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Praetorian Xenomorph - Explained (Alien Lore)

The Praetorian is a pure-strain Xenomorph and one of the later stages of the Alien lifecycle; they represent the growth-stage in-between a Drone and a Queen.
Their role within the hive is to serve the purpose of a Royal guard, protecting and serving the hives Queen, as well as possessing the ablity to metamorphosise into a Queen themselves if needed, either if the existing Queen is lost or if spreading out and creating multiple hives.
They also serve as a command unit, able to summon and instruct lower castes like Drones, Warriors and Runners to attack.

In appearance, Praetorians stand 10 feet tall, and resemble a shrunken-down Queen, sharing many features such as the large head-crest, and possess a similar body layout and posture, and have the same pointed dorsal-spines rather than tubular ones.
But there are also some noticeable differences – aside from their smaller size, Praetorians lack the smaller secondary pair of arms seen on Queens, and they still have the metallic coloured teeth seen on lower castes instead of the transparent teeth Queens have.
They are dark in colour, with their carapace being a deep black, and they can also have a blue sheen to them.
Praetorians are also much stronger, tougher and more intelligent than their Drone counterparts, their thicker armour is able to shield them more effectively and for longer from more powerful weaponry such as Pulse Rifles and Smart Guns that would easily take down most other Xenomorphs, and makes them almost bulletproof against smaller weapons like Pistols or Submachine guns.
Due to their larger size, they lose some of their speed, but still remain very agile for their size, and also seem to have lost the ability to scale walls and ceilings, and are seen to almost entirely abandon any stealth tactics, instead attacking enemies directly and out in the open, and as well as using their claws, tail barb and jaws to attack, they can also spit acid in larger quantities than other Xenomorphs, except perhaps, the Spitter type.
Their superior intellect to that of Drones and Warriors also allows the Praetorian to issue orders to these types; allowing it to direct waves of the more expendable types towards enemies before it would need to directly engage itself.
In some depictions, they have been seen to emit a deafening screech that will stun and disorient enemies, as well as summon reinforcements.

The Creation of the Praetorian type has been shown to take place in various ways, depending on the media it has been shown in.
In some depictions, an ordinary Drone can moult into a Praetorian when needed, and in others they are what is known as a “Pure-Strain” as opposed to a “Hybrid-Strain” and are created by a Royal Facehugger.
Then as the circumstances dictate, the Praetorian can further morph into a either a Queen as mentioned earlier, or other specialised types such as the Carrier, which will transport facehuggers on its enlarged dorsal tubes and supply nutrients for them, just the same as they’d receive inside an egg.
A Ravager, a queen-sized warrior with massive blades on each arm.
Or a Palatine, basically an even larger version of the Praetorian for defending a Queen-Mother.

The Crusher type Xenomorph from Aliens Colonial Marines is speculated to be a Runner that has undergone transformation into a Praetorian. This type uses it’s huge head crest as a battering ram.

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