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GREED DEVILBIRD  CLASS: DEVILBIRD BIOLOGY: Slowly dragging its cumbersome, chitinous cranium as it aimlessly wanders, this highly unintelligent Devilbird constantly replicates its brain in the form of luminous, slimy "pearls" that can locomote of their own volition and exude an infectious, narcotic vapor that may compel other creatures to ingest them, though in many cases a pearl simply finds its own way into a new host body. Even as the cysts replicate destructively throughout living tissue, the afflicted interpret them as precious, magnificent treasures to be protected at all costs, forming collectives of infectees that attempt to produce and hoard as many of the rolling parasites as possible. Wherever it may drag itself, a Greed feeds primarily on tiny organisms lured by its sweet aroma and trapped in its barbed, adhesive tongues. Its constant, guttural cry is somewhat between the honk of goose and a bovine mooing. BEHAVIOR: A Greed's original brain is virtually devoid of conscious thought, but the neural cysts it produces, combined with those of any infected vassals, are dimly conscious conscious in their own right, and can almost be considered a single superorganism, exhibiting intelligent decisions through trial and error not unlike a massive insect colony. APPLIANCE: A Greed's strategic value is self-evident, as even its pearls alone can make a powerful diversion or insidious lure. Despite the fact that they desire more "pearls" and can acquire more with every new host, vassals will violently attack any creature they believe might "steal" one of their own. GREED INFECTION: the Greed's brain perpetually splits into infectious, self-replicating, pearl-like cysts that drive hosts to possessive, paranoid madness.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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