Stage 1: Spoiler The Pitch: Carnivorous parasitic hive mind flesh pods The Snapshot: The Eupulex is a weak parasite that heavily relies on a host body for it to subdue and restructure into an ideal body for it to reside in. Eupulex 'hijack' or take over their new host body with their most vital appendage, a slim tube like structure that acts as their mouth, the end of the tube is lined with sharp barbs used to cut into their prey and reach their spinal cord. Inside the tube is a tentacle like tongue that is used to coil up the spinal cord and reach the brain where it enters through the brain stem, killing the victim and allowing for them to take control over the body. After infecting a host body the Eupulex can turn it into a combat form, breaking bones into sharp weapons and shifting around vital organs into safer areas, after the reconstruction is over they wont be able to shift organs or bones back into place. Their is another option that is less common among Eupulex, keeping the host body in it's original shape and burrowing into the skin, hiding itself in various places but still maintaining control of the victims body. the third and final choice for the Eupulex is to inject their spores into the body and leave it in search for another, the spores later grow into mature Eupulex and burst out of the body, however, a Eupulex cannot inject spores into the victims body and continue to maintain control, having to leave the body for the spores to leach off of. Having a group mentality since they were first sapient, the Eupulex quickly turned into a hive mind. A central Eupulex or 'hive master' is responsible for maintaining order between all Eupulex that fall under its colony. The hive mind system is used as a switch by a hive master, usually allowing them free will until an uproar is caused or a Eupulex goes rogue. A rogue Eupulex is rare, often thought of by other Eupulex as a birth defect from a mentally retarded victim, not only are they rare, they're deadly. As a Eupulex goes rogue their location is no longer sent to the hive mind, and a rogue Eupulex is more than often hostile, a threat to the colony as a whole. The Eupulex colonies are compact and made of soft and easily moveable materials, the most common used material is sand stone. Colonies are kept under ground were the newly matured Eupulex can be kept away from outside harms. A standard colony has multiple supports carved out of sand stone to keep the taller structures from crumbling as well as providing a living space for more Eupulex. Eupulex rely on host bodies more than anything, from helping to build colonies to providing a food source. Eupulex are a deadly force that have taken over most of their planet, even going as far as to drive some animals to extinction, however, out of their host body they are unbelievably weak sacks of skin. The parasite form of Eupulex is a rather large brain, about two times the size of an average humans, wrapped in a jelly like substance and finally covered by a thin layer of skin. Bearing the weight of the brain and jell the skin tends to sag down while its eight legs struggle to keep it from touching the ground. The legs are stubby and cause a Eupulex to look like it's crawling on the floor like a snail. Besides the brain and legs a Eupulex has a mosquito like mouth, the end as, mentioned earlier, used to puncture the victims skin and dig deep enough for their tongue to coil around the victims spinal cord. At the beginning of the mouth is a small stomach, kept inside the skin by the jell substance. While in the host body the Eupulex have a fatal flaw as well, feelings such as smell, touch, sight, hearing, and taste all fade quickly, leaving a Eupulex open for sneak attacks that they might not even feel until it's too late and they have to seek out another host body. Stage 2: Spoiler --Biology-- Outer look: Well to start off, a young Eupulex is nothing pretty to look at, and it's a rare sight as well. Eupulex, as stated before lay spores inside of their victims, if they so choose to, and the spores grow, much like a plant. The spores grow from almost microscopic specks to large, head sized, sacks. The sacks are light brown on the outside and thin, almost transparent, but the inside is red and tightly wrapped around the 'young' Eupulex. When the Eupulex bursts out of the sack they are often a pinkish color, lasting for only about a day. When the Eupulex' childhood wastes away their skin darkens into a light brown and stays that way until death. The only other noticeable parts on a Eupulex are their mouths and legs. The mouth is a mosquito like tube that ends in small barbs, inside the tube is a five to six foot long tongue that's used for the Eupulex' main method of attack. There are eight legs on the 'belly' of the Eupulex, each one an identical copy of the other, all stubby and all clawed. The claws at the end of the Eupulex' legs are small as well, acting like miniature fingers, two on each leg. Anatomy: The anatomy of the Eupulex is, unique, to say the least. along the more solid part of the Eupulex' body, where the legs attach to the body, eyes wrap all the way around, not much of an advantage as the eyes are hidden beneath the skin. Though the skin is thin, the eyes can only see ten feet in every direction, leaving the Eupulex to rely on scent. Their nose is located on their mouth, twenty narrow slits circling the base of the tube. Inside of their thin skin is a jell like substance used to protect the brain from shaking around or coming in contact with the actual skin. The stomach is located near the start of the mouth and the rest of the organs are located under the brain. --Culture-- The culture of the Eupulex is very stale, not having many reasons for clothing or most things we find necessary. Their class system is based more on strength than any other aspect. For example, weaker Eupulex are expected to become construction workers or something in a less dangerous field than the stronger Eupulex, which are expected to become hunters and guards for colonies. They also have respect for intelligence within the Eupulex colonies, smarter Eupulex might be tasked with managing living quarters or planning attacks on enemy colonies, the latter an almost extinct profession due to multiple peace pacts. Eupulex do not see why bipedal species require armor or clothing, seeing it as a useless waste of trading material. Besides this, Eupulex don't have much for culture, or at least not enough to fill a page without me having to dip into history. --History-- Primal: Gaining sentience was a great leap for the Eupulex as it made the change from being mindless parasites to ruthless tactical teams. Not yet having the thoughts of building whole colonies, the Eupulex started off with pairs, after a lot of fighting among themselves of course. Pairs turned out as a good idea for the Eupulex as it turned into a common thing for them to have a distracting role and attacking role. Attacking soon turned dangerous for just one Eupulex alone, as species races to evolve and become the top of the food chain. Team thinking is what would soon lead to the Eupulex' glorious march to the top. It was clear that one attacker wouldn't work so instead they formed larger groups spanning from ten to twenty members, each member having a role. The roles switched, four stayed at a small pit, the small pit being their rendezvous, while three patrolled for prey, when the three spot a victim they switch out with the two distractions and one attacker. It was working well for the Eupulex, until they realized, there were more teams and each was out to be on the top of the food chain. Primal conflict: Slowly realizing that not all the Eupulex teams would be able to feast and that some would be left to starve they wagged war on each other. It started off with simple attacks if they got too close to another Eupulex' territory, then is escalated to full on battles between teams. The weaker Eupulex ended up joining the stronger making the team sizes escalate, going from tens and twenties to hundreds and even thousands. Before they knew it, they started building defenses, pits covered by twigs and leafs, leaving large groups to plummet to their death. To evade these traps larger teams would dig under ground, using tunnels to go under enemy rendezvous and burst through the ground when least expected. Small technological advance: Still hostile towards each other, the Eupulex started taking ideas from their traps. Their first colony was built, digging under the dirt of their lush forest planet, they built what was meant to be a look out post, keeping guard for underground attacks but soon turned into living quarters as Eupulex still wandering above ground were picked off easier. Conflict in colonies: As the other Eupulex teams caught wind of the under ground bases colonies became more common, leaving almost no Eupulex left on the surface. The battle soon took to the dirt as it became a competition of the fastest diggers, stubby legs growing small claws to help out. During this time many colonies collapsed in seconds, poor structuring causing the ground to fall on top of millions of Eupulex, squishing them. It was soon realized that supports were needed to hold up the ground or it would collapse on them. A new opponent: The Eupulex onslaught continued, whole centuries passing as battles raged underground, giving another species time to develop. Through a clumsy worker, the Eupulex realized there were civilizations growing on top of them the whole time. Eupulex took a short break from the ongoing war to inspect the new comers, quickly realizing the threat they posed and slipping back into their colonies. Weeks after their discovery Eupulex and the new species knew what had to be done, Eupulex being too much of a threat living under the new species, and the new species too much of a threat living directly on top of the Eupulex. The great collapse: The new species, being much more advanced, with common technology such as guns and sky scrapers, showed the Eupulex just how powerful they were, filling Eupulex colonies with poisons and capturing some for experiments. The Eupulex didn't take kindly to this and were more than willing to put the new species back in there place. Eupulex dug quick escape routes, damaging the supports of their own colonies and letting them crumble, making whole sky scrapers fall as the new species fell with them. Survivors being left the Eupulex quickly took to the ruble of their cities, killing any still wondering in the ruins. Plenty survivors were left, in cities built else where, both Eupulex and the new species were aware that it would end in the deaths of many. Eupulex peace pacts: The Eupulex seeing how greatly they benefited from working as a whole slowly formed peace pacts. Colonies of thousands turned into colonies of millions, then billions. A few colonies refused these peace pacts and remained at each others throats, the bigger colony ignoring them to deal with the bigger threat. As both species prepared for war things grew still, the new species rarely seen out from their city limits and the Eupulex rarely seen on the surface. The last battle: Both species grew paranoid, unsure of when or where the other would attack. The Eupulex attacked, thousands rushed from above ground, marching into the city as ground troops sprayed them down with bullets, the larger group emerging from the center of the last city, helicopters circling around the horde and trying to keep them at bay. Large numbers of Eupulex were cut down as they struggled to flood the city, ground vehicles being deployed to keep Eupulex from spreading any farther. The Eupulex' numbers were too much for them and the new species soon found itself on their last leg. The Eupulex made quick work of the remaining survivors and returned to their remaining colonies. Weeks after the attack Eupulex surfaced once again to check the scene, it was clear there were none left and the Eupulex were once again on the top of the food chain. Revolutionary war: Years after the collapse of the enemy species the Eupulex lived in peace, quickly over populating as their natural predators started to lessen. Getting to the point the Eupulex colonies started to die off of starvation they started fighting each other again, competing for food. Once again the surface of the Eupulex' home planet was quiet, wars raging on under the other inhabitants' feet. Taking ideas from the war with the enemy species, the Eupulex took to destroying colonies supports, leaving them to crumble on the Eupulex stuck inside. However, this tactic took time and was ineffective most of the times it was attempted. The Eupulex took to using the construction workers, or the 'hijacked' animals, as a means to smash in the roofs of colonies. Other Eupulex took note and instead of using the host bodies as a deconstruction tool, they used them too attack other Eupulex, squishing multiple in seconds. This was very effective and the Eupulex soon used it commonly, battles going back to being fought on the surface of the planet. As host bodies were more commonly used as weapons instead of building tools they took to modifying them into new killing machines, taking teams of Eupulex to re-arrange arms into slings and maces. This too became common practice and the Eupulex soon learned to do it on their own, thus their combat form was made. War raged on, no sign of it stopping any time soon as it started to reach its climax, the combat forms becoming so common that it was rare to see a Eupulex on its own eight legs. The war was confined to the very outsides of the Eupulex colonies for a while, until they started to curve around and attack from behind, the enemy colonies tried the same, the boundaries soon expanding into the fallen city. The Eupulex took to the broken buildings and soon tried their hand at ranged warfare, arms shifted into catapults as chunks of stone were flung across rubble. Things started to even out as Eupulex left their combat forms to make it harder for enemy colonies to hit them with ranged attacks. Combat forms and basic Eupulex rushed across the ruins of a once thriving city, some plummeting into the ground via heavy stones. The fights, now evened out, went rather slowly, combat forms taking cover as ranged attackers flung stones and rushing out of cover only when absolutely safe. A new force was needed to speed out the battles, the Eupulex having great success from the combat forms decided to improve them once again, creating a new killing machine. Combat forms mushed together, shifting into a tight knot in the center of the clump, the arms becoming different weapons, larger and bulkier thanks to the added body parts. This was a 'tank' of sorts, ranged attackers flung stones, hitting the 'tanks' in the center and falling down in front of them. For a while that's how most battles went, a 'tank' was introduced and the enemy colony fled, but the Eupulex needed something greater, something to take the 'tanks' down. In the end they couldn't possibly think of a way to improve their troops without having to touch up on other technology, instead settling on studying them in battle. While enemy colonies spied they found a flaw in the clumps, since they couldn't actually meld into each other the bonds between the combat forms building the clump were weak, though the weak points were kept to their back, they also noticed the clumps moved rather slowly, bearing the weight of multiple combat forms. Combat forms flooded the battle field again as they rushed around the backs of the clumps, quickly cutting down the other combat forms bodies, the clump soon returning to just a single combat form. Once again, battles slowed at tanks now had to watch their backs, being set as guards rather than assault. Battles continued to rage over the surface of their home world, the Eupulex developing a language outside of the hive mind to lessen the odds of spies listening in. This language consists of gurgles and tongue flicks, gurgling sounding much more different for Eupulex. The war continued, slowing down to a halt as Eupulex numbers started to fall into near extinction. Colonies continued to fight, some quit and tried to establish peace treaties between colonies, most were excepted but some continued the fight. The Eupulex colonies still fighting soon brought themselves to stop, joining the larger colonies until the Eupulex colonies finally fell silent, nothing more than the sound of Eupulex skittering across the walk ways of their underground cities. --Technology-- Due to the Eupulex' lack of arms or hands technology is stuck at colonies. However, the Eupulex are quick to learn how to use new technology, being able to use basic technology such as a radio if in a host body. The host bodies can count as a tech as the Eupulex have perfected it over the years, earlier versions were just used as a means for reproduction and heavy lifters to build their underground colonies, but as war raged on between colonies they were soon turned against themselves and transformed into weapons. These combat forms range from three different types, each type having multiple forms under them. The first was the basic combat form, arms usually turned into means to bludgeon others or sharp weapons to cut them in half. The second form is ranged, all the muscles and bones being moved from one arm into the other, creating a catapult. The ammunition for these 'catapults' were usually heavy stones, thus the range form had to move bones from the legs and feet into large supports that dug into the ground to keep them from falling over. The third and final for is the tank, a clumpy mass of multiple combat forms stuck together by lodging body parts into the main combat form's center, creating a tight knot from were bones and muscles are transferred into the main combat form and used in weapons and as a sponge for fire power. However, since this third form consisted of multiple combat forms and mutilated bodies, the weight the main combat form had to bear slowed it down to a snails pace.
