Mel Arkwright's Guide to Extraterrestrials

Note: This out-of-continuity quick guide contains spoilers for various chapters! This is what it might look like if Mel sat down and tried to compile what he had learned about the various extraterrestrial species he has heard of, read about, met, and/or had sex with. Not all the information Mel has learned is accurate!

The Exodus introduced at least three hundred species into Earth's biosphere, not counting potentially thousands of bacteria and viruses. Fifty-three of these species are designated as sapient. The majority of these extraterrestrial species come from worlds biologically similar to or compatible with Earth; being carbon-based and oxygen-dependent, with a handful of exceptions that can only survive in Earth's most extreme environments or artificial biomes. Among the most adaptable species are parasitoids such as the North American Brain Slug, the Great Horned Brain Slug, and the Brain Bat
—National Geographic Field Guide to Extraterrestrial Species of North America, Chapter 1 [011]

In 2045, ten years before the setting of this story, the Exodus arrived: a fleet of extraterrestrial refugees. For the refugees of the Exodus, the apocalypse had already happened. They lived in the aftermath of the end of everything they knew. Their home worlds, their native biospheres and cultures, were lost to them. They landed on a strange world, outnumbered, outgunned, with limited resources. Only what they could bring with them on ships hastily packed with as many as they could save. Several ships, we are told, did not make it. Diseases ran rampant in some. Political strife led to mutiny and disaster. Technical failures meant extinction. Those who made it to Earth are survivors. [075] None of the extraterrestrial species were built for Earth's gravity, or for exactly Earth's atmosphere. They chose Earth because it was as close as they could get to a habitable world. Yet many species cannot adapt. They remain locked on their ships, unable to leave without protective gear, dependent on external systems. There is nowhere else for them to go. Xenoforming is not an option; return is not an option. They simply don't have the resources or anywhere to go. Earth is their home, and their prison. These are collectively known as the Locked Colonies. [086]

Every single sapient extraterrestrial species in the Exodus has, at some time or another, been a brain slug host species. For humanity, it was the equivalent of finding out the new person interested in you has a hundred exes, and they all have stories. [071] The Shadow Colonies are ET settlements that are not publicly known or acknowledged. None of Earth's governments has the capacity to monitor the entire sky. Unauthorized landings, or clandestine deals with specific governments or non-governmental groups, have led to secret ET settlements. [090] Seacouver, located in the Pacific Northwest, became a locus for ETs who wished to integrate into human culture, due to a combination of accommodating climate, proximity to two brain slug reservations, and political culture. Greater infrastructure investments have been made to accommodate ETs in Seacouver than any other city of comparable size in North America. [093] The first Human-Extraterrestrial hybrid was created by accident in the bed of a Ford pickup truck in Florida in 2049, the result of a very novel and completely unexpected transmission of genetic material via a biological mechanism previously unknown to Earth scientists. The resulting mass of hybrid cells was closer to a tumor than an embryo and nearly resulted in a fatality, but many xenobiologists considered it a promising start. [103]

Alabi

Extraterrestrials who prefer lower oxygen levels at high altitude, and need special breathing apparatus to prevent oxygen intoxication elsewhere. [087]

Known members: None

The Ancient's Species

The Ancient is the oldest brain slug host on Earth. Their species is physiologically similar to cephalopods. No true skeleton, primarily aquatic, multiple arms, biologically almost immortal, and incredibly intelligent. The only representative of that host species in the Exodus; the rest of the species may well be extinct. They are prized as host species for their ability to produce blue pearls. Blue pearls resonate with the hive mind; nodes that can transmit some of the bioelectrical signals that make up the World Soul. Anyone who carries a blue pearl—which is implanted in the body—is considered a part of the hive mind. Those who accept are binding themselves to the World Soul. Permanently. [080] The Ancient awaits in the pool in the central chamber of the brain slug compound in the mountain. [081]

Known members: The Ancient

Brain Bats

Brain bats evolved on the same world as brain slugs. They look like four-eyed squids with six tentacles, and flaps between the tentacles let them glide through the air like flying squirrels. They are not hive mind creatures like the brain slugs, but can communicate with them and with ghola, and are part of the World Soul. [027, 028, 029] They are ambush predators, able to change the color of their tentacle-arms. [059]

Known members: Det. Yvraine MacElroy

Changeling

Brain slugs normally cannot integrate with Rhizomats, but the Rhizomats can bud off a sterile body specifically for brain slugs to use as a host. The resulting being can reshape its body to mimic different body plans, and is part of the hive mind. [108]

Known members: Unnamed Rhizomat host at the integration ceremony

The Dark Ones

Aquatic species building a hive-citadel in the abyssal trenches. [087]

Known members: None.

Electrovore

A species that evolved on a planet with a very strong magnetosphere, like Earth. Nearly extinct. They can emit modulated electromagnetic radiation, speaking to those nearby using the microwave auditory effect. Electrovores have innate senses tuned for magnetic fields and electrical current, which makes them brilliant natural electricians and electrical engineers, but they developed those senses to help hunt their prey—part of their sustenance came from draining the neural electricity. Their mating behavior is an adaptation of their prey-behavior, pinning the other partner down and siphoning a bit of juice, then injecting their own impulses—it kickstarts a kind of parthenogenesis process in the captive, so that they generate a new member of the species, with characteristics determined by the information encoded in the impulses they transmit. The weaker ones would sometimes be subjugated by a group and impregnated multiple times, held captive until unable to sustain another generation process. The development of electrical technology removed the necessity for such brutalities; batteries and generators made sustainment of their forms easy. Yet the cultural shadow of such practices remains. The process ("tasp effect") is pleasureable to humans and leaves no signature [096, 099]

Known members: Aloa

Etherling

Tall and enigmatic extraterrestrial species. [081] Etherling biochemistry is based on non-terrestrial-chirality, and the Etherling food stations at the Cosmic Fill-Up are designed to accommodate their needs. [106] Etherlings once invaded Guam [099] and have a Collective in Italy. [103] Etherlings lack a concept of supernatural beings. [103]

Known members: None as yet

Ghola

A related species to brain slugs that are capable of bonding with the recently deceased. Preferably post-brain death, but before full cellular death. Anathema to other brain slugs, they are still part of the World Soul and often employed as scouts, explorers, suicide bombers, waste management, firefighters, and other high-risk occupations. Ghola hosts often suffer from damage from their death and resurrection, including a particular smell. Unlike brain slugs, gholas can move from host to host and are potentially biologically immortal, but their hosts tend to live short lives. [063] Some ghola use Tai Chi to improve body-mind integration with the host. [104]

Known members: Béibhinn O'Malley

Great Horned Brain Slugs

A subspecies of brain slugs. Functionally identical to the North American Brain Slug in most respects, with small keratinous white growths on their backs. Most Great Horned Brain Slugs are members of the Greater Pacific Northwest Collective. [011, 028, 034, 043]

Known members: Tomie Thompson, Bobbie O'Neal, Blair MacKnight

Greyans

Semi-aquatic mammal analogues. About a meter and a half long, from the stubby tail to the rounded cranial crest. The head was nearly twice the diameter of the human cranium, grey and hairless, on a thick neck. The dark, slightly slanted eyes were relatively large but set far apart. Like most Earth-life, they were bilaterally symmetrical, and despite six limbs, were almost gorilla-like in shape, sometimes walking on the two hindlimbs and sometimes knuckle-walking on the middle limbs as well. About four feet high, with a broad mouth, with long, prehensile lips. Have two large black eyes set on the sides of the head, with circular eyelids, and six large mammary glands that secrete milk. Their language is mostly higher in frequency than human hearing, but they can manage many human languages. Ideally organized into pods with several males subservient to a matriarchal cow, but the Exodus has disrupted this traditional family structure. [078]

Known members: Ganymede

K'lur'k

A species that went through a period of cancerization, acquiring many crab-like traits. Six feet tall, impossibly skinny, extraterrestrials with mottled exoskeletons and four stick-like limbs for locomotion and four for manipulation; the manipulators are multi-jointed pincers. They have black, forward-facing eye pits and a central set of mandibles. They typically communicate using fast patterns of clicks, which are translated using various devices. They can shape their bodies by regressing to an earlier stage of development, which can reverse aging, heal injuries, change sex, and create sexual orifices closer to the human vagina. They organize in Nests, procreate by depositing gametes in shallow tidal pools, and are born in clutches. Waste products contain hydrochloric acid and require separate waste disposal facilities from humans. They can expel an acidic, enzyme-rich slurry to help pre-digest difficult foods. [069]

Known members: Two-Clicks

Murkers

Old extraterrestrial culture that had previously been refugees. [080]

Known members: None

Mutant Brain Slugs

Divergent brain slug phenotypes. Some have attempted to colonize squirrels, raccoons, dolphins; some are subsapient, on the level of chimpanzees, or lower. Humans culled them before they got out of control. The Seacouver Hive was forced to assist. May feature different coloration or number of sensory tentacles than North American or Great Horned brain slugs. [043, 048, 054]

Known members: Maxine MacNamara

North American Brain Slugs (Xenolimax cerebri devorator)

Invertebrate apex symbionts that permanently bond with hosts. [000, 013] Integration provides some benefits to the host: improved immune response, additional bacterial load that expands what the host can digest, but also causes brain damage that limits communication skills. [003, 017] In the wild, brain slugs hunt primarily by chemoreceptors, and communicate by biochemical markers and scent trails; strong odors like garlic can deter them. [007] Brain slug eye spots are weak optical sensors. [040] It is well attested that the exposed integument of brain slugs is sensitive to microwave emissions, and tend to avoid microwave ovens in use. The electrosensitive structures that helps the brain slug map the host's nervous system also make them uncomfortable near high-energy transformers. Human proprioception increases in brain slug hosts, as the hybrid entity relies on such senses to help navigate the human body. [050] Brain-slug hosts often engage in mutual grooming activities. [010] The outer membrane is sensitive to pressure, temperature, and various chemicals; it can easily survive rain and even full immersion in water if the host bathes or swims, but physical contact will often trigger stress vocalizations, and damage can take weeks to heal. Physical trauma or damage can kill both the brain slug and the host. [027] Brain slugs are naturally hermaphroditic; they can also reproduce asexually through budding. Humans who have sexual contact with multiple brain slug hosts can transmit cells from one host to another, or even serve as hosts to fertilized brain slug embryos within their own bodies—the infamous and often-misunderstood "slug flu." This process has been described by survivors as traumatic, though it is rarely lethal. [057, 058, 073] Human dreams fascinate brain slugs. [069]

North American Brain Slugs are the most social of the parasitoid species, but often struggle to communicate with individual humans. [012] Brain slugs are driven to consume human gametes, particularly sperm; Access to sufficient nutrition can rapidly increase the process of integration toward stage 2. [018] Advanced stages of brain slug integration induce changes in the physiognomy of the tongue, further restricting the ability to speak. Most brain slug hosts prefer sign language for casual interaction. [039] During the second stage of brain slug integration, the nervous endings in erogenous zones (nipples, clitoris or penis, and anus) increase in sophistication and density, and changes occur to increase the volume and change the consistency of various nearby glands. As a result, six to eight weeks after integration, a brain slug host can produce at will various sexual fluids loaded with biomarkers. These can be used to mark ownership, leave warnings, or convey messages to other brain slugs. [047] Human beings around brain slug hosts are being interrogated continuously, even when they sleep; and the human brain and nervous system answers, unconsciously processing the flow of information. For some people, this manifests as extreme disquiet around brain slug hosts that they cannot put into words, but for others it manifests as dreams and a sense of deeper connection or longing. [051] Brain slugs have a concept, translated into English variously as familiar or sexpet, though there are deeper connotations. In various environments, brain slugs have discovered sapient organisms whom they value for production and companionship more than they desire a new host to increase their numbers. [074]

They are organized into hive minds like the Seacouver Hive and the Greater Pacific Collective. Brain slugs have achieved limited legalization, integrating volunteers who are legally declared dead as part of the process. [000, 016] The first human hosts were criminals sentenced to death who volunteered for the process and were carefully documented by Earth governments. [033] The second wave were predominantly involved in the periphery of the Pacific Northwest BDSM community. [035] There are at least four different subspecies. [001, 043] Feral brain slugs sometimes prey on humans or animals. [043] The long-term goal of Seacouver Hive is to utilize a human uterus to gestate viable phenotypically desirable brain slug spawn in vitro, to develop in conjunction with a human fetus. Brain slug and host are born as one. Hybrid from birth. [054] Brain slugs do not have gods; they do not believe in spirits or supernatural entities in any conventional sense, but they are not without mythology or folktales. [060]

The World Soul is as close to a binding identity for brain slugs, brain bats, and related species as can be imagined; a common channel of information which, in its fullest expression, acts as a hive mind of hive minds, an emergent intelligence of god-like complexity. Imagine an entire planetary biosphere that is effectively a single living brain, a single gestalt consciousness. However, in its current nascent form, the World Soul also represents a danger: brain slugs are uniquely vulnerable to diseases of information that are spread through the World Soul communication channels. Moods, behaviors, and ideas that are literally contagious, which can spread from brain slug host to host without conscious thought. [066]

Known members: Jordan Carmichael, Jenny "Spicy" Soong, Pat FitzPatrick, Cara Arkwright

Rhizomat

A fungoid colony organism. Individuals are about five feet tall and have a vivid skull-cap, as big as a car tire, with pale gills underneath; can be mistaken for a giant pink mushroom from a distance. The body consists of several fine fibers that are corded into thicker tendrils, forming a central stalk from which manipulator-limbs can be extended. Reproduces by spores and achieves sentience when a sufficient density is reached. On their homeworld, Rhizomats spanned entire continents as a single intelligence. They can communicate using a prosthetic speaker device, and through dreamsinging. [108] Older, bloated Rhizomats are in constant pain; sudden violent assault causes them to explode with spores that can dissolve and digest any biological material nearby; it was for this reason other extraterrestrials avoid violence with Rhizomats. [101]

Known members: Unnamed Rhizomat Mel met