Hello all, with this video we will be looking at the lore and what we can devise about the creature
that lives below Zhu’s hope on Feros, Species 37, the Thorian. To begin with, its origin was
lost to time but it clearly existed well before the time of the Protheans, making it at least,
50,000 years old, however it remembers when the Prothean settlers came to Feros,
so it is most likely far older. It has been labelled as sufficiently alien as to defy
description, but let’s give it a go anyway. It is technically a plant lifeform,
yet it is sentient. According to the ExoGeni researchers that unearthed it in 2183,
it consisted of a vast network of tendril like sensory bundles spread across miles of
terrain. These tendrils tethered to the crippled stone towers and wove throughout the lower ruins
of the Zhu’s Hope tower, at least by the time the player encounters it, several months later.
Originally, the creature was awoken by the human colonists settling the planet when a team of
scientists accidentally walked into its lair and inhaled its spores. These spores infect the victim
and seemingly bind to their nervous system, placing them in telepathic contact with the mind
of the Thorian. This is likely what alerted it to the presence of potential thralls nearby, and it
began to exert its will. When a person infected with these spores disobeys the Thorian, or even
thinks of taking action to harm or endanger it, it wreaks their body with pain, eventually
conditioning the infected into a subservient state, where even thoughts of rebellion are
quickly supressed for their own safety. Outside of this, it takes great care
not to actually force its thralls into doing any permanent damage when it can,
as the Thorian views them as useful tools. When the Thorian was encountered by Commander Shepard,
it was higher up the tower than it was recorded to have been discovered, suspended over a large
hole that plunged through the central tower and into its depths. I believe that over the
following months since its discovery, the Thorian had grown up through the tower, anchoring itself
into its current location so as to be closer to its thralls, who were tasked with its protection.
These thralls were allowed to continue with their lives, however the creeping
presence of the Thorian was never far away, and any hint of disobeying was disciplined.
If one proved too temperamental, then they were directed to live far away from the others.
It had generated a central mass, a pod of rippling plant-flesh that pulsated with internal fluids,
but its anatomy was otherwise a mystery. It appeared to have a head of some description,
although it lacked any visible sensory organs such as those found on animals. It could possibly
sense the presence of others through heat, vibration or some other, more alien means,
maybe even telepathy. This “head” served only to house its mouth, which was an orifice
ringed with grasping arms covered in suckers. Clearly meant for some form of manipulation,
possibly feeding, but it could also spawn out further servants from this too, let’s explain.
The Thorian not only enthralled others around it through the spreading of its spores, but it
could generate other creatures that were known as “Thorian Creepers”. These beings were made from
the same plant matter as the thorian as can be surmised by their weakness to the anti-thorian gas
grenades that also purged the spores. Therefore they were not converted thralls or anything,
but replicated mockeries of the humanoid form, complete with claws, razor sharp teeth and
internally filled with digestive acid, that they could spray. These acted to defend the Thorian and
remained in a huddled state until called for, when they would unfurl their lithe limbs and attack.
Additionally, the Asari Commando Shiala was “given” to the Thorian in an exchange
and her form was interred within a nearby pod to the Thorian’s main body. This pod was filled
with some form of fluid and further tendrils that kept the victim in a suspended state,
but while snared this way, the Thorian could generate clones of her and spew them out,
probably in much the same way as it generated the Creepers. This shows that while the Thorian
has a victim snared and in contact with it, it can replicate the biology of that creature
and communicate through it, replicating any skills and affinities that being had.
The Thorian also possessed and expansive memory, the reason it was being sought out by Saren and
his team. They needed a cipher to understand and translate certain Prothean technology,
something which the Thorian knew. This means that it must have been exposed to the Protheans in the
same way as it took over Shiala, at some point, it ensnared and controlled members
of this ancient species too, read their minds, incorporated their memories and went on. I doubt
the Protheans gave themselves to it willingly and the Thorian was incapable of viewing other life as
anything other than tools for its own survival. So I suspect it has always been predatory.
I suspect that it was originally a native of Feros, and that it was a part of whatever
ecosystem evolved on that planet, well before the Protheans even settled it. When they came,
they all but terraformed the environment, warming the planet from its far colder conditions
with extensive industrialisation, see my Feros video for more. Plants generally
favour warmer climates and its growth would have accelerated in the preferable conditions
and some Protheans would inevitably have stumbled across it and succumbed to its spores.
Protheans are not like to let something like this stand, so I expect they took time to, prune the
Thorian back and contain it in what would become the installation under Zhu’s Hope for study. But
before their work was done, the Reapers came and ended the Prothean Empire. Over the next thousands
of years, the Thorian would hibernate then awaken for brief and frantic bouts of activity as the
city dilapidated around it. Scavengers would come and go, curios would-be-relic hunters would arrive
and depart, and maybe in exchange for snagging some Prothean prize from the ruins of the city,
one or two of their crews would go missing, unknowing snared by a Creeper, or exposed to
its spores. In this state, the Thorian persisted for 50,000 years, growing a little at a time,
until its network of mycelium-like vines snaked throughout the ruins of the fallen civilization
while it fed, grew and waited. Of course, that all ended when
it plummeted into the depths of the tower right? Surely a being as old, with documented kilometres
of roots and with an unfamiliar biology cannot survive a fall into the depths of a building…
Or would it just revert to a hibernation state and return to waiting for new prey to approach,
as it has done for thousands of years… and will do for thousands more. Canonically,
yes, it is dead. There was a lot of verifying. Thank you for watching this breakdown on the
Thorian and its minions. The Old Growth was a singular creature, an sentient entity that was
probably ignored by the cycle of the Reapers as it was so alien, overlooked and allowed to persist.
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another lore video. Thanks again and goodbye!