[Lacynth40]

Hrm... Someone said FAB-III proof bug spirits somewhere a bit back. Is that what a perfect merger does? Because that would be so much fun. The magical theories alone about how that works would change up thaumaturgical thought on that particularly nasty bacteria.

[Henker]

Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chosé.

Old school quotes for the win.

I really like this one too 

[redwolf]

hi look at that :ares+bug=missing corpcort fotball

[Black]

hi look at that :ares+bug=missing corpcort fotball

Exactly Redwolf, exactly!

CAS-Aztlan tension - CAS has heavy links to Ares... Aztlan strong magic focus, plus distracts from their insidious purpose...
Missing football... Corporations hamstringed, bug enemy number two distracted
Dragon tension - bug enemy number one distracted (are they really?  Can anyone, even Bugs, really outsmart a dragon?)
Technomancer scare - bugs have a weakness in technology, particularly the technomancers and their realms where all knowledge lives on. (Note: What happens when a technomancer is possessed by a bug...)  Bugs are all about being undetected, technomancers can detect them through the Realms, therefore, keep the technomancers from being utilised and the world distracted on a different enemy
Jackpoint - another potential enemy with enough reach and connects to expose the bug plot - keep them infighting and focused elsewhere, if possible, infiltrate this organisation and subvert.
Horizon - there everywhere and the govern by 'consensus'  How buggy is that?  And they are being used against Jackpoint, Aztlan, Ares and who knows who else?  Are they using Social Adepts or just bugs with really, really good pheronmones?

There will be wars, witch (well technomancer) hunts, death and destruction, and in the end, the bugs will ensure their own survival at any cost!

[Mirikon]

Hrm... Someone said FAB-III proof bug spirits somewhere a bit back. Is that what a perfect merger does? Because that would be so much fun. The magical theories alone about how that works would change up thaumaturgical thought on that particularly nasty bacteria.

Any inhabitation merge (whether Bug spirit or not) would be a dual-natured creature, regardless of how well the merge went off. FAB III attacks any dual-natured creature. To make bugs that were immune to FAB III would not be a process of improving the merge, but in finding some way to have them automatically cast certain spells when FAB III clouds got near.

(Note: What happens when a technomancer is possessed by a bug...)

They lose their connection to the Resonance, and all their abilities. Same as if they were Infected.

[Red]

Back when I had aspirations of writing for FanPro and Rob Boyle told me to hit him with some writing, one of the ideas I never got off the ground to him (the management shift happened right as I was sending in, and no one ever got back to me) was alternative hosts for insects. As we've seen with Ares experiments, the bugs can invest in non-metahumans such as dogs, bears and so on. What I had never seen reference to was it's effect on others, specifically my specialty: the Infected. With HMHVV 1 infectees, the ones with regeneration and essence drain, it seems like a slim chance of working. But for something a bit closer to baseline metahumanity, like a ghoul...?

I have yet to hit my group with them, but one of the two sourcebooks and the novel I had for Rob made use of the concept. Seems to me that Ares has access to any biological samples it needs to do all kinds of expeimentation (as though getting samples of HMHVV is all THAT hard, anymore.)

[Parker]

Perrfect!...(evil laugh)

[CitizenJoe]

I got the impression that the insect spirit gestation required a sapient host.  Certainly an animal could be used as food, but maturing into an actual spirit needed something that animals just don't have.

[Mirikon]

Oh, insects can be put in animals. There's a lovely pic in Corporate Guide showing just such a merge.

[CitizenJoe]

Why would they ever bother with humans?  Animals are much more easy to acquire.

[raggedhalo]

Because thumbs are awesome.

[Mirikon]

That, and it is rather difficult for flesh form animals to gather animals and prepare them for investment.

[Longshot23]

Also, I'm putting forward the idea that insect spirits get something from merges with metahumans that they can't get from critter merges. 

But the short version is, IMHO, that metahuman flesh-forms make them a more immediate threat - like "If it happened to person X & Y it could happen to me!"

[Wakshaani]

Critters also have rotten Willpower, by and large, making a good merge rather difficult. The new "They could be anyone ... they could be you, they could be me,  ANYONE!" bugs are way sneakier than the old ones. This is a Thing for them. (Heck, Chicago's hives were probably filled with 80% stray dogs and cats that got True Formed. I wouldn't have a problem with saying that a Queen had to be a metahuman, however.)

[Red]

Additionally, consider that the insects want to expand to take over this world, as they may have done with countless others. Animals do not generally present a large force of intelligent resistance compared to humans, who have all manner of resources arrayed against insect invasion. And yes, investing in lots and lots of animals may make a large number of weak shocktroops they could overwhelm the enemy with, but that would do incredible amounts of damage to the world they want to consume. They want out of the Hive plane because it is overcrowded. I doubt they're looking to fill this place with half-assed dog merges. What's more, the slow expansion enables them to cultivate the growth of this world. Those Queens who make it through want positions of power, not a massive cleansing. If they control us or lead us, they can direct research in new directions that empower them, breed more humans to serve as hosts for the future, perhaps even find ways to colonize to other worlds in time, spreading the insects not only across the dimensions, but space, itself.

All of that being said, some Queens may decide the best course of action is to send waves of troops, in which case they may make use of insect animals.