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Yeerks are an extraterrestrial species from the book and television series Animorphs.

Contents 1 Biology 2 Hosts 3 Homeworld 4 History 5 Culture 6 Iskoort 7 Yeerk technology 8 Yeerk terminology 9 See also

[edit] Biology

A Yeerk is a parasite that takes over the mind of another being by way of infestation through the ear canal. It resembles a small, grey-green slug not six-inches long. Yeerks in their natural state have decent senses of smell, touch and hearing, but they are blind until they enter a host, as they do not have eyes. They possess palps, which are antennae-like protrusions, as well as osmosis nodes, or small organs that process nutrients in the Yeerks' native pools. Although the presence of a circulatory system of some kind is debatable, apparently Yeerks have no hearts, as evidenced by the description of a human morphing into a Yeerk, in which the human heart stops and dissolves away completely. They communicate in their natural state using a language of ultrasonic squeaks, and use sonar to get a basic picture of the surroundings. The process of infestation by a Yeerk is painless: a numbing chemical is secreted to anesthetise and dilate the ear canal itself so that the sluglike Yeerk will not cause any physical harm to the host. It is able to manipulate and puncture a variety of alien ear canal structures including bone and membrane to reach the brain, although the mechanics of this are not well described.

After the process of infestation, the Yeerk flattens itself into what has been described as "hammered-out Silly Putty" and sinks into all of the cracks and crevices of the brain. From there, all control is submitted involuntarily to the Yeerk. The host has no control over itself anymore.

The Yeerk parasites cannot stay within their host for more than 3 Earth days. After this period of time, they need to bathe in a Yeerk pool and absorb Kandrona rays, the rays of the Yeerk home sun. Without these rays, a Yeerk eventually starves. However, there is a way for Yeerks to survive without Kandrona rays: to eat other Yeerks. This cannibalism is not common however and is only displayed by one Yeerk, Esplin 9466 the lesser (Visser Three's twin sibling; see below), after being cut off from Yeerk society by his twin. Yeerks may also survive a lack of Kandrona rays by consuming instant maple and ginger oatmeal, although its effects are narcotic and cause the Yeerk to become insane, trapped within its host indeterminately, without the need to feed in a Yeerk pool. The host may regain some control of its body from time to time, while the Yeerk has lapsed into narcotic-induced lack of control. Usually the Yeerk is not intelligible after full addiction has occurred, since the chemicals in the oatmeal damage part of its brain stem. The Animorphs discover this upon investigating a man named George Edelmann who attempts to commit suicide by jumping out the window of a skyscraper. He is put in an insane asylum, where the Animorphs follow him, only to discover that he knows top secret information about the Yeerks, namely, their weakness to the oatmeal. The Yeerk in his head has succumbed to this weakness and Edelmann is able to speak and move freely, except when his Yeerk seizes control and rants unintelligibly in alien languages.

Yeerks reproduce by fusion followed by fission. Three parent Yeerks merge into a single organism, which then breaks apart into hundreds of separate grubs, destroying the parents in the process. Yeerks have only one gender, neither male nor female, but often take on the role of a male or female entity depending on the gender of their hosts.

[edit] Hosts

So far, Yeerks have enslaved about 8 different kinds of alien species, completely or partially, including Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Gedds, the Nahara (never seen in the series), Leerans, Garatrons, and of course, humans. According to a Yeerk named Temrash 114, the Yeerks may also have taken over creatures known as the Sstram and the Mak, both never seen in the series. The Yeerks also have the ability to infest Andalites, however, they are never successful in truly enslaving them. They did however manage to take over Prince Aloran turning him into Visser Three. The Yeerks have also tried to enslave Hawjabrans and Ongachics, but they have failed on both acounts. One because the Ongachic race is completely nomadic, and spread out through the entire galaxy. Two, because Hawjabran brains are spread out in little nodes throughout their bodies, so the Yeerks can never completely control them. They also tried to infest horses, and did experimants on Hammerhead Sharks.

There are some species that the Yeerks do not know about, and therefore have not tried to infest such as the Iskoort. The Iskoort species is actually related to the Yeerks, even though they do not look at all similar, but not a lot of them know that, or have even heard of them.

And, since the Yeerk has access to all parts of the brain (except with Hawjabrans, of course), it is able to pass flawlessly as its host (now called a Controller) so that nobody else suspects that there is, in fact, a secret invasion of their planet.

[edit] Homeworld

Yeerks inhabit a homeworld with a dark green and yellow, lightning-torn sky. The ground is largely dark rich soil and roughly circular Yeerk pools dot the surface, presumably connected to each other somehow but this is not explained. Individual pools have names, Sulp Niar for example. Yeerk pool water is a sludgy grey, filled with nutrients Yeerks need besides Kandrona rays. There are no more than a hundred animal species on the Yeerk homeworld, among them the Gedd species, which became the Yeerks' natural host, nearly a symbiotic relationship. This month (September 2006) is the Yeerk date: Generation 705, mid-cycle. The mid-cycle would start sometime in August 2007.

[edit] History

Sometime on or before the Earth year 1966 (Yeerk date: Generation 685, mid-cycle; each Generation is roughly two Earth years and divided into three cycles) the first Andalites arrived on the Yeerk homeworld, led by the Andalite Prince Seerow. Seerow pitied the Yeerks' physical drawbacks despite their capacity to learn, and set up the Andalite-Yeerk Peace and Cooperation Center on the Yeerk homeworld. He and other Andalites taught the Yeerks how to write down the Yeerk language phonetically, and taught them what lay beyond their green-clouded sky. Once armed with the knowledge of space-faring technology and similar sciences certain Yeerks rebelled against the Andalites, taking them off-guard and killing many people during the escape with several small Andalite ships and a few transports. The Yeerks stopped on the far side of their planet to syphon up large quantities of Yeerks from Yeerk pools before fleeing the planet, eventually to become the Yeerk Empire. Andalite forces began to patrol the Yeerk homeworld in orbit to make sure no more Yeerks entered, attempted contact or attempted to leave.

The Yeerk Empire was gutted devastatingly with the death of seventeen thousand, three hundred and seventy-two Yeerks flushed from the Yeerk Pool Ship's onboard pool during the final blatant attack on Earth. The Empire's loss of Earth was caused largely by the Animorphs, and surrendered Yeerks were given amnesty by the Andalite military if they became a nothlit, or trapped in one morph forever. A single Blade Ship escaped with the intent of creating a new Yeerk Empire and has allied with a dangerous, cult-like, otherworldy entity known only as The One.

[edit] Culture

Yeerk names end in numbers, which designate which number grub they are (i.e. Aftran 942 is the nine hundred forty second grub to emerge from the Aftran tri-parent). A double number indicates twins. For example, Esplin 9466 (also known as the infamous Visser 3, who eventually becomes Visser 1) has a twin; both were born from the nine hundred forty sixth grub to emerge from the Esplin tri-parent. As a note, earlier in the series, this number was claimed to be a rank, indicating that Yeerks are likely born with one number and can advance to a higher number rank, or be demoted to a lower one.

Citizens of the Yeerk Empire may rise above the rank of 100, after which they are designated as "sub-vissers", similar to lieutenants. After being promoted above sub-visser level, Yeerks may become one of 47 Vissers, which are equivalent to generals or to Andalite Princes.

The head of the Yeerk Empire is the Council of Thirteen, the leader of which is the enigmatic Yeerk Emperor. Of the thirteen council members, two remain always concealed as decoys for the Emperor's true identity. They wear very dark red robes, almost black, and those Council members who have Hork-Bajir hosts wear a thin mesh under the robes to prevent them from tearing.

There is a faction of Yeerks who have formed an entity known as the Yeerk Peace Faction, which opposes the wars led by the Empire in secret and whose members, who may be Yeerks and their hosts, oppose involuntary infestation.

[edit] Iskoort

There exists an offshoot of the Yeerk race that was taken from the homeworld millennia ago: the Yoort. The Yoort have long since changed from being parasites, and have become symbionts; They merged with a species created by them, the Isk, with whom they have a symbiotic relationship. The joint species is called Iskoort.

[edit] Yeerk technology

Yeerk technology is largely stolen from other races, although the Yeerks themselves appear to have a great capacity to learn and create new technology with pieces of alien technology. Yeerk technology and ships include:

• Dracon beams - handheld or cannon weapons that emit a painful red beam of energy. Powered by energy cells. Dracon beams have ten settings, the most powerful of which can punch a hole straight through ten feet of solid titanium. Modified from Andalite shredders by combining them with Onganchic particle technology.
• Yeerk hand-held computers - small green squares that emit a holographic, translucent screen.
• Hunter-killer robots - medium-sized spheres with a single lens that senses movement as a threat and fires a killing Dracon beam at the target.
• Killing cylinders - small metal cylinder that kills both Yeerk and host when pressed against the back of the host's neck.
• Genetic scanner - small hand-held device that scans target for genetic makeup. Does not harm the target. Probably modified from Andalite technology.
• Zero-space engines - allow a ship to jump from real space to zero-space, taking advantage of the curvature of space to travel great distances much more quickly. Blatantly stolen from Andalites.
• Anti-morphing ray - a machine that forces a creature to revert its DNA pattern from a morph to that of its natural cells. Only a prototype was constructed; however, while it might have worked, the Animorphs tricked Visser Three into thinking it didn't, and subsequentially the project was abandoned, its creators put to death.
• Yeerk torture device - one of presumably many, it consists of three buttons that focus on a box where the target lies. The Yeerks rely on their knowledge of all things neural to force the target to feel extreme pain, extreme happiness, or both at the same time.
• Bug fighters - basic maximum-of-three-person fighters that resemble a black, oval-shaped beetle or other insect, with two eye-like windows and two serrated spears jutting out from its front end (the Dracon cannon). The interior is large enough for three crew members of various species to walk around in, with a weapons station and navigational controls (the latter often handled by a Taxxon). Modified from Andalite tail-fighters, and inspired by the Hork-Bajir homeworld, where the Bug fighters were first built.
• Blade Ships - resemble a black medieval battle-axe, with two broad axe-like wings and a long "handle" with a diamond-shaped bridge on the end. Typically assigned to Vissers.
• Pool Ships - Huge, round bloated black ships with three spider-like legs (engines) and a series of thick tentacles hanging from the bottom (engines).
• Cruiser-class ships - shaped like a V or a boomerang, these ships fly with the two pronged ends forward, which hold Dracon cannon.
• Truck Ships - Shaped almost like large black metal manta rays. Used to syphon large quantities of water or other supplies. Stolen from Andalites.

[edit] Yeerk terminology

• Andalite bandit - "Andalite bandits" are the common term by which the Yeerks refer to the Animorphs, who are in reality, a human resistance movement. It was initially assumed that only the Andalite race posessed 'morphing' capability, hence 'Andalite bandit'.
• Anti-Morphing Ray (AMR) - A Yeerk-developed device which can detect morphing energy, and reverse the morphing process. Only one was constructed; the prototype was destroyed following an infiltration attempt by the Animorphs.
• Blade ship - Visser Three's personal ship, the Blade ship is the Visser's usual means of transportation. It is a jet black ship with the weapons section in the back and curved like a scythe blade.
• Blue Band Squad - An elite Hork-Bajir unit. These Controllers are highly trained, and are much faster and much stronger than the average shock trooper. They also wear blue bands on their arms, hence their group's name. The squad leader's name is Grath.
• Bug fighter - The standard Yeerk fighter craft. The Bug fighter looks like a jet-black cockroach without legs. The 'head' of the fighter has two long lance-like projections, which house the Dracon beams.
• Controller - A term used to describe a creature under the control of a Yeerk parasite. Willing hosts are known as Collaborators, whereas unwilling hosts are simply known as Controllers.
• Council of Thirteen - The Council of Thirteen is the head of the Yeerk government. This supreme body of leaders is composed of thirteen members, each with their own host body. The Council members dress in elaborate robes. One of the Council members is the Emperor, but the leader is known only to the other Council members.
• Dapsen - According to Ax, dapsen is not a very polite word. This word was used to name a Yeerk front organization, Dapsen Logging Company. This leads the Animorphs to believe that the Yeerks may have a sense of humor after all...
• Dracon beam - A main handheld weapon of the Yeerk, it uses a laser-type beam to inflict damage on its targets. At full power, Dracon beams can punch through significant amounts of titanium.
• Emergency Kandrona Particle Generators - A one-use, small Yeerk pool made for emergencies. These are designed to make it more or less easy for the Yeerks to carry around with them. Usually used by Yeerks on the run.
• Five Classes of Alien - The Yeerks have a grouping system for different alien species. They are arranged into five Classes. Physically unfit species, such as Hawjabrans, Mortrons and Skrit Na are described as Class One aliens. Aliens that can be infested, but suffer from physiological disadvantages, like Taxxons and Gedds, are considered Class Two species. Class Three aliens such as Hork-Bajir are excellent for infestation, but exist in low numbers and do not breed quickly. Andalites are plentiful and would make good hosts, but are very difficult to obtain, and as such are Class Four species. Finally, Class Five aliens are those that are physically fit, can be infested, are extremely adaptable, are numerous, breed quickly and are unable to resist the Yeerks. Humans were originally thought to be in this category, but later moved to category 4.
• Formula 71
• Gashad - A warrant issued by the Council of Thirteen to kill someone on sight.
• Gleet BioFilter - The Gleet BioFilter is stolen technology, first developed by the Andalites. The purpose of a Biofilter is to eradicate all organic life forms that are not registered in its DNA database. Gleet BioFilters are typically positioned at key entry points to sensitive areas, e.g. the yeerk pool, in order to ward off spies.
• Happy Meal with Extra Happy - The secret password to enter the Yeerk pool at McDonalds fast food restaurants. Rachel decides the Yeerks do indeed have a sense of humor...
• Kandrona - Kandrona is the name of the sun of the Yeerk homeworld. Yeerks must bask in its light every three days in order to obtain essential nutrients--much like the human ability to synthesize Vitamin D₂ by solar radiation.
• Operation 9466
• Project Obedience - codename for a Yeerk attempt to conquer Earth by stripping humans of their free will. It failed miserably because sentient beings are inseparable from free will.
• The Fugue - 'The fugue' is the death phase during a Yeerk's Kandrona starvation.
• The Sharing - The Sharing is Yeerk 'front' organization. On the surface, the Sharing resembles the Boy Scouts: family, friends, cooperation. Dig deeper, however, and the Sharing is revealed to be an organization dedicated to advancing the Yeerk cause on Earth, screening potential Controllers from the larger 'Sharing' membership.
• Vanarx - a large, translucent purple predatory worm that attaches itself to a Controller's head and sucks out the Yeerk within. Also known as a 'Yeerkbane'.
• Veleek - Yeerk for "pet;" name Visser Three gave to the monster in The Andalite's Gift.
• Visser - A Visser is a high rank in the Yeerk hierarchy. It equates more or less to a general or an Andalite prince. There are forty-seven Vissers, and many more sub-Vissers, who are like colonels.
• Yeerk Peace Movement - Underground movement opposed to the taking of unwilling hosts. Founded by Aftran 942.
• Yeerk Pool

[edit] See also

• Parasite
• Alien invasion
• Goa'uld