
The Formic Ark on the cover of Shadows in Flight.
Formic Arks were massive generation ships built by the Formics to transport biota, workers, drones, and Hive Queens from the Formic Homeworld to colony worlds. One was sent to the Planet found by the Herodotus around 300-600 BX.[1]
Design and Function[]
Formic Arks were carved from asteroids, making them extremely durable and massive. They were outfitted with various devices and drives on the outside, and the inside was filled with metal corridors. There was a large habitat in the center of the ark that housed flora and fauna from the homeworld.[1]
As the Arks were built during the first wave of colonization by the Formics, they did not have the Egg Drives that the Formic Scout Ships were outfitted with. The Arks used massive quantities of fuel instead and slow-burned towards their destination. Each journey between worlds took several hundred years.[1]
History[]
Herodotus Ark[]
Past[]
Sometime between 300-600 BX, a Formic Ark left the Formic Homeworld for its destination.[1]
Shadows in Flight[]
In 429 AX, after the Herodotus began to approach a planet identified as being possibly habitable, they discovered the presence of the Formic Ark in geosynchronous orbit, which had also recently arrived there. The crew of the Herodotus investigated the ship and found it overrun with rat-crab-like creatures that resembled the Formics. They discovered the deceased Hive Queen and interacted with the Formic drones, who explained what happened to the ship. The drones told Bean's children how they could cure their gigantism caused by Anton's Key, and assisted with bringing Bean inside the habitat in the Ark to let him walk one more time before he died.[1]