I'm currently re-watching all the Ben 10 series and also re-reading Animorphs. That has caused me to imagine a crossover between the two. I have way too many unconnected ideas for this post to be coherent, so I will divide my ideas into multiple posts.
This particular post is going to be the first post on this AU and will focus on the basic worldbuilding.
Note: I haven't read Animorphs or watched Ben 10 for quite some time, so I might get things wrong. And I will also be changing things for the purposes of this AU.
So I can't have the entirety of the Ben 10 alien species in this AU because Ben 10 aliens have basically superpowers as their natural abilities, and that'll be WAY too overpowered in the Animorphs universe. So I've decided that either the vast majority of the Ben 10 alien species don't exist, or they aren't yet advanced enough for intergalactic relationships and don't know about other species. I'm leaning towards the vast majority not existing because that way I don't have to include any other Ben 10 alien species unless required for plot purposes. And I've also made the decision that Azmuth hasn't made Omnitrix yet, but is in the trial-and-error process of creating the first prototype of the Omnitrix and has only just started scanning DNA samples. I'm also thinking that the Plumbers don't exist in this AU.
So, the Yeerk Empire is still spreading like a disease, and the Andalites are fighting them, just like canon. But in this AU, Hork-Bajir and Taxxons don't exist. They have been replaced by Tetramands (AKA Four Arms' species) and Geochelone Aerios (AKA Terraspin's species). Losing Taxxons removes the horror of the Taxxon hunger and completely changes Arbron's story, and so does losing the Hork-Bajir with their artificial creation by Arn and changing Aldrea's story, and I don't know how I should rework them in this AU. But I do have some ideas as to how things should change with Tetramand and Geochelone Aerios.
Tetramands are often employed as warriors and security personnel due to their exceptional physical abilities (They basically have super strength). Yeerks use them as shock troops and as an army like Hork-Bajir. But unlike Hork-Bajir, Tetramands are a naturally warlike species. They have a warrior culture.
Here are some excerpts from the Ben 10 Wiki on them:
Tetramands are a warrior race. Generally speaking, they are fairly aggressive and favor violence.
By nature, Tetramands are extremely emotional creatures, just like Humans.
Because female Tetramands are traditionally stronger than males, they are in turn considered the better warriors, and due to this, if a male Tetramand manages to defeat a female Tetramand, the male becomes the female's chosen husband.
Tetramands are not very amicable towards outsiders, as in the case of Kevin when he went to get one of their Tetramand Engine Blocks for his car.
Tetramands are very strict in the upholding of their laws; an offender whose crime was merely jumping the turnstiles at an auto show was buried up to his neck in sand.
Tetramands have a unique way of settling court cases: through combat. They have the right to fight their accusers in a battle arena, and the winner of the Tetramand Trial of Combat emerges victorious in the case.
Tetramands live in very close knit family tribes and defend their kin to the death.
This should tell you quite a bit about Tetramands.
Because of their animosity towards outsiders and the fact that their society is built on strength, martial tradition, and tribal unity, this makes them much harder to enslave and control. The Yeerk conquest of Tetramands would require enormous military resources and exploitation of tribal rivalries. Because of this, unlike the Hork-Bajir Resistance in canon, the Tetramand Resistance is much bigger in this AU.
But what makes them truly different from being just really aggressive Hork-Bajir is their relationship with Andalites. You'd think that because Andalites also have a warrior culture, full of honour, respect and pride, they'd get along with the Tetramands, right?
Andalites actually view Tetramands as savage brutes. Unlike how refined and honourable Andalites are, Tetramands are this primitive, semi-civilised species with their backwards society of female warriors and combat court trials and males having to prove that they deserve to marry a female. This line of thinking highlights the Andalite elitism and sexism. They will help the Tetramands, but they definitely won't view them as equals. But you know what makes things even more interesting? Alloran-Semitur-Corrass.
In canon, Alloran unleashed Quantum Virus on the Hork-Bajir homeworld to deny the Yeerks of Hork-Bajir Hosts. It was a horrible atrocity committed by Alloran. And it still is. But what makes it different in this AU is how Tetramands perceive it. In this AU, despite the Quantum Virus still being unleashed just on Tetramands instead of Hork-Bajir, there still are Free Tetramand Tribes that escaped the Quantum Virus death and also enslavement by Yeerks. The Yeerks and Andalites know that there are Free Tetramands out there, still fighting the Yeerk Empire, but no one realises the true extent of their resistance. Not until Animorphs ended up on Tetramand's homeworld. Why are they on Tetramand's homeworld? I don't know. I haven't figured that out. But they are on the Tetramand homeworld, and they stumble across the Free Tetramand Tribes. After the initial suspicions and hostility towards the Animorphs, the Free Tetramands welcome them in as fellow warriors. Rachel has basically been made an honorary Tetramand. They are confused at first as to why Jake, a male, leads them instead of Rachel or even Cassie, since they're the females of the group, but they accept his leadership after getting to know that the Animorphs willingly made him their leader. (This might be confusing for those who don't know about Ben 10 and have just read in the above excerpts about how female Tetramands are traditionally stronger and thus lead the Tetramand society, and thus are wondering as to why the Tetramands would respect Jake's leadership. Well, if you look at what I provided about the Tetramandian marriage rituals, you can see that if a male Tetramand defeats the female in a fight, they become the chosen husband of the defeated female. So I applied that logic and decided that once the Free Tetramands are told that Jake earned his leadership, they will be okay with him and his lead, as he deserves his position.)
But the biggest surprise comes from when the Animorphs find an image of Alloran carved in a Tetramandian temple.
Tetramands worship Alloran.
They see war as sacred and loss as honourable when it serves the tribe's survival. The Quantum Virus was devastating, but the logic behind it (denying Yeerks powerful hosts) aligns with Tetramand principles. To them, Alloran is not a genocidal monster but a ruthless general, worthy of legends.
They adopt him into the warrior pantheon of their gods, hailing him as the Demigod of Necessary Sacrifices and Ruthlessness in their stories.
This worship of theirs actually amplifies their already negative opinion of the Yeerk Empire and especially that of Visser Three. To Tetramands, Alloran was a sacred warrior, and they view Visser Three and his taking over of Alloran as even more of an abomination than Andalites do. They are enraged that Visser Three dares to deny such a legend of his rightful destiny. Visser Three has become a walking blasphemy to Free Tetramands. A parasite riding on the body of a divine. Visser Three even openly taunts them by saying that he can even break fate and destiny. This fuels their outrage and zeal, with entire clans launching vendettas and assigning blood oaths to avenge Alloran’s desecration.
This forces a culture clash and conflicted emotions with the Animorphs, most particularly with Ax and Cassie. They view Alloran's actions as an atrocity, but when confronted with the Tetramandian belief and perspective on it, it forces them to consider that what is unforgivable to them can be seen very differently by others, based on their backgrounds and cultures.
Now (I don't have a way to smoothly transition), let's move on to Geochelone Aerios.
Again, some excerpts from the Wiki:
Geochelone Aerios are, almost entirely, a pacifist species. They are non-violent, lack aggression, and will only attack if pushed to the point of needing to defend themselves. There has been only one known exception to this.
Geochelone Aerios are highly social, and spend most of their time eating and debating philosophy with each other. They are very truthful and have next to no concept of lying. They also aren't well versed in the concept of prison, as they believe the restriction of other beings' freedom to be unthinkable.
Geochelone Aerios are highly religious as well. They primarily revere an ancient mystical member of their species, Addwaitya (still unaware of his descent into evil), such as by praising his name in times of good fortune. They also believe in reincarnation.
Geochelone Aerios eat grass are a vegetarian.
Geochelone Aerios have developed advanced camouflaging technology, which is incorporated into their architecture. It is capable of changing the color and form of something to blend in harmoniously with the landscape, and can continuously match even the subtlest changes in its surroundings.
From the vents on their front shell, Geochelone Aerios can expel powerful gusts of wind to push opponents away. They can also form their limbs into rotating fans to amplify this: where their fins become triangular and sharp, and their legs combine and morph into a single, similar shape. In combination, their three fans can whirl incredibly fast, while their shell stays static and suspended in the air; and generate hurricane-force winds or destructive, mini corckscrew cyclones.
A Geochelone Aerios' wind blasts are powerful enough to put out fires and redirect objects. Geochelone Aerios can also harness their aerokinetic powers to fly, blowing air to hover over a surface and using their rotating limbs as propellers.
Geochelone Aerios possess enhanced durability, as their thick, impermeable shells protect them from most assaults.
Unless they are flying, a Geochelone Aerios's body is cumbersome and not very agile, as Attea claims if Terraspin wanted to run, Ben picked the wrong species to turn into.
Now that you have some idea about them and have grasped some basic things, I'll explain their role in this AU.
Obviously, with the mixture of their aerokinesis and durability and pacifistic nature and their advanced camouflaging technology, Geochelone Aerios were pretty much amazing hosts if not for the fact that Geochelone Aerios are incredibly slow and not agile at all. Plus, they are so non-violent that it makes any Yeerk infesting them have to force and exert even more mental power to make them attack and even then, lethal being all but impossible for any Yeerk who is not very mentally dominating. This makes them a Class 3 Host species. Physically fit for infestation, but are few in number and can't be bred quickly (canon example being Hork-Bajir). For comparison, humans are Class 4 (Originally Class 5, AKA perfectly fit for infestation, are large in numbers and able to breed quickly, and can't resist the Yeerks.), but, after having found humans extremely resilient, they were moved to Class 4.
However, what makes them so tragic is the fact that their societal values are so against conflict. They spend most of their time eating grass, debating philosophy with each other, and have next to no concept of lying. They don't even have prisons or anything. They aren't well versed in the concept because they believe the restriction of other beings' freedom to be unthinkable. So since Yeerks are basically the ultimate prison, that denies the freedom of their bodies and can even access their memories when infesting someone, thus denying the freedom of mind, the Geochelone Aerios are especially more shaken and horrified and traumatised by Yeerk infestation.
I haven't developed Geochelone Aerios as much as I have the Tetramands because I'm still thinking over the complete implications of their enslavement. I don't even know if I want Geochelone Aerios to be completely conquered like Hork-Bajir are in canon, because I have this rough idea for Cassie where like a faction of Geochelone Aerios start believing Cassie is the reincarnation of Addwaitya or Addwaitya's prophetess or something along those lines. Basically, being this AU's equivalent to the Hork-Bajir Seers in canon, but more religious and for Geochelone Aerios. IDK.
Well, that's it for now. I will later post some custom stories and adventures in this AU that can only happen because of Ben 10 aliens that I'm currently working on in my next posts about this crossover AU. I'll even create some book titles and those quotes that are on the covers in the real books to go along with the stories for this crossover.
