BONUS MONSTER 08:

Symbiotic Cerebral Guardian
SKZ2-ANTISLARKER

CLASS: BIOMECHA

Free, additional supplementary monsters for the Mortasheen Tabletop RPG Core Rulebook

Today's monster entirely designed and written by Bonnie Saucier

Description:
This monster appears to be a brain and a single eyeball housed in a transparent brain-shaped bubble. A translucent hose extends from the front like a breathing apparatus, connecting to a mechanical body resembling a short spinal column, which ends in three long, thin, insectile limbs. On top of the creature is a mutated plant resembling a second brain, with fleshy pinkish petals draping down over the mechanoid's head. Two black cables connect the monster's brain to the plant.

BIOLOGY:
This biomecha is designed for the sole purpose of housing and protecting a valuable brain, lacking utterly in unprovoked offensive capabilities and instead specializing in the nurturing of not only a brain but also a potted bloarm, utilizing the retroflora's unmatched mimicry of a fresh brain to misdirect would-be cerebrovores from its charge to the worthless bloarm- which is positioned in close contact with a pair of electrically charged antennae disguised as feeding tubes. If it is fully lost, a small repository of the bloarm's seeds are stored in the basin of its pot.

The SKZ2-Antislarker's dual spinal columns manufacture all the hormones and nutrients necessary to keep a bloarm fresh and fruiting at its peak effectivity without the use of nanomons or any psigital effect, simply cultivating the retroflora with absolute precision. Any cerebrovore attempting to crack the monster's braincase will likely be diverted to the more easily acquired bloarm, the disturbance of which will signal the monster to reflexively divert a powerful electrical current through the hardy fruit. The actual charge of the Antislarker is kept safe but visible under a tight translucent skin, nourished not by the typical radiotrophy-powered algal stew but the careful processing of stolen blood that is cycled into the carried brain by a second channel running from one of the Antislarker's lower appendages up through its primary spinal channel. In the worst case scenario that the Antislarker should fail to protect its charge, it will inject the brain with cultivated bloarm tissue to spoil the brain and prevent the collection of data by those monsters who can access brain memory.

BEHAVIOR:
With any symbionts, the Antislarker will become deeply depressed unless it is actively nurturing a growing bloarm to harvest its seeds for assimilation. The Antislarker itself is not immune to the effects of its bloarm, and will behave as though it is "missing its brain" as long as either the fruit or the donor brain is missing. It mourns the death of its bloarm as readily as it does its proper brain, even as it fully understands that bloarm's role as a non-sapient sacrifical decoy, and is known to hold a small funeral for its fallen symbiont if the bloarm should be fully destroyed in battle, wishing the retroflora farewell before it very carefully recycles the carcass to nourish a new bloarm selected exclusively from its previous symbiont's offspring if possible.

The Antislarker feels equally strongly towards its donor brain, uniquely perceiving this brain as a distinct entity under its care and avoiding extensive integration. The Antislarker flourishes in non-combat roles, making an excellent farmer in both traditional farming and Borgish brainfarms.

THE BLOARM:

The bloarm is a wildly successful retrofloral organism that contains a fruit that very precisely mimics a metahuman brain. During most of the year, the bloarm resembles an innocuous rubbery orange pod, but once during the spring and once during the fall, its wide petals peel open to reveal a vividly colored interior with a single fruit at the center that expertly entices cerebrovores. This fruit is precisely evolved to mimic the shape, smell, taste and texture of a brain, and the plant even runs a subtle electrical current through the fruit to mimic the cognitive process of a still-living brain- perhaps one that has been recently extracted. The mimicry of a bloarm is so enticing it is often preferred by cerebrovores even when placed next to actual brains, in a similar fashion to many ant-mimicking insect larvae. When a monster devours the apparent "brain," they also imbibe countless sticky seeds, durable enough to survive the many bizarre digestive processes of different cerebrovores. It is beleived to have originated on the shores of the corpsen sea, and spread far and wide by zombies before other cerebrovorous monsters slowly perfected its mimicry.

Bonnie's Concept Notes:

While all of the other monsters for this mortaween were chosen or at least conceived of in advance, the Antislarker is something that was conceived of, written, statted, and illustrated all over the course of two days as I had a burst of inspiration. Several of the elements leading to this design already existed in my mind- the idea of baiting a slarkzapper with a bloarm, the idea of a biomech going haywire bc it tried to use a bloarm as its brain, the idea of a biomech that exists exclusively to protect its brain that would be little more than a tightly wrapped membrane over the donor brain, based on old art bog didn't want to reuse for a monster. Bog did some redesign sketches for turning this into a monster with that idea, but was never fully sold. When the Brainslark came out, I started percolating the idea of baiting a slarkzapper with a bloarm, and just two days ago I synthesized all these ideas together to make the starter-compatible biomech you've all been begging for, all at once.