Bookworm
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To submit an evolution for an older Sithspawn creation of the Lady of Secrets
- Image Credit: https://scryfall.com/card/wwk/54/caustic-crawler
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Name: Contagion
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Origins: Valrar
- Average Lifespan: 3 Galactic Standard Years
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: Retaining the insect motif of its predecessor, although it looks more like a cross between a spider and scorpion now rather than a centipede. Contagions are also smaller in size than Poisoners, but they have far more lethality about them than the original creature.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults: 12 centimeters
- Average Length of Adults: 50 centimeters
- Skin color: Black to gray while their lower abdomens can range from a lime green color to a sickly yellow color
- Hair color: No hair, although very fine black bristles cover their skin
- Distinctions: The most distinctive physical trait of Contagions are their potent stingers that carry their venom, and the black bristles that cover their bodies that host probably an even more deadly problem than their stingers. In contrast to the original creature, Contagions also have strong mandibles and the beginning of claws on their fore legs.
- Races: No other races
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
- Like their predecessor, Contagions produce an extremely potent neurotoxin they can release either through their stingers or through their mouths in a mist cloud. The neurotoxin causes localized paralysis and necrosis, then quickly spreads from the point of entry throughout the body paralyzing muscles and destroying nerves as it travels towards vital organs. Within moments of exposure, death can occur as the organs are paralyzed and then rotted away.
- Also, like Poisoners, Contagions have a symbiosis with flesh-eating bacteria that live on the bristles that coat their body. The bacteria can't harm the creature and rely upon it to pass against victims to spread and multiply. Unlike Poisoners, however, Contagions can also acquire other bacteria, either naturally or introduced artificially, and form a symbiosis with them as well.
- A potent addition to the Contagions is their ability to spew a thick webbing from their mouths to ensnare prey, and unfortunately for such victims, the webbing when it comes into contact with living tissues, is caustic and will cause burns not unlike those caused by a medium strength acid.
- Due to their smaller size, Contagions are even better at slipping into small spaces and past security systems than their predecessors. They also retain the adaptability of their predecessors, being able to survive in most environments that have a Type I atmosphere.
- The neurotoxin is extremely potent and is nondiscriminatory towards those it kills. Allies and enemies can equally be killed by a mist cloud released by a Contagion.
- The flesh-eating bacteria that coat the bristles is also nondiscriminatory and assassins that might use one of the creatures needs to handle with it care or otherwise they might brush against the bristles themselves.
- Due to their designed objectives, and because they need to slip into gaps, Contagions have no armor to speak of. Anything can be used to kill them, even before resorting to a weapon. A rolled-up piece of flimsi from the morning news could kill one.
- Direct applications of the light side of the Force can kill them immediately.
- Diet: Omnivore
- Communication: Growls, hisses, and squeaks
- Technology level: No technology level
- Religion/Beliefs: No religion or belief system
- General behavior:
- Contagions are creatures of stealth and ambush, preferring to stalk prey or attack from a prepared position or nest. Small creatures that they kill will immediately be pulled into their lairs to be slowly devours, but with larger victims, the creatures will rub their bristles against the corpse to allow the necrotic bacteria on it to swiftly weaken the body so they can remove individual parts as they rot off or away. If attacked by what they were hunting, they will either release their neurotoxin in a fine mist cloud like its predecessor or spew webbing around their environment to hinder the movements and injure their would-be prey. They will then attempt to retreat into hiding and begin the stalking process again if they can.
As the next creature to receive attention from Darth Arcanix and her alchemists, she could see how the Poisoner strain could be improved. The creatures could be smaller, and while their toxins and bacteria were potent, they could be even worse. She also decided that its general aesthetic needed a face lift as centipedes were such an 860 ABY look. Deciding to go with more of a scorpion and spider hybrid look, the alchemists and their dark mistress began their work in changing the creatures.
Dubbed Contagions, the new creatures had their overall size reduced by twenty centimeters in length and their skin was darkened, except for their underbellies. Darth Arcanix personally oversaw the creation of the Contagion's new neurotoxin, one she felt was much better than the previous one that was derived from the kouhon. She did make sure the new creature retained both its stinger and its mist cloud attacks as she felt it gave more versatility. Several of her scientists replaced the bacteria of the old creatures with a new flesh-eating version, but the alchemists also altered the creature's cells to adapt to other obtained bacteria it might encounter and establish new symbiotic links with them.
A new addition, to fit with the new spider-like look, was the ability for the creature to spit webbing from its mouth. The webbing was generally like a spider, however, Arcanix and her alchemists altered the molecular composition of the webbing being produced to have an acidic quality to it when it came into contact with living tissues.
