Editing Star Fleet Battles (section)

=== Sigvirion Collective ===

The Sigvirion Expansion is comprised of a species of highly advanced viruses which has adapted a collective intelligence. The Sigvirion Expansion relies upon a vast array of organic host creatures to run its civilization. Each individual virion may be used to store information, to control native cells, to combat rival (non-Sig) viruses, or to perform numerous other functions. Whenever possible, Sigvirion society operates as a sort of information oligarchy, with those possessing host bodies best capable of storing and processing data providing a leadership role. The process of Sig infection destroys the original personality (if any exists) of the host creature; hosts provided with an anti-Sig retrovirus devolve into mindless vegetables on the spot. In addition, certain species, such as the silicate Trobrin or the plant-based Chlorophons, are immune to Sig takeover.

The Sigvirions evolved on the fourth planet of their home star system, in a hostile biosphere teeming with single-celled creatures. This drove the proto-Sigs to adapt in order to survive and, in time, to achieve dominance. They had reached an Industrial Age level of technology when they encountered the Ashani, a species which emerged on the third world of their home system. After a series of fatal misunderstandings led to a disastrous First Contact between the two species, the Sigs determined to conquer and control the Ashani species which, to their surprise, was not being driven by a viral intelligence, as they had hitherto expected. This experience, coupled with the infection of the squirrel-like Cortlizan in another star system once the Sigs developed warp travel, led them to adopt an aggressive stance aimed at subduing all non-viral life. The Sigvirion capital was eventually relocated to a water world along the Galactic Rim, where the Je’shar, a marine behemoth approximately 20 times the mass of a Terran blue whale, provided almost supercomputer-like thought processes for its occupying Sigs. 

The Sigvirions developed warp travel independently, along with a series of unique offensive and defensive technologies. Their primary phaser-equivalent was the pulse emitter, a short-range weapon capable of firing three shots per turn (almost akin to an Alpha Octant phaser-G). Their plasma-like kinetic-wave generator, which had both heavy and light types, was unusual in that it was able to build upon itself in order to increase its warhead strength before falling off again. Sig ships possessed a flexible secondary shield system, though these shields did not bock transporter operations in either direction. During their time in the Nucian Cluster, they developed an improved pulse emitter type, while also adopting wide-angle phasers for use on their new ship designs. Notably, Sig ships rely almost exclusively on ground attack shuttles, so as to better spread Sig infection, though they (along with the Sig-infected Nucian Treska Clan) were the first in the Omega Octant to develop multi-role shuttles. All Sig ships are nimble and can land on planets.