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ENVY DEVILBIRD  CLASS: DEVILBIRD BIOLOGY: Delicate, sensitive and highly unsteady, this honking little creature is physically the most vulnerable of the Devilbirds, but its toothless and beakless maw conceals a long, sharp tongue that can inject a host with a single, tiny neural parasite-cell that multiplies quickly, and establishes a long distance neural link between the two creatures. At first united as a single consciousness, the creature develops a parasitic copy of its own brain in the cerebellum of its host, and in turn, copies much of the host mind to its own neural tissue. The connection is then severed, and the two minds regain their sense of self in control of the opposite bodies. Trapped in the pitiful form of the Devilbird, a replicant mind feels an uncontrollable desperation to acquire a new body. Whatever memories dictate its behavior, an Envy has an appetite for soft, wet organic matter such as worms, slugs, algae and nutrient-rich mud. BEHAVIOR: An Envy can do as it pleases with a hijacked body, but regardless of its newfound freedom and power, its primary desires are comfort and safety, avoiding confrontation at all costs and fearful of being "put back." APPLIANCE: An Envy is obviously applicable to espionage if it can overcome its cowardice, and easily turn the tides of heated combat if it can simply land that single sting. ENVY INFECTION: the sting of an Envy's tongue "switches minds" between it and its host.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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