The Maidenhead Wasp
A beautiful creature with a deceptive nature, and a very, very odd method of caring for it's young...
Full Description
Wasp is something of a misnomer for this creature. They do bear a resemblance to a wasp, but they have a more slender body shape, and their armored exoskeletons shimmer with a rainbow of colors, as do their beautiful gossamer wings. Furthermore, these are much larger than an ordinary wasp, generally two to three feet in length, with at least a three foot wingspan, sometimes up to five.
They generally live in tropical forests, where there is an abundance of fruit and nutritional leaves that are easily accessed. Apart from these two criteria, they require a warm, moist climate, and little else.
These are among the strangest creatures in existence, not for their appearance, diet, or anything about them but for their reproductive method. An adult Maidenhead (there are no males, only females) breeds by laying its egg in the body of another creature, which is not so odd. The odd part, however, lays in the fact that it only lays it's egg (it produces only one per year) in a male of another species. This is it's method of circumventing the fact that it has only females of it's own species. It will implant its egg in any warm blooded creature of sufficient size, usually at least a hundred and fifty pounds, so humans fall in it's range - and are, in fact, it's preferred incubator.
Another odd part about this creature is the way in which it does this, which has earned it the status of a holy creature to many peoples who share territory with the creature, and implantation is actually, in some of these places, something to be desired, as the ones who are implanted are taken care of like kings, and since the larva actually does not kill its host. The reason for this is because the males that have experienced this are said to understand both sexes, and so to be very wise. Also, since the wasp itself is so benign and brings goodwill wherever it goes, it is revered as a holy creature The adult female, which is about two years old when it reaches reproductive age, lures a male by secreting a powerful version of the pheromone secreted by the female of whatever race it has detected. It targets only lone males, never when they travel in groups, for the next phase of its plan to work more effectively. The pheromone, since it is many hundreds of times more powerful than the normal version, has an almost instant hypnotic effect on the man, causing him to forget Whatever he may be doing at the time and follow its call to the wasp, who will then sting him once with a chemical that will knock him out for several hours, while the wasp injects an egg about the size of a golf ball into his stomach, along with a collection of slowly degrading anaesthetics to keep him from noticing its presence until it hatches. The wasp then injects him with another compound, an exceptionally powerful healing agent that is extremely valuable as a healing potion, but almost impossible to obtain - after all, the wasps ability to mimic almost any hormone, male as well as female, renders people incapable of harming it. The wound from the injection will heal by the time he wakes, leaving him only with a vague memory of being seduced by a beautiful woman in the forest.
For the next week, the man will notice little different, and will almost certainly forget all about the experience, from the effect of all the chemicals the bug pumps into him. However, about one weeks after the implantation, the larva inside him will hatch, and start to extend tiny tendrils from its body, winding around his nerve fibers and the vessels of his body, pumping chemicals of its own into him. The effect of this is almost immediate - he will be almost insatiably hungry for the first few days. After he has gorged himself, likely wandering off into the forest to eat leaves and other things he normally wouldn't (the larva allows him to digest these things), it will calm its torrent of hormones and start to work more slowly - but the effects will be drastic.
The man will start to behave oddly, even the bravest of men will shy from any danger, though is cornered will fight with twice his normal strength, the larva using this to ensure its protection while within him. After that, his body will start to change. Muscle mass will begin to drop, his skeletal structure will shift subtlely, hips will widen, and in about three days he will begin to develop breasts, certain parts disappear... and his stomach will grow considerably - he has, for all intensive purposes, become female, and pregnant at that. While most of his mind will remain intact, he will almost certainly not worry overmuch about this, and will not understand why others might, since the chemicals will induce a sense of well being equal to having a few beers throughout almost the entire 'term'. Also, the host will absolutely refuse to wander more than a few miles from where it was implanted, and will react violently if an attempt is made to remove it from the forest.
As all this happens, however, the urge to eat will continually be strengthened, far beyond that of any normal human, as the larva's nutritional needs are much greater than a human baby. This condition will last for about three weeks, as the larva also grows faster, at which point it will extend larger tendrils into the host's mind and take over entirely. This always happens when the host is asleep, and he (she now, I suppose) will rise and walk out into the forest without a word to anyone. There the larva will find a body of water, and force the host to submerge its lower body in the water, where it will rip its way out, now in an intermediate sort of aquatic state. The host will hardly bleed at all, as the larva continuously feeds the healing chemical into it, and once it departs, the wound will be entirely healed. The host will sleep then, as the chemicals flush from its system and the tiny vascular tubes running throughout its body vanish. He will wake in the morning, very sore, and lost in the forest, but the larva will have, as sort of a final thank you, sprayed the concentrated pheromone about the area to protect it's father from predators in the night - though after carrying it, he will not be affected. His body will return to normal, somewhat stronger even from the final enzyme the larva leaves him with to return his muscle mass and other... parts... to normal. After that, he is free to go on his way, though perhaps extremely puzzled as to why he had such strange dreams of being... pregnant, of all things...
Additional Information
Okay, I know this is weird as hell, and i promise I wont post too many submissions that are this disturbing, but it is an idea I had that refused to leave me alone for the past... oh, year at least. Besides that, I recommend it if you have a male player that is either far too concerned with his masculinity, is far too cocky, a sexist... or anything along those lines.
Finally, I leave you with the thought that I based this off a parasite that exists on our earth today, in the pacific ocean, that does almost this exact thing to male crabs. Sleep well, guys. ^_^
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? Responses (27)
I wonder if that strange lifeforms challenge is still active... perhaps this should go there haha
Wow...
That is really wierd as hell, I'm going to be hard pressed to find someway to work that into a game but...wow.
Updated: I switched males and females in the third paragraph... oops ^_^
HOLY CRAP! thats good wasp! reading this is extremely icky for me. My wife is currently pregnant, and I'm showing signs of sympathy pregnancy myself. I hope its not...AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dont promise to NOT post more disturbing submissions, promise to do MORE of them! ok Im calmer now..this is really sharp! great job! Im not sure I can do this to one of my pc buddies. They would never frogive me.
and what pray tell, is the name of the 'real life' crab implanter?
Hehe..this is amazing, and i have just the PC to do it to, if I can manage it. It will be interesting to see how the party reacts to it...
But, he is rather surly, and sexist, and a ranger, so being alone in the forest is entirely plausable.
*thinks of wicked ways to make it happen*
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_8_21/ai_63583791#continue
Go to that link, there is an article on the real life parasite ^_^
This is a nice bug! But you could certainly go into more detail regarding how and why the hosts are treated like Kings.
Oh! Crap I forgot to elaborate on that didnt I!
Updated: Roack is right, lol.... fixed that
I am impressed by this one. It is really a 4.75 rather than 5, but it works for me enough to give it the 5. It has detail, it has interwoven apsects to the world, it has a twist, and it is neatly wrapped up in a well written package.
The only thing I really the size of the critter... a bit too large for real world physics... not a total concern, but something to keep in mind.
I am going to link it into the insects codex as well, since you probably didn't know that existed.
I didnt know that, haha.
Also, all it would require is a signiicant oxygen content in the atmosphere, and it is higher in rainforest areas. Plus, perhaps theis wasp has more evolved methods of absorbing air than other bugs
Great post.
I was thinking, 'Oh no, another parasite that lays eggs into you that kill you at birth'. And you have pleasantly surprised me! A bizzare creature indeed (thanks that you have added the link to the real-world inspiration, it is not necessary to show, that a creature is possible to exist, but it's quite an interesting addition).
Biologically, I would say that it should specialize in a lifeform/group of lifeforms (mammals or whatever), but as usually, we can relax the demand on realistic-ness. ;)
The question on size probably relates to the sizes of its wings. ('cause you know, double the size, and you'll get eight times the weight, and this thing is much larger than a wasp - so it would need gigantic wings.)
Oh, and, how intelligent is this thing? Not that it needs any smarts besides good instincts, I just wonder.
Fairly intelligent, I'd say, as far as bugs go, because it knows the proper chemicals to use and all that, but then, in real life, plants can pull that off too, haha. So, I'd have to say its at the high end of insect intelligence, but below that of a mammal
Also, with regards to the wings, at one point on the earth there were dragonflies about this size ^_^
Had about the same wingspan as a large eagle, so not quite the massive size you-d expect. If it was a bird, yes, but most bugs make up for wing size with rapidity of beats, and they do that part extremely well, as you can tell just from looking at them
The period which had the giant dragon flies you speak of was in the Mesozoic period. The era was predicated on the shift from carbon diaoxide prevolence (which killed off most lifeforms of the previous era) to oxygen. The oxygen was produced by the mega-ferns and other plants. (Remember all those science class pictures showing huge odd looking, they came from this period.) This hyper oxygenated atmosphere was highly flamable and electrically charged. (Ozone layer as we know it was developing at this time.) Thus any lightning streak, let alone strike, would set the region on fire, with an airborn firestorm.
So if O2 levels reached high enough again, bugs will be able to gather enough O2 to grow to larger sizes.
Where did the 02 go? Atmospheric oxygen is removed by many living things. Immense amounts went into the shells of microscopic marine invertebrates during the Mesozoic. It is mostly locked up as limestone and chalk. The oxygen is presumed to be locked up, mainly as oxides and carbonates in sedimentary rock, or in solution in water and trapped in ice. Which is of course, melting. You know we did have some humungous spiders last year...
You know to much...
Interesting, a parasite that to some extent helps it's host and repairs the damage that it does.
My first HOH...
Thanks for that, Cheka, it means a lot... ^_^
I wil lsay that you definately have done your homework on how these things work. I wil lnot repeat what everone else has said. I wil lsay that my one complaint, which took the .5 off is the egg is lays is rather large to not be noticed when it is first laid. I mean a golf bal lsized egg? You fail to realize how large that would be on your insides.
People get gal stones thatlarge and are in such pain they can not function. Granted it is in a different area but similar principle.
Otherwise, a nice little bug.
On a side note, I had a male ranger who in a campaign was impregnated by fairies and was treated like a king for the birth of his daughter was said to be an omen to the fairies of a new queen. He became an NPC but was a very rich and taken care of NPC.
Oh, I should mention that some people go about with liver tumors of that size and feel only a mild discomfort
Updated: Mourn's right again, haha, added a small caveat about anaesthetics with regard to that egg
Good job Armi. You've had some good posts so far. And, I'm not going to beat the dead horse.
Thumbs up Arminas! Very good!
BUMP, where are you Arminas?
One step was omitted - when does the egg get fertilized? I know the wasp targets males, but semen is not just sloshing about the abdominal cavity (if it is, it's likely not yours, and seek help immediately).
Also... genetics. We can of course omit those, as this is a fantasy sub, but wouldn't the offspring be part human? And its offspring even more human? Etc?
lol I enjoyed the CoC influence......that is where you got this from right?
This is a really novel critter. An unusual lifecycle to say the least :)
I don't agree with Moon on their size. I do not see any need to rationalize giant insects in a fantasy post however.