Obdelae (parasitic humans)

The Obdelae (Full name: Gnathobdelae sapien) are a parasitic race often mistaken for humans, their similarity is both in mannerism and appearance. Most Obdelae freely associate with humanity, blending into Felaryian human society with no difficulty. The only way to see their true nature is by the faint scarlike seam that runs the entire length of the spine and down the backs of the legs.

As an Obdelae reaches maturity, it's mental powers begin to assert themselves, being able to influence weak minds into obedience. If an Obdelae has a much larger being under mental control its true nature reveals itself. An Obdelae's back and the backs of its legs open along the seams to reveal a set of gripping spines and two rows of sucker-like maws. The Obdelae attaches it's back to the mind-controlled victim, living directly off the nutrients in the new host's blood.

Usually, an Obdelae will attach itself to a predator in such a way that it can freely see and act. In this way, it can use its human-level intelligence to help the host hunt more effectively and stay alive longer (the host will need quite a bit more food when it has an Obdelae attached). Over time, it will begin to merge with its host, appearing as little more than a human face and torso on some part of the host's anatomy.

If the Obdelae can't control the potential host, it will instead try to attach itself to some part of the host's mouth or throat before reaching the stomach. If successful, it has all the time it needs to try to control the predator or simply live in the confines of the host's throat in a state of hibernation until the host dies or is incapacitated. Often an intelligent predator will realize they've swallowed a parasite and will cough up the Obdelae fairly quickly.

Due to their generally higher likelyhood of survivability when faced with a giant predator, these creatures will not have much problem with "sacrificing" themselves for the safety of their human comerades. This misleading bravery gives this species their odd nickname "The Devoured Ones"

Though they love interacting with humans, they will go to disturbing lengths to hide their inhuman identities. An Obdelae that is attached to a host will go out of their way to kill any human who sees them. And those who find their secret in other ways may suddenly find out how quickly a human can be drained and completely absorbed by a parasite that can kill giant predators.

mhh nasty creature here ^^
It think this is an interesting idea, the concept is very original

D: That's morbidly horrible! Like the idea, though.

Like the idea, another mark on the 'Limit the Predator growth' chart.

Good thing, too. Wouldn't want them hunting all their food out, now would we?

for them being a nasty creature, it's worth noting that when they attach willingly, they become more like a symbiote than a parasite, since they can use their mind-influencing abilities to give their host tactical commands and to otherwise make hunting for the host easier.

Also, while they are scary and dangerous when protecting their secret, they are charismatic and loyal at other times.

The actual number of them and their place of origin is impossible to tell, since they are so paranoid, and naturally blend in so well.

Only the oldest of them are mentally powerful enough to affect human-level minds. and even at such an age, they need to be attached to a powerful host to have the energy to do so.

Interestingly enough, their abilities are amazingly effective against insects, which are nearly immune to most magic.

Mhh this idea of having the possibility of a symbiosis relationship as well is nice and offer lot of possibilities !
They are definitely interesting creatures

Neat, I wonder how they came to be in Felarya..

Because I felt like coming up with more on these folk and because I'd like to keep the idea alive, I've been thinking on the Rev's question, so without further ado, some history of the Obdelae:

Those few who learn of the obdelae's existence would be surprised to learn that the entire species is only a few decades old. They were created by a rogue Delurian geneticist who's intent was to create a new human-friendly species that would dominate Felarya in his name. They originate from a small town in the Ascarlin mountains where the relatively primitive townsfolk have gotten a nearly religious fervor over gaining power. Enough so that they accept the fact that they have lost over three quarters of their population to the experiments before the "Obdelae formula" was perfected.

The trademark paranoia of their kind is actually a trait that was a part of their culture long before the transformation. Though the drive to blend in with normal humans has been sharpened to a survival instinct, sometimes pushing them to extremes. The nickname "The Devoured Ones" is actually part of a story they have spread, telling of blood oaths and fairy magic to give a cover to why sometimes one of them may mysteriously return after someone witnessing them get devoured. Of course, in the story, it's considered very good luck to have a devoured one as an adventuring companion.

Unfortunately, the Obdelae have a problem. Due to mistakes in their genetics, none of the Obdelae have been able to conceive a male child. Thankfully, they are still able to breed with humans, but the resulting hybrid needs an injection of the formula in order to become a full Obdelae. Whether or not this was intentional, the result is that they cannot spread too far from their original village, and are dependent on the Delurian that created them. The fact that all who are given the serum are completely obediant to him seems to point to the problem being intentional.

As their starting male population ages and the possibility of extinction looms for them, the first generation of purebred Obdelae (who have never taken the serum) are working on learning about their own genetic code in order to re-create the formula for themselves or perhaps even to fix the problem in their own genetics so that new Obdelae males can be born.

(If you were wondering, yes, my post in the Rumors thread here is in reference to this.)

Though it seems there is little interest in them, I have a picture I sketched up in class (LOL, class). The more I have the idea in my mind, the more I want to write a story that involves one or more of them. Possibly even having their secret quest become a large part of the plot...

Anyway, here's a link to the picture:
http://aryion.com/modules.php?name=2&g2_itemId=153630

This is really interesting... I would definitely like to see more about these people, particularly to see them in action in a story.

I am looking forward to that