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Originally Posted by Varyon
Of course, the Creep needs to get the nutrients from somewhere. I don't know if what it is was ever explained, but my guess would be a sort of plant-analogue (more akin to mold of some sort, really) that absorbs nutrients from the environment and energy from photosynthesis, radiosynthesis, etc.
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By the lore, the Creep is a bunch of symbiotic microorganisms that are generated from the zerb "bio-buildings" that use photosynthesys and other sources (like chemical and termal from the environment) for energy, and decompose the soil for the chemical building blocks, segregating very very rich and high energetic organic matter into the ground, that the Zerg units can absorb by their skin. I remember reading that, over time, those microorganisms could even decompose metal.
Also, the Zerg are insanely adaptable; if they went into a surface made of plastic, those microorganisms would kickly mutate to be able to decompose it.
It is highly superscience after all (borderline pure magic)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
That's not really medicine, honestly. The Cerebrates, Overmind, and Queen of Blades (and, later, Hybrids, and I believe Stukov and some other unique Zerg units) basically innately have something akin to GURPS' Unkillable 3 trait - when they "die," they immediately start regrowing a new body somewhere in the swarm, and their mind moves to and inhabits said new body, so long as they aren't slain by their Achilles Heel (Void energy, like that used by the Dark Templar... at least for the Cerebrates and Overmind, I'm not sure even that would be enough to stop Kerrigan).
That's not to say they have no understanding of medicine, however. They have a good enough understanding of biology - their own, as well as that of other species - that I suspect they could easily have access to advanced medicine in rather short order (say, if their leadership caste permanently lost their Unkillable 3, and/or if they opted to join the Protoss and Terrans in the galactic economy*). It's just that, as you note, they don't really have a good reason to pursue that particular subfield of biology, given their innate gifts.
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Yes, it is Unkillabe. They actually transfer memories to clones.
There is one instance thou where they use medicine thou. In Heart of the Swarm, on SC2, Kerrigan is impaled by the Cthulhesc Nerud, and is left on the brink of death. She is taken by her Queen Zagarra to her Leviathan-Spaceship-Bug, and inside there she is dumped into a regeneration pound - a sort of pool with regenerative nutrients.
In a single day she is brought from "almost dead" to "perfectly healthy".
So they do have medicine - possibly the best in the universe. It's just that this is not for their expendable biorroids armies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
But, yeah, most likely a purely-aquatic creature would be restricted to using its natural gifts and what it could harvest from other creatures (shell, coral, bone, etc). They'd probably have beautiful tapestries woven from various marine plants, at least. If the world has landmasses, however, they may well figure out ways to survive and function, at least for short periods of time, outside of the water, potentially allowing them to (slowly) make their way up the tech tree.
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I had a teacher that always said "dolphins and whales are super smarts; due to the sound waves underwater, whales can communicate with other whales in the other side of the globe. They are probably very refined and sofisticated bards; however, while whales can be great phylosophers, astronomers, mathmaticians and poets, they can never be engineers".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
*When I was musing over a potential StarCraft campaign setting, I thought the ideal time would be perhaps a century or so after StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops (and basically ignoring pretty much all the lore outside of the games... and modifying some of what was in the games), with a semi-cosmopolitan galaxy where Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg can be seen working together, although typically like would stick to like, and there'd be plenty of fighting within and between the groups. The Zerg using their extensive knowledge of xenobiology to produce medicines (and other medical services) for sale to the others would certainly fit.
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Oh, I did entertain similar ideas. I even thought about the Zerg opening "embassies" on bot Terran and Protoss space, and requesting the Terrans to teach the Zerg the art of "Diplomacy", with Queen Zagara recognizing that perhaps the Swarm had to expand their bag of tools. I also had her creating several "Broods" and keeping them all in constant warfare between one another, to keep the Swarm in constant evolution and avoiding stagnation, while being at peace with Terrans and Protoss