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CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT
BIOLOGY: From the waist down, a Junjo exhibits healthy, energetic hominoid anatomy. From the waist up, the Junjo is a scaly-skinned bony piscoid that begins to decompose upon reaching maturity, its putrefying innards generating a steady stream of reeking, volatile gas. The true brain of a Junjo is housed within a symbiotic isopoid body, carrying with it the genetic information to replicate its complete outer body. Every six days, this crustacean retreats to the hominoid posterior while the rotting upper body is discarded completely, still floundering and belching gas while its brain-louse and posterior wander onwards, regenerating a new anterior in under thirty hours. During its reproductive cycle, a Junjo transfers its isopoid to the body of another vertebrate host, leaving its old form to stumble off and expire while its brain overtakes the new host body. Gradually, the host will bloat and decompose with the Junjo's symbiotic bacteria, emitting a stink that attracts other Junjo from miles away. In a bizarre mating frenzy, the creatures add their own brains to the host, which multiply within its body over the course of several days. Ultimately, each brain-louse will gestate a new embryonic Junjo around itself, and the host will rupture from the growing biomass of writhing young. A Junjo is sustained by the many insects and other small scavengers attracted to its rank odor, snapping them up in its protrusible jaw to be shared with its brain-louse. BEHAVIOR: A typical Junjo has a single-minded directive to "go," but no particular goal or destination. The monster simply continues to walk in a straight line as long as it is capable, leaving behind a trail of its own twitching, cast-off heads. APPLIANCE: Even the most pestilent of monsters can find the odor of a Junjo difficult to bear, though a few hardy Arthropoids are known to find it irresistibly appetizing. The Junjo's reproductive process is its most devastating secret weapon, allowing it to transform an adversary into a temporary, noxious new body while its old form wanders aimlessly. The originators of the Junjo are not known, but the creatures are said to have simply emerged unexpectedly from the sea in one great migration, replicated many times since as simple but effective bioweapons. STENCH: the gas of the Junjo is powerfully foul, nauseating and repelling even monsters accustomed to decay and filth. INFECTION: a Junjo's isopod braincase can exit its body at any time, invading another host and transforming the victim into a bloated, gas-producing mobile brood chamber. REGENERATION The Junjo can regenerate endlessly from its crustaceoid brain, even leaving its putrid heads behind to continue emitting gas.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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