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Chrysalis Creature Bio

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Official Name: Chrysalis
Plural: Chrysalides

Status: Parasite

Notable Traits: Psychic
They have a hive mind that allows them to share memories with others of their swarm. What one of them knows, all of them know. As a result, though they do understand "deception" as it would apply to any hunter or parasite (indeed, they are fond of using their host bodies to deceive potential prey), they do not truly grasp the concept of a lie... or fiction.
They can, as a result, be lied to quite easily, and can only recognize lies as such if the hosts recognize them as such. They have a limited ability to connect to the host's minds, which allows them to adapt and conceal themselves within the host body, but little else. They can access a host's memories when actively searching for specific details, but not passively, and typically permit the host limited control over itself to conceal the swarm's presence.

Origin: They were originally thought to be a purely biological race, with their host bodies representing a physical protection for the creatures until they "matured." This notion was likened to insects that grow in cocoons and resulted in their official name.
They are now officially recognized as cyborgs. Specifically, they are biologically modified nanogenes that had been designed to change the subject's DNA and cellular structure, far beyond that typically associated with even the most drastic of healings.

They can be likened to the swarm of Chula nanogenes found on Earth during the event known as the London Blitz, and the damage this swarm had caused prior to being upgraded with human data.
Unlike that swarm, which simply lacked the proper data to heal their human patients, the chrysalides are believed to have been infected with a virus.
No such virus has been successfully extracted for either study or cure, as yet. This "virus" does not appear to be directly contagious towards other nanogenes; how the chrysalides reproduce and spread their infection is still under investigation.

Physical body: The actual physical structure of a single chrysalis is, aside from being part biological, the same as the physical structure of a single non-infected nanogene.
The physical structure of their prey is as varied as the creatures they infect. Upon infection, the host bodies tend to undergo certain immediate changes; many earth animals, for instance, develop hollows in their teeth, retractable claws, or long prehensile tongues covered in tiny spikes. All of these changes provide a means to produce and administer venom.
The physical structure of a chrysalis "egg" typically resembles, in Earth terms, black diamond, which conceals and protects the dormant nanogenes within until it is fully linked to the host's mind.
The chrysalides have been tested and subjected to a variety of environments, including temperature and atmospheric extremes that a Time Lord would hesitate to step into. There is no sign as yet that any of these environments harm the chrysalides, and they appear to thrive under extonic radiation.

Feeding: The chrysalides are likened to spider wasps in their behavior. If the chrysalis is merely seeking food for its host, the prey is poisoned and left to weaken until the present host body is able to kill it.
If, instead, the chrysalis is seeking a new host, it uses an entirely different venom, after which it lays a single "egg" of a diamond-like substance within the prey's body. This egg immediately wires itself directly and deeply into the host's nervous system. Due to this form of connection, extracting the egg after it has been laid would result in the host's death.

The chrysalis produces two types of venom.
One, administered via such methods as the host's fangs or claws, is a paralytic: it paralyzes the affected area, and quickly numbs the area so that even a powerful psychic mind cannot heal it. In high enough doses, and affecting the right areas, it can completely eliminate the prey's ability to defend itself, but is not believed to be dangerous in a more direct fashion. This venom is often used both in catching prey to feed a given host body and in catching potential hosts.
The second venom is not used on "food" prey, but is instead fed only to potential hosts. This venom attacks the nervous system directly, as a mild hallucinogenic that takes away the host's will to fight back. This one, however, is truly dangerous; it slowly kills the affected body, and the only known cure is the introduction of the chrysalis itself.
A quick-and-dirty bio of an alien "race" that will appear in one or more of my stories.

"Chrysalides" :bleh:
Let's assume, for the moment, that I don't give up on typing that out every time and resort to "Chrysalis" as both the singular and plural.

(I'd forgotten a crucial reveal in the story, and had the psychic connection backwards as a result. ^^;)

For the non-Whovians out there, any references to things like Time Lords are taken from Doctor Who, a fascinating (in my opinion) science-ish fiction show on BBC, as well as a multitude of novels, comics, etc centered around that particular Time Lord known as the Doctor.

Chula nanogenes:
See the Doctor Who two-parter The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth incarnation of the Doctor.
That just seemed like the easiest way to explain my parasites.

Doctor Who belongs to...a lot of people, it seems. But mostly to Studio BBC.
So why is this on my "original fiction" account, instead of my fanfiction? A couple of reasons. One, I might use these, and a few other creatures I've created, in my other fictions. The other is that "a lot of people" remark; I fully intend to track down the publishers of those assorted novels and short stories and find out from them how to get authorization to publish my Who-fics as original fiction.
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