Lurker

The lurker was an arachnid-looking strain of the Zerg Swarm, evolved from the hydralisk and counted among the rare Zerg that can attack while burrowed. A powerful anti-ground ambusher, it served as a defender of hive clusters and outlying colonies and, above all, as a terror of the enemy's supply lines, turning an innocuous chokepoint into a killing ground from beneath the soil.

Physiology#

Compared with other Zerg strains, lurkers are arachnid in appearance. Evolved from the hydralisk, they are powerful anti-ground ambushers and one of the rare Zerg strains able to attack while burrowed. When above ground, a lurker stands roughly twice as tall as a terran wearing CMC armor, carried on slow-moving ambulatory legs.

Method of attack#

Lurkers serve as defense warriors for hive clusters and outlying colonies, but their primary role extends to supply-line harassment. To attack, a lurker emits waves of super-dense spines, covering a full width of ten meters, but it must first burrow underground to release these subterranean strikes. Any warrior on the surface caught by the spines is instantly impaled. The spines themselves can tear into flesh, steel, and even reinforced armor plating, can extend far from the lurker's body, and can be directed downward into open spaces provided the lurker is underground.

A handful of lurkers can turn an innocuous chokepoint into a nightmare, and they have been known to ambush forces moving through tight corridors. Their spiked eruptions are sometimes powerful enough to deal seismic damage to nearby targets. The spines are rarely seen above ground, and many terrans remain unclear about where in the lurker's body they originate, though some strains can fire spines from their frontal legs while above ground. Within the Leviathan Brood the connection between hydralisks and lurkers is unparalleled, and their metamorphosis yields a considerable number of additional seismic spikes.

The lurker's only true weakness is its vulnerability above ground, where it is a lumbering, nearly defenseless entity. By the Battle of Camp Pitcairn, however, some strains of lurker had adapted to fire spikes and use their jaws while above ground.

History#

Lurkers were observed dwelling in creep by Project Bellwood before the Great War, but proved too elusive for further study. They were first evolved from Tiamat Brood hydralisks, and by the Brood War they were one of the newer strains within the Swarm. They were first seen under the command of the Queen of Blades during that conflict, although for terrans it was technically the lurker's handiwork that gave the first indication of their existence. After the Brood War, the Queen of Blades abandoned the lurker as part of her effort to assimilate new strains into her Swarm.

During the Second Great War, Abathur discovered a group of feral lurkers on Cavir, left over from the Tiamat Brood. The Swarm located a lurker den and held off the feral Zerg long enough for Broodmother Kilysa to recover its essence. Years later, the Defenders of Man used Nova Terra to plant psi-emitters and lure feral lurkers to Antiga Prime.