| Class: | Beast to Folk; serpentine "Puppet Master" parasites |
| Hab: | Inside Folk or beasts |
| Fre: | Rare - we hope; we could be wrong… |
| Num: | 1 or 2-12 |
| Lair: | According to host |
| Size: | 1' to 3' long slender serpent |
| Move: | Slither or as per host |
| Def: | Thin skinned, but usually buried within host |
| Att: | By host / scalpel-like blade-tooth |
| Int: | Cunning beast to super-Human brilliance |
| Spec: | Possible enthralling mental powers |
| Posns: | As per host |
The insinuator is a hermaphroditic parasitic serpent that dwells within the body of a host creature, Hobbit-sized or larger; some use mental powers to remain undiscovered and may actually "wear" their hosts like puppets. Hosts need not be Humainoid, nor even sapient Folk. Where a brute beast is the host, if the insinuator serpent has little or no native intelligence, then their combination likewise acts as a simple - if subtle - beast. It will, however, have an instinct to subdue or otherwise gain access to a more suitable host.
The subtle insinuator has not a burning poison in its tongue-stinger but rather a seductive, deadening spittle. This it uses to render a spot of flesh insensible. The subtle insinuator then uses its projecting scalpel-sharp blade-tooth to make a fine slit in the flesh, preferably in the wall of the abdomen, into which it wriggles. Coiled within the belly of its host, the insinuator feeds upon the bodily juices it may suck. It is subtle and will not be noticed by its victim.
The only sign of infestation by an insinuator is a bit of fatigue. It may be a week, it may be a year, but sooner or later the insinuator will lay eggs. These are also unnoticeable, even after they first hatch. But then, as the young grow, they drain ever more strength from their host, until he or she is bedridden. Finally, preferably at a time when the host unaccompanied by any who might see them, the young do at last come forth.
Under ideal conditions, the insinuator is a well-adapted parasite; the exiting young do little additional harm to their parent's host. They use their spittle to deaden their point of entry; indeed, if they exit through the wall of the lower intestine and on through wastes' natural exit, their exit may be undetected, thought to be but a particularly bad - but purging - episode of the bloody flux. After this bout, the host seems healed; the mother insinuator remains behind, to wait for the host to gain strength enough to support a new batch of insinuator babies.
In other cases, the victim is not so lucky, and the young burst forth in a wriggling storm, right through the abdomen wall, killing their host and attacking all whom they may meet in their frenzy to escape. Once free, the young insinuators seek mates and, fertilized, they then hunt for hosts.
Some insinuators have subtle mental powers. They use these to help keep their hosts from noticing them. They may also use them to actually aid their hosts; after all, the better the host lives, the better they live. Some such may, in fact, cross the blurry line form parasite to symbiont.
While some are driven only by cunning beastly instinct, others are Insinuator Folk with full sentience. Often, the host's intelligence - and memories and mental skills - are at the Insinuator's service. Such Insinuators have a strange, hypnotic mental telepathy, by which they subtly influence or directly posses the host. They may be able to use their mental powers through their host's eyes, mesmerizing others to further their schemes.
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