Parasite Bruul

As the Achilus Crusade spreads across the Jericho Reach it has encountered numerous new alien horrors and dangerous indigenous species. Among the strangest and most insidious of these are perhaps the Bruul Parasites—vile parasitic creatures which nest in sentient creatures, drawing energy from their prey’s consciousness and controlling its body. First encountered among the blighted worlds of the Cellebos Warzone they were thought to be some vile new weapon of the Dark Gods; in time, however, they were discovered in other places and the Inquisition was forced to investigate, learning a great many disturbing facts about this new menace to the Crusade in the process. Unlike many kinds of parasites, the Bruul Parasite does not simply leech vitality from its host, hiding unseen in their flesh to devour them slowly from within over time; instead it wholly takes control of the subject, feeding as much on its memories and personality as its actual body. The Bruul Parasite also travels great distances to find its prey, seeking out centres of civilisation and centres of sentient population, often hitchhiking on lesser creatures until it can find a true host to latch onto. It then spreads slowly and carefully, using the hosts own memories to blend into its surroundings and create for its self a tight knit family or social grouping where it can breed and multiply. Hosts infected with Bruul Parasites are easy to detect, their eyes sunken into their sockets and their lips pulled back as the worm wraps itself tightly around their brains. The hosts’ movements are jerky and uncoordinated, though they can put on bursts of speed when threatened. Hosts also tend to become emaciated over time, as the Bruul Parasite does not really understand the concept of eating unless it comes across a memory or instinct that prompts it to feed. Bruul Parasites do act with cunning however, and seem well aware of the effect they have on the appearance of their hosts. They make every effort to disguise these effects where and when they can, at least until they have created a secure environment for themselves in which to hide from uninfected members of their host species. It is difficult to determine whether or not the Bruul Parasite is a creature of intentional or accidental malevolence. Outside the host it is even difficult to determine if the Bruul Parasite has any intelligence at all, except the knowledge and memories it gleans from its hosts. What is clear is that when threatened, Bruul Parasites go to great lengths to protect themselves and their host, at least until the leap to a new host. This is especially true if the Bruul Parasite feels its social or family unit has been threatened, or that its supply of hosts is about to be cut off or destroyed. Even when discovered and brought to battle, Bruul Parasites are very difficult to kill, and there is only a short time to do so when they transfer from one host to another. This usually occurs from the eyes, mouth or ears and the worm can leap several metres to reach a new host. Those wishing to dispatch it have only the time before it can work its way into its host to squash it or hack it apart before it nests and once again must be driven out by destroying its new host body.