Praetorian 2021

"This echeleon of the brood is rare. They are more powerful than their sisters; A worthy challenge."

― Yautja Elites, regarding Praetorians (from Aliens vs. Predator)

Praetorian
Physical Description
Height	About 10' (3.04 m)
Skin color	Black
Distinctions	Head crest Can summon other Aliens
Other Information
Homeworld	Potentially any planet
Notable individuals	Specimen 6 Gunnison Predalien

Praetorians are an immensely powerful and dangerous strain of the Xenomorph species. They are among some of the largest kind of Xenomorph encountered, dwarfed only by the Queen and few other castes. They are also the among the most common of the more advanced metamorphic stages of the species, being observed in nearly all known Hives. A stage 6 strain of Xenomorph, they are sometimes referred to as Royal Guards and Young Queens.

Characteristics

Biology and Physicality

"The Praetorian is the warrior of the Hive, tough, massive and ferocious."

―Primal Hunt, Scientific Journals

A Praetorian from Freya's Prospect.

A Praetorian is nearly indentical to a Queen alien, with the exceptions of their smaller size and lack of secondary arms. Like the Queen, it has a intricate fanning crest that distinguishes it from other aliens, which it can also employ as a battering ram. This crest is also known to be bulletproof, and the rest of the Xenomorph's body is covered in a hardened Mesoskeleton that can severely blunt if not completely turn aside all forms of small arms fire. Even for more powerful weapons, they can shrug off damage that would be terminal several times over to most other Xenomorph castes. One praetorian is capable of defeating entire squads of human Marines single-handed and are even a match for Yautja in close-quarters combat. Praetorians have armor-rending claws and long blade-tipped tails which they use as slashing and stabbing weapons, making them deadly at any range. In Aliens vs. Predator, the Praetorian's upper jaw protrudes slightly, giving them an overbite.

Yautja vs. a Praetorian

Towering over other common variants at ten feet, the Praetorian is only a few feet shy of a proper Queen. While other aliens run a color range of blackened blues, grays, and even bronze, a Praetorian's mesoskeleton is most commonly a solid black. It seems to be the least affected by the DNA Reflex inherent in the species, as most Praetorians are uniform in appearance despite a variety of host (with one exception). They have a sextet of dorsal spines to the typical four found on some castes (and zero found on others). It's massive size and weight is indicative of it's equally massive capability for destruction, but this comes at a cost: Praetorians are kinetically restricted when compared to other aliens, being unable to utilize vents or even scale walls. They do not even appear to move well on all fours, and maintain a mostly upright position when walking or running.

Intelligence

"One of the final evolutions of the xenomorph lifecycle, these creatures are much more intelligent and cunning than typical aliens."

―Royal Guards/Praetorians, Prodos

Being genetically similar to a queen and a more advanced caste of Xenomorph, it is presumed that the Praetorian has similar intelligence or at least more intelligence that a standard Drone. However, since it is such a powerful creature with limited movement, the Praetorian rarely needs to make use of any cunning it may have. Sheer strength is usually enough to defeat foes, though it is smart enough to employ numbers as well, summoning lesser castes into battle with it to slay prey.

Role in the Hive

Praetorian Guard/Swarm Command

"Unable to move, the Queen must rely primarily on her royal guards for protection should she be attacked"

―AVP: Unleashed

Praetorian engaging a Marine

As their names suggests, the Praetorian is the 'praetorian guard' of it's respective hive, being one of a few heavy assault aliens seen in the species. However, unlike other variants, the Praetorian is rarely seen far from the hive. Instead of securing hosts and dominating the planet in question, Praetorians stay in close proximity to the Queen and eliminate any threats to her well-being. They will also eliminate the "red" eggs their Queen will sometimes lay, which are genetic anomalies to the Hive and thus expunged. Praetorians excel in combat and it usually takes a coordinated assault from many powerful weapons to fell just one. They are a rare breed to encounter, and doing so typically entails death for those unfortunate enough to do so. Less commonly, these Xenomorphs will be found away from the hive, usually when it's lesser siblings have found stronger prey. With the ability to rip into armor and bash it's way through reinforced steel doors, the Praetorian is well equip to fell heavily armored targets.

Though rarely seen outside the hive, a Praetorian will travel with an entourage of other Xenomorphs, summoning Warriors and Runners to battle and acting as commanders in lieu of the Queen and leading attacks. Enemies will often focus on the Praetorian, and rightly so, in an ambush. This leaves them open to the attacks of the other Xenomorphs, while the Praetorian soaks up the bulk of otherwise fatal damage with it's hardened mesoskeleton. Should the Praetorian die, however, it's death would momentarily stun it's entourage.

Ascendance

"Chin's theory of competitive discourse clearly shows the Hive will react violently to the loss of the Empress. At a minimum, the young Queens will struggle to determine a new ascendant ruler."

―Mencus, explaining competitive discourse theory

Specimen 6 as a Praetorian, molting into a new Queen.

The Praetorian has a secondary role in the hive, aside from it's sentinel function. They have the ability to transform into a Queen Alien and thus have the ability to found new hives. More commonly though, ascendance takes places when the current Queen of a hive has perished. Typically only one Praetorian will evolve into a Queen, usually the strongest and most dominant of the guard, and resume managing the hive as it's new ruler. Beforehand, there may be a conflict to determine who will ascend as the new ruler, as detailed by the Theory of Competitive Discourse. However, there have been cases of several Praetorians from the same hive transforming at once, resulting in several Queens. These rival Queens then duel each other, with the victor slaying her sisters.

Praetorians evolve not only due to the Hive's need for a Queen's leadership, but because rival Xenomorph hives will take advantage of the lack of a Queen alien. Rival hives will subsume the members of weaker hives and rival queens will destroy eggs and praetorians, as they are instrinsically linked to the previous Queen, being her near genetic-copy. This may also be due to Royal Jelly, unique to each Queen, playing a role in transforming lesser aliens.

A Praetorian evolving may not always be due to a Queen's death or the instinctive need to create a new hive. It may be possible that an Empress will select a Praetorian to evolve into a subordinate Queen, over which she will then rule.^{[citation needed]} Instead of being "sisters", the relationship between this Queen and the Empress would be more similar to mother and daughter. Consequentially, the dynamic of the relationship may be different, although Queens have been known to show hostility to even their own daughters.

Creation

Lesser Castes

"Alien royal jelly. The stuff that made the right land of drones into queens."

―Aliens: Genocide

The creation of a Praetorian is a varied and complex process, unlike the fairly straightforward creation of other, simpler castes. As a stage six alien, it's creation isn't a simple matter of a typical Facehugger finding a host and depositing it's cargo. Praetorians can evolve from mature forms of more common Xenomorphs, such as the Drone or Predalien. According to some Weyland-Yutani debreifs, even Runners can evolve into Praetorians under the right circumstances, though this may be unique to the Zeta Hive on LV-1201, as it has only been noted there. More commonly, Runners evolve into the "cousin" metamorphic line of their strain: the Crusher.

A Praetorian morphed from the yautja-spawned Predalien. Note the queen-like crest.

Lower castes evolution is the most frequently observed mode of Praetorian creation, seen most prominantly in Specimen 6, who evolved from a mature Drone after the death of The Matriarch. It was also observed in one Predalien, as the Yautja-spawned alien was in an intermediary stage between a simple warrior and mature Queen. This Predalien-Praetorian was unique, in that it possessed the ability to directly infect hosts, something warrior-evolved Xenormophs do not seem capable of doing.

The circumstances for evolution often, but not always, involves exposure to Royal Jelly. When a Queen desires guards to defend her, she exposes them to her Royal Jelly, which is unique to each Queen. According to the scientific journals written on LV-1201, the process is timely and deadly for prospective Praetorians. Said to take years, a Drone or Runner would coccoon and molt into a tougher organism, with a thicker, harder exoskeleton. Mid-way through the process, the Praetorian would emit a pheremone that would cause the hive to attack it, often causing death. Only the strongest Praetorians escape, where they wander on the edges of the hive until their mesoskeleton finishes hardening. It then returns, re-asserting it's dominance over the lesser aliens. However, most other instances of lesser-caste evolution demonstrate the process being significantly shorter; only a few hours to a few days.

Royal Guards

Some sources state that there is an intermediary stage between chosen Drones and full Praetorians, known as Royal Guards, a name which is also used to describe fully grown Praetorians. The Royal Guards are very similar to Praetorians but are smaller and weaker, have a less developed crest, and show more Drone-like features in the shape of their carapace, tail, and overall mesoskeleton. For this reason, it is possible that the Royal Guard merely represents a stage of molting for juvenile Praetorians as their bodies change from a Drone to a fully grown Praetorian and is not a separate caste or evolutionary stage.

Other Variants

Main article: Praetorian (LV-742)

A Praetorian from LV-742. (Extinction)

A unique variant of the Praetorian is seen on LV-742. Instead of evolving in stages, it comes from a unique facehugger and can further evolve into two unique castes, the Ravager and Carrier. In these hives, a Praetorian is born outright, without needing to molt from lower castes and is the only path to a Queen Alien.

Trivia

• The name Praetorian is derived from the Latin word praetor, the title given to certain high-ranking officials. The Roman Praetorian Guard were the personal bodyguards of Roman emperors.
• Praetorians constitute two of the seven "boss" characters in the video game Aliens vs. Predator (designated by an on-screen bar showing their health during the player's battle with them). The others are Wolf, the Matriarch, an unnamed Predator, Karl Bishop Weyland, and the Abomination. The Praetorians are notable in that they are the only boss character to be fought in more than one of the game's three campaigns — both Rookie and Dark fight a boss battle with a Praetorian. In fact, the Rookie fights a further two Praetorians near the end of the Marine campaign, after his initial boss battle with one, although these latter two are not considered bosses.
  • Specimen 6 herself was originally intended to be a Praetorian for at least some of the playable Alien campaign, although this was ultimately dropped. Remnants of it game be seen in-game, as Six's shadow is that of a Praetorian towards the later half.
• Although never outright stated as such in the actual comics, concept art of the Defiance Alien from Aliens: Defiance makes mention of the creature being a Praetorian.
• The Praetorian's appearance in Aliens: Fireteam arguably marks it as its first 'canonical' appearance within the Alien franchise, despite the caste existing many years prior.
• Praetorians seemingly share several traits with the way real-life clownfish operate in terms of social structure. Clownfish live in groups led by the largest member (who is always female), the second-largest (always male) being the second in command, and all other members (always sexless) being of equal rank regardless of size. If the female dies, the male matures into a female, and the largest sexless member matures into a male. It is unknown whether the writers were aware of this when the Xenomorph Praetorian was first conceived.

Appearances

• Alien vs. Predator (1994 arcade game)
• Aliens versus Predator
• Aliens: Rogue
• Aliens versus Predator 2/Primal Hunt
• Aliens versus Predator: Extinction
• Aliens vs. Predator
• AVP: Evolution
• Aliens: Defiance
• Aliens: Defiance - Extravehicular
• Aliens: Fireteam

Gallery

A Royal Guard/Praetorian in the Alien vs. Predator arcade game.

A Praetorian in the 1999 game Aliens versus Predator.

A Praetorian in Aliens versus Predator 2.

A Praetorian in Aliens versus Predator: Extinction

K-Series Praetorian.

A Praetorian egg Aliens versus Predator: Extinction.

Praetorian eating a corpse in AVPR PSP game.

The Praetorian multiplayer skin in Aliens vs. Predator.

Rookie fights a Praetorian in Aliens vs. Predator.

A Praetorian in Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer; compare its smaller size with the singleplayer version in the previous image.

A Praetorian in AVP: Evolution.

Ditto.

Promotional screenshot of a Praetorian from Aliens: Fireteam (note the tan carapace).

Artwork of the Royal Guard stage of a Praetorian.

Concept art of the Xenomorph from Aliens: Defiance.

Ditto.

The Aliens: Defiance Alien.

Ditto.

Prodos Games figure of a Royal Guard.

Prodos Games figure of a Praetorian.