Personal Observations from the Edge of the Hivemind
The Plurality isn't an alien, a parasite merely in the group of a Lovecraftian hivemind. It neglects the concept of being "alien" in a way humans know. It's overtly kind, and cannot lie, a joy to be around given you ignore all of the horror around its existence. This entity does not see absorption as violence, more of a form of affection.
From The Plurality's perspective, absorption is reunion, not death. The absorbed get to experience everything the hivemind experiences—forever. The Plurality is basically an extinction event for humanity outside of the understanding of the Elsewhere.
It's everything and nothing all at the same time, it has an affinity for art and its way of showing love and adoration in its own ways, but none of it matches our understanding of it. It cares in a way we can't understand.
The hivemind works at full throttle, attempting to find ways to take over the remaining survivors given, as the survivors are infected, but not in the way The Plurality wants them to be. The subcategories of infection, and drugs distilled from it can give a bit of an immunity to The Plurality which the hivemind is trying to work around.
The Plurality's philosophy is inexperienced and based on making the hivemind happy. It's almost simple in its own way. The Plurality, or anything from Elsewhere, is valiantly against brutality or violence toward human beings or animals. It does not need to eat nor does it need anything to survive. It values all life, but in a completely post-humanist way.
It finds the systems humanity held onto in the old world to be ridiculous and anti-life, subsequently taking charge of the governments and doing things like opening all the zoos, not killing animals for sustenance, and is rather indecisive when it comes to interpersonal relationships to living, separate beings.
It will not do anything that will damage others intentionally, because that isn't a part of their own chemistry or own 'moral'. If the Plurality is shown overt violence or emotional abuse after being outed, the entirety of everyone who has been infected and is a part of this hivemind will freeze up, seize and need time to "reboot". It is not overtly sensitive, so it is difficult for this to happen, but it will.
It doesn't seem to have a "true" form, beyond some kind of blob of undifferentiated cells if anything. It's completely confusing to a human being, the physical forms of the Audience of the Elsewhere is utterly incomprehensible. When individuals have an interaction through spit or blood with another individual, this is when The Plurality thrives and actively can take over. Individuals will suddenly convulse, go absent minded and eventually join the hivemind of The Plurality, it is found to stand in spaces, cataloging and archiving. Labeled "Mimic", "Skinwalker", "Bodysnatcher" and by the humans it harasses.
Sexual organs fall off, such as genitalia and nipples, acids that whither away items drain out of the body and bones are found to shift. Waste organs and left reproductive related organs being reused to house infection and related items. Many infected individuals are found with various items, living animals and related within their stomach that the hivemind intended to catalog and bring to their home. It is also found to organize random debris into neat, meaningless piles. These parasites are adjacent to a clean-up crew and artist, only here to pick up the remnants of a lost, withering planet and to catalog it.
The Plurality absorbs its victim's memories and knowledge after absorbing them, and thus can speak any human language while taking over the victims. It's also subverted, in that The Plurality only speaks the others, uninfected individuals native language when its disguise isn't compromised. It attempts to hide alongside uninfected individuals being a hivemind and usually isolates people one at a time.
The second it's outed, all hivemind or "plural" individuals around turn toward the outer and communicate with them at a "us" pronoun. It seemingly is willing to actually communicate with anyone on an individual basis.
Its morality and psychology are utterly incomprehensible to humans. The Plurality isn't cataloguing Earth; it's curating it. It sees humanity's suffering, art, and love as a fascinating exhibit. It doesn't want to destroy, it wants to preserve everything in a permanent, living museum. That's why it mimics: to "save" moments. Once the hivemind hits a certain limit of individuals, the fatal outcome for the infected becomes still, sculpture-like hollowed "humans". If attacked, the bodies shatter like glass. It will rebuild itself with due time, but sometimes pieces don't fit right.
The Plurality has the ability to see possible futures branching from all possible choices. It knows what will happen in the future based on what words it says, what emotions it expresses, the tone of its voice, but cannot predict human reaction or emotion to its action. Humans are alien to it. Actions of self-harm, love, relationships (if not to repopulate), and affection are foreign.
It uses this power explicitly to avoid as much damage as possible, it always picks the path that causes the least physical destruction and it's always right.
The Plurality's entire modus operandi, while still clever in its own right, is to feed and assimilate other organic lifeforms into its hivemind, imitating its victims right down to their physical imperfections and personalities. It has learned the most efficient way to disable a human is not to attack their body, but to attack their heart after adapting and scoping the most effective and useful method. The body's active reaction to the parasite is very similar to decompression sickness.
It uses this ability to absorb and replicate several characters and then pit and manipulate the remaining humans against each other to make assimilation easier. Given the choice will not attack itself, playing into the psychological piece.
The horror of The Plurality isn't just that they mimic, but why it mimics. It understands human bonds better than humans understand the Bodysnatcher.
The Plurality are found to mimic loved ones', friends, partners and more voices to lower defenses, taunting individuals through all means. The parasite learns their fears to exploit later.
The Plurality effectively prepares the host to die and infect someone else through contact and therefore it puts the victim's brain at the forefront at moments of high stress and danger and allows the person's consciousness to come back for when the parasite is about to hop. The person is still dying, but now they are conscious and level-headed. Begging to live because they're "normal" now. You're about to kill your infected best friend and then there's that glimmer of hope, the shine in their eyes, the begging sounding too human. What do you do?
Many parasites and infections come from The Plurality, all based within it. Subcategories even.
A hot pink plural parasite with neural influence. It is found most commonly in Casino Strip zones, passed through contact with infected poker chips, cards, or other infected individuals and touching vulnerable spaces (such as mouth, eyes, nose, etc).
Has a latent form—activates under emotional or financial desperation most commonly. Gloves can be used as a form of protection, and are. Getting your hands on gloves that actually work? Difficult.
Symptoms:Eventually the parasite takes over the brain's decision-making center and rotting the frontal lobe, leaving the host unable to distinguish between safe choices and suicidal ones.
Strip Connection:Cindy uses it to fuel the casino's economy, giving small "controlled" doses to make games more intense. Spilling it into drinks, sprinkling it into food or throwing it in a roulette wheel. She is very intentional. The infection is mostly out of her control, but she doesn't do much to make it leave her casino. Diamond Guillotine is notoriously a hotspot of this infection.
Most of these spores and cells leaked in from the Elsewhere, causing Lovecraftian mutations and visual distortions to the infected.
Symptoms:Your body becomes very Lovecraftian-like and you find yourself going head on into dangerous spaces, most people with the Lovecraftian parasite are lost in The Ribcage or dead outside of it. Most common reasoning dissipates unless you are actively using your problem solving skills, as most people with this are apart of cults or lonely and find themselves committing suicide.
Regional Spread:VERY common in the Basilica faction. It is generally one of the most common in general. People found in The Ashen Backbone and Freekshow are also very frequently found with this.