Xenomorph hive (Earth-9471)

Xenomorph hives are important steps in the xenomorph life-cycle, which begins during the Coordinated Stage with the creation of a Queen and a huge population infected. Once the hive is created, it serves as the xenomorphs' base of operations.

Early stage
For the hive to be formed, the xenomorphs access a large population and environment, which is capable of sustaining them. The impregnated or infected victims must contain enough calcium in order to sustain the flood endoparasite.

Once the useful area is encountered, the flood attack the present hosts, gaining biomass and food for their development, attacking with numerical superiority. The endoparasite then pump spores into the atmosphere, which restricts the breathing for their victims and hosts, killing them through asphyxiation, accomplished through the creation of spore mountains. The peak-like agglomerations are used to create xenomorph spores and Facehuggers which are released. After they vomit, this secretion is used to create the hives.

Hosts who are either infected or impregnated become a part of the xenomorphs' arsenal as either Drones or Impregnator, which continue their life cycle.

Later stage
After the xenomorphs acquired enough hosts and calcium, they begin developing the hard carapace present in higher xenomorph variants, where Chemical A0-3959X.91 – 15 start forming Queens, made independent of combat variants which have no need for hosts. Because of this immense development, combat variants acquire a defensive position, while pure forms take the center-stage.

Walls are replaced with xenomorph biomass, growing over the original environment or architecture. After the Queen is formed, it has life support systems sabotaged to speed up the death of potential hosts. The combat variants and facehuggers then mold the area to their likening, with growth pods becoming bigger and incubating new facehuggers, replacing infector variants and reducing their dependence on incubators.

Structure
Hives are constructed from the chitinous saliva vomited by the Drones, hardening to form dark, resinous and strong carapaces, used to build a maze of tunnels that spread through the whole location, where the Queen makes her home. However, a Gravemind is not required to the formation of a hive, only for the xenomorphs to be on the Coordinated Stage.