Aliens - hierarchy, obedience, orders, castes - interpretation of rules

[Violaceus]

So I feel that this matter can be almost as complicated as policies about Asimov lawset for AIs.

So, the queen is the ultimate ruler of the hive and all aliens must do what she wants. Also, aliens cannot kill hosts without her permission. Therefore I have some questions:

Feral state
1a. If the queen is dead, can higher castes order lesser castes?
1b. Are aliens obliged to follow wishes of now dead queen that designated specific drone as a successor?
1c. Can aliens kill humans if the queen is dead or are obliged to follow her last orders in that matter?
1d. Can aliens kill other aliens without the queen?

Killing and harming
2a. Can aliens harm humans without killing them? For example, slashing someone's legs to make escape harder.
2b. Can aliens harm and kill in defence of the queen (if there is no other way), even if the queen forbid it? What if combat is tense and queen have no time to type?
2c. If there is no other way and alien will die without using lethal force on someone, is it allowed, even if the queen forbid it?
2d. In heat of combat, can aliens seeing queen slashing humans assume that this means harming is allowed?

Obedience
3a. Queen orders me, the ravager that called her "lowly" when she was still a drone to kill myself. Is this allowed?
3b. Queen orders me to kill myself because she recognizes my byond name and is metagrudging me. Is this allowed?
3c. Queen orders me to sit for an hour in one place as larva and don't evolve, because she likes number 666 that I have. Is this allowed?
3d. Queen wants to punish me for evolving, even if she didn't forbid evolving before. Is this allowed?
3e. Queen is altering hive hierarchy, for example placing some drone as Hand of the Queen, and saying tier3 aliens to obey him. Is this allowed, what other aliens must do?
3f. Queen is griefing, can aliens actively act against her ("in the name of the empress")?
3g. One runner is slashing infected, nested humans. Can other aliens attack and kill him even before queen says anything?
3h. Larva called praetorian stupid, can praetorian kill/order it to kill itself, if queen doesn't say anything about that?


I have received contradicting responses from few staff members about these matters, that's why I am asking there, very specific questions.

[Sligneris]

"One runner is slashing infected, nested humans. Can other aliens attack and kill him even before queen says anything?"

Hey, I was the queen that game! Too bad we lost two hosts already by the time that runner got banned...

That being said, there is no possibility for aliens to kill themselves or other aliens, is there now?

[HalfdeadKiller]

I believe aliens have access to the 'suicide' verb. I have seen it done a few times. Also, they can bite themselves in space or off of weeds to death probably. And alien bites are pretty painful to other aliens.

On topic. I would really enjoy some clarifications for this. Most staff seem to be on board with the 'You follow the queen, regardless of whether she is a terrible queen or not.' mindset of hive hierarchy.

[coroneljones]

1a. Belive so
1b. Also possible
1c. They can kill any humans when the queen dies,not infected,until a new one evolves
1d. Why would they do that..

Killing and harming
2a. Nope,a single slash is enough to cause bleeding,wich leads to death
2b. NOPE xenos may never harm without the queens permission
2c. Nope,if you arent given permission for lethals,you MAY NEVER lethal,in any circumstance
2d. Depends,but without verbal orders...nope

Obedience
3a. Yup
3b. If you werent competent yes,if just for the grudge,nope
3c. Belive so
3d. Yup
3e. Her orders are !aw
3f Dont belive so..you obey the queen AND ONLY the queen
3g. Its almost impossible to iill other xenos,simply alert the queen so she can deal with it
3h. Nope,they dont have free will..as such,only the queen may order a xeno death



And thats how i view them

[Felkvir]

Same as Coronel. Not sure if any other staff view it differently ... If they do then i think they need to catch up

[Violaceus]

I don't remember name, but some staff member told me something like "current meta is that aliens in feral state something something"

Ad. 3h: they don't have free will or higher castes can command lower castes?
Ad. 3f: Hipotetical example: Hivemind, alien queen hisses, "Ravager, rape that woman, praetors melt airlocks to space, I am not laying eggs, must use plasma for screeches, also I want to be commander's pet"

[Sligneris]

Amusingly, my answers would different from these given by the staff here, but I suppose it's of little importance.

[Kinrany]

Alien queen is supposed to be smarter that human. It's impossible to achieve without using multiple player brains.
IMO it's okay to delegate decisions to other aliens, it doesn't break "aliens have no free will" thing. The queen is still the only alien who makes decisions IC, but the queen player lets other players to make choices OOC.