Post by Teller on Oct 27, 2015 22:07:36 GMT -4
Stilug
The stilug are a parasite race of insectoids about the size of a large songbird. The adults rarely swarm together, but will in late summer when the breeding season is about to end. They sting their prey—any mammal large enough to experience the stiffness their eggs cause and still remain healthy—in the ribcage somewhere, laying between three and five eggs. The host may not immediately notice they’ve been stung, and the area may or may not feel bruised the next day.
The host will not exceedingly suffer as the eggs grow to about the size of a chicken egg. The eggs secrete a toxin which stiffens the muscles surrounding them to further protect themselves from jostling or punctures. The host isn’t able to properly use or move those muscles once they’ve been fully immobilized, but remains otherwise uninhibited by the eggs’ presence. The eggs won’t be large enough to safely locate and remove until the fifth week, and must be removed by the end of the sixth week. In the seventh or eighth week the eggs hatch and the larvae eat their way out of the host. This process doesn’t necessarily kill the host, but the injury caused, subsequent shock and the eggshells left behind nearly always do. Once free, the larva crawl away to a secluded place and evolve over the next few days into the adults, and the process begins again.
Stilug only live about a year, and are sexually mature as soon as they become adults. They live on the edges of forests and grasslands in climates that are warm at least half the year, and those that don’t hibernate deep enough underground die. In climates warm year-round they don’t need to hibernate. Their diet consists mostly of other, smaller insects.