Insoritor

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The Insoritor is a parasitic life form from the Viperius Galaxy System, though its place of origin is unknown. It has been found on many different worlds.

Physiology

The Insoritor's appearance is highly variable. If left to consume the host fully and turn over all material, it is possible that the true form of the creature could be seen.

Reproduction

An organism is infected with an Insoritor embryo, through an ovipositor. This is usually done while the creature is asleep or unconscious.

If the host's cellular workings or biochemistry are very different, the embryo then dies. However, with compatible life forms, it begins to infect surrounding tissue.

The embryo, settled within its host, begins to extend biological nanowires into the nuclei of surrounding cells, and destroys their DNA. This is then replaced with a copy of the Insoritor's genome, copied as it feeds off the tissue fluid and using the host's circulatory system against it.

The new cells then carry out the same process, converting all their surroundings to their own genotype. Infected cells are strongly affected by their surroundings- if blood is forcefully pumped past them, they become heart or arterial tissue, if they are exposed to breathing they become alveoli or the lining of a windpipe, and so on. The blood cells are infected as they are produced, so carry the genotype around the body. This is all a slow process, and the tissues within cannot be seen, so the change in tissues is unnoticed. Material such as bones, epidermis, and cartilage are unchanged, as they have no genes. Insoritor cells also cannot affect neurone or electrochemical-based nervous systems.

When the creature becomes mainly Insoritor, usually around 30 days after implantation, there are often marked improvements in strength, endurance, and toughness. However, body parts not part of the Insoritor genome, such as gonads and their members, are just turned over and waste away.

The cells finally reach the blood-brain barrier. They cannot bypass this, but instead begin to attack the host's nervous system and replace it with their own, electrofluid one. A series of ganglia grows below the host's brain or central ganglion, rapidly developing and controlling the new nervous system. It envelops the hosts conscious, but helpless brain.

The host can still use its senses, but is powerless to act. The blood-brain barrier wastes away, and the Insoritor tunnels up into the brain. Here, if compatible memories are found, the Insoritor steals them. It uses this information and its rapidly growing intellect to deduce the nuances of the society it finds itself in (if amongst a social species), taking the creature's language (or other communication system) and becoming sapient. However, if a primitive or incompatible brain is taken, the Insoritor must rely on its own instinct, and remains non-sapient.

The Insoritor still retains the bodily form of its host, as its cells have just replaced the creature's, in the same layout and function. Like a normal animal, it can repair damage and acts with full functionality, but with the improvements in strength and endurance it has created.

Driven by pre-programmed desire, it attempts to implant embryos in as many other animals as it can find. An ovipositor develops, usually in a hidden and non-vital part of the body.

Insoritor Attributes

Fully developed Insoritors always grow an ovipositor and two sensitive chemoreceptors. The chemoreceptors enable them to distinguish their own from hosts, as they produce an aroma that almost no other species can detect.

They also have toughened skin and tissue, as well as reinforced bone and muscle.

Diet

While infecting, the Insoritor consumes the nutrients brought to it by the circulatory system, relying on its host to eat. Once it has taken over, it can eat meat, fruit, or whatever it is fed.

Intelligence

Depending on the host, the Insoritor may be sapient or non-sapient. In any case, it shows a developed sense of deduction and problem solving. They also make good use of stolen memories and interpret data well, also using case-specific memories to convince or compel others of the host species.

According to some sources, certain sapient Insoritors have chosen to restrain from their desire and attempt to live as their host.