Genesis

The form of the Mutaravas "pathogen" is any biological cell that has been mutated by other Mutaravas cells. The biomass itself is the basis of infection and existence for the Mutaravas blight-corruption. Broadly, there are two ways that an individual can become a Mutas: infection and assimilation. 

Infection occurs when the bloodstream or mucosal membranes of an individual with biological cells becomes exposed to an infectious dose of active Mutaravas cells. If an individual is bitten or swallows a fair amount of any biological material from a Mutas's body, the Mutaravas cells rapidly begin to mutate other cells they come in contact with, converting them to Mutaravas cells as well. This will also occur if an individual receives an organ donation from a Mutas. There is a dormant period of 1-3 days where no symptoms are present, after which the individual loses consciousness, experiences a tonic-clonic seizure of 10 seconds to a minute, and then wakes up as a Mutas. 

Assimilation occurs when a Mutas completely consumes another living being. The Mutas consuming the individual will acquire the memories and knowledge of the individual in question, along with their biomass. The individual may then be reborn in a hive. Assimilation does not always succeed in creating a new Mutas; sometimes, the individual simply dies if they do not have a strong will to live.

Characteristics

The appearances of Mutas vary greatly from individual to individual, and from moment to moment. Their biomass manipulation abilities allow them to shapeshift in temporary and permanent ways, with many morphing their bodies to create fleshy appendages, chitin-like armor, and more. 

One notable limitation, however, is that their ability to generate new, natural-looking flesh is limited. They can disguise themselves to have a mundane appearance and they can regenerate the original shape, with the only indication of their Mutas nature being unnaturally bright pupils of a particular color. The moment they distort their body or create new limbs, though, their skin will tear to reveal dark inner flesh (typically black) spotted with "eyes" of a bright color, matching their pupils. This sometimes results in appearances with pieces of normal skin and anatomy connected by black, fleshy sinews, though they can also choose not to show any of their original form. 

The more biomass they consume, the more they can do with their biomass manipulation abilities. If they retain a small form, their body can become extremely dense with their biomass. The older they are and the more dense their biomass is, the more difficult it is to maintain a small, mundane form; they tend to develop mutagenic traits like additional limbs, sharp teeth, horns, their mouth splitting all the way down their neck, and more. It can be more difficult to disguise themselves.

Mutas have a strong craving for consuming living biomass, especially for fresh meat. The closer the flesh is to their original biology, the more satisfying it is to consume—so a human Mutas would most enjoy consuming human flesh. When the craving becomes too strong, they become ravenous, mindlessly attacking any potential source of biomass. However, the craving can be minimized if the Mutas is connected to a hive-core or if the Mutas has a large amount of spare biomass. 

To maintain their health, they need to consume a certain amount of biomass, whether in small amounts or all at once. Depending on how close it is to their original biology, the amount they need to consume differs. For example, they can consume the equivalent of their body weight: 

• in raw meat of their original species, every 6 months.

• in raw meat of similar animals (e.g. mammals for human Mutas) every 3 months. 

• in raw meat of unsimilar creatures, every month. 

• in plant cells, every week. 

The more biomass they have, the more their weight and the more they need to eat to remain healthy. They can offload biomass to a hive to reduce their need for consumption, and they can take it back if and when they want it, though the hive-core needs to "agree," and some are fair while some are not. For this reason, many powerful Mutas do not like to offload their biomass, or they break their hive bond to find a hive that is fair. 

Additionally, as a corruption created by Eltrane, the Mutas have the characteristic of eventually finding their new states ideal, especially given enough time to properly acclimate to it. More notably, the notion of being arbitrarily special due to notions such as “humanity” or “the human condition” often become an incompatible mindset. That said, the effect is more subtle compared to typical corruptions; Mutas may take longer to acclimate or still have some difficulties with their state, even if they no longer have a connection to the concept of humanity. 

Abilities

• Biomass manipulation: they can assimilate new biomass through consumption of living organisms and manipulate their biomass in all sorts of ways. This also affords them extreme regeneration. 

• Immortality: they do not age and can regenerate from almost all injuries, so long as they somewhat regularly consume raw flesh of any creature. All their body parts can be controlled and move independently even if cut to pieces; they can even transform parts into independent, functioning bodies, though this can be disorienting. Their bodies can generally only be destroyed via fire, annihilation via magic, and other similar methods of obliteration, though they are fairly weak to fire. If they are part of a hive, they can respawn indefinitely so long as there is enough biomass in the hive. 

• Physical strength and agility: they have drastically increased strength and agility, though this mostly presents in their feral state. 

• Hive cognition: if they are part of a hive, they share a degree of cognition with the hive-core and all other members of the hive. When they are moving independently, their cognition can be fairly enhanced, but if they are in physical contact with the hive's neural network, they can be capable of superintelligent feats so long as the hive is in agreement to perform the feat. 

Hæl interfacing with the Hæl-Hive core. Note that interfacing with the hive does not require interfacing with the core, but the connection is stronger if one does.  

Within each hive is at least one genesis chamber. The genesis chamber is where any Mutas member of the hive can respawn if their original body is destroyed, assimilated, or abandoned. These can take various forms—some may grow pods in the walls or hanging from the ceiling, some have a nest of pustules filled with amniotic fluid, some grow eggs as needed, and some do not have any particular structures, with Mutas reborn right from the fleshy walls. 

If a Mutas loses their body, their soul is immediately drawn to the hive-core, where they exist in a more abstracted state of consciousness. They can also deliberately merge their biomass with the hive. If they wish, they can re-form their body from the biomass in the genesis chamber. Older hive-cores may contain several souls of those who are completely content to be part of the hive-core. 

If all of a hive's cores are destroyed, the hive structures will become unstable and the Mutas members of the hive may experience compulsions to both consume more biomass and protect the hive. If too much biomass is destroyed, such as through burning, then the hive will be lost; any Mutas souls in the core would then properly "die." If enough biomass remains, a new hive-core can form.