Project Simulant

Project Simulant (a.k.a. the Simulant Project) was an illicit terran research program, dedicated to create robotic zerg simulants.

History
The Simulant Project began with the construction of a mechanical drone that could be used during target practice to test alternate combat techniques and weapons, but it soon grew much larger. Another early creation was that of a robotic overlord, which was controlled by a lab scientist, making it a critical safety point in the entire operation. Early on the project, it was agreed that the team would never construct a replica of the ultralisk.

The project moved on, creating other zerg simulant replicas. The mutalisk struggled with initial weight tests, but its eventual success lead to many new investors for the Simulant Project&mdash;some with ulterior motives...

As the project moved on, it began to suffer various setbacks. The project's queen was the first completed production model to go missing. Loath to publicly reveal their activities, the Simulant Project investigated the matter as quietly as possible. Compounding their woes, engineers began to fall ill while working on the swarm host mechanics. However, its safety systems did not report a problem, and production continued undisturbed, fatalities aside. Researchers failed to create an AI that replicated the infestors' neural parasites. They started to remove the infestors from production when, unexpectedly, the AI began functioning perfectly. Adding to the string of strange events, upon completing the brood lord prototype that exceeded all standards, the team went on leave for a celebratory vacation. Strangely, they never returned.

The project came crashing down as chaos overtook the lab. Among the chaos was a rampaging ultralisk, despite the team's agreement to never construct such a replica.