The Pathogen Queen was a white, pathogen-mutated Xenomorph Queen under LV-895 in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. In 2202 the Promise of the Flower campaign sent Colonial Marines from Colonel Olivia Shipp's UAS Endeavor into Engineer ruins and a hive grown wild by Black Goo. She was not bound to an egg sac, so she climbed the nest walls and swung clobbering arms until the fireteam killed her.
Appearance
The Pathogen Queen kept the broad fan crest and extra arms of a hive mother, but the Black Goo left her pale and wet instead of black. Pink and purple sacs sat at the neck, and orange-brown pustules marked the shoulders, chest, and joints. A hard carapace covered the body, and spines rose from the back and crest. The mouth held rows of teeth and an inner jaw, and the skin looked thin enough in places that muscle showed through.
Promise Of The Flower
After The Gift of Fire showed Pathogen creatures on LV-895, the Endeavor sent fireteams back into the Engineer ruins in Promise of the Flower. The new nest sat apart from the Katanga hive swarms. Pathogen-altered native animals shared the tunnels with Pathogen Runners, Pathogen Blights, Stalkers, Poppers, and the club-armed Pathogen Brute later called the Striker. The hive itself had grown out of control, and some walls burst into acid pools when the Marines pushed through.
Death
The fireteam reached the Queen chamber and killed the Pathogen Queen in a direct fight. White fluid spilled from her mouth before she died. That death scene was the only cinematic in Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and it closed the first game as the last major event. Her death may have ended the Pathogen threat under LV-895. The Marines never fought the Katanga Queen in the open. She only chased Red Team during the refinery self-destruct, and the blast took her with the hive.
Similar Queens
The closest match was the Matriarch from Aliens vs. Predator 2010, another boss a Colonial Marine had to kill. Age had turned her hide whitish-grey on BG-386, while the Pathogen Queen's pale skin came from the Black Goo. The Matriarch still produced eggs after a long captivity, first under the Yautja and later under Weyland-Yutani, until Rookie killed her in the Freya's Prospect refinery.
Behind The Scenes
Cold Iron Studios shipped the Pathogen expansion on 29 August 2022. Head of Studio Craig Zinkievich used the expansion to go back to the Pathogen creatures from The Gift of Fire and find where they came from under LV-895. Creative Director Matt Highison wanted the mutated Xenomorphs to look broken and in pain, no longer the elegant black form. The hive was meant to look familiar but grown wild, with new defenses.
Highison built the Queen from the fight first: armor Marines could shoot off, bits flung as ranged damage, and heavy melee at close range. The look followed that function. Studio testers found her one of the harder fights in the game, and the shipped encounter gave her a health bar the Katanga Queen fight did not have.
Conclusion
The Pathogen Queen was the white hive monarch under LV-895 in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Promise of the Flower put UAS Endeavor Marines into a Pathogen nest grown out of control, and her death was the last major event of the first game.
Appearances
- Aliens: Fireteam Elite Pathogen expansion / Promise of the Flower (2022)
Tag Categories: Individual Xenomorphs | Xenomorph Leaders | Pathogen Creatures | Xenomorphs From The Games | Xenomorph Appearance | Alien Lore
