#cordyceps [Hivemind]

[fennel-tea-and-nightshade]

Bee: So....uhh....is it now she/her or he/him b-because you just named yourself king-

King Eli: Figure it out.

Bee: ....So, King Eli, he-

King Eli: *gets the Bunsenbrenner* "He" was the wrong answer BITCH

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

The autism has officially won. Anim vs Bug Fables, lets fucking go

Victim, the mercenaries, Chosen One, and Dark Lord are all going to be in here too as well as Alan. I just haven't gotten around to drawing them yet.

Infodump under the cut

Ive been thinking about this au a normal amount.

Alan will be a more aware Deadlander Omega.

Yes Purple is kind of a hivemind. He's basically the Royal Monarch boss, but if they didn't lure in bugs to kill them. He mostly just wants to protect the abandoned Ant Settlement and keep to himself. Also despite being awakened, he cannot speak Bugnish.

Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow are all a group from the North (aka front yard) and wanted to go to Bugaria for various reasons. Red wants to be an explorer, Yellow wants to study roach technology, Blue wants to make an offering to Venus in hopes of getting her blessing, and Green wants to be with his friends. They decide to go through the Giant's Lair because "haha most people go in there with only two bugs well be fine :)" and run into Second and Alan.

Victim I'm still not entirely sure what I want to be, but he will be a cordyceps zombie, Chosen will be a murder hornet, and Dark will be a red and black mason wasp.

[yanderes-galore]

...got ideas for sweet yandere Sozo from cult of the lamb?

Limited ideas, but I probably have something in my brain that could be useful. It's going to be short as I didn't have many ideas for the ant.

Admittedly I don't see too much yandere potential in this character... so sorry if things seem rushed. I probably could've done better with a set plot, lol. All I have right now is a vague idea.

Edit: I just realized you said "sweet" and I gave you the most grotesque idea ever. I can't be trusted with anything cute.

Yandere! Sozo Short Concept/Idea

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Implied stalking, Kidnapping, Drugging, Manipulation, Parasitic fungus, Death, Implied darling dies, Brainwashing.

Sozo's character is based off an ant infected by the parasitic ant fungus (cordyceps).

The fungus no doubt eroded his mind and made him unhinged.

He gets outbursts and has an addiction to fungus like a drug.

Sozo would've met his darling before the fungus took over his brain.

You knew him as a sweet worker ant before he got this... drug addiction.

You two were great friends from what you could remember.

Maybe then he cared for you then and the fungus gave him an obsessive need to keep you close.

Perhaps to infect you too, but he doesn't know that.

Sozo's yandere behavior is Obsessive and Manipulative.

He can't comprehend much in that infested mind of his other than a need to trap you.

Sozo has influence over fungus in this state and is skilled in the Brainwashing Ritual that he teaches The Lamb.

There's no doubt through the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms he brainwashes his darling into listening to him.

He lures you in with such a nice facade.

Like that of an old friend.

You haven't seen your friend in so long...!

You hug him and everything seems so well!

...Then you find yourself drugged up in his living space, barely aware of your situation.

Sozo does intend to kidnap his darling.

Murder is not considered but he finds info about you through the fungus.

Essentially Sozo is part of a hivemind.

You'll be too once he has you!

Overall Sozo's yandere behavior is primarily due to the fungus.

He was fine before it... now all he can fixate on is fungus and you (a host).

While he appears affectionate to your drugged body, it may all be a lie.

Even if he dies, you'll still be left to struggle.

The fungus is a parting gift from Sozo, a ticking bomb before you join him.

You're becoming one with the fungal hivemind.

Where you two will forever be together.

[mantisgodsdomain]

Can you tell more about ZB-162 please? It is sorting signals in my brain

...we have a 2.8k fic covering it WIP and scheduled to release by the end of February, if it counts?

We've posted it once or twice before (most notably in the dating poll), but ZB-162 is, functionally, the communications bug of the Snakemouth Den colony. Although its body is of a bee, it doesn't really consider itself to be one anymore - it considers itself to be a cordyceps symbiote that simply happens to inhabit a bee shell, and its former life to have very little impact on it. It is ZB-162, it was named as such pretty much the moment the cordyceps took, and it never really looked back.

Although not one of the first cordyceps to be made (it is, specifically, the 162nd zombee to be created in Snakemouth Den), it was one of the first to be successfully linked in a communication network. It's an "older" colony member due to having been in active communication since close to the beginning of the colony, and is the bug who both engineered most of the communication system in Snakemouth

It is possessed of a handful of Very Specific Traits - it cannot bring itself to stay idle, unable to sit still when there is anything it can do. This prevents it from hibernating, as much of the Snakemouth Den colony did during the time the lab was sealed. It has been up (and working on communications) more or less nonstop since it was connected, and is unlikely to stop any time soon - it prefers upkeep and busywork to any more active jobs.

Due to being more or less constantly active, it's basically always fiddling with things - it keeps the communication network functional throughout the cordyceps colony, which mostly means maintaining relays and keeping conversation threads separate, preventing colony members from "overhearing" private conversations or accessing information or threads of thought they'd rather keep private.

It has more or less unlimited access to the Snakemouth Den computers, having linked itself up to them while the roaches were still alive - it has access to more or less all of the files and controls for the lab, though it's VERY limited on what it can do with them. The main power source for the lab got taken out during the cordyceps breakout, and it's basically limited to what can be done on emergency power - and it completely lacks enough power to actually open the main doors, after they were sealed.

It runs a good amount of its programming through Kjdrira, since they have more processing power and storage space on their crystals, but it still hears a good chunk of the conversations around Snakemouth Den. A good chunk of its colonymembers are very disappointed by the fact that it isn't more gossipy, but the hivemind setup that Snakemouth's cordyceps have set up means that most things eventually get put into circulation, anyways.

It's been active longer than most of the other cordyceps combined, and has gotten a bit... jaded, during the time. You can only do so much, when you have a hundred years awake. Things seep in through the cracks. It's got no desire to be a bug anymore - it was terrible at that, anyways - but sometimes it wonders if this is any better, or if it's just caught in a different cage. It's a bit more positive once the lab gets unsealed, but it... doesn't really leave, regardless. It's spent a whole working on the lab systems. It's not really the kind of bug who would abandon its work for that.

Functionally, it's just one of those "we uploaded a human mind into the system to make this AI" setups, but it's still fully capable of not being an AI and simply returning to the human technician body that it occasionally uses to spruce up its own systems it just has no desire to do that because as far as it's concerned it's more AI than human in the first place and the body attached is mostly something that it can use to fix its cabling so it can go back to being an AI.

[monkeymindscream]

I feel like hopefully stirring up a discussion/inspiring people to share their own thoughts, so have some headcanons I have regarding the Krangs' fucked-up society/biology/etc:

—The Krang as we see them are basically a space-parasite that glommed onto the utrom species. The utrom scientists of yore poked Dimension X too hard (the dimension just past the prison dimension and right before the nothingness that sits at the center of all realities), and accidentally unleashed the eldritch horrors that existed within. i.e. The aforementioned parasites. The utrom ended up being completely overtaken, cordyceps-and-ants style, and countless lives across the galaxy were destroyed as a result of them not leaving well enough alone. Nice work, ya chucklefucks.

—Krang morality is… weird. They do understand there’s a separation between right and wrong, and as a group they tend to try to stick to the “right” side of the equation. And despite being just a shade away from being a hivemind, they can even have individual moral codes about what they personally view as acceptable and reprehensible.

It’s just that unfortunately, their definition of “right vs. wrong” is very different from the rest of the universe. That whole “we’re stronger which means we know better than everyone else” mentality.

—They genuinely think they’re helping when they assimilate planets. Uno wasn’t spouting bullshit when he declared “I am saving this WEAK planet!” Because, really, why would he bother to bullshit at that point? He’d thought his victory was assured, and that Leo would either die at Raph’s hand or be beaten down enough to get krangified himself. Why bother making that statement if he didn’t 100% believe it?

As far as the Krang see it, they are the strongest beings in existence. Only the strong deserve to live. By assimilating other lifeforms, they’re gifting them the strength of the Krang, essentially granting them the right to life. There’s a reason Uno described their goals as a “crusade.” If any other Krang had been around to hear him say he was “saving” earth, they’d have agreed wholeheartedly.

(The “I am a gift!” –line would’ve elicited some eyerolls, though. Not that he’d have cared – as far as he’s concerned he’s just stating the facts, but anyway.)

—What we saw of Earth’s invasion – both in the snippet of the future and present-day events – was far, far more violent and cruel than how Krang invasions typically go. (Example: At one point Casey mentions a “Krang labor camp.” Which, considering they have the ability to krangify whoever/WHATever they want, the Krang shouldn’t logically have a need for a labor camp. They made one anyway.) This is for two reasons:

First, there were only three true Krang doing the invading. We see mechsuits marching around in the future, sure, but we don’t actually see any Krang inside them. This is because it’s just empty tech the sibs built to enforce their will/probably just to deal with the tech Donnie built to combat them. Since the sibs couldn’t rely on numbers to take out their enemies cleanly, they had to utilize brute-force and make things messy.

Second, Uno says, and I quote: “The people of this planet will pay for what they’ve done to me.” The assimilation of earth was personal. He (+his siblings, I can only imagine) were fucking pissed, and putting the hurt on the creatures who took down his entire species was just as much the goal as conquering them was.

—Absolutely none of the chemicals that help determine humans’ emotions can be found in any of the Krang. As such, certain earthling emotional responses are literally beyond their comprehension when they’re functioning how they’re supposed to. They don’t feel anxiety, for example. They can feel fear, but there needs to be immediate danger present for them to get to that point. Which, considering their whole “strength is the end-all-be-all; the weak can get fucked” mentality, isn’t exactly something they would openly indulge in anyway, but you get it. In fact, most emotional responses besides all-out rage are considered the Krang equivalent of going clinically insane in their society. 

(Like with humans who’ve been driven insane, these responses are usually brought on by trauma.)

—Bouncing off of this, they’re mostly incapable of feeling empathy or compassion. Not entirely, granted, but it’s essentially only towards members of the little packs they’ll form amongst themselves, and even then there’s limits. Frankly, if they start to exhibit too much of either, they’d be placed into the same “insane” classification above. Too much empathy/compassion will inevitably endanger the Krangs’ collective mission, so more often than not offenders are put down rather quickly.

Note: I really need to emphasize that instances of the above (Krang feeling empathy or compassion/displaying extreme emotional responses that aren’t rage) are not ever a “ooh this individual from an Always Evil species saw the light and now they’re a good guy!” –situation. Krang who end up like this tend to be extremely erratic, and not particularly lucid. Their brains are not functioning the way they’re supposed to if they gain access to this spectrum of emotions, and it’s abundantly obvious. When I say these things qualify them as being insane, I mean it. 

—Krang do actually place importance on familial bonds, it’s just that said bonds aren’t usually based on any kind of genetic connection. Krang “siblings,” for example, are overwhelmingly not related in the slightest, and are completely family of choice. The deciding factors between becoming siblings versus just being comrades is that in addition to just being a pragmatic alliance, they actually like each other.

—It’s genetically impossible for Krangs to become inbred or suffer any kind of defects based on the relations of their parents, which plays a part in them not really needing to keep track of who they share genetic material with. (Krang tend to scatter and not really interact with any of their wombmates after being born - think fish or bugs.) Hilariously, though, mating with their chosen siblings is just as much of a taboo for them as sleeping with genetic siblings is for humans. Most would be utterly disgusted at the very suggestion. There is very little in common between human and Krang morality, but that’s one of the few places they overlap.

—Romantic connections are much rarer than the sibling packs they form, but not unheard of. Generally speaking, Krang usually just pair off with the most pragmatic match available during their mating period, and then don’t care if they never see each other again. But it’s perfectly possible for them to form a bond with one partner in particular, integrate them into whatever group they may currently be a part of, and then default to them during the mating period.

(The Krang: The only species where “You’re my default” is actually an incredibly romantic thing to say to your partner.)

—The Krang are hermaphrodites, capable of either inseminating or becoming pregnant depending on the situation. There are differences between males and females, just none involving reproductive organs: Females have heightened reflexes, males have a thicker hide (females have eight layers of skin, males have twelve). Baby Krang, being born fully cognizant (if much smaller and maybe a bit more naive than the adults), need to decide what their sex is the second they pop out, and are then responsible for producing the proper chemicals until they hit puberty to ensure their chosen sex. 

(Note: Attempting to produce all the chemicals to try to get the benefits of both sexes will result in the Krang-equivalent of an autoimmune disease. This is highly unrecommended for this reason.)

—Tying in with the above, Krangs’ collective idea of “gender” boils down to like. Stats basically. Did you opt for speed or durability? Masculinity and femininity are completely foreign (and useless) concepts to them.

—The Krang mating process is a combination of several animals I’ve read about. They all have a hectocotylus tentacle (the middle one on their right sides, if you’re wondering), which one partner will remove and present to the mate they’ve decided will carry the new Krang. The babies gestate (Krang will carry between about 50-70 palm-sized spawn at a time), and then when the time is right the kids will eat their way out of their parent. Krang are a lot spongier than most species, so unless things go horribly wrong they’ll survive giving birth, but it’s every bit as agonizing as you’d expect it to be.

—When mating, it's the Krang who’s deemed the stronger of the pair who gets the privilege of carrying the children, considering how violent the birthing process is. Which like, that’s rough buddy, but eh I mean tradeoff they’re also the only ones who actually get any kind of pleasure from the process? Krangs’ hectocotylus tentacles are numb (and y’know. Not attached to the owners body by that point in the event) so it’s not like the ones donating are having any fun...

—There’s four different kinds of Krang within the species: Makers, Interrogators, Assimilators, and Footsoldiers, all categorized by the unique abilities they do or don’t have. 

Makers are known for their ability to infuse the essence/power of the Krang into things. Think the flawless synchronization the three Krang we see have with their mechsuits, or hell – the Dark Armor. All made by maker-Krang.

Interrogators are characterized by their ability to literally burrow into people’s minds to collect information. We all saw how that worked. 

Assimilators are the ones capturing things in meat vines and turning them into mindless zombies for the Krang cause. They differ from Makers in that, while their control is fairly superficial, all things considered, they can take control of near anything. It’s ultimately irrelevant whether they're controlling a living person or an inanimate object (like a friggin train, as we saw in the movie), but their powers are noticeably more effective on living organisms. Makers, though their connection/control of what they infuse Krang energy to is close to absolute, can only do this with nonliving items. Which then drain the lifeforce/essence/souls of any non-Krang lifeforms who were unfortunate/stupid enough to try to control them.

Footsoldiers are defined by the fact that they don’t have any special abilities. Two’s a Footsoldier, and this is actually why she’s so fuckin feral with “no character development.” It was either prove she was strong by constantly being the craziest motherfucker in the room, or slip down to the bottom of the barrel.

—Despite what you might think based on the clear lines being drawn amongst “types,” there’s no caste system in place. They value strength above all else, which could come from any type. (It’s just that unfortunately for Two, it’s a lot harder for Footsoldiers to prove their strength than the other three.)

—It’s not uncommon for Krang to keep “pets” of some of the species they assimilate. They can grow just as attached to their pets as they would towards any of their siblings/defaults, it’s just that unfortunately everything said pet used to be before getting Krangified tends to get wiped clean. If Leo hadn’t shown up to rescue him, Raph had been on his way to becoming Uno’s new pet.

—Two words: Environmental mimicry.

Prior to being infected by the Krang parasite, utrom were an aquatic species (amphibious technically, but semantics). They had a number of things in common with a variety of earthen cephalopods, octopi in particular. Octopi are really, really good at blending in with their environments, and can do everything from changing color to changing their texture. Utrom had a similar ability. Not so much to blend in with their physical environments, granted (though they could do that too), but blending in with other species. In short, they can shapeshift without a cloaking brooch. 

This is very much a forgotten skill amongst the Krang, or at the very least no living Krang knows of it. Which, yeah, sample size of three, but the point stands. Krang are infinitely more aggressive than utrom were, and as such tend to (literally) tackle problems/adversaries head-on. They’ve had no need to disguise themselves for millennia, so over the years they collectively forgot they even could. Still, it remains something within the scope of their abilities, even if they never make use of it.

—Krang secrete mucus when stressed. Leo refers to the Krang as “slimeballs” in the movie, they're not actually all that slimy. Because looking at it from a biological standpoint, the reason why creatures are “slimy” (think amphibians and worms), is because their skin needs to be wet for them to absorb oxygen. The Krang, being aliens, might not even need oxygen, or if they do I question whether they’d process it the same as earth creatures. So there wouldn’t really be a need for them to be slimy 24/7. Instead, it's reserved for situations where they're in some form of distress. It makes them more difficult to grab in a potentially deadly situation, see, since Krang are most likely to feel stressed when faced with someone stronger who has murder on their mind.

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

flower hivemind au masterpost (so far)

aight this is long overdue lmao

before i start anything off everyone give a big thanks to @olliesneweyes who's the one who originally came up w/ all these ideas, i'm just the one who posted the asks hskjghkg

below the cut i've linked p much every important post related to info abt this au, though you also should be able to find any relevant stuff under the #flower hivemind au tag on this blog lolol. this might still be messy and so is navigating my blog rip but it should be a better place to find everything

tldr; vocaloid au where flower is a type of hivemind plant parasite thing that's capable of "flowerizing" other people to assimilate them into the hivemind. len tries his best to not let his friends get killed.

content warnings for mentions/depictions of blood&gore, drugging, cannibalism(??)

first mentions of au + initial concepts:

1 -> 1st mention

2 -> (elaboration on previous: spreading thru pollen/spores, ciflower)

3,4 -> cordyceps inspiration, more about drugging & spores

more importantish main plot stuff:

targeting fukase (+ brief elaboration)

trapped in closet scenario: 1, 2

len being the final girl

first mention of the ending

expanded game mechanics/events: main flowers & memesquad boys, primary gameplay style, piko&fukase encounter (+elaboration1, elaboration2), initial notes on oliver & moke, ciflower&fukase encounter (+elaboration), flowerization tied to assimilation tactics, other survivor povs, oliver & moke getting flowerized (+elaboration1, elaboration2), more notes on oliver (+elaboration)

defective flower: 1, 2, 3

james: 1, 2,

hivemind motivations

don't take them from the garden/remind them of their past

do the spores glow

bonus stuff:

rin gets munched

waltz of malice connections

flowerized!piko concept doodle

oliver post w/ funny tags

fear garden vibes

iku

[theweirdhybrid]

So, how does the Krang infection work in your writing 👀?

INHALES SHARPLY

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY PRESENTATION NOW SIT DOWN AND GET COMFY YOU ARE GONNA BE HERE FOR A WHILE

Okay so basically if you know the zombie infection lore of The Last Of Us then you’ve already got a good grasp of how the Krang infection works in JTOEL. BUT for those who don’t know; in TLOU the infection is fungus based, it’s specifically the Cordyceps fungus, which only takes over its hosts nervous system but leaves the brain intact. Which means the host is still fully aware of everything happening but has no control over their own body.

In JTOEL, the Krang is a parasite that attaches itself to its hosts brain, like a brain-worm parasite. But it doesn’t need to get to the brain first in order to start the infection. It can latch itself onto a host and work its way to the brain from the outside, which does leave it vulnerable to being torn or ripped off or hit with a pesticide, but it combats that by moving so quickly the host only has a few moments to even realize what’s happening. It also numbs the nerves it touches so the host has trouble moving to further limit any chance of fighting back.

This is just one of the ways it can infect, however. Because when a host is infected like this, it takes longer to turn them into a Krang. Because, oh yeah, this is how the Krang reproduce. (Note: This is now always how the Krang reproduced, but we’ll get to that later) The Krang aren’t plant or fungus based, they are in fact flesh-based creatures. They’re similar to octopi in that they’re stretchy and squishy, but they still have skeletons. Tho, said skeletons are armored.

We’re getting off track BUT the Krang primarily reproduce by mass-infecting whatever sentient/sapient organics they come in contact with and turning them into full Krang overtime. This is what they use when they first invade a planet, because it’s easier to get everybody under control this way and limit attempts at fighting back. These Krang aren’t as intelligent as the ones in charge of the hivemind/ones that can infect/reproduce, but they gain intelligence over time. At least, they gain enough to pilot suits and follow orders, but that’s about it. They’re more worker/fodder class.

Another way they reproduce is by wrapping their victims/hosts in a cocoon, like we saw with Raph and what I can assume we saw the beginning of with Donnie, Mikey and Leo. Raph’s conversion was interrupted, but that’s definitely what was happening. I have the feeling if the boys hadn’t gotten him out when they did or let him sit there for another thirty minutes, the process would’ve been fully complete and saving Raph would’ve been out of the question because that point the parasite would’ve completely overwritten who he was and his DNA.

However there is a third way they can infect. This one is used for the creatures still controlled by instincts and haven’t yet gained self-awareness as an entire species, likes dogs, cats, deer, mice, etc. The hounds we saw in the movie are prime examples of this kind of infection. This is also used as a way of starving out the population, because if you eat something infected by a Krang, you’ll be infected too.

Which brings me to Cyonardo.

Cyonardo is an example of the first type of infection, the “Rush” infection as I like to call it. Bc the Rush infection is, well, rushed, it takes the parasite longer to fully turn its host and because it doesn’t have access to the necessary proteins and materials a Cocooned infection would, the Krang it becomes isn’t as intelligent as its Cocooned brethren.

Cyonardo is one of the Rushed Krang, or at least one of the ‘recovered’ ones. By the time his brothers had managed to subdue him long enough to perform surgery (because surprise surprise, he was too far gone to bring him back the other way) he was mostly Krang, hence why they removed his leg, arm and eye. The eye was more collateral during surgery, bc that was how the parasite had gotten to his brain and they had to remove the eye to remove the worst part of the infection. They know they didn’t get ALL of it, but they got the part that would’ve kept overwriting his DNA and his sense of self and reporting back to the hivemind.

So yes, if you’re wondering, this means Cyonardo was completely conscious for everything that happened during his time as an infected. (Bringing him back also had the added bonus of learning how the Krang worked military wise.) Also, the Krang liked deploying him on the field any time his brothers or the resistance were sighted, bc they’re evil like that. This was also how the resistance managed to make a plan to capture him, haha.

Sorry I am all over the place while explaining this but in my defense I have So Many Thoughts and the ADHD makes organizing this hard so bear with me

The Krang parasite and the Cordyceps fungus are very similar in how they infect their hosts; growing in the brain and altering their physiology and taking over the nervous system. But that’s about where it stops. I might start repeating myself but just beat with me

See, the Krang parasite wasn’t always this kind of parasite. It used to be that it was a symbiotic relationship, where both the host and the parasite benefited from the relationship. That was back when the Utrom were still around, and before Krang altered the parasite to benefit himself and his goals.

When it was simply the Utrom finding and helping hosts in other species, like weak or sick members that couldn’t move on their own and moving their bodies for them while communicating with the host to know what they wanted to do, while also giving them better defense mechanisms, the Utrom were all over the universe and were a widely loved and accepted race.

And then Krang altered the chemicals and biology of the how the parasite worked, and suddenly everything went to hell. The Utrom had no idea what was going on, and were actively helping hosts remove the now dangerous parasites while trying to figure out just what went wrong. Unfortunately by this point, there were too many parasites to really stop it. So they kind of effectively got wiped out, because the Utrom WERE the parasites, they were just having their own young grow up with another species member to help keep both strong so the baby Utrom could eventually detach and become a full fledged member of society.

But Krang had seen it as an opportunity, he thought the Utrom had wasted their true potential like this. The terrifying part was that it society effectively collapsed overnight. Krang was smart, he was intelligent and he was a scientist. He knew what he was doing, and he executed his plan overnight.

There was no stopping him. This, this is why he views himself as a ‘gift’.

Tho, I will say that when the Krang got locked away for a 1000 years, the rest of the universal society rebuilt itself stronger than ever. When word the Krang had escaped reached them, they went to help Earth. The Utrom are unfortunately completely extinct by this point, the Krang biology was too evolved to change it back. (Though, there might be one still kicking 🤔)

So, TLDR; Krang Prime got greedy and completely changed his own species biology and evolutionary course to use as a bioweapon against the rest of the known universe, but then got locked away for a thousand years and the society he destroyed was like “Well that was crazy lol. Anyways”

Basically, the Krang are a bunch of parasites that shouldn’t and wouldn’t have existed if SOMEONE didn’t decide to play God. Lmao.

Any questions?

[spongyspingy-rising]

oh man, elaborate on how mothsgrave deals with the shade? how did you pick that name? has the town always been pestered by shade? as in, was it built somewhere with shade activity or did it encroach them?

slaps a little placeholder graphic down, well i'm GLAD you asked! really good questions!

Mothsgrave as a name was (for me) (accidentally) (I swear accidentally) inspired by @bonepriests' Mothsmantle. no other relation I swear. it's been there longer than anyone can really remember, one of the first settlements out of Dragonhome, and it's been there longer then the Hewn City has been corrupted. when the City fell to the shade—I have my lore for this but it starts to diverge from canon—Mothsgrave simply... stayed. and dealt with the consequences.

the major consequences are the reanimating dead. anything else, as far as anyone is concerned, is minor. actually the walking dead is fine too. that's normal. they can deal with that.

someone else asked a question about this, so I'll delve into it in that answer, but the specific role for dealing with the shade largely involves putting the dead back to sleep. the way the shade works in my lore is that it's a not-quite-sentient, not-quite-hivemind multifaceted living entity that simply adores life on Sornieth so much it consumes everything it touches. I've themed it a bit after fungus/cordyceps in it's network multiplicity, but I imagine it more as something that can be split into the smallest piece imaginable and still remains a connected part of the whole, the shade.

(as an aside— for my lore, shade hunters in my lore deal more with containing the shade and mitigating it's harm than eradicating it, since it's very very hard to destroy it completely. see: Yoran & Tamat.)

[wof-adoption-au]

What's this I keep hearing about a hivewing hivemind?

There's a certain fungus that, when consumed, puts HiveWings into a trance. It seems to be related to the Cordyceps. It also seems transmissible through blood, venom, or saliva, but this is still being studied.

~ Charlie

[hrodvitnon]

I actually can see this ending being both of what you said at the same time.

Shits great on Earth. Ozzy's back with his family for the first time in millions of years, humanity finally looks to the Titans with an emotion other than fear, and Godzilla's braved a thousand hells to see this new dawn. Through voices and visions of Ghidorah and his brother, the hardest fights of his life, and a smoldering distrust of humans. All is resolved, and above all; for the first time in millions of years, he doesn't feel alone. He can safely say he has a family that loves him, friends that he loves back, and a world of people he can now trust. He's hopeful for the first time in forever.

But the next threats don't come from Earth; they descend from the heavens. What Earth has started will not end quickly. Thousands of years of strife and conflict await down a dark road they've been set upon by defying a God and His people. Gigan, the Reaper Fleet, the thousands of cordycep-infested worlds, and the hivemind itself. A Universe of enemies and an eternity of war awaits them-

But no matter how dark the path ahead; Humans and Titans alike will walk it together, hand in hand.

There's "in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war" and then there's "the whole universe now has its eyes on Earth so let's give them one hell of a show".

[fennel-tea-and-nightshade]

Moros: OH! So you don't really want ME you just want ONE side of me. You only want me when I'm fun and flirty and pin you against trees wanting to FUCK ME. But what if I'm depressed, or angry, or having an episode or isolating myself or tell you I have a BREEDING KINK!

Eli: I-

Moros: Yeah!

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

Bug Fables AU is too much fun. Ah yes your faves are bugs. Totally. Nothing else. I will hit you with cordyceps locust Victim, mothfly hivemind Purple, puppeteer spider Herobrine, and the last one? Your lucky block entity is a parasitic cloak now. I am winning

[dude1818]

Leech

Spent eight hours on a plane this weekend, which was the perfect amount of time to read Hiron Ennes’s debut novel Leech. My elevator pitch is that it’s The Thing set in the post-post-apocalypse, except the doctor is also a Thing who’s trying to not have its cover blown. The first three-quarters were a super good soft sf story, but then it seemed to take a rapid turn in the direction of the plot and the themes got pretty muddled. It was a satisfactory ending to a different novel. Overall I still really enjoyed it, just felt like the ending was jarring

More detailed synopsis: the novel is set in post-post-apocalyptic France, so far in the future that our Age of Technology and the human-induced apocalypse have faded into myth, but the remnants of unknowably advanced machinery still litter the landscape. Very similar to the second era of A Canticle for Leibowitz, or Breath of the Wild for a modern take. It follows a member of the Interprovincial Medical Institute, which is a cordyceps-style hivemind that controls all medical knowledge in the region. This doctor was sent to a remote mining town to replace their previous body that had been employed there and investigate its mysterious death. They quickly discover that a new parasite had found its way into the previous body, and have to track down where it came from, how it spreads, and how to stop it. At the same time, they have to continue their normal duties for the awful rich people who own the mine as they become increasingly erratic, and the doctor’s connection to the hivemind grows increasingly faint

It’s a theme I’ve touched on in previous posts about A Madness of Angels, but I absolutely adore stories that introduce a completely alien sense of self. MOA does it with the “plural consciousness in a single body,” and Leech inverts that with the “single consciousness in many bodies.” The book is written in first-person, and right from the start, it very cleverly describes performing the actions through several to dozens of bodies at once, all communicating to each other telepathically and verbally, but all “I,” all in the manner of talking aloud to yourself

The parts of the book I take umbrage with are all after the third act twist, so discussing them would truly spoil the story. If what I’ve described so far sounds cool, I strongly recommend the book despite that. It does get darker in some unexpected ways, so I will warn for that. (Expected: body horror, medical experimentation; unexpected: physical abuse, rape, pregnancy trauma(?))

Spoilers under the cut

The twist: one of the symptoms of infection by the new parasite (Pseudomycota) is that it strips away the Institute’s influence over its host bodies. The doctor was exposed to the parasite much earlier in the story than the reader realizes, and their increasing isolation from the Institute is a symptom of that. As the hivemind recedes, their old memories and personality resurfaces

At first this was handled in interesting ways. The previous doctor was frequently referred to as “him,” and you’re meant to make an assumption about the current doctor. Then halfway through the book it’s revealed that the current doctor’s body had actually been a woman, because it finally matters, and then it continues to come up a lot. Or, when the voices from the rest of the Institute disappear from the doctor’s head, they still hear another voice: memories/the conscious of the host body

It takes much longer for the doctor to realize that they’re stopping being part of the Institute and are becoming an individual again. In the Institute’s death throes in this body, they try to inoculate the friendly servant boy with Institute cells in order to preserve their life and knowledge, while the host struggles against it: if they kill someone to preserve their own life, then the Institute is no better than Pseudomycota (ignoring that the Institute is a symbiotic health services provider that is trying to preserve humanity, whereas Pseudomycota makes its hosts burn themselves alive to spread its spores, kind of like toxoplasmosis in mice)

After that fails and reinforcements from the Institute arrive, the doctor goes rogue. Now that they’re cured of both infections (Pseudomycota killing their Institute cells, and an Institute doctor cutting out the Pseudomycota growth), they “remember” being trapped in their own body for the past 10 years, and they decide to help the servant boy blow up the base and escape the Institute. The handful of rich people left certainly had it coming, but this also blankets the village in Pseudomycota spores and kills the humanitarian group that was here to quell the pandemic. Killing one person to save yourself is the ultimate act of selfishness, but apparently killing an entire village to save yourself is a-ok!

The only time we ever see the Institute do something actually evil is when they vivisect a baby after they arrive in the village, and that whole scene feels bizarrely out of left field. Obviously there’s bias while the POV character is part of the Institute, but even after they start to break away, we never see the Institute do anything outside the norm for actual medical professionals. Triage is necessary to save the most people you can with the resources you have. Research is necessary to cure new diseases. The Institute knows the human cost it takes for it to survive, and tries to make the most of it to minimize total human suffering. And then in the 11th hour, it’s the bad guy? The author is a medical student and yet doesn’t seem to have learned that you can’t save everyone when you’re stuck with finite resources

This last thought is less coherent, but I wanted to comment on the very end. After the doctor tries and fails to sacrifice the servant boy to save themselves, the doctor and the servant boy sacrifice the village to save themselves together. The final paragraph then throws in an Inception-style ending where maybe the boy doesn’t survive after all? In which case the whole thing has the vibe of “we live in a society,” which I suppose is fitting with the in-universe parables which are just “bad shit happens sometimes” (although even those turned out to be real warnings whose meanings had just been lost to time)

[esspurrr]

idk how common of a theory this is but i was in the nether and i think itd be neat if the infection that piglins get is a kind of fungal infection a la cordyceps and the reason zombie piglins will all attack you if you attack one of them is that its a hivemind kind of infection

[shrinkthisviolet]

Ooh so the reason Ellie is immune is because her mom’s infection embedded itself within her, so she’s presumed to be actual Cordyceps itself, so it can’t hurt her? Yeah, that tracks

(It also pays off the hivemind thing that they’ve been setting up since the beginning…and is true to the observation in the last episode that Cordyceps cares for itself and secures its own future with violence if it must)

[weirdbabs]

my hot take re:tlou is that tess’s death scene, specifically the part where joel pulls away from her, is more painful in the game than in the show

in the game the cordyceps takes longer to take hold. presumably its faster the closer to the brain the infection is, but were told that nobody lasts longer than 2 days. in the show, were given the times for different areas. 5-15 minutes (head and neck), 2-8 hrs (torso, arm, shoulder, hand), and 12-24 hrs (leg, foot). personally i call her bite a neck bite bc its at the base of the neck, but giving her the more generous time frame she would have 2 hours before she turned. the distance to the capital building alone would eat up most of that time, which means shes liable to turn at any minute, something thats (imo) confirmed when the stalker came up to her and she started hesitating on striking her lighter. the cordyceps was starting to take hold, the hivemind connection was starting to kick in, and she was having to fight to remain herself until the end

with the way the fungus works in the show, if joel were to let her close, or even kiss her, those fungal tendrils could have made their way up her throat and infected him. its a very real possibility, and id bet that in the beginning there were plenty of infections that came around that way

in the game tho, thats not how it works. were never given a true mode of transmission, we get to see evidence that the government was trying to cover all their ground by warning against having sex with an infected person, but the actual infection process is unknown. if its like rabies and in the saliva, then it couldnt be sexually transmitted meaning that warning was wrong and likely wouldnt pass thru kissing since the spores would have to pass thru the mucous membrane (fungal spores measure in micrometers, which is 1000x larger than the nanometers viruses are). if it is in the blood only, then the question is raised of how biting causes infection (which i have my own theory but i digress), but the infection still shouldnt be passed orally. regardless of the transmission, joel could have kissed her. he could have hugged her. she had an increased temper, she was clearly infected, but they had time for a final goodbye before she would turn. by pulling away, he showed that it didnt matter what they may have had, she was no longer tess to him