Children

The Children are demonic creatures born by The Mother. They appear in the expansion Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

About
When the Blight pushed the darkspawn to the surface, human expeditions were able to venture deep underground for the first time in centuries, meeting very little resistance apart from stragglers. Then people started disappearing. Men would make camp and wake to find one of their number missing. Scouts left on missions, never to return. Search parties found no trace of the lost men, not even their bones. Some saw movements in the darkness, a shifting of shadows that torchlight would reveal as nothing. When a single warrior survived from one squad, he spoke of nothing comprehensible except grinning worm monsters that devoured his companions. The expeditions made haste back to the city.

The Children are born by The Mother, an unusually intelligent Broodmother, which in turn was created by The Architect, whom she referres to as "The Father". The Children usually sleep in large white cocoons unless they feel another living being nearby. If awoken, they emerge from their cocoon as Childer Grubs, their larval form. They then proceed to attack and devour their unfortunate prey, which in turn allows them to transform into the the more advanced Childer Hatchling. As opposed to their worm-like larval state, the Childer Hatchling developed spindly feet and small claws, which make them more agile and stronger, even though their transformation is not yet complete. Upon gorging itself yet again, they transform into the fully grown Adult Childer. These horrifying creatures are stronger and even deadlier than all previous forms. Their claws have grown long and sharp, and their body is enceased by a protective carapace, making them much harder to kill than a Childer Grub or Hatchling. They are also frighteningly fast, Adult Childers are capable of speed unmatched by every other type of darkspawn. Other darkspawn also tend to avoid them, since The Children are not particularily picky about their food and will eat other dead or even living darkspawn, if given the chance. As of now, the best way to deal with the Children is to kill them while they are still in their larval form.

Appearance
The Children come in two forms. The first is something akin to a larvae or leech-like state. Where they will scurry across the ground to attack their prey. The Childrens' form can change once they consume another being which is usually another Darkspawn (such as a Hurlock), after they are finished devouring this prey they will grow thin sharp appendages which are strong enough to hold there larval body above ground. These forms are respectively known as Childer Grub and Childer Hatchling.