Broodmother

First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat. Third day, the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate. Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams. Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day, we hated as she is violated. Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast.

A broodmother is a giant sessile ghoul capable of spawning vast numbers of darkspawn in a manner reminiscent of an insect queen.

Background
Broodmothers give birth to a large litter at once, between twenty and fifty children. They emerge from her womb as toddlers, often already able to walk, and grow rapidly in their first few weeks of life. A broodmother will birth thousands of darkspawn young in her lifetime.

Female captives are usually made broodmothers by the darkspawn. They contract the taint by being force-fed on darkspawn tissue. This gives them cannibalistic urges but also mutates them. These females turn into fully-fledged broodmothers after devouring massive amounts of flesh.

The race of the broodmother determines which kind of darkspawn she will give birth to. An elven broodmother will spawn shrieks, a dwarven broodmother genlocks, a human broodmother hurlocks, and a Qunari or kossith broodmother ogres. Each broodmother is capable of spawning thousands of darkspawn.

Strategy

 * See Broodmother (strategy) for details on fighting the broodmother in A Paragon of Her Kind.
 * See The Mother (strategy) for details on fighting the Mother in the Depths of Depravity.

Trivia

 * To date, no specific broodmothers of elven or qunari/kossith origin have been shown or described.