
The organisms that comprise The Many began life in a grove on Citadel Station, the setting of the original System Shock. Over a period of days or weeks (it is never made explicitly clear) the thoughts of the annelid, and - by clear extension - The Many are integrated with the host, with The Many taking the controlling share of its body and mind. To spread its singular vision of unity, the annelid requires a host body to infect The worm burrows into the subject, attaching itself to the brain stem. While they differ in size, appearance species, they are bound together by the method of their creation: Annelids, incubated within the eggs discovered on Tau Ceti V. Essentially a worm, each individual annelid is telepathically connected to all other worms, creating what is functionally a network of creatures with a singular, unified mind, in other words: The Many. Annelids / The Many The Many are a collective of different creatures and humanoids aboard the Von Braun and Rickenbacker.
