Brood Bug

You're the last of the Brood, a species of parasitic insect that thrive on almost any type of planet. Three to six inches long usually, you don't look too dissimilar to an Earthen cockroach, but with a yellow and green mottled exoskeleton. Unlike a cockroach however, the feelers on your head are prehensile tendrils, tipped with barbs; they serve the purpose of attaching yourself to a host body, to infest it. A typical Brood Bug will try to enter a host via the mouth, with its objective being the brain, which they will use their mandibles to burrow to. Upon reaching the brain of a host, the exoskeleton will begin to dissolve, and more tendrils will grow out from the organs inside the bug. Attaching themselves to the brain, they will attempt to wrestle control from the host's brain, though that can sometimes vary in overall style. If the bug is too weak to dominate the host mind, it will try to assimilate itself into the host's consciousness, attempting to disguise it's infestation by removing the host's memory of the event and growing within the host until it can fully take control. When the Bug is able, it will simply assimilate the host's mind into itself, rapidly taking control and incorporating the aspects of the host's personality that are useful for infiltration. In rare cases, willing hosts are immediately merged with, their goals and desires being melded with the desires and goals of the Brood Bug inside them.

Once a Bug has control over its host, the bug will begin to change its host to one of three forms: Breeder, Scout, and Soldier. Breeder hosts are the lifeblood of the Brood, their bodies warped by DNA modifying proteins and enzymes to gestate large numbers of Brood Bugs, typically appearing as a bloated, pregnant looking member of the host's species. They are able to spit a liquid that will dull the senses of a potential host, not unlike a sedative. These hosts will consume vast quantities of food and nutrients to sustain their gestation efforts, provided by Scouts and Soldiers. Scouts are typically early-form hosts, with minimal modification overall; most do have their bodies modified to store and slowly grow a limited number of Bugs, and they are the primary transmission method once a Brood is established on a planet. Like Breeders, they grow venom sacs in the top of their mouth to produce the Brood sedative. Soldiers, which see heavy modification, are the protectors of a Brood, though the number of changes can vary. If the invasion is still covert, increased muscle density and muscle mass, along with a second set teeth that include a pair of large retracting fangs which can directly inject numbing sedative Brood liquids into a potential host. The rest of this second set of teeth are to subdue or kill opponents, and Soldiers are typically resistant to some limited small arms fire.