The Mishhuvurthyar are a synthetic species characterized by tentacles and their ability to float and reviled for their aggressive, predatory nature and foul demeanor. They are quite technologically advanced.
The Mishhuvurthyar are encouraged to be mean and highly competitive. While perfectly able to work in teams, the Mishhuvurthyar tend to look down on any other species as totally worthless except as food and incubators. They are collectors of corpses and see the smell of death as a sign of power; thus, their lairs are usually pretty repugnant to humans, although the Mishhuvurthyar themselves don't have a natural stench. Deep-rooted parts of their culture are to never be ruled in any way by an outsider, to fight when things don't go their way (or when frustrated), and to make other species into helpless toys.
Mishhuvurthyar resemble masses of ribbed tentacles, with a bony head on a slimy base. The number of tentacles seems to depend on a variety of factors and is different from one Mishhuvurthyar to the next (usually around 30). The Mishhuvurthyar use a natural psionic anti-gravity field to float. Mishhuvurthyar have two eyes in each eye socket on their exoskeletal skulls, and both consume and excrete food through their underside via a digestive pouch on the bottom.
With the exception of the Parasite-Type, all Neo Mishhuvurthyar come with a Standard Tentacle Package. Mishhuvurthyar tentacles often have several retractable needles containing strong chemicals to paralyze and intoxicate their prey. The Mishhuvurthyar reproduce rather unromantically. They usually stab some creature and plant their eggs in it, using it as an incubator, often keeping it immobilized. Apparently, the Mishhuvurthyar have both male and female parts, and can fertilize their own soft eggs if necessary.
The core citizens of the Mishhuvurthyar, the “Advanced type” is an improvement over the old Classic-type bodies. They have gravity manipulation as well as advanced stealth camouflage abilities in addition to the Standard Tentacle Package. As according to the NMX philosophy, they are harder, stronger, faster and all around better than their old bodies.
Mishhu born from NMX eggs are all of the Advanced-Type. The Advanced-Type can cover itself in a hardened cocoon which will, after a period of time, birth itself into another NMX type. Converting to a Crab-type NMX requires a large supply of food and converting to a Parasite actually produces a litter of Parasite NMX bodies, usually four to twelve, depending on the mass of the original body and the size of Parasite-Types created. Mishhu born from a properly fertilized female will be of the same type as the Mishhu who fertilized the female.
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Standing 4-8 meters tall, the Crab-Type Mishhuvurthyar (AKA “Brute”) is the new Shock Troop of the NMX, designed for security detail on NMX vessels and to support NMX Powered Armor alongside Parasite-infected troops in boarding and planetary assault conditions. The Crab-Type NMX is characterized by its large forward armored skull-plate, which has a latticed layer of protection separating it from the main skull to help deflect or reduce the damage from most types of attacks. Additionally, the lattice protects the Crab-Type from psionic or psi-based assaults. Similarly, the back shell of the Crab-Type is designed in much the same way, with a split down the center that can be opened up to expose the Standard Tentacle Package protected within. With four rear legs for locomotion and two forward manipulator legs that double in helping with movement or can be used to hold a weapon, such as an aether rifle, the Crab-Type NMX also has two large forward claws that are protected by similar, smaller shells and possess large horn-like blades used for shredding or crushing.
If the core of the Crab-Type is not properly disposed of, upon death of the NMX, a hardened cocoon will form over its second, underdeveloped brain, which activates after death of the main brain of the Crab-Type, and uses the dead tissue around it to grow and hatch into a Advanced Mishhuvurthyar.
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The parasite is a highly mobile creature that serves as both a kinetic weapon and a mind-and-body-controlling parasite.
Mishhuvurthyar parasites are small four-eyed, slime-covered, and slug-like creatures with a round, tapered main body with penetrating front “teeth,” tendrils, and segmented “head” armor. The Parasite-Type NMX is the only of the new Mishhuvurthyar to not come with a Standard Tentacle Package, being too small to house the myriad tentacles. Instead, there are small sacs that carry the same injection-type fluids that are found in the STP that the Parasite-Type can inject using tiny needles in its mouth into its victims. They measure 10-40 centimeters in length. They will attempt to enter a victim's body through any available orifice or by burrowing through the skin. They are able to float in midair at speeds up to 145 kilometers per hour (90 mph).
Assuming a parasite weighs about 2 kg, and that it hits at its full speed of 145 km/h (40.2777778 meters per second), it impacts the victim (with its teeth) with a force of 1622.3 Joules. According to Wikipedia, the force of a 5.56 × 45 mm rifle round is 1,796 Joules and 1,400 Joules for a .44 Magnum pistol round. Essentially, getting hit by one is equivalent to being shot (PDR 3).
In addition, the Parasite type has a stinger that can be injected into a victim's brain or nervous system to completely take over a victim's body and use it to its will, enabling the NMX to completely control all systems of the victim's body. A living body is not necessarily required for this, as a recently dead body can also be used for this purpose. Often referred to as “Zombies,” due to the previously deceased state of the host body.
After an extended period of time, the victim's mind and personality will be completely overwritten, and the depleted husk of the NMX's former body will fall off and wither. Some (generally larger) varieties of parasite types leave a small bud on the skin that will eventually grow into a Standard Tentacle Package on the host body. Popular points of ejection are the middle of the back, the base of the skull, behind the shoulder blade, inside a limb, or in the stomach or genital area of the victim. Smaller Parasite-Types do not have the necessary mass to form STP buds, and are often used for more covert operations.
These infected persons make good infiltrators, since externally they can look normal despite being under Mishhuvurthyar control.The parasite is able to take some of the host's memories but it's not always a perfect process (basically up to the GM).
