Bolster
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| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Structure | Field |
| Origin | Derived (Branch parasite) |
| Class | Primitive; Adapted |
| Characteristics | |
| Height | 3–4 m |
| Mass | 5–8 t |
| Role | Signal amplifier |
| First recorded | 2023 |
The Bolster is the largest branch parasite, a field organism of Derived origin. It is slow, heavy and strong in close combat, and amplifies the signals of the parasite network, so that organisms near it receive directions faster and fight more effectively. In the network's chain of command it stands between a Beckon and the Rupters and other field organisms in an engagement.
The Bolster has been recorded since 2023. Its effect on the organisms around it first led H&A analysts to conclude that the network acts with strategic intelligence. European Defence Force doctrine makes it the first target in any engagement.
Description
The Bolster is the largest and physically strongest of the branch parasites. It stands 3 to 4 metres high at the shoulder and weighs 5 to 8 tonnes, on four thick limbs, and moves at a walk of 4 to 6 km/h, with short charges at about twice that speed. The body is broad and near-black, carried low between the limbs, with a heavy articulated plate across the front of the head and shoulders. It has no eyes, and finds its way by scent and by vibration through the ground. Its whole body is coated in a thick membrane.
Along its back runs a double row of glands, each the size of a fist, that open and close in a slow rhythm while the animal is active. The front plate articulates and is not sealed. Beneath it, nerve clusters lie under the thinnest membrane on the body, over about an eighth of its surface, and the plate is the Bolster's weak point.
The Adapted form is slightly smaller and faster than the Primitive, carries short tendrils along the edges of the plate, and keeps the plate closed except when it charges.
Role in the network
A Beckon directs its field organisms by chemical signals carried through the air and the ground. A Bolster takes up these signals and re-emits them at greater strength from the glands on its back, and organisms within about a kilometre of it receive them sooner and more completely than organisms elsewhere. H&A measurements in 2024 found that parasites near an active Bolster responded to the movement of troops in roughly half the time of parasites elsewhere, and attacked in larger and more closely coordinated groups.
In the chain of command, Rupters and other field organisms in an engagement take their direction from the Bolster, and the Bolster from its Beckon. Before Bolsters appeared in 2023, field organisms took direction from their Beckons alone. A Summoner in the same engagement works under the Bolster.
When a Bolster is killed, the organisms around it fight less effectively: they attack in smaller groups, respond more slowly to the movement of troops, and in some engagements have withdrawn towards their Beckon.
Behaviour
A Bolster moves with the organisms it directs, at the rear or centre of a group, and rarely leads an attack. In close combat it charges, crushes and throws, and can overturn light vehicles and break through walls and field fortifications. It is too slow to pursue people on foot.
Bolsters are produced in small numbers. European Defence Force reports from 2025 recorded about one Bolster for every 40 to 80 field organisms in large engagements, and none in most small ones. Like other field organisms, Bolsters return to their Beckon after an engagement.
Genome variants
Boreic Bolsters, in Siberia, carry a denser membrane and remain fully active through the winter. Pontic Bolsters, in Ukraine and around the Black Sea, extend their effect along the region's shared root systems, and engagements in the Pontic genome often involve two or more Bolsters working together. Bolsters are rare in the Aridic genome, whose organisms receive the least direction from the network.
Control
European Defence Force infantry doctrine makes the Bolster the priority target in an engagement, ahead of the Summoner. Its membrane stops small-arms fire, and it is engaged with RTG ammunition, aimed where possible at the front plate, with anti-tank weapons and with artillery. Snipers with RTG rifles fire at the plate when it opens for a charge. Doctrine allots it a disproportionate share of a unit's RTG rounds.
History
Like the other branch parasites, the Bolster has been recorded on Earth since 2023. H&A analysts found that parasites near a Bolster responded faster to the movements of Federation troops, and attacked in more coordinated groups, than parasites elsewhere. They took this as the first evidence that the parasite network acts with strategic intelligence. The re-emission of the network's chemical signals from its back glands was described by H&A's Hyperbiology Division in 2024. The Adapted form was first recorded in 2024.