Frelaryain Puppeteers (Race idea)

(If anyone can think of a better name tell me!)

Basic idea is this... Puppeteers are a race of highly intelligent parasites.

Their life is in several stages...

1.) Eggs hatch, and new young infect a nearby plant where they form a hard cyst to protect themselves... they are completely dormant at this stage and merely mooch off their host.

2.) When young reach a certain threshold of development they alter the plants chemically physiology to produce a arouma that makes it appealing to local herbaviours... when the plant is eaten the young infect the herbavoir... They are still largely dormant... but host may exibit odd quirks after infection

3.) When dev. threshold reached... they trigger "suicidal" impulses in the herbiviour, instilling it with the desire to be near human (or human-like creatures) if lucky the herbivour will be killed and eaten, at which point the parasite will infest the human... the parasite assumes a semi-dominace... actively mucking with the host's mind... to the extent that people who know the host may think they have finally lost it... This phase is extremely short

4.) When 3rd phase is over... the parasites again induce "suicidal" behaviour in the host, and instills a strong fascination with giants as well as the active desire to seek them out... though in Felarya this is largely unnessecary... it doesn't hurt to pad the resume. When the human host is eaten the parasite infects the "giant." At this stage the parasite is fully mature, and will subtly splice itself into the sensory networks and take control of all thought processes.

The infection is so subtle that the host will not even realize they are being taken over, and friends will more often than not contibute the changes in behavoiur to a head injury or mental condition.

(Well what do you think of this idea? Feed-back, critism all that I want)

Bonus if someone actually writes a story with this concept

Interesting, I would definitely watch out for things like this in real life... but is there any "Physical" signs? like what to look for as a creature connected to the host? or is it seriously micro?

Meh, I don't like this idea as much. There's enough mind controlling parasites to be honest, and it kinda sucks when they can just take over everything and everyone and there's no way to stop them.

It's a nice idea, but it's too uncontrollable.

Pendragon wrote:

Meh, I don't like this idea as much. There's enough mind controlling parasites to be honest, and it kinda sucks when they can just take over everything and everyone and there's no way to stop them.

It's a nice idea, but it's too uncontrollable.

Agreed

heh. well felarya's overpowerd

Archmage_Bael wrote:

heh. well felarya's overpowerd

But the problem is this thing could easily overpower Felarya. Which could present a few problems.

I'm just saying.

no, its ok. you do have a point there.

If I may present a counterpoint...

One that a mature parasite burrows its way into the base of the skull, it will grow to be about the size of a human... and can be surgically removed. However there are no obvious physical signs, other than a radical change in behaviour as the parasite takes over.

Second... that there is actually a very low survival rate for these parasites... they must live there life through each host in turn... they cannot jump from plant to giant... even if a giant eats an infected plant. Secondly there is actually a very long shot that they will even meet their next host or even if they will successful infect it.

And as each parasite is asexual they suffer from low genetic diversity. In theory they are no more than a handful of them scattered throughout Felarya... of course Felarya being what it is... some have jumped dimensions and have established successful populations on other world with varying degrees of success.

This strikes me as a race that would be interesting to write about, and would make for a good centerpiece to a story, but not one that really fits Felarya enough to be a permanent fixture.

i guess you could john, but of course you'd have to have some mastermind. maybe he wants to control something (all villans seem to be obsessed with control ) and has some how figured out a way to inject people with that parasite.

Of course there is the fact that these parasites are highly intellegent... the said villian would actually either have some way of controling the parasites or getting them to listen to him... but then again... people can be mind blowingly stupid as well.

Come to think of it, I have a sentient parasite thing too... Only it's a character, not a race...

You'd be surprised just what exactly parasites can do once they get into you... most just live in your intestines and mooch off you... but some can influence their hosts behaviour and make it do sucidal things because the parasite wants the host to get devoured... so it can move on to another host.

Completely true all of it

The fungus-parasite that affects ants in one tropical jungle give me shivers... Infect, make it climb up high, then make spores float down to infect more when the stalk bursts out of its neck... those things are freaking scary. It can wipe out whole colonies... imagine if there's something like that for us humans... *shiver*

The problem is...thought control doesn't really make sense. All parasites which alter host behavior do so to increase the cahnces of successful reproduction-this fits the first three stages. The fourth stage...it's a dead end. It doesn't reproduce in that stage, so for all intents and purposes it might as well not bother with inducing suicide in its thrid host. Mind you, vertebrates can be infected with parasites that change behavior, but they work through altering the brain chemistry of the host. All stages except the fourth make sense. Generally, a parasite like this would lay its eggs in the intestinal tract of the final host, leaving eggs in the feces, which would then either hatch and find their first host again...or be eaten by the first host and THEN hatch. Bottom line is, it's much easier to manipulate behavior than it is to control thoughts, especially for a sapient organism with a brain the size of a naga's or giantess.

For Falcon: as I understand it, there is in fact something for us-toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection which can induce changes in brain chemistry, and therefore behavior. However, we are a "dead end" host for it-its life cycle revolves around cats and rodents. Rodent gets infected, moves toward the open, gets eaten. Cat gets infected, the parasite lays eggs in the digestive tract which are passed out with feces...and repeat. It's not fatal to humans however.

The fungus you are refering to is belongs to a genus called Cordyceps, and fully devours its host-with the last step being devouring the brain. It grows into the brain first, however, to secrete chemicals which cause that ant to move upwards. By the way, it's not just ants-many insects are parasitized by it, with different insects serving host to a different species of the fungus.

I second the notion for a toxoplasma-like parasite. I can even imagine predators who know about it intentionally cultivating and spreading it

Feneris wrote:

If I may present a counterpoint...

One that a mature parasite burrows its way into the base of the skull, it will grow to be about the size of a human... and can be surgically removed. However there are no obvious physical signs, other than a radical change in behaviour as the parasite takes over.

Second... that there is actually a very low survival rate for these parasites... they must live there life through each host in turn... they cannot jump from plant to giant... even if a giant eats an infected plant. Secondly there is actually a very long shot that they will even meet their next host or even if they will successful infect it.

And as each parasite is asexual they suffer from low genetic diversity. In theory they are no more than a handful of them scattered throughout Felarya... of course Felarya being what it is... some have jumped dimensions and have established successful populations on other world with varying degrees of success.

Wait, if it grows to be the size of a human after it burrows in the skull, how can it be surgically removed? It's will burst the host from the inside and then kill it. How can you not see that simple thing? Oh, and by the way, I hate mind control or any form of it.