Typhon

"People are quick to project human features onto things they don't understand. The Typhon kill us without hesitation. But it's not because they're evil. It's because they can't do otherwise."

- Alex Yu talking about Typhon.

Typhon are hostile aliens encountered on Talos I during Prey (2017) and on Pytheas during Prey: Mooncrash.

Overview
Typhon are hostile aliens, that were being kept on Talos I space station and Pytheas Moon base for study. The goal of the study was to give the powers that Typhon have to humans by mapping their Neural patterns onto Humans through Neuromods.

Characteristics
All Typhon are formed from a shiny, shimmering grey-black substance that seems to display the characteristics of solids, liquids and gasses all at once, and the Typhon can with ease change the structure and solidity of this to change shape, and use their appendages as weapons. This semi-solid form is also most likely the source of their high durability. Almost nothing is explained or revealed about their anatomy or biological makeup - indeed, their physiology is incomprehensibly alien. Their sizes and shapes vary greatly, ranging from small arachnid-like creatures to large humanoids and floating orbs, but the vast majority of them are vulnerable to kinetically induced trauma, be it via blunt force or ballistics, or quasiparticle supercharging.

Each Typhon species possesses different abilities such as mimicking matter, telekinesis, teleportation (i.e. quickly phasing or warping to a nearby location), generating fire, electricity, or corrosive gas, mind control, remote machine control, psychic assault, or even creating new species of Typhon. In spite of their complex neural structures, they lack mirror neurons, preventing them from empathizing with the suffering of other beings or even recognizing they are anything more than prey. It is for this reason that Alex Yu advises against calling them "evil", as they are not intentionally malevolent or cruel, simply pursuing what they see as a food source, which, according to January, is consciousness. Typhon are able to replicate or spawn more of themselves in strange processes, as evidenced by the abilities of Mimics and Weavers.

Despite lacking mirror neurons or empathy, Typhon are able to sense whether the life forms surrounding them are part of their collective or not. As such, they will not attack other Typhon that are not mind-controlled, but will instantly and relentlessly attack any other form of sentient, organic life, especially humans. The only exceptions to this are Tentacle Nests and Cystoids, whose response to their environment is solely based on motion detection.

Typhon Types

 * Apex
 * Cystoid
 * Mimic
 * Greater Mimic
 * Etheric Mimic
 * Thermal Mimic
 * Voltaic Mimic
 * Moon Shark
 * Nightmare
 * Phantom
 * Etheric Phantom
 * Thermal Phantom
 * Voltaic Phantom
 * Poltergeist
 * Technopath
 * Telepath
 * Tentacle Nest
 * Weaver

Early History
The Typhon were discovered on the Vorona-1 satellite, which was launched by the Soviets in 1958. The satellite was orbiting the moon until the Soviets lost communication with it. They then sent a manned mission to investigate. The repair team didn't find any external issues so the Soviet leadership ordered the cosmonauts to breach the satellite. In the moments that followed, the cosmonauts encountered a non-terrestrial life form, which killed all members of the mission.

After two years of silence, the Soviets contacted the United States and pleaded for help with containing the threat. President John F. Kennedy agreed, and in 1963, the US-Soviet collaboration resulted in the Kletka program. A permanent installation was built to contain the non-terrestrials. After a failed assassination attempt on Kennedy, the US seized control of the program and started to study the non-terrestrials, but were unable to harness their enigmatic abilities for military or commercial applications. After a containment failure lead to the death of the entire research team, the US abandoned the station. Eventually, the TranStar corporation secured the derelict station and transformed it into Talos I, a cutting edge innovation center. In just five short years, the team aboard Talos-1 achieved a great understanding of the Typhon organisms and started to apply their research to humans.

Modern Day
In 2035, the Typhon managed to breach containment and overrun Talos I, killing most of the crew in the process, and spread to the Pytheas Moon base, which already had a Typhon population secured and studied in the Pytheas Labs. By the end of the main game, it's revealed that the Typhon have invaded and completely overrun Earth. Some reports suggest the military have Typhon organisms in their possession or similar alien assets located in unlisted military black sites in orbit.

Trivia

 * Typhon is the name of a monster from Greek mythology and is considered the father of monsters.
 * According to the myth, Typhon battled Zeus for control of the universe, which mirrors Morgan's fight against the hostile alien race.
 * In reality, the function of mirror neurons in humans is the subject of much speculation, with one theory arguing that they are the neural basis for emotions like empathy.
 * The Pytheas Typhon differs from their Talos I counterparts in various ways, including their dermal texture.

Gallery
Typhon