The Hellaerians are collective biomass beings created through infection by the Hellaerite, a microscopic parasite that converts living cells into a new kind of flesh. A single Hellaerian is an entire collective: a hivemind of at least thirty souls that shares one will and controls a body of biomass spread across many units, from armored humanoid forms to creature-like drones. The conversion appears as visible mutation at the site of infection and advances through the host until it reaches the brain, where feelers emerge and the host joins the Hellaerite's instinct to infect and assimilate.

Those who carry the infection without belonging to a collective are called Hellians. A Hellian is unstable, near-feral, and driven to infect others. When many infected gather and choose to fuse, the same instinct settles into a calm, rational, and extremely intelligent collective that has full command of its infection.

Blight created the Hellaerite in 1472, during their first decade as an Actualized Edeia, when they were making their most destructive blights. The Hellaerite stands apart from the mindless plagues of that period. Hellians retain partial cognition, and a Hellaerian possesses the combined will of every soul within it.

Terms

• Hellaerite: the parasite and the blight

• Hellaerian: a collective that acts as one individual

• Hellian: a solo infected individual

• unit: a body controlled by a Hellaerian, either soulless or soul-bearing

• node: a unit holding thirty or more souls that stays linked to the main body at any distance

• Hellaebium: the ecosystem of units and biomass surrounding a collective

Inspirations: the Flood from Halo, the Infested and Nidus from Warframe, and Carrion.

Genesis

The Hellaerite is a microscopic parasite that invades cells and rewrites them into biomass of its own design. The conversion it causes is visible, advances steadily, and it is painful to resist. A host keeps partial cognition through every stage and a collective gains the will of every soul it holds.

Like all of Blight's blights, the Hellaerite requires direct or nearly direct transmission from an existing member of the species. A certain level is sapience is required for infection to properly turn an individual; for less complex organisms, the infection will convert the biomass but simply "kill" the soul, releasing it to natural processes once the biomass has been converted. 

Transmission

Infection occurs when active Hellaerite reaches the tissue of a living host. Routes include but are not limited to:

• Bite or scratch: breakage of the skin and leaves infected biomass in the wound.

• Ingestion: swallowing infected biomass is sufficient.

• Infection pods: living pods released by a Hellaerian that seek out a host's head. A pod that succeeds converts the host at once.

• Worms: small burrowing units that find a host and tunnel into the body. Worms act more slowly and quietly than pods and may go unnoticed while the infection takes hold.

Pods and worms are extensions of an existing collective, so their transmission traces back to a particular Hellaerian.

Progression

The conversion is visible from the first signs. Flesh near the point of exposure darkens and restructures into fibrous biomass, and the change spreads outward from that site. A single arm may be fully converted while the rest of the body appears unchanged. The first signs usually appear within a day of exposure, and the conversion advances over a period of days. If it was a limb that was affected, it may be completely converted within one day, and then it will spread to the torso over another day. By the third day, the head and brain is usually reached, and once it is, the rest of the body will follow in a matter of seconds.

A converted limb that is cut away will reattach itself. Fire can destroy converted tissue, though the pain is so severe that most victims cannot tolerate it for long. In theory, burning away every infected part removes the infection, but cells that have been infected and not yet converted cannot be located by sight, and any that remain will resume the conversion.

When the conversion reaches the brain, feelers emerge from the head and the host is lost to the infection. Reversing a fully infected individual requires either Blight, who is very reluctant to do so, or specific Idea magic. Once the feelers have formed, the infected individual senses other infected and is drawn to them.

Chimerization and Hybridization

Due to the nature of Hellaerians, they generally cannot properly hybridize with other blights and biological alterations. However, they can often mimic the characteristics of such beings if they assimilate one. Hellians can chimerize and hybridize normally; fusion with a chimeric or hybrid Hellian is how a Hellaerian assimilates other blighted species and other similar beings. 

Hellians

A Hellian is an infected individual who has not joined a collective. Hellians are near-feral and instinctive, and their appearance reflects it: the converted flesh is twisted and unstable, with feelers that move restlessly and forms that shift without direction. Their foremost drive is to infect others. They retain partial cognition and some of their original mannerisms, though the instincts of the Hellaerite govern most of their behavior. They are seldom seen for long on their own.

Hellians recognize other infected instinctively and communicate with them through the feelers, telepathically and by instinct. Among them there is a pull toward fusion, a desire to become part of a single mind. Fusion takes place only when the individuals are willing. A Hellian who joins a collective settles quickly and gains the calm and clarity of the whole.

Living as a Hellian

In the present day, newly infected and solo individuals are expected to choose among three arrangements:

• Sanctuary: residence in a designated Sanctuary, such as Somorva or another site set aside for the infected.

• Suppression: acceptance of magical suppression mechanisms that reduce the compulsion to infect.

• Joining a collective: the usual outcome, since newly infected individuals most often join an existing Hellaerian.

With modern magitechnology, a Hellian who truly wishes to can live quite comfortably on their own in united society.

Hellaerians

A Hellaerian is a collective of infected individuals that operates as a single mind and a single individual. Each soul acts somewhat like a neuron within a larger and more complex soul. The souls remain metaphysically interlinked at all times, and the whole holds the combined cognitive power of every member. The collective speaks, decides, and acts as one, though a soul placed in a unit can act independently and resume much of its original manner.

A collective requires a minimum of thirty souls, and it grows far more stable and powerful at one hundred or more. Soul that inhabit a unit made by the Hellaerian are included in this count. Because newly infected individuals tend to join an existing Hellaerian, the number of collectives stays small and the species does not spread beyond control.

Fusion takes place only when an individual is willing. The individual expresses their intent telepathically through the signals of their feelers. If the collective agrees, the individual is absorbed into the Hellaerian's body and biomass, and their soul becomes part of the whole.

Dissent and Departure

Cohesion within a Hellaerian is strong, but not total. A soul within a Hellaerian that disagrees deeply with the collective may leave. It separates itself as a unit of its own and goes its own way, and it slides back toward the feral state of a Hellian. Leaving is a serious cost, and few do it lightly.

Anyone who has left may rejoin. They express their intent to the collective through the signals of their feelers, and if the collective agrees, the individual is absorbed into the Hellaerian's body.

Units

A Hellaerian acts through its units, which are bodies of biomass it controls. Units fall into two types:

• Soul-bearing units carry one of the collective's souls. They act independently, retain much of the soul's original mannerisms, and tend to appear stable, resembling simplified biomech forms or human-like shapes.

• Soulless units are controlled directly by the collective. They tend to appear distorted or monstrous.

All units are marked by the presence of feelers. Further detail appears under Characteristics.

Nodes

A Hellaerian can create a node, a unit that holds many souls at once. A node with at least thirty souls remains linked to the main body across any distance, including the distance between worlds, and acts as a local antenna for the collective. A node can look nearly identical to the main body, an echo of Blight's own ability to be in several places at once.

An off-world collective sometimes sends a node to visit Earth.

• If the main body is destroyed, a node becomes the main body, and all of the collective's souls move to it.

• A collective's stability is measured by the largest number of souls within a single body. Dividing souls among several nodes therefore has a cost.

Death and Survival

When a unit that carries a soul is destroyed, the soul returns to the collective, since it never left the link. If the main body is destroyed and a node exists, the node becomes the new main body and every soul moves to it. A Hellaerian with no node dies when its main body is destroyed, though it can release a small, resilient spore holding a little biomass, which drifts away and lands somewhere safe to begin again. If a collective is truly destroyed, every soul within it dies, which can mean hundreds or thousands of deaths at once.

A collective whose largest body holds fewer than thirty souls begins to slip toward feral behavior and compulsive urges to infect. If it cannot recover its numbers, it eventually breaks apart into Hellians. The time this takes varies with how cohesive and agreeable the souls are.

Characteristics

Appearance

In their natural state, Hellaerian units have a biomech-like appearance: sculpted forms of converted flesh with a stable, designed look. They often have an almost metallic sheen, or even parts that look like metal. Their feelers have a consistent color that glows, which is typically their soul color; this color can also be used for markings on the body/flesh.

Hellians appear more twisted and unstable than the units of a collective, with irregular growths and shifting proportions.

Soul-bearing units may look like simplified versions of these forms or take a human-like shape. Soulless units are more often distorted or monstrous, with proportions suited to a single task.

Every infected individual and every unit has feelers, which typically emerge from the head and are the clearest sign of the infection. The feelers serve as universal sense organs and as antennae for telepathic communication with the collective and with other infected. A unit that loses its feelers freezes for a moment, then regenerates them quickly.

A Hellaerian can shapeshift their main body and units into a human or other form. The change is uncomfortable to hold, and the feelers remain present. They can be hidden beneath hair or clothing, for instance, but they cannot be removed.

Biology and Sustenance

A Hellaerian can reproduce any biological function of anything it has assimilated, including pressure tolerance and photosynthesis, and it can develop new functions of its own design. Its biomass is energy-efficient and requires little sustenance. If a collective is truly starving, it compresses its biomass into a dormant state until conditions improve.

The urge to assimilate more beings into its biomass is strong. A collective with enough units can form a self-sustaining system in which worker units gather or produce food, much as a beehive does. Life is not limited by age, and a Hellaerian does not decline with time.

Souls, Biomass, and Range

A Hellaerian grows through two kinds of accumulation, and each governs different capacities.

• Souls contribute to power and stability. More souls extend the range of the collective's control, deepen its command of its abilities, and weaken the influence of compulsive behavior.

• Biomass contributes to cognitive power, the number of units the collective can make, and the volume of biomass it can control.

Range

The range at which a Hellaerian can control its biomass increases with the number of souls it holds in each body. The following figures are approximate:

• 30 souls have the range of a large city (~60 km / 40 mi radius)

• Several hundred souls have the range of a large state (~370 km / 230 mi radius)

• 1,000+ souls can reach anywhere on Earth (~13,000 km / 8000 mi radius)

A collective of one hundred or more is considerably more stable than one near the minimum.

When a unit travels beyond the collective's range, the effect depends on its type:

• Soulless units: the signal grows spotty first, and the collective can feel its control weaken. The unit then reverts to basic behavior, such as seeking the nearest host. After about an hour it dissolves into a blob of biomass.

• Soul-bearing units: the soul remains linked to the collective, but control and cohesion fade and the unit becomes Hellian-like. It can act independently for a while, and over about a day it behaves fully as a Hellian. If the body is destroyed, the soul returns to the collective.

• Partial infections: the collective may lose control of its suppression of the infection in a person who travels beyond its range.

• Node: a node can move independently from the main body's range with no issue. 

Hellaebium

A Hellaebium is the ecosystem a Hellaerian builds around itself from units and living biomass. It may include worker units that gather food, drone forms that patrol or tend the surroundings, and the pods and worms the collective releases to find hosts. Units can be made to attach and integrate with the environment and appear similar to structures, but they cannot truly form independent biomass structures—these structure units also carry the feelers.

A Hellaebium provides sustenance, protection, and sensory reach for the collective, and its extent reflects the number of souls the Hellaerian holds, since every unit within it depends on the collective's range.

The Hellaebium extends outward from the collective's main body. Because the main body is the one body where a collective can be killed, a Hellaerian often surrounds it with units.

Weaknesses 

Fire and magic. These are the only things that reliably kill or destroy Hellaerian biomass. Physical damage removes some biomass without meaningfully harming the collective, and substances that are toxic to life harm it only until it adapts.

Loss of the main body. If a Hellaerian's main body is destroyed and no node survives to take its place, the death takes every soul within it. An escape spore offers a chance of survival but not a certainty.

Falling below threshold. A collective with fewer than thirty souls slides toward feral behavior and compulsive infection, and may break apart into Hellians.

Range. Units that leave the collective's range lose cohesion and may be lost. A partially infected person who leaves it may escape suppression of the infection.

Dissent. A soul that leaves slides back toward ferality. A collective that suffers frequent departures loses both souls and stability.

Abilities

Biomass Manipulation

A Hellaerian shapes its biomass freely and spawns units from it: pods, worms, drones, and other forms. In effect, it can raise an army from its own body. A unit may be controlled remotely, or a soul may be placed within it, and the collective coordinates all of its biomass across the whole of its range without delay. Physical damage destroys some biomass but does not meaningfully harm the collective, since the biomass regenerates.

Fusion and Assimilation

Hellians can fuse into a Hellerian collective, merging into the soul collective and contributing their biomass and memories to it. Non-Hellians can be assilimated by consuming or otherwise absorbing them while they are not fully infected; this kills the individual but still allows the Hellerian to gain their memories and cognitive capacity. Less complex organisms are assimilated if all their biomass is converted as well, even without being consumed. 

Adaptation

A Hellaerian can mimic any biological function of anything it has assimilated and can create functions entirely from scratch. A substance that is toxic to the collective is dangerous only at first, because the collective develops characteristics that resist it. Adaptation also lets a Hellaerian learn to manipulate and integrate with technology, though this is a skill it has to acquire through study and is not automatic.

Infection Control

A Hellaerian has full control of the Hellaerite carried by its members and by anyone it has infected. It can:

• Hold the infection dormant indefinitely in an infected individual.

• Kill or evict any of its biomass within a host with a dormant or partial infection.

• Maintain a partial infection, in which a person carries a small amount of the collective's biomass. The Hellaerian can communicate telepathically through that biomass and influence the person's physiology and cognition without converting them.

A partial infection can serve many purposes. It may be a covert placement, a form of sleeper agent, or a friendship with someone who trusts the collective enough to carry a piece of it. Consent is not always present; the use of partial infection depends on the character of the Hellaerian involved.

The influence of a partial infection is biological and persistent, and it works through the carried biomass. It operates at a distance as long as the person remains within the collective's range. If the collective dies or loses control, the suppression ends and the infection proceeds normally.

A partial infection can be removed by the Hellaerian that holds it, as long as the person has not been fully infected. A fully infected individual is infected for good, apart from the rare exceptions noted under Genesis.

Telepathy

Infected individuals communicate with each other through their feelers, telepathically and by instinct. Within a collective, this link is constant. It is also the means by which an outside individual asks to join.

Magic

Hellaerians have some magical abilities, though their principal capacity is the coordination and control of biomass across long distances without delay. They are also able to levitate; this does usually not extend to the units they make, save for nodes.

Behaviors

A Hellaerian is rational and extremely intelligent, and it can exercise significant restraint. The urge to assimilate remains strong, but the collective directs it through choice, and a larger collective feels it less. Hellaerians are few in number. Most newly infected individuals join an existing collective, which keeps the population small.

The personality of a collective depends on the souls within it and on how cohesive and agreeable they are. Some collectives are warm and welcoming, others guarded or manipulative, and the use of partial infection can reflect this. A collective may befriend and protect a person who carries a piece of it, or place carriers where they can be used.

Like all of Blight's blighted, infected individuals recognize one another instinctively and cannot form prejudice against one another.

In United Society

Newly infected and solo individuals are placed in Sanctuaries such as Somorva, fitted with magical suppression mechanisms, or encouraged to join a collective. A Hellian who prefers to live alone can do so comfortably with modern magitechnology. Hellaerians are only as infectious as they choose to be, and some live in and take part in united society. A collective may do so through a node while its main body remains elsewhere. 

A Hellaerian is strongly encouraged to use magical suppression mechanisms while in united society, but it is not required due to their ability to control their infection capabilities. Infecting others without consent is a punishable crime, with consequences including reparations, exile from united society, and more. Consensual infection, including partial infection, is permitted. 

A Hellaerian's Registry entry often includes an overview as well as details for every soul within the collective. United society citizens who become infected and join a collective have their entry linked to the Hellaerian's. Souled units can operate using the Hellaerian's Registry or their own linked Registry. Each soul is treated as an individual soul, while the collective as a whole is treated more as one body, though with specific consideration for their state as a Hellaerian. This does mean that they can have considerable influence on certain democratic processes, though numbers are far from the only factor considered in united society decisions, so this tends not to cause any issues. 

Food and Cultivation

A Hellaerian can produce food in several ways, and each collective chooses its own methods. Common products include:

• Honey-like products: ordinary honey and meat honey, along with similar preserves.

• Cultivation: crops and other growth raised by expanding biomass, absorbing nutrients and light much as agriculture does.

• Chemosynthetic foods: specialty products made through processes similar to those of sulfur-eating bacteria.

The taste varies widely, and many of the products are quite good. Each Hellaerian tends to produce unique foods, some with flavors found nowhere in nature.

Safety

Honey-like products and other prepared foods are safe from infection and can be eaten by anyone. The usual hazards of food still apply, since a product reflects what went into it. Honey from toxic flowers is toxic, and meat honey may contain proteins that cause allergic reactions.

Raw biomass is another matter. Suppressing the infection is an active choice by a Hellaerian, and a person who eats biomass from a collective can be infected even if the collective could suppresses it. The risk grows if the person travels beyond the collective's range, where the suppression fails. The odd-looking plants and fungi are the ones to avoid. In many cases, the biomass of Hellaerians, including their flesh, plants, and fungi, taste quite delicious, even raw. If it's the last thing someone eats as a human, at least it is delicious. 

Plants and fungi are part of a Hellaerian's biomass; like units, if they are brought out of range, they dissolve into goop after an hour or so. This goop remains infectious if consumed. Scavenger animals may be attracted to it, and one that does consume the biomass will be converted, though without a Hellaerian to control it, the converted animal also dissolves into goop. Without any new biomass, however, the goop will die and no longer be infectious after around three days or if it is incinerated. 

Many Hellaerians give their biomass resistance to heat, in the manner of thermophiles, so boiling is not enough. Frying at a high temperature until the food is cooked through is generally safe, though some risk remains.

Trade and Use

Before Reunion, some collectives used food to infect others in secret, or to draw wild animals in to be consumed. After Reunion, trade is more common, and it comes mostly from others asking for a collective's products, which can be rare, delicious, or simply unlike anything else. Infecting someone through food without their consent remains a punishable crime in united society.

History

The Hellaerite blight came from the center of Blight's nature: the desire for harmony and for a family bound by what its members had become, joined with the wish that such a family be powerful enough to protect itself. Blight released it in 1472, in the first decade after their Actualization. The Hellaerian's ability to raise an army from its own body follows from that wish.

In the first years after its release, the Hellaerite was chaotic. Hellians spread the infection widely and with little direction. As collectives formed and their members grew more intelligent and rational, many chose to pursue no further destruction. This change came in the years when Blight was turning toward the communities of their blighted as well.

Hellaerians settled in many ways. Some found places within Ideation, whether alone, among blighted communities, in Blight's Abstraction, or, rarely, within other communities and societies. A Hellaerian is only as infectious as it chooses to be, and that control allowed some to live alongside others. Those who caused trouble were confined to Sanctuaries, serving as both haven and prison.

Some very powerful Hellaerians asked Blight to help them leave Earth and its chaos. Blight brought them to distant moons and planets, where they spread across the surface, photosynthesized, and lived as communities of their own collectives. Once Reunion began, portals connected some of these communities to Earth. Some Hellaerians came to live in and take part in united society, while others kept to themselves. An off-world collective occasionally sends a node to visit Earth.

Note: any planet or moon a Hellaerian collective covers should be a fictional body, not a real one.

Acquisition

You can design your own Hellian or Hellaerian with the permission of Auspice, though Auspice offers commissions. As their appearances can vary greatly, the price will vary depending on the details of your inquiry. 

For a notion/semi-custom-like design, please provide these details; minimum price is around 40 USD for rough style and 50 for polished: 

Name:
Species: (Hellian or Hellaerian) 

Inspiration: (Optional - music, image, or vibe like for notions)
Style: (Rough or Polished)

Feeler Color: (Optional)
Body Colors: (Optional) 

Extra Specs: (Optional)
Extra Refs: (Optional; unit examples, shapeshifts of the main body, etc.) 

Sketch WIP: (yes/no; if yes, final price may be decided after the sketch is complete)