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EvolutionsVoid — Hydra Worms
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Published: 2018-04-13 20:42:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 2619; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 0
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Description
While they are indeed parasites, Hydra worms have such a nasty, deadly life cycle that you could almost consider them as predators, or some kind of disease. In other cases of parasitism, the invading creature lives and feeds on the host for prolonged periods of time. Though seen as cruel invaders, parasites are often dependent on their victims, as they are a crucial part of their diet and life cycle. It is not very often that a parasite intentionally kills their host, as that destroys the feeding and breeding grounds that they desire. While they do live within their hosts for a period of time, Hydra worms have no concern for the health and life of their host. Rather than slowly feeding off their victims over the course of days, weeks or even years, Hydra worms waste no time turning their victims into mangled piles of meat that are filled to bursting with eggs, rot and worms.The start of the Hydra worm's life cycle is when a creature becomes infested with one of their eggs. This can occur through a number of different ways. The soon-to-be host may have been attacked and bitten by a Hydra worm, which resulted in eggs being laid in their wound. Another route of infestation is through ingestion. Due to their tendency to live in carcasses, a scavenger or desperate predator may have fed on a previously infested corpse and accidentally swallowed some lingering eggs. Regardless of how the egg gets within the victim, the result is a Hydra worm hatching within their body. The moment the larva is born, it will immediately begin to consume the flesh and fluids around it. Its ravenous feeding will slowly take it deeper into the body, aiming towards the center cavity where major organs are located. Once it reaches this safe haven, it will start to develop an obscene amount of eggs. Hydra worms are asexual creatures, allowing a single worm to pump out hundreds of eggs in just a few days. Once laid, the new eggs will absorb the nutrients from the bloody mess the worm leaves behind and begin to grow at an astonishing rate. Hours after their conception, the eggs will hatch and more worms will join the frenzy of feeding and breeding. Hosts to these worms rarely survive the first wave, as the emerging parasites quickly rip apart major organs as they devour. It won't be long until the Hydra worms fill their victim to bursting with eggs and larvae, finally ripping out of their skin as they seek more room. At this point, the host will be long dead, and the worms will have successfully claimed the corpse as their new home.
Though one would think that the death of their host would mean the end of their life cycle, Hydra worms are not yet ready to call it quits. Their host may have supplied food and fluids, but the resulting corpse now offers them a home that is both tempting and mobile. With so many worms living within the body of the host, they are capable of puppeteering the dead flesh to make the carcass move. Their combined efforts can make the corpse shamble and slither across the landscape, though at an incredibly awkward and sluggish pace. This allows them to move their breeding grounds to more suitable locations, and also locate new sources of food. A rotting carcass is a tempting meal for scavengers, and a pathetic, limping meat sack seems like an easy target to many predators. Those who come in to dine, though, may quickly become food themselves. The worms will burst from the skin and use their hooked mouth parts to bite into flesh and anchor themselves. After dozens of worms drive themselves into their prey, they will use their bodies and strength and reel them in and prevent escape. Within seconds, the worms will overwhelm the victim, diving into their cavities in search of fresh meat and new places to fill with their eggs.
Their rapid reproduction does seem like a good explanation for their name, but that isn't the full story behind it. Hydra worms are called such because of their behavior once they inhabit a freshly made corpse. During the time their host was alive, the worms did not hesitate in churning out thousands of eggs and larvae, which quickly hatched and joined the party. Once their victim passes on, however, things change. With their resources now limited, the Hydra worms are quick to halt the hatching of their eggs. They will still be sure to lay enough to fill the body up to the brim, but no more larvae will come popping out. They seem to go into some kind of stasis, waiting until the time is right. These young will live off the excretions of the adults, absorbing what nutrients remain in the waste. The worms that have reached adulthood will now start to focus on locating new prey, taking on the role of a predator. When no more eggs need to be laid, they will use their gathered nutrients to grow bigger and stronger, which allows them to kill larger prey. When victims get close, they lash out with their sharp mouths to tear into flesh and down their victims. During the struggle, the target may succeed in killing a few worms, hoping to break free of their grip. Though these adults may perish, this will not lower their numbers. Some kind of chemical signal is released when a worm is killed, which reaches the eggs that hide within the corpse. Depending on how potent the signal is, a number of eggs will burst to life and the larvae will emerge. Seconds after being born, they will quickly join the fight and aid in the infestation of their victim. This is where the "hydra" part of their name comes from, as every worm that perishes will bring forth new ones to take its place. Victims who are not quick in their escape may find that their struggling will just make things much worse for them. Even if they do break free of their grip, they must quickly check their wounds for eggs. If they do not kill or remove them in time, then the horrid fate they just escaped will come back to claim them.
Due to their parasitic nature, Hydra worms can be found in nearly any place that flesh-based beings exist. They do not live in super cold environments, so that is a plus. That does not mean that arctic dwellers are safe, though. Since their life cycle begins within the body, there is still the chance a host may become infected during a migration to warmer areas. Returning to the cold will not slow their growth, resulting in the victim still perishing from the ravenous brood. When the adults rip free from the body, the frozen temperatures will kill them. The eggs, though, can survive the freezing, and will wait within the carcass for a scavenger and a nice warm gut.
Their ravenous and violent life cycle has made them terrifying monstrosities in the eyes of many. The smallest sign of infestation will immediately bring about quarantine and exile. Farmers who may have a single cow infested by these creatures will have their entire herd slaughtered and torched, as the townsfolk will do anything to stop the spread. Those who find themselves with these worms inside them will be killed or forced out of the village. The mere mention of a Hydra worm infestation is enough to brew up panic and paranoia, causing people to turn on one another in a flash. The image of shambling corpses stuffed with these creatures is that haunting of an image to them. Thankfully, such a plague is not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. While Hydra worms are vicious, uncontrolled parasites, this frenzied life style is a weakness. Since they kill their host so fast, there is not much time for unknowing victims to wander into populated areas or spread the eggs. Once emerged, they can be easily spotted and avoided. If one can deprive them of food for long enough, the whole colony will starve and die. After that, the body can be burned and the scourge will be gone. With smart thinking and quick action, Hydra worms pose little threat when it comes to plagues and disasters. It is only when hosts unknowingly perish in cities or towns that these worms can cause large scale death and destruction. If no one removes this infested individual, then there is a chance they may infest others, which will turn into horrible abominations that can further spread the parasites. Without proper action, the nightmares will come true and the worm-filled dead will roam the streets in search of fresh blood and warm flesh.
Chlora Myron
Dryad Natural Historian
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Bout time that the hydra worm creature I made so long ago got an update!
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They are infesting a cow. Poor ol' Bessie got it bad...
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I'm reminded of two monsterous species, funghouls and graftworms invented by Avernus in a worldbuilding discussion on Sufficent Velocity forum and my curiosity regarding the consequences of simultaneous parasitization .
Funghouls: These creatures are the end stage of a fungus that colonizes the corpses of animals and re-animates them. At first the fungus colony re-activates the muscles and nerves of the creature just enough for it to get up and move clumsily around, spreading spores as it goes. In this mindless "shambler" stage while slow and clumsy it is somewhat dangerous, as it will attack anything that comes within its notice. This serves two purposes; if it wins it has a new corpse to colonize, if it loses many spores are likely to be scattered in the fight, and carried away on the victors.
Eventually the corpse/colony will run out of steam and fall over, reaching the sessile stage. Here it finishes consuming the corpse, turning into an apparently shapeless fungoid mass. In the process of doing so it follows the internal structure of the host just as it did to re-animate the body, but in greater detail. Eventually the host body is fully consumed, and the final, "walker" stage of its life cycle starts.
The colony emerges from its mass as a rough, distorted copy of its original host. Entirely made of fungus now, it has internal fungoid structures that mimic the brain, bones, muscles and nerves of the host. While the imitation is imperfect, it's good enough that if the host was sapient the new Funghoul will be too, if not very bright. It will also have vague, somewhat distorted memories of its host's former life and skills, enabling it to walk, talk and use tools. Over time it will improve, growing more knowledgeable and even becoming more intelligent; possibly even more intelligent than the original.
In appearance Funghouls share the basic shape of their original host, but are obviously made of fungus not animal flesh. They also have odd growths over themselves and aren't particularly symmetrical; one can tell if they came from, say, a humanoid species but telling which one can be hard. They aren't particularly strong, fast or tough (they don't even have true bones), but make up for it by being very hard to kill. Poking holes in them only irritates them, and severing body parts causes them to only lose the use of that part until they pick it up and stick it back on; they neither bleed nor feel pain. They can regrow any damaged part, and their memories and the structure copied from the original host are biologically stored throughout their body; even destroying their brain only disables them until they grow a new one. Even destroying them with fire is hard, they burn poorly.
Funghouls don't die of old age, but can die from disease and various systemic problems. They have roughly the same sensory capabilities as the host they came from, barring a few exotic or magical senses. Funghouls also have the ability to sense and absorb spores from other Funghouls; these spores like the rest of their bodies contain encoded knowledge, so Funghouls are always picking up bits and pieces of the thoughts and memories of other Funghouls. They can digest nearly anything organic, and do so; they aren't remotely picky eaters.
Funghouls tend to have problematic relations with other races, mainly because those races find them creepy and, well, ghoulish. Walker stage Funghouls however are typically not very aggressive and do their best to stay on good terms with outsiders. Which can be difficult, since one thing Funghouls do want from those other races is the corpses of their dead, to make more Funghouls.
Non-sapient Funghouls, the result of host bodies that were non-sapient animals greatly outnumber sapient ones. However as a result of their spore-mediated exchange of thoughts & memories sapient Funghouls can eventually tame, train and in a limited way communicate with such non-sapient Funghouls, regardless of how much ferocity it inherited from the animal host.
Graftworm: These creatures essentially look like very large centipedes. Their hind end sprouts rootlike tendrils, while their front ends in a head with multiple eyes, antenna and a mouth surrounded by four flexible armored mandibles ; two long, two short. They are omnivorous, but eventually seek out vertebrate prey as part of their reproductive cycle; humanoids by preference.
Upon locating a likely target they wait until nightfall, then stealthily creep up on their sleeping target. They inject a soporific venom into the prey, rendering it unable to wake or feel anything. The graftworm then chews off a limb roughly matching itself in size, injecting a coagulant as it goes to keep the victim from bleeding too much. They then turn around and insinuate their tendriled end into the wound where the limb used to be, the tendrils burrowing into the flesh and boring into bone. Then it gnaws the flesh off of the severed limb as it settles into its new home.
When the victim wakes up the next morning, they discover that one of their limbs has been replaced by a giant centipede. Possibly worse, it's very difficult to remove; the graftworm will fight any attempts to do so, if necessary injecting the victim with more venom to render them unable to try. The graftworm will kill its host with an overdose before letting itself be removed.
In a few days the host will feel flashes of sensation from the graftworm as its tendrils fuse themselves to his or her nerves; in a few more days they will begin to gain voluntary control of their new "limb". The graftworm will in fact allow them to control its body like the limb it has replaced, except for not letting them try to harm or remove it. Its four mandibled head makes a reasonably good "hand", like a hand with two fingers and two thumbs. If the graftworm has replaced a leg the mandibles will flatten themselves back and front to form a foot of sorts. Over the next few weeks the graftworm will if necessary grow or shrink somewhat to match itself in size to its host; the head will also alter its shape somewhat to better serve as a foot or hand, depending on which it has replaced.
Once the graftworm has settled in, the next stage of the parasitization starts. It lays microscopic eggs that lodge themselves in the base of the host's other limbs (and tail if it has one), which hatch and begin growing up into the limb. The new graftworms produce small amounts of venom to prevent any pain as they grow, and eventually flex with the limb; as a result the host feels no pain, just a certain weakness and clumsiness. They'll notice something odd is happening inside their limbs though if they try feeling them hard enough. Once sufficiently mature, the new graftworms once again render the host unconscious, fuse themselves to the host's nerves and while the host sleeps tear free of the limbs they have grown inside. They then consume the leftover flesh, and when the host awakes he or she finds that the graftworms have replaced all their limbs.
Barring some kind of extraordinary medical intervention, the host will now live out the rest of his or her life with centipedes for arms and legs. Outside of not permitting attempts to harm or remove them the graftworms will let the host go about their business, acting as if they were the host's real limbs; although sometimes they'll act independently such as reaching out to snatch some food or the like. When the host dies, the graftworms will detach from the host and go looking for a new one, beginning their reproductive cycle again.
Inspired by that fish parasite that replaces the tongue of the fish.
One thing I might change would be the lifecycle and having multiple graftworms parasitizing a single host.
Only female graftworms are parasitic and only once impregnated. After mating, males just die. Females then have a short period of time to find a host body and chew off a limb before they die as well, their digestive and respiratory system atrophying (no longer necessary when they can absorb nutrients and oxygen from the host's bloodsteam). Once attached to a host, the female releases microscopic eggs into the host's bloodstream, where they settle throughout the host's body and hibernate until the death of the host, at which point they'll hatch, eat their way out of the host's carcass and crawl off.
What happens if the body isn't permanently dead on the other hand, is an entirely new monster. A graftworm-infested corpse reanimated by funghoul spores. The graftworm larva have no proper lifesigns from their host telling them to not eat it, but at the same time, they're rooted into it. Furthermore, the host body will just keep regenerating new fungal tissue to replace that cannibalized by its limbs.
Imagine a humanoid creature made entirely of fungal tissue and curled in a fetal position. The fungus has partially grown between the original limbs, fusing everything into a nearly immobile tumorous lump. Then there are multiple graftworms, not corresponding with the positioning of the original limbs but just protruding at random from the fungal core. The graftworm limbs are all independently minded, occasionally trying to drag the entire creature in opposite directions or turning inwards to snack on the regenerating fungus making up the central body.
No ideas as to if such a creature could think or what its mind could be like.
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