Editing Zerg (section)

=== Depiction ===
The Zerg were created from the native lifeforms of Zerus, who had the natural ability to absorb the "essence" of creatures they killed, transforming their bodies to gain new adaptations. The [[Xel'Naga]] created the Overmind and bound the primal Zerg to its will.  They gave the Overmind a powerful desire to travel across the stars and absorb useful lifeforms into the Swarm, particularly the Protoss, their previous creation, so as to become the ultimate lifeform.

The Zerg are a completely organic race, making no use of lifeless technology and instead using specialized organisms for every function efficiently fulfilled through biological adaptation and planned mutation of the Zerg strains. Their buildings are specialized organs within the living, growing organism of a Zerg nest, as are the Leviathans "space ships" that carry them across space. Zerg colonies produce a carpet of bio-matter referred to as the "creep", which essentially provides nourishment for Zerg structures and creatures.<ref name="manualZOverview">{{cite book|chapter=Zerg: Species Overview|page=55|author=Underwood, Peter|author2=Roper, Bill |author3=Metzen, Chris |author4= Vaughn, Jeffrey |title=StarCraft (manual)|publisher=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|date=1998-04-01}}</ref> The visual aesthetic of the Zerg greatly resembles that of invertebrates such as crustaceans and insects (and certainly draws inspiration from the creatures from the [[Alien (film)|Alien]] movies). The Zerg are shown to be highly dependent on their command structure: if a Zerg should lose its connection to the hive mind, it may turn passive and incapable of action, or become completely uncontrollable and attack allies and enemies alike.

Zerg buildings and units are entirely organic in-game, and all Zerg can regenerate slowly without assistance (though not as quickly as Protoss shields or Terran medivac). Zerg production is far more centralized than with the Terrans and Protoss; a central [[hatchery]] must be utilized to create new Zerg, with other structures providing the necessary [[technology tree]] assets, whereas the other two races can produce units from several structures. Zerg units tend to be weaker than those of the other two races, but are also cheaper, allowing for [[rush (video gaming)|rush tactics]] to be used. Some Zerg units are capable of infesting enemies with various parasites that range from being able to see what an enemy unit sees to spawning Zerg inside an enemy unit. In addition, Zerg can infest some Terran buildings, allowing for the production of special infested Terran units.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/starcraft_sg/zerg_units.html|title=The Zerg Swarm – Units and Structures|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|work=StarCraft Strategy Guide|first=Greg|last=Kasavin|access-date=2008-09-17|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203092207/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/starcraft_sg/zerg_units.html|archive-date=2013-02-03}}</ref>