yeah. In my Kyuss fanboy days particularly.

also that comic is disturbing as fuck looking

And, in a rare twist, there's actual stats, not just fluff...

Attached Brainworm, Large
Abberation, Tiny (although quite Large for a worm)
HP: 6
AC: The host's, minus armor, plus 5 (+2 size, +3 natural armor)
Saves: Fort + 1, the other two are the same as the host's
Abilities: Str 18, Dex Host's -1, Con 13, Int Host's +1, Wis Host's +1, Cha Host's -1

Unattached Brainworm, Large
HP: 6
Initiative: +0
Speed: 10 ft
AC: 15 (+2 size, +3 natural armor)
Saves: Fort +1, Reflex +0, Will +1
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 3
Attacks: Leap and Grab with Mandibles +5
Special: After a successful grab, the worm can automatically bite for 1d10 damage each round until dislodged. On a natural 20 it's grabbed the opponent's head, it may spend a turn to maneuver to the back instead of biting. On the next round, it instantly opens the skull and devours the brain, killing the victim. On the subsequent round it may take over the corpse.

>>12739395
Kinda funny and cute in a nurgle way

CURSE YOU TINEEEEEEYEEEEEEE

Can somebody please tell me what comic this is from?

>>12739499
intragalactic, by Steph Cherrywell.

But it's still driving a dead corpse, the body would rot away eventually, right?

>>12739532
The worm becomes the brain, taking over all of its responsibilities too, including keeping the body alive. How it does this is unknown, as no fluff was included as to how.

Read this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasyte

>>12739532
considering we're discussing a mutant worm piloting a human corpse like a anime super-robot... I think details like "how" are a bit past the bother of stressing over.

Do it.
Not many would see it coming, and it would be rather intresting as a concept to see.

The captain is... attractively fat.
I have half a hard on now.

>>12739593
And if it's really bugging you that much, just say after a significant timespan (say, half the victim's naturally-remaining lifespan at the point of absorbtion), the body can no longer be pseudo-biologically sustained by the worm, it decays, and the host worm complete the next stage of its lifecycle, whatever that might be.

Or maybe it just dies since it wasn't supposed to devour a sentient brain in the first place and thereby screwed up its natural lifecycle.

I dunno, make something up. You've got reasonably-solid fluff and actually-usable stats, which is a hell of a lot more than most interesting ideas that've been thrown through here have gotten, be happy you've got that much.

>>12739541

Does that mean that the body driving brain parasite can have kids?

That's creepy.

"Honey, I want to raise the kids like I was."

"I told you, we're not putting parasites in the children as well."

>>12739649
Well, while the brainworm has more-or-less taken over the brain, personality and memory included, the body is still technically dead, so... no. the desire might be there, but not the capability. And brainworms are the larval stage of some yet-to-be-defined-by-the-creator larger organism, so even the brainworm itself could not reproduce in current form.

HURRY! RUN!

KILLLL MEEEE!

>>12739679
True... But one can be brain dead while everything else works. . .
I figured it was like that. except the parasite had more control and could you know... stop aging and crap.

>You will never have kids with a dead body piloted by a parasite

>>12739702
Nope, the host body is basically just a meatpuppet. Remove the worm, and it's a corpse with the back half of its skull removed and hollowed out.

>>12739629
She's fuckable from the neck up, but her gut's too big and she has horrific fashion sense. It's almost admirable though how the artist made the character realistically fat -- the boobs aren't huge and they aren't perfectly shaped, the stomach sticks out but not comically so, there are pronounced love-handles, her legs are chunky, and she doesn't have a bubble butt.

It's too bad that the comic is terrible.

What? Is it plug your shitty webcomic day on /tg/?

>>12739778
Nope, I just came across the brainworm stuff and thought you guys might like it. the post above yours was talking about the comic, not the rest of us.

>>12739807
Just ignore him, brah. You'll be doing both /tg/ and yourself a favor.

This is pretty much exactly what /tg/ would come up with.

>>12739827
But this way our sagefag here can't waste time typing captcha in on report!

Now here's just a thought, do you think they can manipulate the host body to grow out more hair to cover up the worm? Also since its half worm brain; do you think it was a male worm it would freak out when it figure out it was the female of the human species? I mean, it seems like the worms aren't bad, because they are guilt ridden for killing the host, unless its because they get the memories and they realize that they basically just killed themselves or something.... thoughts?
P.S. I know about parasites.

>I mean, it seems like the worms aren't bad, because they are guilt ridden for killing the host

Just because you have second thoughs about brutally ripping someone's personality along with their brain out doesn't make it *not* bad.

>>12739873

I don't think the concept of gender is something as important/drastic with insects, worms even, as it is with humans.

>>12739873
Did you know that (at least in humans) hair and nails continue to grow for a short while after a person's death? Not enough to cover up a brainworm, though.

>>12739916
but since the body does not decay, it means the buggy takes over most of the functions. So it would have hair growing still if it wanted to avoid it flaking off and falling completely out.

>>12739873
>>12739894

I would think it's because the worm is mindless until it cracked open a human.

>>12739873
from what the RP post and comic seems to indicate, the hostbody is basically "static", kinda like a White Wolf vampire - damage can be restored, but the point-of-host-death is the immovable default.

As for "freakout", well, dunno. From what little we know, they might not even have self-awareness, let alone gender identity, outside of the event of consuming an intelligent brain. Using the comic as our resource-guide, we have yet to see an unattached brainworm. Though the guilt seems basically as you said, a psychological effect from the host's absorbed personality conflicting with the brainworm's (apparently) newly-acquired sapience.

>>12739376
>While the victim still dies, the memories and emotions absorbed by the brainworm form a dominant personality.
>In this state, the parasite effectively becomes a new incarnation of the dead host and will simply try and live the life it technically ended.
>Often with a massive guilt-complex.

It's just mind uploading. The worn didn't kill anyone s thehists personality and memories still exist

>>12739916

Pure myth. Metabolic processes such as growth cease with death.

What causes this myth is that the skin shrivels and shrinks as it dries up - revealing more of hair and nails. This gives the appearance of growth but there is none.

>>12739916
"Did you know that (at least in humans) hair and nails continue to grow for a short while after a person's death?"
Not true. Old wives' tale. The skin just retracts and gives the illusion of growth.

>>12739916
Incorrect. After death, the skin recedes slightly, making hair and nails appear to grow. Visit Cracked more often.

>>12739956
>>12739959
>>12739961
shrivelskinmind

>>12739936
>In this state, the parasite effectively becomes a new incarnation of the dead host and will simply try and live the life it technically ended.

Detach from corpse
Get the cleric to revive your yourself
Become my own Familiar
????
PROFIT

>>12739956
>>12739959
>>12739961
It doesn't? Well thats news to me.

>>12739973
Attach the worm to a female you consider attractive afterwards. MY OWN PERSONALITY, NOW NEITHER OF ME WILL BE VIRGIN!

>>12739973
Iapts there cannot be mind duplication in D`D because of some rules about megic and shit.

>>12739991
I'm pretty sure you can do that with psionics. Sort of how a psicrystal is basically just your own personality in crystal form.

>>12739936
PROTIP: Having your brain eaten means you're dead. Memory/persona might be copied, but the original you is dead. What you get is just an imitation.

>>12739973
I think after the worm leaves it loses all that host info and shit, plus I don't think a revive spell can bring back your brain.

So if it gets your memories, doesn't that mean it gets your levels as well?

>>12739873
>I mean, it seems like the worms aren't bad, because they are guilt ridden for killing the host
wat

>>12740012
inb4 pointless, pretentious "discussion" about the nature of consciousness and the definition of self

>>12740012
>Memory/persona might be copied, but the original you is dead.

I have a file on my HDD. I copy it to floppy disc and delete the one I have on my HDD. Now is the file on my hard disc different from the one on floppy? No and therefore the file still exists.

So you only die when all copies of your personality are destroyed

>>12740037
The great thing about being me.....

>>12740088
.....is that theres so many me's.

>>12740037
No you only get levels when it gets your soul as levels are tied to soul, not mind. Because in D&D souls cannot be copied, the resulting creature won't be you, but worm and thus you will get worm's level.

>>12740037
>For crunchiness, most stats of a brainworm'd PC or NPC remain the same. The primary difference is that the actual life form is the large grub-like larva-thing stick out of their head, and only damage to it can kill the character. The corpse can suffer damage, and at 0 - CON hitpoints the worm will be forced to detach from its ruined host. Otherwise the corpse can "live" as long as the original host could. No critical hits or sneak attack bonuses. The only drawback is that the body cannot heal naturally, and potions of healing (as with any other potion or poison) only affect the worm. Healing spells work normally.

>If someone aims for the worm, use the worm's AC to determine if they hit it. If attacking the worm specifically, sneak-attack damage & critical hits DO apply.

>If someone attacks the character without aiming for the worm (most figure it's just a weird-ass hat), natural 20s are assumed to hit the worm, but still without bonus damage. Area-of-effect attacks, like Fireball spells, also hit the worm.

>So, here's what happens when your PC's brain gets eaten. Drop your Charisma 1d4 for the giant bug and the fact you look dead (because you technically are). Raise your Intelligence and Wisdom each a point for the addition of the brainworm's past meals (which would have all been non-sentient things, remember?). Raise your Constitution 1d4 for being dead meat and thus harder to "kill". Lower your Dexterity a point for mild joint stiffness and counterbalancing the big bug-ass sticking out of your head.

What if I get a brainworm and keep feeding it with other brainworms which in turn was fed by brainworms?

Infinite intelligence and wisdom?

>>12740167

Hmm, my math skills is a little rusty for that, what if we start with a pool of a hundred brainworms?

>>12740037
Only if you are a magic user other wise your levels are kept in muscle memory.

>>12740167
>>12740185

And what makes you think they would eat each other in the first place?

>>12740204

The crunch doesnt state otherwise.

Learn to munchkin.

I am vaguely aroused by this /tg/ and I don't know why.

>>12740237

An unhealthy mix of necrophilia and parasites?

>>12740237
It's necrophilia with a consensual partner.

>>12740232
I thought it was safely implied they didn't, or they would all eat themselves and have none left to feed upon other creatures. Kinda like how illithids (another brain eater) don't try to eat their own kind's brains, only other species...

...hmm, maybe the brainworms could be related to the illithid - some kind of engineered "minion" used to handle non-intelligent creatures like druid/ranger companions or wizard familiars, while the illithids devour their masters...

>>12740167

Well there a few assumptions we can make that would likely make that a bad idea.

First the worms probably aren't cannibals and won't eat each other unless starved. Second cannibalism tends to have lots of nasty side effects, BSE (madcow disease) comes from feeding cows cow brains (or was it sheep first?). Finally, you're probably only going to be able to feed it a few times before it finishes it's life cycle.

>>12740276

What if a brainworm attacks an illithid?

>>12740237
Because mind control is your only hope of getting laid?

>The worm both recalls being a brainworm, and being the victim.

So hang on, does it immediately know it's the parasite and not the original person? Especially if it's never eaten the brain of a sentient creature before.

Would you wake up in the morning feeling half dead, look in the mirror and see a giant fucking bug hanging off the back of your head and freak out?

>>12740289

Crunch doesnt state otherwise.

Worm 2 eats W1, +1WIS/+INT, W3 eats W2 +1WIS/+INT plus +1WIS/+INT carried over from base stats, W4 eats W3 etc. Also, the eaten worms can be fed by other brainworms which in turn and fed by brainworms themselves.

>>12740291
Just what you'd expect from a brain-eater eating the brain of a brain eater.

>INFINITE LOOP ERROR. REDO FROM START? Y/N

>>12740291
division by 0, please restart universe.

So how would the mechanics work for leveling the worm up once it's taken a host? Would it basically be stuck with whatever skills the host had at the time, necessitating regular "upgrades" in order to keep up in a group setting? I presume all experience would go directly to leveling the worm itself up.

>>12740307

And the one freaking out about it is infact, the bug itself.

Mindfuck.

I agree, capt. Cha

What if a brainworm attacks an Illithid inhabited by a Yeerk and a Goa'uld?

>>12740315
Protip: Crunch isn't everything. Otherwise, we're be playing a calculator game with spreadsheets, not a roleplaying game with dice.

>>12740324
Since the body is "static", but the mind is not, I imagine mental stuff like spells could increase, but not physical stuff like strength or dexterity.

>>12740341
Don't make me hurt you, boy.

>>12740343

As long the crunch doesnt state otherwise its legal. Like peasant railguns and other mad shit in D&D, especially splatbooks.

>>12740343
>>12740110
Can't someone then do things to the body that still preserves the worm? I mean couldn't you replace limbs and such? If the body is dead, doesn't the bodies ability to fight off disease and foreign elements just drop off completely?

>>12740315
>>12740360

So what if an infinite Brainworm eating cycle produced a brainworm with ungodly intellect and wisdom, then latched into a 12+ level Wizard or some shit?

Do I smell a BBEG?

>>12740360

Peasant railgun only works when you both use strict adherence to RAW for the setup and then completely throw it out the fucking window when it stops suiting your purposes. It's not munchkin, it's actual cheating.

>>12740375

I think the body isnt dead, it must be alive for the worm to control, the worm ha no magic to animate it.

>>12740391
well if the worm has complete control over the body, couldn't it then purposely control the immune system or blood flow? I mean, we don't consciously have to think about it, but the worm DOES, or at least that's the gist of what I read from OP.

>>12740385

What if brainworms are artificial? Like a magical experiment gone wrong in an underground city on Creatures from behind the Veil who keeps spawning on the city and eating eachother, everything else alive has been a host and discarded and worms are preying on newspawners now while slowly evolving over the centuries.The city itself is a steampunk bio-magitech city covered in caterpillar silk, filled with forgotten and dangerous experiments and rotted away human-ish skeletons.

Also, the catch. They arent evil and they hate themselves for doing this for survival.

OP:


Try watching Stargate, those worms are called Goa'uld.

>>12740386
Bingo. And they're trying the same "RAW until I say so" cheatery here with the "infinite brainworm". Especially since they're only focusing on the + Int/Wis and not the - Dex/Cha...

>>12740431

Samefag. Its so glaringly noticeable.

>>12740391
With the right electrical impulses you can make the body do most anything from pump blood to move. The "dead" part probably isn't true death, just enough systems functioning below normal that it can't really be called "alive". Thing is, those systems only needed to function at 100% to keep the brain going. Since that's no longer an issue then it might be just fine

So it's a DnD Goua'uld.

This has potential.

>>12740431

>BAAW MOMMY DEY R HAVING FUN

/tg/ isnt the place for you brosef, we used to munchkin for fun all the time, hell, Katamari Damacy was munchkin: the quest

>>12740431
>>12740431

>Especially since they're only focusing on the + Int/Wis and not the - Dex/Cha...

I'll give you the Charisma (a horrible gestalt of brainworms and a maddened host isn't exactly going to be the best conversationalist), but the -Dexterity is solely for the slight stiffness of the body and the unwieldy nature of the worm. Unless consuming more minds makes the worm bloat up like a Thanksgiving turkey, there's no reason why it's Dex stat should lower exponentially.

So, how do these worms reprouce?

>>12740474

Maybe they poot out more worms whenever they eat a brain.

this would work better in Traveller...

captcha >lancepr interprets

>>12740470
Well, if the bonuses stack, the demerits should stack too, if mister "crunch doesn't state otherwise"'s own self-defined rules over there are being followed. Fair is fair, right?

>>12740500

I see what you're getting at, but the demerit to dexterity literally makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Unless somehow becoming more intelligent makes it more difficult to move the host, which seems terribly unlikely.

>>12740500

>. Raise your Intelligence and Wisdom each a point for the addition of the brainworm's past meals (which would have all been non-sentient things, remember?). Raise your Constitution 1d4 for being dead meat. Lower your Dexterity a point for mild joint stiffness and counterbalancing the big thing sticking out of your head

Its possible a brainworm ate million meals but he still has only one host body.

Why would the stiffness of the previous host body affect it?

>>12740474
1.they don't and
A. There is only so many of them
B. Someone/something else makes them

2. They have a set number of eggs that they lay by
A.letting it fall out of the hole in the head
B.Lay in the digestive tract, which will hatch when passed safely

3.They produce the eggs from
A.Brain matter they ingest which they
I.See 2A
II.See 2B
B. sustenance from the food that the host body eats which they
I.See 2A
II.See 2B

>>12740500

I sense asspain.

>>12740521
saying a species devours itself just because the rules don't specifically say otherwise as an excuse to justify your minmaxing doesn't make sense either.

>>12740547

I love the smell of asspain in the morning.

Also, get the fuck out, you are gay.

I'm totally using a BBEG brainworm mage with enhanced wisdom and intellect in my next campaign.

>>12740547

>species devours itself

Cuttlefish, sharks, octopi, leeches, mantises etc.

Its not a new thing.

>rules don't specifically say otherwise

Rules or DM dont specifically say otehrwise. You are not the DM.

In fact, you might be "that guy"

>>12740467
>someone expresses polite, rational opinion
>get visibly butthurt and tell the person to leave /tg/
>do so while typing like an idiot
I'm a fan of /tg/'s crazy rule-bending schemes, but you're being an obnoxious cunt. I'd take a polite naysayer over a spergy moron any day of the week.

The rest of you: keep being awesome.

>>12740547
Does that mean I can call all player races like elves and dwarves and humans cannibalistic, because the rules don't say they aren't?

>>12740584
If by "that guy" you mean rules lawyer than yeah.

>>12740609

You could if you wanted to, actually. It's entirely up to the DM to decide things like that.

>>12740600
>>12740609


Shush samefag, we dont like you here. Stop trolling.
Also, yes you can.

>It can live this way indefinitely

I'm interested in this part, the worm is actually immortal while attached to a host body? Can it be used as an alternative to lichdom?


>The worm both recalls being a brainworm

How does it feel like?

>>12740584
>types like an idiot
>gets butthurt at the slightest criticism
No anon, you are the THAT GUY.
And then anon had Aspergers.

>>12740629
>samefag
>both posts are at the same time

>>12740629
Not samefag. You are ruining this thread, dude.

>>12740629

>Can it be used as an alternative to lichdom?

The poor man's Lichdom. The soul technically leaves the body. It's more like an organic version of "Brain Uploading", wherein the original mind lives on through copies of itself rather than true immortality.

>>12740636

It must be a quantum samefag posting from two parallel universes!

>While the victim still dies, the memories and emotions absorbed by the brainworm form a dominant personality.

Every single absorbed personality get an equal say or the recent ones has a stronger echo?

This might be a way to achieve CONSENSUS!!

>It can live this way indefinitely

What if a brainworm with a thousands of absorbed personalities merges into a tarrasque? Its huge brain would regenerate fast enough so it could continously live in it and be a democratic country in one person.

>>12740642
>>12740629

Imagine this scenario for a moment: A cult of men and women obsessed with immortality, but without the resources required to become Liches themselves.

So they come upon a cavern filled with Brainworms, and begin joining with them willingly in order to preserve their minds, forming miniature collectives of various consciousnesses through them.

if you regard the fluff, and not the crunch, It is never stated if the worm loses the information, knowledge, and personality of the person it latches to. In theory, it is only getting smarter, but the personalities also stack, meaning it will become several different people in one host body, or I guess worm.

>>12740651
Yes. We are Agent Smith and we've come to troll this thread using polite, unobtrusive criticism because we hate /tg/ and fun and all things good in this universe.

Look upon our mild mannered disposition, and despair ye mortals.

In a strange way I imagine all of these worms actually being really nice people. I mean, they do feel guilty about it. It's almost like they go on an eating binge, wake up and think "Oh god what have I done!". It makes them almost sympathetic, almost... Still, I like to imagine a commune of these things living somewhere all helping each other cope with their guilt over the people they ate. They'd all be really polite and try really hard not to eat anyone who came to visit.

>>12740661

>Its huge brain would regenerate fast enough

Therein lies the problem. A brainworm could never take over a Tarrasque even if it COULD manage to burrow in through its thick skull and hide. It has to eat the ENTIRE brain. If anything, the worm would end up exploding from overeating.

>>12740684

>admitting being a troll

>excepts being taken seriously

>hadnt contributed anything to the thread

The realization came too late, you are a troll.

>>12740661
it's said by fluff that consuming an intelligent being, rather than a common animal, is an aberration, an error outside of the normal way of things - the normal life-cycle of the brainworm is halted, since it does not consume the host-brain then seek another, as it normally would when it only consumed animals. It's probable that the worm does not reproduce, on account of this disruption.

So it accidentally eats a humanoid instead of a beast, and loses the urge to consume new brains... end of story. lifecycle disrupted, no maturation into reproductive stage, larva eventually dies. Game Over.

>>12740718
Why do you hate /tg/? What'd we ever do to you?

>>12739965
>>12739961
>>12739959
>>12739956

Still, there's a mummified monk in the tibet, who (in life) said to archieve Ilumination. He was bald when alive, check his head now. He grew nails post-mortem too.
And look how COOL he looks with those sunglasses.

>>12740689
The worms start out with self awareness and the desire to latch on to heads and control them, but nothing else until they actually latch on to the head. When they essentially are the person, they now can reason the self awareness of being a worm, which means they now know they are a worm and have the mind and body of the person. Think of it alex mercer.

On the same vain, they don't mentally develop until they latch on to heads. It is only natural that the worm would grow in mass at it is eating the brain. The question becomes, does it lose it's intellect as it loses it's mass?

>>12740699

What about a swarm of brainworms constantly eating the skull of the tarrasque like maggots?

>>12740769
Then they split control of the mind and body, but lack the coherence and co-operation among themselves. It's essentially giving several remote controls out for one robot.

>>12740764

You do know that's not actual growth, right? As the body shrivels, it's just that more hair/nail is exposed.

>>12740764
hair didn't grow. skin dried and receded, exposing buried roots.

>>12740689
If they spend time around fellow brainslugs, they'll accept the initial murder as a necessary evil and stop giving a fuck eventually.

And that's when the holy prometheum comes out.

A parasite like this would bring up some interesting philosophical arguments.

Is the parasite evil for devouring the brain of an intelligent species, or is it neutral for being an unthinking creature following its instincts before gaining sentience?

Is the person devoured truly dead? This ties in with 'is a copy of me still me?' Is the parasite considered its own person otherwise?

As an aside, I don't think the body can really be considered a corpse if something else is in control of nervous functions. Sure, it's not YOU anymore, but there's no lolmagic involved. The parasite is the new brain, more or less. All biological functions are hijacked, and theoretically it could possibly create more offspring of its own (Eww).

>>12740790
>>12740787
the monks apparently didnt know.

>>12740763

0/10

>>12740765

I still like the idea of a worm cult, at a set elder age or after a great achievement you are invited to upload yourself into a worm and became an immortal Elder of your tribe, this counts as a glorius deed. Even more heroic and wise Elders would go onto the Communion when they upload their minds into the Great Worm which acts as the tribes spiritual leader.

Also, with a greek city-state theme with every city having their own Great Worm

Imagine hearing about the siege of Troy from Achilles himself, with the most elonquent words of a thousand poets and philosophers... coming from an elephant sized worm living in a cave.

>>12740818
>>12740818
>>12740818
>>12740818

>Imagine hearing about the siege of Troy from Achilles himself, with the most elonquent words of a thousand poets and philosophers... coming from an elephant sized worm living in a cave.

>>12740782

every PC is a brain worm, controlling a tarrasque like a bunch of redneck kids in a monster truck

it would be fukken glorious

>DAT WAY

>NOO DAT WAY

>>12740841

>>12740846

OH GOD YES

>>12740846
Redneck kids? Monster truck?
MEGAS FUCK YEAH!

>>12740802
well, going by the comic the original idea sprang from, Piper (our only known host/infosource on the brainworms outside the RPG data) is canonically considered legally/biologically dead, regardless of her current mobility and apparent sapience.

So whatever the brainworm does, whether it's magical, superscientific, psionic, or what-have-you, in order to keep the host-body preserved and mobile, it does so thoroughly enough that the host involved is unequivocably deceased, regardless of any apparent lack-of-decay, or simulation of the host's mental faculties.

>>12740818
The worm would still have to speak though someone, so picture if you will, a near intact corpse attached to this massive growth coming out of it's head. You enter this ritualistically adorned cave or palace room or hut, you gaze upon this creature/s, and the corpse speaks to you. It tells you that it knows it's not long for this world until another sacrifice is made. The sacrifice must be an intelligent and healthy person, as far as everything else, that is based on the culture of the people. You are either the personal visor or a random individual tasked with finding a new host.

>>12740818

Everyone would be civic minded and heroic as fuck, considering actual and achieveable immortality is within your reach.

The city-state of PCs

>>12740818
HOLY SHIT, DUDE!
>Imagine hearing about the siege of Troy from Achilles himself, with the most elonquent words of a thousand poets and philosophers... coming from an elephant sized worm living in a cave.
That Guy was right:
>>12740841

THIS SHIT IS ACTUALLY GLORIOUS!

KILL IT WITH FIRE

That is all I have to say.

>>12740846
The worms can't even speak to each other unless they all had control over vocalization or however else the host communicates. From the outside, it would be like finding a dude who talked to himself, telling himself to do various things while disagreement or consensus is reached.

WHY THE NEED TO BE FUCKING WORMS??!?!

>>12740876

I imagine it being a temple with handmaidens appeasing the Great Worm all the time, incense burning, soft music playing and everything is richly adored with tiles, detailing the great deeds of heroes who underwent the Communion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyXPpf7Vjo

Every fifty years or so, a lucky volunteer is chosen from the young men of the gymnasium, to become the worldy wordbearer of the Great Worm, and join the Eternal Demos and spend the afterlife amogst the great war heroes, poets and philosophers, in return of his voluntary shedding of his mortal coil.

This is not your grave...but you are welcome in it.

>corcludi the

>>12740818
>>12740876
>>12740920

You realize this could only work if the worms retained personas between hosts - or for that matter if they even could absorb new ones after taking a sentient host.

See here. >>12740750

the Pantheon is maybe just a council of extraordinary wise and old worms demanding human sacrifice?

Until one day a great worm descends from the sky and consumes everything. He's named LAVOS.

>>12740954

and Prometheus is a radical anti-worm rebel?

no worms, no elders, no immortality, only human.

>>12740867
>>12740846
>>12740853

I wish I had drawfag skills, but it had to be done.

>>12740920
IMO it still loses mass due to lack of digestion of the brain, so it's essentially an illithid that doesn't need to feed nearly as much.
>>12740942
Assuming the entire brain was consumed, yes it would still retain the persona, though
it would have to piece the personality together on it's own. It has to reconstruct the brain after ingestion and assuming the brain matter doesn't decay within the worm, it could stay as that one person or several people indefinitely.

>>12740926

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

>>12740985
>due to lack of digestion
'scuse me, meant to say decay of the brain and lack of ingestion.

>>12740985

>it would have to piece the personality together on it's own. It has to reconstruct the brain after ingestion and assuming the brain matter doesn't decay within the worm, it could stay as that one person or several people indefinitely.

I got the general gist its magic, like Illithid mindfuckery, not actual hard science.

Its still just a biopunk brain upload though.

>>12740970

>>12741009
Well I operate off of the mindset of "everything can be explained." with willing suspension of disbelief only applied when magic is involved. Nothing indicates that this can't be handwaved with magic so I'm gonna try and explain it to the best of my ability.

>>12741013
>>12740970

Now you imagine two redneck gangs fighting with their tarrasques like they would be hot rods.

>>12740970

>I will turn this Tarrasque right around, so help me

>greek city states with biopunk mind uploading

this deserves an archive

also, some further brainstorming

>>12741009
>>12741033
don't think about the "why and how" too hard, or you'll strain an mental gear somewhere. just accept it and carry on.

>>12740970
I still think they can only talk to each other by using the mouth. Think of it as playing the silent game on a cruise ship and the only way to talk to shipmates is to use a single piece of paper and pen

In Dune the worm God-Empreror could hear voices from all his ancestor's from his "DNA memory", at one point he's ignoring one that claims to be Agammemnon...

>>12740970

I like to think this worm-genius like the biological versions of Legion. Constant mental sparring, constant arguing between the thousands of uploaded personalities but sharing information is instant, in fact, its impossible to hide anything from eachother(or so do they say in the city, to disencourage committing crimes)

For a scientist it would be pretty much heaven but for an on-the-move, action loving type of guy it would be living hell, an eternity with nerds arguing and looking at your secrets.

These worms would fuck society up so hard.

You want to be immortal and forever respected? Work hard, prove yourself, be a citizen and now you caaaaaaaaan!!

Actually, what if multiple city-states has differing opinions about whats virtue and worthy of uploading and it shows in their elder worm?

The Athenian elder worm might be pondering over the state of matter and quantum theory just for fun or memorizing thousands of philosophical books, just for fun whine the Spartan worm might be constantly playing battles and scenarios constantly in his head amongst the absorbed war heroes, constanly arguing over and refining them.

One is a complete retard when it comes to actual matters and the other one longs for battle and has suicidal bouts about it. He might also be illiterate.

Dayum.

I want to try this critter now.

I'd still love to know how the hell we jumped from "encephalophagic parasite larva" to "gigantic worm hivemind". The two seem like wholly separate and unrelated ideas at this point.

friggin' assumptions that mind eaters would have the ability to output stuff in a way that makes sense.

>>12741226
We've gotten a fairly shitty and horrifying parasite and remade it into a well thought out not so grimderp hivemind symbiote. I still think we should burn them all with holy fire though, immortality always leads to stagnation.

That mind uploading hivemind worm is like the na'vi and eywa in avatar. Except you know.. not gay

>>12741275
>>12741293

I am a timeless chorus; join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting.

Do not be afraid... I am peace. I am salvation.

>pass rearor

>>12741275
they also basically gutted most of both fluff and crunch from the concept and remade their own. Might as well not even be there. Disappointing, really. Kinda figured /tg/ was clever enough to figure out a way to work it into their games without a wholesale from-scratch rebuild, especially since the mainstay of fluff and basically all the crunch was already there from the start...

>>12741275

I think it would depend on the setup of the particular worm. A mainly conservative one would reach consensus about not changing anything but the mainly liberal ones would choose similar minds to upload. It would mainly depend on the first few minds uploaded.

Also, I think the conservative ones would endanger themselves less and the more liberal ones would die and sort themselves out over a few millennia.

>>12741332
The original works but we are trying to give people a reason to NOT pull out the flamethrower and put on a helmet.

>>12741332

>they also basically gutted most of both fluff and crunch from the concept

Are we reading the same thread? Because it sounds to me like everyone's been expounding upon the basic framework we've been given in genuinely creative ways, rather than throwing it all out the window.

Then again, I have a feeling you're the same person who's been criticizing everyone the entire time. I apologize in advance if I've assumed incorrectly.

>>12741324

The Flood is difficult to put in any setting that hasn't been specifically built to handle it, just because it's that absurdly potent a species. I mean, fuck, at their weakest, in the garbage floating in space stage, they're clinically immortal supercells that are capable of ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL over anything that contacts them in a matter of hours, becoming exponentially faster with the number of cells taken in, and co-opting their host's entire mental structure. Then you add a collective mind that has access to the memories of every single host and the thought processing ability of every host combined, and that can communicate across interstellar distances without time-lag, and things just get silly.

Better to leave it as something interesting but less WELL FUCK YOUR SHIT.

>>12741382
>expanding on the basic framework
By making a lot of assumptions about things we don't know (like if the persona is retained after separation) or things that contradict what's been said by the given fluff (like assuming the larva can/will reproduce/eat brains after absorbing a sentient host, despite the fluff not saying so and even implying otherwise due to intellgent hosts being an anomaly and not a normal part of the larva's lifecycle).

It'd be like starting with the base dwarf and deciding they are really superintelligent, tall, beardless creatures who live in trees and fear fire.

Piper is cute but if anyone would see some pulsing, moving, living worm jutting out of someones shattered skull chances are you would go full panic adrenaline rush and tear the worm apart with your bare hands then break down sobbing, no matter how hard she tries to plead that she doesnt want to hurt you and begs crying to stop.

>>12741453
I think that's why she's started trying to keep it covered, so folks just think it's some weird stocking-cap or something.

>>12740841

The likes of which even God has never seen!

>>12741431

Troll. You must be the same one bitching about INT and WIS stacking.

>>12741431

>It'd be like starting with the base dwarf and deciding they are really superintelligent, tall, beardless creatures who live in trees and fear fire.

No, that's a completely inaccurate analogy. We've been given some very basic crunch and fluff, and nothing else. It is therefor up to us to fill in the gaps.

Isn't that what DMing is all about? Taking a set of rules, worlds, species, and filling in the blanks to make a compelling narrative? I don't understand why what we're doing here seems to upset you or strike a nerve.

>>12741453
You kidding? It's kinda hot. Wonder if she can feel the worm part...

>>12739699
Eat my spanner, i want your nanites and ammo

>>12741529

More like she can only feel the worm part

Would you, /tg/?

>>12741529
>>12741606

She IS the "worm part".

>>12741620
Little bit undead, little bit invertebrate...

>>12741479
Pic related says, "Ggggrrrrhhhnnnaaarrrrllll!"

>>12741606
Looks like she can feel the rest too.

>>12741620

Kill it with fire. Search for its kind. Kill those with fire too.

>>12741669


daaaawwww


Still no, that worm killed a human and took its place

>>12741430

This. Unless you severely power them down, putting the flood in a fantasy setting is just being a complete dick of a DM. At best your players will hate you forever, at worst one of them will murder you.

Unless there are magical half golem Epic level Fighters running around with the mind and soul of a wizard riding around in their suits of mithral. And seven rings of pure magic that cleanse the planes of all life, put in place by the ancients as a safeguard against the impure ones ever returning to threaten the land. And the Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Bugbears have united under the reign of a elder Red Dragon, who seeks to use the power imbued within the rings to elevate himself to the level of a god.

Or you could just go play Halo instead.

>>12741669
looks more like the Captain did a lot of speaking for her before she could say much one way or another about what she was gonna do.

>>12741430
At the very worst, the Flood are nothing compared to shit D&D already has like, say, spectres...

Imagine a zombipocalypse were the zombies are highly intelligent, can fly, have NOCLIPPING, ignore armor, and suck your life force out.

>>12741732

>Faproom! Load me a kind young man with a profound interest in roleplaying games and a taste in the weird who will has sex with me in missionary position while looking into my eye, caressing my worm and saying "I love you"

>foreveralone.jpeg

>>12741739

Now imagine if a Flood took over a specter.

>>12741750
>caressing my worm
Male-masturbation jokes aside, wouldn't that be like us saying "massage my cerebellum" or something?

>>12741779
The Flood would have no means of even harming one, let alone controlling one.

>>12741786

It would be her most sensitive... wait 4chan! What have you done to me!? WHY IM THINKING ABOUT THIS LOGICALLY!?

>>12741786
Depends if the worm has any erogenous zones, doesn't it?

>>12741790

okay. but the spectre couldn't hurt the flood either. They reanimate corpses, so no life-force. Body destroyed? Flood find a new one. Or just reanimate the old one again.

>>12741786
The Worm is used to sensory data filtered through the body it possesses. Any direct contact would be shocking.

BRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAINS

>>12741836
I'm not saying that in the sense that "a spectre could kill the Flood," I'm saying that in the context of D&D there's nothing frightening about the Flood that isn't already existent with regards to undead, demons, etc.

>>12741836

Flood and Spectres, from the limited information here, couldn't do anything to each other, but they would kill each other anyway.

The Flood infest the FOOD. Spectres don't have any more life-force to suck. Spectres die. Flood run out of food. Flood die.

Nice job breaking it, hero. The situation is now full retard.

>ferwened 290

It's a worm running around stuck to a corpse that it killed, aping her personality.

You know what I'd do.

I like this webcomic.

>>12741914
you'd tap dat xeno-possessed ass in the name of the emprah?

>>12741914

keep shithammer away from this thread

I'd kill off that fucking worm anyway, no matter how friendly and cheerful its stolen personality is.

http://intragalacticcomic.com/fanart/

Piper porn everywhere.

>>12741950
>porn everywhere

>one solo image nude with hands half-covering, one groupshot with everyone covered suitably

...no, not everywhere.

>>12741983

>one solo image nude

Are we looking at the same gallery?

>>12739411
>>12739376
One of the PC's in my party asked me once if he could be his own familiar, because he didnt like the options available. WELL NOW HE CAN. *maniacal laughter*

>>12741997
http://intragalacticcomic.com/images/cjpiper.png
solo nude, hands half-covering

http://intragalacticcomic.com/images/KarandoshFanPic.jpg
groupshot, semi-covered

Other images non-nude.

>>12742021

>missing all te suggestive poses. semi nakedness etc.

Are you the same troll trying agaim?

>>12742056

You call that porn?

>>12742056
suggestive clothed poses are not porn. If they were, SI's Swimsuit issue and lingerie catalogs would come plastic-wrapped and sold behind the counters at convenience stores alongside Super Jugs and Ebony Hoes.

>>12741846
woo, photorealism.

>>12741620
Yes. I bet she's lonely enough for actual contact that she'd be wild in bed. And probably a sweetheart. I'm making her wear a helmet to bed, though.

>>12742184

The sad part is that I honestly expected /tg/ to be okay with fucking a corpse.

>>12742251
How many vampires, Forsaken, liches, and more have been sexualized on these pages? /tg/ should be all for cracking open a cold one.

>>12741620
>>12742184
>>12742251

"Aw, c'mon, babe, why you just layin' there?"
>look over, see worm on the pillow, squirming in annoyance
"Shit, she fell out."
>(splutch)
"...gyugh....Took you long enough to notice, you dumbass."

>>12742251

Welcome to /tg/, enjoy your stay.

You want to bone her because she shows vulnerability and you are genetically hardwired to feel attracted to that and try to protect her.

So...

Piper Kaufman = /tg/'s worm-puppet waifu?

>>12742322

Is there something wrong with that? Genetic hardwiring is pretty much the reason for any and all attraction.

>>12742322

I've got my kinks as much as the next guy, but trust me, corpses ain't one of them. ;)

>human girl killed and possessed by parasitic worm

Not this shit again. Hold on...

ONE TWO THREE

>>12742353
Uh, no. Attractions are not genetically "hard wired" any more than being fat is. It's a product of your environment, just like those cheetos stains on your fingers.

>>12742362

Undead girls show the ultimate vulnerability possible, depression, wounds, a state you can cure but only conform them etc.

>>12742387

0/10 Try harder.

>>12742387

>implying it's not Frito's Barbeque Twist dust instead

But seriously, how is attraction to vulnerability any less a product of a combination of genetics and upbrining than the appeal of clear skin and a shapely figure?

>>12742322
>>12742390

What's with the Forsaken pics? this isn't a WoW thread.

>>12741620
Absolutely. Sexy, adorable, and mobile but dead. Don't ask me why the last one turns me on...

>>12742390

Well, vampires are one thing, but corpses getting suckled by brain worms...ehhhh, I can't make that jump. Would much rather Turn Undead.

>>12742436

Because most of your instictual attraction is genetic and suconscious. You can build fetishes on them but you wont know why you attracted to something.

>>12742444
>>12742454

It's not necrophilia if they're still moving.

>>12742458
So what explains xenophilia?

>>12742436
Because if it was genetic people would only be attracted to one body type, one set of personality traits, and it wouldn't shift throughout the ages the way it has. Attraction is a social construct, created by your experiences and your potential mates.

Incidentally, /tg/, I'm blaming you for my sexual attraction to mobile corpses with free will which are in good condition, not to be confused with my attraction to women which are alive but which were constructed from corpses and then brought to life (usually with lightning), also required to be in good condition.

Oddly enough the thought of fucking something that is dead and not moving still creeps me out about as much as it would a normal person

>>12742487

Physical attraction is all genetic and most of the attraction is physical. Sorry to burst your bubble about TROO LUV.

>>12742486

Heterosis.Outbreeding enhancement. You are genetically inclined to look for mates vastly different than you for possible benevolent hybrids.

>>12742506
what's the difference between those first two? Seem pretty similar to me.

>>12742581
One of them is actually physically alive. As much so as anyone who's ever had their heart stop for a little while. It's a restarted human being, albeit one who is made up of different parts.

The other is a whole person, just animated by some other means than normal life. Magic or alien brain worms.

Between the two I kind of wonder which is more unpopular. I'd expect that it'd be the one which is legitimately dead but you never know. Humanity is vain enough that they might be against the one that, though living, isn't built quite right

>>12742704
>>12742506

in regards to bad reactions, i would say, worst to best..

alien brainslugs/magical entities that take kill people and ride their corpses.

alien brainslugs/magical entities that pick up bodies (that are just laying around) to ride.

Frankenstein monsters, if they are unthinking monsters.

Frankenstein monsters that are Not monsters (and are still pretty enough to avoid a violent crowd)

People who die and come back as the same person (more or less, as long as they don't hunger for flesh)

just my suspicions.

>>12742939
>alien brainslugs/magical entities that take kill people and ride their corpses.

If the alien brainslug wasn't sentient until afterwards and feels really, really bad about it... I think that's okay.

I accidentally maded a thing

----------------------------------------

>>12740802
I feel like it'd be one of those situations where the government oppresses the brainworm people, turns a blind eye when redneck-types kill them in cold blood, and all-in-all damns them to a life of shame, fear, and misery.

Then one day, a young intellectual liberal type finds himself mistakenly in a brainworm ghetto. Looking upon the abject squalor, he finds himself overwhelmed with pity and disbelief. His moment of solemnity is interrupted by the casual brutality of a policeman pistolwhipping a brainworm with a teenage host as two other policemen mock the young faux-man. After the cops have left, the shocked human rushes to the brainworm's aid. A connection forms between the two, and in short time their bond becomes unbreakable.

After being shown the travesty of the ghettos by their schoolmate, a group of scholarly youths agree to help protest and work to put an end to this unjust treatment. As time goes by, the Brainworm-Human Alliance -- headed by the young man and his brainworm friend -- gains more and more support, but the government refuses to budge.

>>12743064
Rebellion. Riots and firefights in the streets. Many lives are lost on both sides, but by the righteous determination of its dual leaders, the Alliance stays strong.

Facing total anarchy, the leading government official finally submits. A formal acceptance of brainwormkind into the ranks of humanity is signed by the the president and the Alliance's two leaders. Photos. Smiles. Celebrations. A landmark in human history.

Brainworms emerge from the ghettos and begin integration into society -- the process assisted and hastened by the now government-authorized Alliance. Prejudice erodes as day-to-day encounters and common experiences foster understanding and familiarity. Hatred, fear, and resent recede into the towns of redneck types and the hearts of those less isolated. The last aftershocks of the revolt and subsequent reorganization subsiding, society finally stabilizes.

>>12743032
i think basic body horror will override encountering what seems to be regretful parasitic murderous monstrosities.

well, for most people anyhow.
>probably a few people around here who would be alright with it, as long as they were not jerks.

ah well, as long as no one tries to eat My brain without asking politely and buying me dinner first.

>>12743072
Years pass and life goes on. A late night return to the office for a forgotten folder and several fatigue-induced pressings of the wrong elevator buttons later, the intellectual liberal type -- now a man grown -- finds himself once more in a place he had not intended to be. Walking through several poorly lit metallic hallways lined with locked, unmarked doors, the man is met with an odd smell and the faintest hints of sound.

Following the increasingly unpleasant scent and the growing clamor, the man finds his confusion beginning to give way to anxiety. When finally he reaches the pair of double-doors from which his trail emerged, the smell has become nauseating and the sound, a cacophony of shouting and movement. He turns the handle of the unlocked door with great hesitation, and is nearly suffocated by a blast of fetid air. Inside, he stands in a narrow hallway between two clear glass walls. Though the echoing din remains obscured, the man quickly discovers the source of the staggering scent.

Beyond each of the see-through barriers and separated by sex, unclothed men and women of 20 or so years of age and remarkable physique huddle in silent masses. Sleek black tubes anchored to the walls and buried into human spines explain the vacant eyes and drooling mouths of the docile prisoners, whose perfectly sculpted bodies are stained with grime indistinguishable and marred by scars innumerable. Their only movements are involuntary -- their bodies shaking and rocking and twitching.

>>12743079
Wait, I don't even have to bring flowers?

SOLD!

>>12743082
The man steels himself, drawing on that same indignant fury that had throttled an entire society so many years ago, and marches towards the massive and slightly ajar door at the other end of the hall. Heart pounding and mind racing, he peers through the tiny gap and into the colossal auditorium beyond.

A towering projection of a white screen bearing a strange symbol and the words, "The Time Has Come!" in bold print covers one wall. Beneath the image, on a small stage, several well-dressed Alliance members, policemen, and government officials, all with beaming smiles, sit in a row of chairs. Closer to the platform's center, the old President sits with folded arms – smug satisfaction stretching his face to the point of caricature.

And standing behind a podium draped with a flag bearing the strange symbol, stands the man's dearest friend. Making a speech with such passion and vigor, the young faux-man has the audience cheering, stomping, and clapping with exuberance. The celebrating legion of physically perfect brainworm-grasped men and women are clad in military-grade protection with the strange symbol emblazoned on the chest. His voice rises to a roar and the reaction of the infested becomes deafening as the speech approaches its conclusion.

The young faux-man turns his head and locks eyes with his former friend and comrade as he thunders out the final words of his oration:

THE TIME HAS COME!

>>12743032
I kinda agree here. The parasite wasn't evil, or malicious. It didn't plan to kill anything intelligent, it was just following instinct. While I will be the very first to admit having one's brain eaten and being controlled by a bug is creepy, you can't hate them for it in this situation.

It's an interesting moral gray area because the one we see seems to be a genuinely nice person... bug.. and it feels guilty. It doesnt seem inclined to lay eggs and spread the infestation or anything. As long as the parasitic thing is purely by accident and far between in occurring, I cant hate them.

>>12743173
Okay but then how do you end up with a whole community of them like the guy above is describing? If they reproduced in a way that put other people at risk of becoming a host then it's no longer so harmless, regardless of intentions.

>>12743064
>>12743072
>>12743082
>>12743127
It's neither creative nor well written, but the fact that it unintentionally evolved from what was going to be a casual, several-sentences-long reply made me decide to post it.

Though I regret your misfortune, I cannot be held liable for any time flushed down the drain by reading my mental abortion.

>>12743173
>It doesnt seem inclined to lay eggs and spread the infestation or anything.

Thus why the whole bandwagoning about gathering hosts and hivemind and such seems so odd to me... a sentient host is basically an error, an anomaly that halts the normal lifecycle - in short, from the perspective of biology, it is Not A Good Thing for the brainworms as a species... like a tick feeding on a dog that makes it infertile.

>>12743218
That's another thing altogether. If the parasites actively act to harm humans, they're fair game for hate and killing.

If they are few and far between and only rarely infect people who either volunteer or are attacked in the wild, my point stands.

This...would be a cure for Alzheimer's and other horrible brain disorders.

>>12743283
Well, it's hard to have a brain disorder if you are a brainless corpse-marionette.

Remember, these larvae EAT BRAINS AND KILL THE HOST IN THE PROCESS. This isn't some harmless "bonding" thing like Marvel's "symbiotes", it's freaking Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

>>12743283
amongst other things.

>>12743307
No, it's uploading your brain into a large bug. Depending on how durable or long lived the brain worm is, you might have a whole civilization doing it for the advantages.

>>12743307
To some people, personal survival is less important than what they stand for. If someone is around after you who knows your suffering and ideals and struggles and absolutely will follow the path you chose in life... (Assuming the bugs always meld and agree with their hosts)

Well suffice it to say, it IS a kind of immortality. What you stand for and a significant part of your personality and memory will live on. Some would say that's enough.

>>12743338
You're still dead. You can copy an original daVinci ten thousand times, but once the original's gone, it's gone for good. And that larva's lifecycle is halted, due to the fact they're not supposed to eat intelligent brains, so no second-gen bugs coming from it.

What happens when you run out of new bugs, and the ones you have begin dying off?

>>12743307

You've never known someone with advanced Alzheimer's have you?

Trust me on this, your brain being devoured by a bug which then controls your body while retaining your memories and personality is by FAR the lesser of two evils.

>>12743377
I have, actually. My grandmother. Can barely recognize herself in photos, let alone recognize family in person. And frankly, given the choice between her demise and being imitated by some skull-riding parasite, I'd finish her myself with no regrets, because the latter would be some twisted parody, not her.

I am a big fan of transhuman endevors, but having the back of your head chewed out and brain eaten just so a fragmented structure of your former consciousness can drag itself through existence for a while (growing rather corpselike even if it avoids being torn apart and burned by villagers) is not "uploading"


on an individual basis, on a "oh, the helpful friend i have dealt with for a while takes off their hood and shows the chitinous protrusion from the back of their skull" maybe you can deal with it.. maybe you can deal with the 'person' you have interacted with.

on a personal level.. if my consciousness 'boots up' in the form of a almost-dead body and a thing in 'my' head, muddled with memories of that thing KILLING ME, and its/my own memories of BEING THAT THING WHILE KILLING ME.. well, i dunno if i would deal.. but i would certainly Try.

but on an overall level, on "hey i heard there is a movement spreading, people having bugs eat their brains and use them like a puppet" then we are looking for nuke launch codes or opening portals into the Plane of Eternal Fire in their caves, something like that. Its like the freakin' Brotherhood all over again, nevermind if they claim to be the same person.

>>12743124
you charmer you.

>>12743415

Well, as someone at risk for Alzheimer's myself, at the first sign of onset I would personally slather my head with barbecue sauce and walk around in the wormiest part of the planet yelling "Soup's On!" at the top of my lungs.

I'd still burn it with fire and hate.

>>12743447
finally, someone gets my point...

>>12743454
seconded

>>12743454
And when one of them crawled up your back, split open up your sagittal suture, peeled back your parietal bones like the flaps on a box of Cheezits, and sucked your cerebral contents down whatever it considered a gullet, YOU WOULD BE DEAD. Yes, your corpse would still be wandering around, saying "Hi, Bob" to your mailman and trying to find where the damn TV remote went, but it would NOT be you, no matter how well the overgrown maggot playing Gundam pilot with your carnal husk might be at imitating.

>>12743533
...yes, I went and looked up skull anatomy just for the "box of Cheezits" analogy. Fear my geekiness.

>>12743533

Yeah, but "Not me who is like me" is better than "Me whose mind is slowly dissolving like a sugar cube in coffee".

I understand that you have a natural and rational horror at the thought, by it's a loss of self either way, and I would choose the path that left something behind.

If there was anything that would stop me from going through with it, it'd be how unfair it was to the worm.

>>12743620

It was a masterful simile.

>>12743626

>but it's a loss

>>12743626
Well, considering the typical physical condition of most patients of alzheimers/parkinsons/other neurological disorders, and typical state of their brains, I imagine to the worm it's be about as appealing as a half-moldy pizza and a junkbox car would be to us - sure, you COULD take them, but why would you WANT to, when so many other choices are so much better?

>>12743675

That comes later, at onset the Alzheimer's sufferer is as able-bodied as anyone of that age would be.

>>12743697
fair enough, but it's a rather drastic jump, considering how the symptoms rather slowly progress and are vague to identify. Can't just go "Oh shit, Ted forgot his car keys again; honey, go get the brainworm." Be kinda like a leg amuptation for a stubbed toe.

>>12743533
Mmm... brain. Um, I mean Mmm... cheezits.

I'M NOT A WORM.

>>12743721

I just pictured that scenario, I laughed aloud, well struck.

>>12743757
that's what they all say..

they say it was a bad dream.. they say they must be confused.

until you get the mirrors and show them the dried blood on the back of their neck. Show them the curved, slowly pulsing mess clinging with vicious barbs to the back of their skull.

They all claim to be human, until you tell them they are a murderer and a puppeteer.

What happens then, well.. that's up to them.

>>12743813
Hat. This is just a hat. Really. Just a strange lumpy warm hat. Which I'm not taking off because, um... I've accidentally glued it to my head. Yes, that's it.

>>12743813
How do you know the worm isn't lying?

>>12743064
>>12743072
>>12743082
>>12743127
>>12743219
Nothing, /tg/? Not even an insult? A tl;dr?

I has a sad.

>>12743849
how do i know that you are a person either, much less any specific one? perhaps you are a cunning illusion built to seem alive, seem to think, so forth. How do i know any of you are real?

>psychotic break

ah, forgive me..
where was i? Ah, yes.. Brainworms, large.
They remember things, i suppose. They might show functional similarities with the original host (they always peel apples a certain way, they laugh a certain way to certain jokes)

beyond that.. there are gray areas perhaps. where people wonder just what part is original and what is monstrous.

>>12743946
It was okay. No explanation on why there are ghettos of wormies in the first place, not even a suggestion. That makes it feel like like a glimpse into a bigger thing and more like glimpsing onto a stage. Composition and all that, too framed.

Kinda hard to explain, I'm not a writer, but it was interesting.

>>12743969
>what's original
Most of the mental echo. Nothing metaphysical. The corpse.

>what's monstrous
Everything else.

>>12744021
I'll take it. Thank you for stroking my ego, sir. I can die with no regrets.

>>12744029
Okay, if they're mostly the original personality with only a little bit monstrous, why not treat them almost the same? Black box and all that. If they're mostly monstrous with only fragments of the original personality, then treat them as a monster.

>>12743946
The story feels more like a framework, which I guess makes sense given the timeframe.
The ending is kinda lame, though. It just doesn't follow that the alliance would win and then revolt again.

>>12744091
>>12744021
>and all that x2

I'm going back to study, I think my brain is glitching up...

Anyway I like this idea, love to try it on some players. Easy to mistake on the surface for another brain-washing cult but gives them an interesting existential dilemma, especially if one of them gets nom'd.

>>12744091
well, the memories and persona are alike, but the emotional state and such... well, it's like an actor following a script. Sure, it's great, but no matter how good the actor and how well-done the script, one can tell when it's not genuine.

And it's not. Just a flawed imitation of the original. Close, but not quite.

>>12744097
I was kind of going for a propaganda film/PSA. If you see an absurd allegory for the dangers of immigration, it's not your imagination.

I almost framed it in the context of someone watching a movie at the theater, with a stereotypical "it was just a movie/dream/story! ...or was it? DUN DUN DUN" ending.

rolled 21517 = 21517

Guys! Hasn't Bioschock taught us anything about containing memories and knowledge into one creature? It either ends up like this:

rolled 22450 = 22450

>>12744274

Or this.

... Yeah. I dunno either.

/tg/'s old "petrify, sculpt then stone to flesh" trick.

>the worm has turned

Evil mode activated? I told you the worm would be evil.

>>12745061

Kill that with fire and magnets!!

>>12745827
but its cute

>>12745061
Looks more like upset-mum-dealing-with-unspeakably-bratty-and-morally-repugnant-not-really-a-child-who's-not-even-he
rs mode to me.

>>12745061

>"You've treated me like shit since the day we took you in!"

Surprised? Abominations don't get equal treatment.

Man, I'd love to encounter this in a campaign. The characters I usually play have a hard-on for justice and shit, so seeing this thing walking about would royally piss them off and make for a ton of interesting character reaction.

no, you gonna be da worm-face.

After reading more about her, I'm filed with a swell of sympathy for Piper. We're not talking about some unspeakable doppleganger who's aping her mannerisms, but a bonafide transferrence of consciousness into an invasive alien parasite.

She has the traumatic experience of dying horribly from both her perspective and that of the brain worm. She had a life and a family once, but the circumstances of her accident were so appalling that her own daughter wants nothing to do with her.

She's the victim of a horrifying space mishap. If that doesn't warrant some small measure of compassion, what does?

>>12747713

Even more of an excuse to kill it. She died horribly, doesn't get the conclusion of death, her family doesn't want to be with her, and now she's essentially a walking corpse. Why let the thing suffer? Why let an abomination run around when it's suffering as a result of being an abomination?

>>12747713
In what strip is her death shown? I think I missed it.

If she remembers being her. if sh has all of her memories, then how is she really dead?

I propose that as long as her memories remain there is no true death.

think of this; a computer program gets copied from another medium; you save a image from this thread.

when this thread 404's, does the image you saved cease to exist? no. you still have an identical copy of it.

it's the same dilemma with transporters in star trek; you don't actually beam yourself proper, just everything you are gets recorded as a data stream and a copy is assembled at the receiving destination like a people FAX machine and the original is destroyed.

brainslug woman still has a heartbeat, still produces bodily fluids, her body still functions as normal, just that her brain was replaced with a giant invertebrate that has downloaded all her memories. she is still alive and will continue to be as long as that slug retains her memories which may very well be indefinitely even long after her body is destroyed.

>>12748021

But if we assume the brain holding her memories and personality is the "core" of the human being, the worm has transplanted it with itself. It may have copied what she was but it still replaced the essential part of humanity with itself. It's still a copy, a mockery of what originally existed. It can't be considered a person, it's aping the person it was out of reflex, not out of a sense of genuine conciousness.

>>12748074

that may be, but it does a convincing job of it.

lets imagine you replace your brain with a cybernetic processing center ala ghost in the shell.
is the person dead now? thye have all of their memories, all of their desires, they can build new memories and even save the memories on an external storage device so they can remember more.

is that truly death? the original vessel may be destroyed, the original may be lost forever, but the copies remain. and that's all reproduction is for many species; making copies.

through a debatable and ultimately subjective initial death, you become immortal via constantly copying one's accumulated memories. beats cutting the end of your dick off and talking to your carpet.

>>12748074
How can you say that humans aren't human out of reflex? Instinct and reflex are part of what makes us human - if human!Piper's reflexes and instincts transferred over to slug!Piper, then your argument is invalidated.

>>12748173
I...don't know how to reply to that last part.

>>12748192
Yes, but that was originally centralized in human!Piper. The fact remains that the worm copied that. It's NOT Piper - it's a bug that thinks it's Piper. That doesn't mean it's Piper hanging on in the worm somehow.

>>12748246
Ok, let's hit that from a different angle. Let's say you die, and in the next moment another human being from some other place in the world, who was previously some other person (we'll say they don't have any family or friends or responsibilities - someone who won't be missed) is warped across the world to where you died as your body is warped out, and in that same instant they are modified to not remember anything of their past life, to remember every iota of things of yours, and to look, smell, be shaped, act, and generally 'be' you. Now, we can both agree - you died. The important question is, and for the sake of argument of this question assume that the fact that this other nameless person's disappearance makes absolutely no effect in the world as a whole at all, the question is, -does it matter that you died?- I mean, you, an exact human copy of you, is right there. You will go on with your life the exact same way, you will have the exact same genetics passed to your kids and have the same genetic dispositions, all that. Does it matter that you died? We'll even throw in the concept that your friends and family were standing around watching when all this happened - you fell over dead, you glowed, vanished, and reappeared whole. Aside from the phenomenal weirdness and probably questioning of what happened, does it really matter?

In before someone submits this to SCH.

>>12748349

The problem is that you're factoring ignorance into this argument. It's easy to claim that, "well, nobody knows what really happened and nothing seemed to change, so it's okay". And I'll admit that my argument focuses on knowing what happened. But because I know what happened, and characters in the comic know what happened, it's a pretty big deal. In this case we need to deal with the circumstances of the argument, and the circumstances involved this innocent woman getting her brains eaten by a parasite worm who then suddenly started acting like her because it copied her personality.

Even if the worm IMMEDIATELY started acting like Piper the minute the real Piper died, the fact remains that it's because the worm downloaded her personality. There's another living being in the equation here. The copy analogy is fine when you're talking brain copies or replacing a brain with a machine and downloading the mind into it. It's a machine. It's soulless. But we're talking an organic creature here. It essentially dominated Piper and took over, like a parasite is wont to do. No amount of mimicry will change that. As far as I'm concerned, when the worm took over, the Piper we know was dead and gone and this thing is a mockery of that human being.

Now I REALLY want to encounter this in a campaign...the player conflict would be amazing.

One of the most childish assumptions in this kind of discussion is that theres some sort of intrinsic quality, youness, that needs to be measured for something.
This is ridiculous, people change constantly, losing an arm doesn't make you less of a person, going to bed doesn't either.
As long as the personality remains thats you for all intents and purposes, the vessel dieing is no more significant than the difference between an adult and a child.

>>12748445
I agree. I don't think either of us can come to a total resolution but this is definitely great fodder for RP.

>>12748453
From what i have noticed skimming through the first bots of the comic, especially >>12739376 'Pepper' knows that she is an embodiment of 'her' personality inside the worm.

So since this new gestalt (worm+host) Knows it is not the same person (despite being willing to pretend) i suppose it can be said fairly clearly that the original person is Dead.

But, hey, if the new parasitic gestalt personality is an acceptable 'person'.. then.. groovy. just as long as they are not tricking you into some false trust while they prepare to lay eggs in your chest.

Bump for interesting thread!