the pilots of UFOs, and also highly-derived humans who
fled from a future wherein environmental degradation among other
conditions drove them into a parasitic existence. They lost much of the
knowledge and infrastructure to produce or even repair their own
high-tech in the process.
2
from outer space. They arrived in a meteor - originally
meant to be a symbiotic boon to host species, long exposure to cosmic
radiation has mutated them into something hostile.
3
living artifacts of a proto-human civilization,
intended to survive their collapse and reclaim the Earth after
conditions became amenable again.
4
demons cloned from samples extracted from pig bones found sunken off the coast of Jordan.
5
a clandestine military experiment to create the perfect spies.
6
a natural species escaped from a cave system beneath Lake Baikal.
D6
These bodysnatchers aim to
1
kick off a global nuclear war to reduce humanity into
isolated and desperate communities which they could rule as unassailable
tyrants.
2
advance biotechnology without regard for human life, to
eventually remove their need for hosts entirely and afterwards
exterminate humanity.
3
use food additives, education systems, eugenics, and suchlike to turn humanity into complacent, even worshipful hosts.
4
bodysnatch everyone on Earth so they can merge into a
continent-sized fleshbeast which will consume itself until the end of
time.
5
experiment using human societies as lab rats, so they can learn how to make a utopia for themselves.
6
accelerate human development of space travel technology to spread themselves across the cosmos.
D6
Without bodysnatching, these bodysnatchers
1
resemble crustaceans that have been shucked from their shells and left to putresce in the sun.
2
look like a mating ball of vermicelli-worms tipped with delicate sucking flowers.
3
resemble a tangle of rotting roots, swooped and streamlined like a wasp, which reek of ammonia.
4
look like bloated amniotic sacs crawling about on gangly claw-tipped fingers.
5
resemble a flash of grotesque sensory impressions like
the fluttering wings of a Batesian mimic moth - the human mind refuses
to perceive their true form fully in a single moment.
6
look like a cross between teratomas and ginger rhizomes.
D6
These bodysnatchers bodysnatch
1
by implanting themselves into the spine of their host, leaving their host's consciousness locked in as they're puppeted about.
2
by psychically swapping their mind with the mind of
their target, walking away with their target's body while their target
is left trapped in the bodysnatcher's dying husk.
3
by immobilizing their target then attaching to them
with an umbilical tentacle, draining their life and memories to
transform into a perfect copy.
4
by ingesting a tissue sample from their target and
using that to spawn off a clone. The clone lacks the original's memories
until they track them down and eat their brain.
5
by fusing together with their target in a cocoon, emerging as a hybrid being under the bodysnatcher's control.
6
by injecting targets with a neuro-chemical cocktail
that rewrites their minds to the bodysnatcher's ends. Periodic
refreshing of this cocktail is necessary to maintain full control.
D6
A weakness of these bodysnatchers is
1
that the repressed instincts of their host can emerge in an exaggerated and uncontrollable fashion in times of stress.
2
their own slow and difficult reproduction.
3
that their bodies require certain exotic substances which those in the know could trace sales or thefts of to find their lairs.
4
their extreme reaction to capsaicin.
5
that they're out of touch with their stolen bodies, often failing to feed or clean them in a decent manner.
6
reproducing appropriate facial expressions.
D6
These bodysnatchers have infiltrated society
1
through the criminal strata, where their sociopathic tendencies and people disappearing is less likely to be notable.
2
through associations of doctors and scientists,
covering up evidence of their own existence and wielding the cudgel of
their presumed expertise.
3
through the police, taking advantage of existing secret societies and codes of silence.
4
through a big new vertically-integrated start-up, which
gives them access to influential financiers and suchlike and lets their
idiosyncracies be obscured under the excuse of company culture.
5
mostly only in a single town, turning it into their stronghold and sending out cautious feelers for the next stage of expansion.
6
through a prestigious university, replacing the next generation's bright young brains with the long game in mind.
Have not heard of this book, will have to put it on my list!
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