Ruinous Worms

Basic Information

 * Name: Ruinous Worms
 * Designation: Semi-Sentient
 * Homeworld: Nelvaan
 * Language: N/A
 * Average Lifespan: Five Years
 * Estimated Population: Rare

Description
Birthed through some of the most horrific and abominable alchemy by Darth Tacitus' cadre of elite sorcerers known as the Devil's Claws, the Ruinous Worms are a type of Sithspawn that are created by fusing the bodies and souls of multiple victims together, into a single nightmarish monster.

Only sentient enough to mindlessly parrot the final screams and begs for mercy of those tortured souls that were used to make them, the skin of the Ruinous Worms is a pockmarked, putrid purple which constantly oozes a highly corrosive acid that can melt through unarmored flesh.

Even as they utter their horrible screams, Ruinous Worms eat their victims alive. They are mindless, tortured abomination driven only by insanity and an insatiable hunger for sentient flesh and when cut off from their masters, they will shamble about looking for prey.

Physical Features

 * Breathes: Type I
 * Average height of adults: 1,47 Meters
 * Average length of adults: 0,94 Meters
 * Skin color: Purplish Gray
 * Hair color: N/A

Distinctions
A writhing mass of putrid tentacles, eyeballs and teeth which endlessly parrots the final screams of those unfortunate souls that were turned into them, the Ruinous Worms have no distinct shape or body configuration, having a varying number of tentacles and feet, seemingly following a random pattern.

As they age, their skin rots and falls off, until they are no longer capable of maintaining their own bodily integrity and finally expire. Created out of the unholy fusion of multiple victims, each Ruinous Worm contains multiple organs of the same type, including multiple hearts, lungs and brains, making them somewhat difficult to kill in some circumstances.

Another consequence of their unholy creation is their sterility, due to a lack of any reproductive organs. Additional individuals of this species can only be created through sorcery and alchemy. It should also be noted that the creatures lack any kind of skeletal structure, making them vulnerable to kinetic, sonic and explosive damage.

A dangerous characteristic is the corrosive acid that their skin secretes, which can burn through unprotected flesh, although most types of armor will offer reasonable protection against that.

Due to their physical configuration, Ruinous Worms are slow, shambling creatures who are incapable of moving or turning swiftly, although it should be noted that they are capable of lashing out with their tentacles at blinding speed, should one get too close.


 * Races: N/A
 * Diet: Ruinous Worms have an exclusively meat-eating diet and prefer to eat their victims alive. For some unknown reasons, the flesh of other Sithspawn is highly toxic to them and can easily kill them, an advantage often seized by those who hunt them, who lace bait with Sithspawn meat in order to poison the creatures
 * Communication: Although Ruinous Worms mindlessly parrot the final screams of those who fell victim to the horrible rituals used to create them, this species does not, in fact, communicate through vocalization, instead using pheromones to exchange basic information such as the location of prey. They can, however, recognize vocal commands from their masters, to whom they are attuned through the rituals that create them
 * Technology level: N/A
 * Religion/Beliefs: N/A

Strengths

 * Acid Skin: Their skin constantly secretes a corrosive agent which can burn through unprotected skin, although most types of armor offer reasonable protection from it
 * Multiple Organs: Creating by fusing the bodies and souls of multiple victims into a single creature, each Ruinous Worm has multiple duplicates of its organs, making them harder to kill by blasters, lightsabers and bladed weapons
 * Eldritch Horrors: Mindlessly parroting the final screams and begs for mercy of the tortured souls used to create them, even as they slowly eat their victims alive, the Ruinous Worms are a terrifying presence on any battlefield and can have a tremendous psychological impact

Weaknesses

 * Shambling Abominations: Created out of multiple bodies that have been fused together, the Ruinous Worms are slow, shambling abominations incapable of running, or turning quickly
 * Squishy: Lacking any kind of internal skeleton, Ruinous Worms are highly susceptible to kinetic and sonic damage and particularly vulnerable to explosives
 * Force Light: Created through unholy rituals of the Darkside, the Ruinous Worms are highly vulnerable to pure manifestations of the Light and can be easily destroyed in this way

General Behavior
Hunting in small packs of two or three individuals, when left to their own devices Ruinous Worms will shamble about constantly looking for prey which they will slowly consume alive. Lacking great mobility, they are ambush predators who prefer to corner their prey, or hide in dark, out of sight places and can display a reasonable amount of intelligence when hunting. They prefer to hunt children, due to them being easier prey.

When commanded by a master they have been conditioned to serve, they become mindless servants who will obey any orders that they are given, within the limits of their physical and mental capabilities. During battle, these creatures are often deployed from dropships and let loose amongst enemy formations or civilian areas, in order to cause a panic.

A notable characteristic is their preference for live prey, which a skilled hunter can exploit against them, although they will consume dead flesh if they are hungry enough. Created as both a physical weapon and a means of waging psychological warfare against the enemies of the Eternal Empire, the Ruinous Worms are horrific abominations made by a cadre of sorcerers and alchemists known as the Devil's Claws, which operate out of the planet Kalidan.

The process for creating a batch of Ruinous Worms involves multiple stages of transformation. First, victims are selected from a pool of convicted criminals and prisoners of war, although any sentient beings can be used for this purpose. Through a number of Sith spells and rituals, their bones are first liquefied and turned into gelatinous muscle. This process is slow and extremely painful, often taking days to complete.

Then, the sorcerers remove any excess flesh and organs that are not needed, through a mixture of sorcery and rituals that cause the unnecessary parts to rot and fall off. By this point, the victims' bodies are already malleable enough to be molded into the desired shapes. Limbs are also removed at this stage, leaving behind a worm-like blob of distorted flesh.

The final stage of their creation involves fusing multiple individuals together into a single entity, each worm forming either a tentacle or a leg. During the process of their creation, the souls of the victims are used as fuel for the various rituals, gradually stripping away the creatures' sentience until only an echo of their torment remains. The result is a mindless abomination that constantly repeats the final, agonizing screams and pleas for mercy of its former selves, although these screams are merely recordings, a consequence of the horrible rituals they have been put through and not an attempt at communication.

The first Ruinous Worms were created after the Battle of Coruscant and the fall of the Galactic Alliance and the initial experiments were a failure, with victims dissolving into unusable puddles of goo. The process was, however, gradually perfected until the final form was reached.

Ruinous Worms are typically created in batches of varying numbers, ranging between ten and fifty individuals and are kept within secret facilities until they are deployed for combat, often parachuted out of dropships into the midst of enemy formations, or even civilian areas, in order to sow chaos and carnage and to cause enemy morale to waver and break. They are as much a psychological tool of terror as they are a physical weapon and have numerous tactical applications for those ruthless enough to use them.