Formics, usually referred to by the pejorative term "buggers," are a fictional insectoid alien species from the Ender's Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card. Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species—more than all other animal groups combined. ... A 1967 Soviet Union 16 kopeks stamp. ... The Enders Game Series (or simply Ender Series) is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card, started with the short story Enders Game, which was later expanded into the novel Enders Game. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951)[1] is an American author, working in numerous genres. ...

The term "Formic" is derived from formica, the Latin word for ant. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Subfamilies Aenictogitoninae Agroecomyrmecinae Amblyoponinae (incl. ...

Biology

The Formics share a single hive-mind directed by a queen. If the queen dies, all the Formics in the hive lose all will and intelligence and will die shortly afterwards. The Formics are able to communicate instantaneously via philotic connections; through studying the Formic technology leftover as wreckage from the Formic Wars, humans learned to harness gravity, and faster-than-light communication via the ansible which uses the same type of philotic connections that the Formics used. They live in vast underground colonies in complete darkness. A hive mind (sometimes spelled hivemind) is a form of collective consciousness strongly exhibiting traits of conformity and groupthink. ... A queen is the only female insect in a hive that is fertile and egg laying; for example, a queen bee, wasp, hornet, ant, or termite. ... Philote is a term derived from science fiction writer Orson Scott Cards Enders Game series referring to the basic building blocks of matter, the true indivisible particle that is not made up of smaller ones. ... Faster-than-light (also superluminal or FTL) communications and travel are staples of the science fiction genre. ... The term ansible is used in science fiction literature to describe a hypothetical faster-than-light communication device. ...

Interaction with humans

Although originally thought of as evil by humans because of the attacks, it was later realized that they were in fact peaceful. Because the Formics were a hive mind they believed that intelligent life must naturally be hive minded, thus when they killed humans they "gave it no more thought than a human would clipping his toenails". Once they realized that humans were sentient individuals, they immediately halted their attacks. Unfortunately, humanity did not realize this fact and still believed the Formics were preparing to attack again, leading to their decision to take the fight to the Formics.

In the novel Ender's Game, Ender Wiggin unknowingly commits xenocide, destroying the Formic homeworld and wiping out all the Formics except for a single queen cocoon. The initial reaction at the destruction of all of the Formics was jubilation on the part of humanity. However, following the release of Ender's books, The Hive Queen and The Hegemon, under the pseudonym of The Speaker for the Dead, humanity came to realize the destruction as a xenocide, and Ender's name was vilified. Ironically, while Andrew Wiggin as "Ender" becomes vilified, Andrew Wiggin as "Speaker for the Dead" becomes a hero, and the founder of a new religion. Ender eventually finds the only remaining egg on the colony world that he is sent to colonize. The Formics placed the egg on the colony world in a landscape terraformed to match the outlay of the landscape in a psychoanalytical game that Ender played in Battle School so that he would recognize it. Ender finds a place for the egg to hatch on Lusitania, a Brazilian Catholic colony world, allowing the Formics another chance at life. Enders Game (1985) is the best-known novel by Orson Scott Card. ... Andrew Ender Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Cards science fiction story Enders Game and its sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind), as well as in the second part of the spin-off series, Enders Shadow. ... For the computer game related to X-COM: UFO Defense, see Project Xenocide. ... The tough brown cocoon of an Emperor Gum Moth. ... Humanity refers to the human race or mankind as a whole, to that which is characteristically human, or to that which distinguishes human beings from other animals or from other animal species primal nature. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Ender Wiggin. ... In the popularly acclaimed Enders Game and Shadow series by Orson Scott Card, the Hegemon is the ruler of the planet. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in three stages of development. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a cultural phenomenon. ... In the science fiction novel Enders Game and its sequels, by Orson Scott Card, Battle School was a military academy in Earth orbit. ...

Other appearances

Buggers are also mentioned in the game Advent Rising. Advent Rising is a 2005 third-person, intergalactic action/adventure video game, akin to a fast-paced action movie. ...