Bestiary

Not so much a pet as a prison, aquarium pets are transgenic aquarium animals such as koi, plecos, or axolotls that have been implanted with a ghostrider module. The ghostrider module has no control over the animal’s body but is fully wired into its sensorium as if it were living a real-time XP recording. An ego “sleeved” into an aquarium pet experiences being a sh, from the sensation of swimming to autonomic drives such as hunger and urination.

Some flesh parties are infected with the Watts-MacLeod virus, the contamination spreading across the entire organic network. These are literal psychic landscapes, inflicting powerful sleights on anyone unlucky enough to run across them.

Barbed eels are a carnivorous aquatic species found on the exoplanet Droplet that displays unusual intelligence and cunning. Though possessing bioluminescent properties, barbed eels have the capability to turn this on and off, which they use for pack hunting tactics. One eel will draw along or chase prey with its glow, while others lie dark in ambush. The same eshy barbs that illuminate also create electric poten- tial that can be discharged to stun attackers or prey in nearby water.

Both bees and pollen wasps have been genetically modi ed and interbred, creating several new species of insects that provide a valuable pollination service in habitat gardens. These swarms live in large nests/hives, produce honey, and prey on other insects, serving as a biological form of pest control. Some of these breeds are quite large, growing up to 8 centimeters in length. They adapt quite well to microgravity. Many have been trained to assist with other gardening tasks, such as collecting debris or trimming leaves.

A neo-chimp-sized arboreal predator species from the exoplanet Echo IV, blister beasts typically work in small groups. They lurk in the local tree analogs, moving about with impressive leaps and climbing ability. When attacking, they will drop on their prey and inflict a venomous sting or bat them out of the trees with vicious tail paddle strikes. Blister beasts are highly territorial and known to aggressively assault intruders.

This 5-meter long fish analog feeds on microkrill and moves in schools. Its branching masses of tendrils resemble jellyfish tentacles or roots.

Brontops are docile, moose-sized, wading grazers found on Teragula. They subsist on a combination of microbes and arthropod-analogs filtered from the swamp waters, fungus, and cartilage/coral—except when infected by a hookbladder (p. 118), in which case they subsist on goring and stomping other animals to death to feed baby hookbladders.

Carriers are walking electronic warfare platforms created by the TITANs to intrude on systems and infect them with the exsurgent virus. Most carriers have similar stats to the one below, but each is unique in some way. In addition to being equipped to spread infection digitally, most carrier have augmentations allowing them to spread infection through other means (via biological nanovirus, nanoplague, basilisk hacks, or, rarely, all three).

Causapods are an interesting example of successful genetic design gone awry. The original causapod was the winner of a Tharsis League contest to create a new neogenetic creature—a new life form created from scratch (or at least with a minimum threshold of original design; a certain degree of chimerical traits were allowed) and adapted for Mars. Best described as “land octopi,” causapods are multi-limbed, with 4 primary limbs and 6 smaller ones under their mantle. They can skitter along quickly and rapidly climb surfaces they can dig their spikes into.

These small transgenic primates are used by the Church of Luminous Saints to spy on and advise ordained members. They are biosculpted to look like tiny winged angels.

Chrysacids are the spiny limb-like growths that sprout from those infected with the chrynalus strain of the exsur- gent virus (p. 174). Infected biomorphs always express chrysacid polyps, though they are also known to grow from infected synthmorphs and sometimes other devices and structures to which the nanoplague has spread.

Adjust stats, enhancements, and gear as appropriate for morph/NPC. At the GM’s discretion, exsurgents in this stage of infection may retain enough intelligence to use complex weapons and tools, such as guns.

In the third stage of infection, chrysacid spurs grow and elongate into limbs, sometimes up to 2 meters in length. Though still attached to whatever they have sprouted from, they are capable of autonomous movement and possess photosensitive cells to “see” and detect movement. They attack by slicing their targets or grabbing and pinching. The exsurgent victims—reduced to pure animal instinct—attack anything they see along with their new appendages.

Spiders have broken off from their original source and scurry about as independent critters. If a character receives a wound from contact with a chrysacid form, they become infected with the Chrynalus nanovirus (p. 174)

The chrysacids that burst from the skin/shell at the second stage of infection are called spurs. These take the form of chitinous segmented limbs and palpi, similar to those found on arthropods, often studded with spikes and hook-like protrusions. They sport near-monomolecular edges capable of piercing armor and spreading infection. Spurs are capable of limited movement but have no way of sensing their environment. Each nightmarish appendage has a mind of its own.

These cute, omnivorous, winged avian-primates live in a symbiotic relationship with Echolalian land anemones. They are playful and prone to pranks, but they also lead explorers to the hungry and deadly anemone tentacles.

Creepers are amorphous clouds of small, black bubbles that spread across and destroy nearly everything they touch, converting all matter into additional creeper mass. Even under enhanced vision and multiple wavelengths, creepers appear out-of-focus and ill-defined due a visual refraction effect. Firewall operates under the theory that creepers are autonomous femtobot swarms, designed by the TITANs as an area-denial weapon and programmed to disassemble everything at the atomic level.

Looking like a crocodile-tyrannosaurus mash-up, this predator stalks the marshes and shores of Echo IV, eating fish and other megafauna.

Digital strains of the Exsurgent Virus are purely information- or code- based versions of the virus. They resemble advanced computer viruses, worms, and trojans. They spread throughout the mesh, exploit holes, mimic protocols, and bypass security measures just like a skilled hacker. Digital versions of the exsurgent virus are treated as intelligent programs, using the same rules as infomorphs.

Genehackers revived a number of extinct dinosaur species as small, colorful, and lovable pets. These popular companions are dog-sized or smaller. Varieties include pterosaurs, stegosauruses, anklyosauruses, triceratops, and many others.

Dreadnoughts are six-legged insectoid tanks, heavily armed and armored. They serve as the shock troops of the Rortians, exhumans bent on conquering the gate network and returning to the solar system to spread their synthetic, hive-mind fascism by force. Unlike a fenrir morph, where each subsystem is typi- cally run by a separate ego coordinating with others through a hard-linked tacnet, dreadnoughts are run by a single mass mind. Each mental unit is composed of up to a dozen egos—usually exhumans, but sometimes forcibly incorporated captured egos.