Playgeian

Playgeians are an essential villainous group in my WIP. They are an extraterrestrial life form that threatens humanity and actually consist of several extraterrestrial  species but are known as one because of the Playgeian insect that lives within them. These insects are much the size of maggots and burrow down into ones flesh to lay their eggs. However, these larva don’t eat their way through their host alive when they hatch but hatch upon the host’s death. The host’s corpse is the environment the larva need for hatching.

So it is a symbiotic relationship between the host and Playgeian bug. They need us for procreation but the host receives certain benefits. One who carries the eggs of the Playgeian has a second life after death. Each batch that hatches must seek out another host and on finding them, the original host’s consciousness is implanted upon the new host. The insects completely wipe out the victims consciousness and implants the original host’s.

This is how a Playgeian may live on after death, in another person’s body and even an alien’s body. This is what makes this alien alliance known as Playgeians such a threat to humanity. They seek to assimilate them into their kind but that means replacing every person’s consciousness with another of their own.