and Xenomorph and as such is a mutant. It has no place in the Hive hierarchy or normal life cycle of the Xenomorph. Once you deal with the fact that it's not a Xenomorph, it's acctually a pretty cool monster in my opinion.
It's life cycle or reproductive methods will never be known because it was sucked screaming through a window into space.
What do ya think? Does it make sense?
