Author(s): Evalin
Other development: Droven and Flittles
Additional Info: N/A
Peer Review Thread: N/A
Founder Review Thread: N/A
Synopsis: The Sikuli are a worm like creature that dwell in colonies on an earthen world known as Raldat. They are a parasitic race that feed off of the djed of their host, usually to death and can be found in both the living and the dead as they make little distinction between the two. A typical colony is made up of one 'queen' that is the mother to all of her subordinates. The queen herself can be quite large in size, but most of her children are no bigger than ordinary larva. Summoners find many uses for these creatures because they have a unique ability. Not only can they steal the djed of other creatures, but along with it they can take with them bits and pieces of memory as well. If a summoner wishes access to these abilities she first has to open the portal and extract a queen, and then allow this queen to infest her own body and spawn her children. In doing so the queen and this colony start a symbiotic relationship with their new host, becoming as much apart of them as their own liver, kidneys and heart and even sharing a moderate telepathic connection. The host can then infest another being with the queen's children, at once stealing the person's djed (the more larva that infests the quicker the drain), but when the larva is called back to the host they will bring with them bits and pieces of the other person's memory with them as well as a fraction of his or her djed which is shared with the host. The Sikuli must be fed at regular intervals or over time they will eat away at the hosts djed, and eventually kill them.
Outline:
- Intro
The Sikuli are from a world known as Raldat, which is very similar to Mizahar in that it has various types of biomes and ecosystems. Knowledge of this world was quite common during the reign of the Suvan and Alahean empires, and to this day its [[astral coordinates]] 9937548585931312 can be found in many older books on the subject of summoning.
The Sikuli themselves are maggot like worms that survive by consuming the djed of both living and dead hosts. Colonies will take up resident inside of a host or carcass and feed off of the djed until nothing is left. Often this causes a living host to die, and an already dead host to decompose at a faster rate. In ancient times Summoners found another unique use for them as well. By becoming a voluntary host with the Sikuli they could take part in a Symbiotic relationship in which both organisms prospered. The Sikuli gained a permanent home and steady source of djed which allowed them to grow and prosper more successfully than when they found more unwilling hosts, and the Summer gained a unique ability through his connection with the creatures. By infecting others with their hosted Sikuli the Summoner could slowly drain the djed of their enemies, but additionally when the Sikuli returned they carried with them bits and fragments of the infested individuals memories. - History
Much like the common worlds Raldat was used as a training world for Summoners during the beginning of the Alahean-Suvan war. Because of its similarities to Mizahar it was used a good way to compare how two worlds could become so different despite the traits that they shared. Most of the creatures of Raldat were identified and categorized, and for the most part were seen as simply interesting and possibly useful for specimens in other studies and research. It was not until the conflict grew on both sides of the war that a treasure was found in the form of a maggot like creature called the Sikuli.
The Sikuli were known by the Alaheans for some time before any practical use was found for them. They were believed to be a natural part of the worlds cycle of life as more often than not they were discovered in the bodies of dead animals aiding in their decay. By accident one day a researcher was infested by a specimen of Sikuli he had collected for study and discovered the creatures extraordinary hidden potential. He was put into isolation and observed for several days as he reported hearing voices in his head, whispers and odd thoughts that were not his own. His strength was slowly being drained away and over the course of 10 days his body decreased in muscle mass and he himself lost the energy to even walk as the Sikuli at away at his djed. Once more by accident an attendant also became infected by the Sikuli who were hosted by the researcher, and she too was put into isolation. The original host after this suddenly showed an increase in his strength and vigor and reported he now started to have memories he did not recognize, visions of people and places he had never seen before haunted his dreams and lurked just behind his eyelids. It was later confirmed that these memories were in fact shared between the host and the attendant he infected and the secret of the Sikuli was discovered.
The creatures fed on djed, and when they did they took with them pieces of memories and impressions from the organism they inhabited. The Summoner who played host to the creatures could then take those memories as their when the Sikuli shared the excess djed they collected with their host. These little maggot like creatures quickly became essential in the struggle between the warring sides. Summoners who hosted the Sikuli were put into positions of interrogation where they used the creatures to infest, weaken and pull the memories from spies, traitors and enemy soldiers. The information they collected was invaluable, and so the Sikuli earned their place in Alahean history. - Appearance
The Sikuli resemble maggots in nearly every way. Their mouth parts are used for biting and chewing through flesh which allows them to wriggle through an organisms body with relative ease. Their skin secretes a clear mucus which neutralizes the bodies natural defense against foreign bodies, and their soft forms are well adapted for slipping through the smallest of spaces. In a single colony there are two types of Sikuli. The first is the queen who then gives rise to her progeny. She is the largest, some growing to upwards of a foot in length and a width of two fingers. Her children are much smaller in comparison, the largest about an inch in length while the majority are smaller than that. Beyond their size differences the queen and her children are identical, and they even share the same spot patterns which can differ between colonies. Their colors can range between nearly translucent to sickly yellow with little variation outside of this. - Behavior
A colony is formed typically starting with a queen who either enters the corpse of an already dead organism, or who is consumed by a living one. The queen then travels into the creatures stomach and intestinal region where she grows and matures, the process taking only a few days as she feeds off of the host's djed. She then begins to reproduce, laying eggs in the digestive tracks of her host and when they hatch these children then spread through the rest of the body infesting them and taking over nearly every body cavity.
When she first enters a new living host the queen first inhibits the bodies immune system to prevent it from attacking and rejecting her. Then over the course of several days she not only diverts precious streams of djed to her new nesting location usually in the abdomen of the host, but she begins to integrate herself into the beings body, combining her own djed with the hosts until she becomes as much a part of the host as his own liver or heart. This process is what makes getting rid of a Sikuli infestation nearly impossible as to kill the Sikuli could very well mean to kill the host as well. When she has grown and matured sufficiently she lays her eggs and her children are born and spread through the hosts body where they also begin to feed on the host's djed and become one with their system as well.
The queen rarely leaves her original nesting spot, but her children freely roam through the host's body. As they crawl they secrete a mucus that partially numbs the area where they are working, so the host feels no pain though at times he will be able to feel them moving about under his skin and between his organs. The Sikuli burrow through soft tissue and muscle as they move through the host, but as they do they also leave behind a trail of darker mucus which clots and seals up any holes or openings they create, and the host's cells use these clots as scaffolding to repair the openings within a matter of chimes to prevent any unwanted internal damage caused by the Sikuli's natural behaviors.
The Sikuli themselves seem to have an active interest in keeping their host alive while they feed on it's djed, and so once infested the host does not need to worry about every becoming infested by another form of parasite. The Sikuli defend their host much like his immune system does, attacking foreign parasites and consuming any harmful djed that is inserted into the hosts body. Because of this hosts who are infested cannot practice the magic known as leaching, for as soon as foreign djed enters the body the Sikuli immediately begin to consume it to prevent it from harming the host. If the Sikuli are kept fed on the djed of organisms other than the host they will fall into a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. The host only needs to provide the Sikuli, specifically the queen, with another source of djed from time to time so that the creatures do not consume his until the point of death. - Abilities
When the queen enters the body of a living host and integrates herself into their very djed she forms a deep connection with the organism as their two separate djeds come closer and become one. Due to this sharing of djed the host and the queen share a weak telepathic connection, and while the Sikuli is not intelligent enough to speak she can give impressions to her host as a way of indicating the need to feed, or the entrance of a foreign djed into the hosts body. The host can often hear 'whispers' within their mind which in fact is the collective telepathic field of the queen and her many children within their body. By monitoring the levels of these mental whispers the host can determine the state of his infestation, if they are excited or relaxed, in need of a new feeding or if they are frenzied for one reason or another. Only the queen can give true impressions to the hosts, the rest are simple whispers at the back of the mind and easily ignored.
The Sikuli live by consuming the djed of their host, but in order to prevent them from completely consuming his life he can provide them with a new source of djed on which to feed. When the Sikuli begin to grow hungry the host can find a new organism to 'infect' with his colony. All he needs to do is to get near and physically touch another creature and the Sikuli will burrow through the skin and enter the new organism wherever there is physical contact. Rarely do the new host willingly accept this and thus they usually need to be restrained before the transfer begins. On rarer occasions the queen herself will need to feed on a new source of djed so as to prevent the host from being completely drained. At these times she can burrow and exit from the hosts abdomen and in turn burrow into the new host to feed. Once the feeding itself is done the queen and her children will return to their original host, and only rare occasions does this process result in the formation of a new colony inside of the victim.
When the Sikuli travel back to the original host after a feeding they will often share any excess djed consumed with the host, and with it bits and flashes of memories are revealed to the hosts mind. If the children are the only ones sent into the victim the flashes are random, but if the queen herself goes and returns she can be instructed to search for a particular memory. Those memories brought back by the queen are more detailed and vivid, but the queen rarely leaves the safety of the hosts body and coxing her out can be a difficult challenge taking days of gentle prodding through the telepathic link.
To a small extent the Sikuli can be controlled by their host's will through the telepathic link to the queen. The host can call the Sikuli to travel to a particular region of their body and to breech the skin, for instance when a feeding is required. They can also instruct the Sikuli to use their numbing agent or not so as to cause pain when they burrow into a victim. Doing so though opens the Sikuli up to the victim's immune system and often they do not return. Thus this is only done as a form of torture, and never to gain memories or djed from the victim. The queen can be bargained with through impressions in the telepathic field. She can be instructed to produce more of her children, and sometimes encouraged to exit the hosts body though she has to be returned within a few chimes or risk dying due to exposure to the outside world. - Summoning
The coordinates for the world Raldat are common enough and easy to find in any older book on the subject of summoning, but they do not fall under the classification as a common world. Because of the nature of the Sikuli their threat levels are relatively low unless they take up residence in a host, and so almost any stable portal can be used in their summoning. The most difficult part is finding the Sikuli. Having a familiar greatly increases the success rate of this summoning as it can enter the portal and search the immediate area for the Summer and find a colony of Sikuli that have take up residence inside of a corpse or carcass.
The queen must be brought through the portal either by the Familiar or by the Summoner through the use of long tongues to reach into the portal itself. Once brought into Mizahar the queen must be stored in a sealed jar with either fresh earth and green or a recently deceased organism for her to feed on while the Summoner stores stores her. The queen can only be kept like this for a few bells before she will begin to wither and die, and so the Summoner must act fast. If he wishes to take the Sikuli into himself to form a colony he must carefully introduce her to his own body by either directly ingesting her (if she is small enough) or letting her burrow in through his abdomen. The previous is highly discouraged as the process is highly painful and can sometimes lead to death if the queen burrows too far and ruptures another organ as she makes her way to the stomach and intestines. It is recommended if possible to find a smaller queen and directly ingest as this has the highest success rate.
After the first 24 bells the colonization begins, and at this point the new Host will begin to hear the first whispers and feel the beginning stages of the telepathic link with the queen. It takes 10 days for the colonization to be completed, and at this time the Host can influence the Sikuli in his body and his first need to feed with begin to make itself known as his djed starts to run low and the Sikuli announce their own hunger.
Once a Summoner takes in a Sikuli colony as its host the process cannot be reversed. The queen becomes an intimate part of the hosts body and djed, and she will live for as long as the host lives if not longer. While the host can loosely direct when and where the Sikuli move within their body they cannot prevent them from traveling everywhere they wish to go. That means it is very possible they will squirm under the visible skin and break the surface and reveal themselves at random times, which can be quite disturbing for those who see this and do not know about the infestation. Many who host these creatures face social isolation as their body becomes filled with wiggly creatures that disgust most who see them, but this is one of the risks a Summoner must take to fully utilize these amazing creatures.
