Mantides

Overview
The Mantides are one of the many alien armies that have invaded Aelion in the past and in the present. They are insect-like creatures led by the Great Goddess Sangra.

The Mantides homeworld is the planet, Terrisa. With a core species that looks like oversized bugs or flies. They are also sentient with telepathic abilities and control the minds of their enemies.

They are the reason Aeli built the Celestial Fortress, a gigantic planetary shield meant to protect Aelion from planetary impacts. As of right now their armies are mostly concentrated in the Lanber region of Aelion, including the city of Kyris, the Lanber Forest, and The Lanber Catacombs. This was all because of Nerion's betrayal and bloodlust.

Their current leader Auria, the last of Mantides Elder Goddess.

History
The Mantides is the Aelien name for a small caste that over time became the name for the whole race. It would be more accurate to call it the race of Wingers, as they were the ones the Mantides originated from.

Goddess Sangra was one of the first anthropomorphic Mantides. Long before the invasion of Aelion, the focus of her attention was on Terini, the neighbor planet of Terissa, which is the homeworld of the Mantides. The residents of Terini were a humanoid race, and so the goddess decided that she had to combine the ideals of both nations that she intended to rule. For that, she changed her appearance but remained the same inside. The beautiful face of the goddess was a mask that hid a monster.

Sangra succeeded: she won the admiration of Teriners and became the great goddess of the Mantides. Her confidants, inspired by her example, underwent the same transformation. “Anthropomorphic” now meant “godlike”. That was how the chosen caste was created - the Mantides, a bridge between the mortal and gods.

Nearly a thousand years ago, Aelion was invaded by the Mantides, led by the great goddess Sangra. Aeli, already the Great God of Aelion, and his loyal immortals drove the monsters back. An entire nation rose up against the dreadful invaders, forcing them to withdraw. Sangra retreated, but some of her army remained in Aelion, hiding in its deepest caves. The pain and unbridled rage of the Mantide goddess was so strong that she ended up resorting to truly appalling measures. As an act of revenge, her plan was to weaken or potentially even destroy Aelion along with all its inhabitants, both mortal and immortal. She tried to crash Thea, the largest of the moons, into Aelion to destroy it, but Aeli built the Celestial Fortress and stopped its descent.

Even today, it is still unclear how she managed to accomplish this.

A century after the Fortress' construction, Aeli disappeared, The Mantides, along with the Mechanoids and the Reapers of Death, took that chance to invade Aelion once more. They have been attacking ever since.

Curiously, the Mantides are stranded in Aelion, and the whereabouts of Sangra are unknown.

Strengths

 * The Mantides attack in groups, and can easily overwhelm any unsuspecting immortal with ease.
 * The most dangerous of them all are the Wingers, who appear in groups of up to 7 individuals, and can easily sting enemies with their probosces until they die.
 * Some of them fuse with people, creating the horrifying Aswangs, Zombie-like creatures with a Winger with massive wings above their heads, The Winger's wings form a cape of sorts, and allow the Ashwang to float and slam with their clubs.
 * The actual Mantide race look like a strange hybrid between human and spider, they have a mostly human-like body with yellow skin and massive horns on top of those chitinous legs, which can have many different forms and colors.

Enemy Types

 * Wingers
 * Aswangs
 * Neophyte
 * Opressor
 * Poisoner
 * Mantides
 * Priestess
 * Guard
 * Enchantress