Hakali
From Mizahar Lore
| Fauna | |
| Major features | Worm-like, lightly coloured, speckled |
|---|---|
| Abilities | Djed consumption, telepathy |
| Most common in | Raldat |
Contents |
Overview
The Hakali are from a world known as Raldat, which is very similar to Mizahar in that it has various types of biomes and ecosystems. Knowledge of this world was quite common during the reign of the Suvan and Alahean empires, and to this day its astral coordinates 9937548585931312 can be found in many older books on the subject of summoning.
The Hakali themselves are maggot-like worms that survive by consuming the djed of both living and dead hosts. Colonies will take up residence inside of a host or carcass and feed off of the djed until nothing is left. Often this causes a living host to die, and an already dead host to decompose at a faster rate. In ancient times, Summoners found another unique use for the creatures as well. By becoming a voluntary host with the Hakali they could take part in a Symbiotic relationship in which both organisms prospered. The Hakali gained a permanent home and steady source of djed which allowed them to grow and prosper more successfully than when they found more unwilling hosts, and the Summoner gained a unique ability through his connection with the creatures. By infecting others with their hosted Hakali the Summoner could slowly drain the djed of their enemies, but additionally when the Hakali returned they carried with them bits and fragments of the infested individuals' memories.
History
Much like the common worlds, Raldat was used as a training world for Summoners during the beginning of the Alahean-Suvan war. Because of its similarities to Mizahar it was used a good way to compare how two worlds could become so different despite the traits that they shared. Most of the creatures of Raldat were identified and categorized, and for the most part were seen as simply interesting and possibly useful for specimens in other studies and research. It was not until the conflict grew on both sides of the war that a treasure was found in the form of a maggot like creature called the Hakali.
The Hakali were known by the Alaheans for some time before any practical use was found for them. They were believed to be a natural part of the worlds cycle of life as more often than not they were discovered in the bodies of dead animals aiding in their decay. By accident one day a researcher was infested by a specimen of Hakali he had collected for study and discovered the creatures extraordinary hidden potential. He was put into isolation and observed for several days as he reported hearing voices in his head, whispers and odd thoughts that were not his own. His strength was slowly being drained away and over the course of 10 days his body decreased in muscle mass and he himself lost the energy to even walk as the Hakali at away at his djed. Once more by accident an attendant also became infected by the Hakali who were hosted by the researcher, and she too was put into isolation with the original host. The original host after this suddenly showed an increase in his strength and vigor and reported he now started to have memories he did not recognize, visions of people and places he had never seen before haunted his dreams and lurked just behind his eyelids. It was later confirmed that these memories were in fact shared between the host and the attendant he infected, carried by the Hakali as they traveled back and forth between them.
The creatures fed on djed, and when they did they took with them pieces of memories and impressions from the organism they inhabited. The Summoner who played host to the creatures could then take those memories as their own when the Hakali shared the excess djed they collected with their host. These little maggot like creatures quickly became essential in the struggle between the warring sides. Summoners who hosted the Hakali were put into positions of interrogation where they used the creatures to infest, weaken and pull the memories from spies, traitors and enemy soldiers. The information they collected was invaluable, and so the Hakali earned their place in Alahean history.
Appearance
The Hakali resemble maggots in nearly every way. Their mouth parts are used for biting and chewing through flesh which allows them to wriggle through an organisms body with relative ease. Their skin secretes a clear mucus which prevents the host's natural defenses from killing them, as well as numbs the surrounding tissue where they are currently burrowing. Their soft forms are well adapted for slipping through the smallest of spaces. In a single colony there are two types of Hakali. The first is the queen who then gives rise to her progeny. She is the largest, some growing to upwards of a foot in length and a width of two fingers. Her children are much smaller in comparison, the largest about an inch in length while the majority are smaller than that. Beyond their size differences the queen can also be identified from her unique coloration. Workers are typically lighter colored with various spot or speckled patterns, where as the queen is darker, sometimes almost black, with no speckle patterns at all.
Behaviour
Life Cycle
A queen can be born to another queen at any time during the life of the Hakali. She is born just as the workers are, but instead of migrating and working inside of the host body she will instead burrow out, typically through the abdomen wall, and leave the host entirely. She cannot survive long outside of the body, a day at most while surviving on what little djed she can collect from the surrounding environment, but the queen gives off a unique pheromone which is very attractive to many types of organisms, prompting animal to eat her. When ingested she will travel into the stomach and intestines and there begin to eat at the lining of the organs as she first begins to feed on the hosts djed. Over the course of a few days she will begin to merge her own djed with the hosts, merging with the tissue itself and becoming more a part of the organism than a simple parasite. She will continue to feed and grow until she reaches full maturity within 10 to 15 days. Once fully mature the queen will begin laying her own eggs and her workers will travel throughout the hosts body, feeding and bringing djed back to the queen to supplement what she consumes within the intestines. During this process the queen suppresses the bodies natural immune system, preventing it from rejecting her and diverting necessary nutrition and blood flow to her nesting area.
The children, or workers, of the queen can live anywhere from a few weeks to a year. When these die they are simply consumed by the other workers, and their djed harvested and returned to the queen. The queen, however, can live for as long as the host and some have been known to survive after the hosts death to invade a new body. When the host organism dies the Hakali begin consuming and decomposing its body. When the body is fully decomposed until nothing is left then the queen finally dies, or on very rare occasions invades another host body by burrowing into the abdomen usually while the creature sleeps near the decomposed remains of the previous host, or if the new organism comes close enough for full physical contact with the queen herself. This experiences is very painful, and most often the queen dies in the attempt, but when she survives the queen can go on to live just as she had before to produce more offspring and more queens to further their species.
While infesting a host organism the queen herself becomes as much a part of the hosts body as his heart and kidneys, becoming nearly impossible to remove except by dangerous surgical means, but even in this case the host will lose a portion of his own organs in the act. The workers, however, are not fully integrated into the hosts djed and so their levels can be controlled somewhat through the use of typical parasite medications and remedies. Anything that can hurt or harm the host can also hurt or harm the queen, but by extension anything that might hurt or kill the queen will also hurt or kill the host. The Hakali make no distinction between particular races or organisms. If they can supply them with a steady source of djed and are organic the Hakali can colonize them.
Queen and Worker Dynamic
The queen, once integrated, will not leave the hosts body. To do so would be to put her life at risk, as well as the host as she would have to extract herself both from the organisms tissue but his djed as well. From her nesting area she has access to a steady supply of nutrients and djed she requires to survive, and any extra she needs her workers, called Kali, bring to her from other areas of the host's body. The queen has absolute control over the Kali, and through the telepathic field she can direct them to areas of the host where the desired sources of djed can be found. Kali are numerous and infest the entire host body, and more are produced every day to replace those that die or are killed by the hosts immune system. In a healthy host there can be anywhere around 1,000 Kali, and more can be produced on demand. Unlike their queen, Kali are not an integrated part of the host organism's djed, and so they must produce a thin mucus while acts as a suppressant to the bodies natural immune system. It also aids in the repair of tissue damaged by the Hakali as it travels through the host body, such as closing the holes in the skin when the Hakali burrows in our out. However, it cannot aid in healing damage done externally such as a blow from a weapon or another animal attack. This repair mechanism only functions in a living host, becoming pointless and unnecessary after the organism dies.
Hakali and Their Host
The Hakali are, in a way, a jealous parasite. They do not like to share the space they have within their host, and so they will actually guard against other parasitic invaders that might do harm to their host organism. This defense can also stem to some forms of viral and bacterial infections, as well as foreign or corrupted djed that enters the body. For this reason those infested with Hakali often have difficulty performing the magic of leaching. As soon as the new djed enters the body the Hakali swarm and begin devouring it, making it unavailable to use in future spell casting. In the past some have tried to use leeching as a way to feed the Hakali without infesting another host, but after a time the host would become severely ill as the queen herself rejected over consumption of the corrupted djed.
Over time the infestation will grow to such an extent that the host will no longer be able to function, their djed rapidly being devoured by the Hakali until nothing is left. Thus if the host wishes to survive he has to find a new source of djed for the Hakali to consume. Oddly enough the Hakali are not overly picky about where the djed comes from, as long as it is a pure source and untainted. Often they take the djed from the host simply because it is convenient and easy, but if a new source is provided, for instance a surrogate host, the Hakali have no qualms in crossing over into the new organism to feast on their djed instead and bring back what they gather to their queen. The Kali can survive outside of a host body for a little more than a day, but in order to survive and function they must be within a few hundred feet of the queen. Thus that is the max range that a Kali can travel. Once the Kali leave the hosts body, however, it becomes almost impossible to control their direct movements. So if a Host wants to have the Kali invade a new victim for their djed he will almost always initiate direct skin to skin contact.
The workers will always return to the original host after feeding on the djed of a surrogate. If they do not they will slowly die within the surrogates body as they are no longer connected with a queen which they require to survive. Within the original host the Kali also create designated 'paths' that lead to various places in the hosts body. This Kali network, called the 'maze' by those who are infested, allows the Kali to move about the body without causing undo harm to the host. Typically these pathways in the maze have various exits to the outside world, usually a few in the hands and feet and sometimes a few direction out of the skin itself. It is easier for the Kali to exit holes and orifice already existing in the hosts body, so the mouth, ears and nose are a favorite when these creatures wish to exit the body for any reason.
Abilities
When the queen enters the body of a living host and integrates herself into their djed she forms a deep connection with the organism as their two separate djeds come closer and become one. Due to this sharing of djed the host and the queen share a weak telepathic connection, and while the Hakali is not intelligent enough to speak she can give impressions to her host as a way of indicating the need to feed, the entrance of a foreign djed into the hosts body, and the birth of a new queen. The host can often hear 'whispers' within their mind which in fact is the collective telepathic field of the queen and her many children within their body. By monitoring the levels of these mental whispers the host can determine the state of his infestation, if they are excited or relaxed, in need of a new feeding or if they are frenzied for one reason or another. Only the queen can give true impressions to the hosts, the rest are simple whispers at the back of the mind and easily ignored.
The Hakali live by consuming the djed of their host, but in order to prevent them from completely consuming his life he can provide them with a new source of djed on which to feed. When the Hakali begin to consume more djed than the host can bear, usually within 8-10 days depending on the colonies size, the host can find a new organism to 'infect' with his colony. All he needs to do is to get near and physically touch another creature and the Hakali will burrow through the skin and enter the new organism wherever there is physical contact. Rarely does the new host willingly accept this and thus they usually need to be restrained before the transfer begins.
When the Hakali travel back to the original host after a feeding they will often share any excess djed consumed with the host, and with it bits and flashes of memories are revealed to the hosts mind. If the Kali are the only ones sent into the victim the flashes are random. Unless the host willingly and consciously pays attention to the memories as they are brought to him they simply fade into the back of his mind, and eventually will dwindle to nothing and be forgotten as the hosts own memories push the foreign ones away. Through meditation many of these can be brought back to the surface, but more often than not the host will simply ignore them and let them fade until they are no more.
To a small extent the Hakali can be controlled by their host's will through the telepathic link to the queen. The host can call the Hakali to travel to a particular region of their body and to breech the skin, for instance when a feeding is required. They can also instruct the Hakali to use their numbing agent or not so as to cause pain when they burrow into a victim. Doing so though opens the Hakali up to the victim's immune system and often they do not return. Thus this is only done as a form of torture, and never to gain memories or djed from the victim.
Kuli
Within the Hakali species there are two well known types. The first is the queen who is the mother to all of her colony, and the Kali are the children who serve her. Within the Hakali there also exists a third type, one which is born during times of stress as a way to protect and aid in the survival of the queen.
Kuli are a product of the environment in which the queen exists. During times of stress, danger or for the sake of survival the queen will give birth to a third type of child known as a Kuli. This creature is bigger than his brothers and the queen herself, some growing to nearly 2 feet in length and sometimes 2 inches thick. Black as the queen, the Kuli also have more developed mouth parts that enable it to latch and hold onto prey. The Kuli are designed for a single purpose, hunting and bringing back large stores of djed to the queen in need, and protecting her if the situation calls for it. A Kuli is most often born after the host organism has died, when the djed supply is quickly running low and the queen is struggling for survival. Unlike the Kali, Kuli are not restricted in how far they can travel from the queen or the amount of time they can spend outside of the body and so they travel and search for other sources of djed to gather and bring back to the queen to prolong her life for the off chance of finding a new host. If a new host does come near the Kuli will also aid in capturing and restraining the creature while the queen attempts to relocate. Often the Kuli die in this process, but if the queen survives then they have more than served their purpose.
When a Kuli is born into a living host it is often due to a sudden decrease in the amount of available djed (such as due to leeching) or severe injury of the host through accident or attack. Kuli take up residence within the stomach and intestines of the host, much like the queen, and because of its size it cannot burrow its way through the body or take any of the Kali's maze paths. So it has only two reasonable exits, but most simply travel up and out of the body through the esophagus and out of the hosts mouth, returning the same way. The experience can be uncomfortable to say the least, but only rarely is the host injured during the creatures exit and entrance. When the immediate crisis is over the Kuli usually go into a dormant state, but can be aroused by the queen whenever the need arises.
When the Kuli find their prey they can begin to consume the djed one of two ways. The first is from the outside where they latch onto the victim with their powerful jaws and tightly wrap around any limbs or appendages they can. This is the most dangerous method for the Kuli, and the one that most often fails as they are vulnerable to retaliation from the victim and from other outside sources. The preferred method is from the inside. A Kuli will try to invade a victim through any opening large enough for them to fit through. This can be any natural opening, or gaping wounds. They can consume a vast amount of djed in a short time, smaller organisms such as rodents dying within hours and full grown humans only able to last for 4 or 5 days. Along with this larger djed consumption the Kuli can also pull larger, more complex and clear memories from the organisms mind, and later when the Kuli returns to the host and presents the djed to the queen she can transmit these memories to the host who can comb through them as if they were his own.
Like the Kali, the Kuli can be moderately controlled by the host through the telepathic field he shares with the queen. It can be directed to exit or leave the body, and to some extent the host can tell the Kuli to search for a particular memory during the feeding process. Unlike their brothers, however, the Kuli can survive to some extent on their own even after the queen passes away. For this reason many summoners actively seek out these Kuli during the summoning process, in an attempt to capture and tame the creatures for their various uses. A Kuli that is caught without a queen cannot share memories like one that is born inside of a host can, but still it is useful as a device for torture and in some cases a reagent for magecrafting or alchemic purposes. Without a queen, however, the Kuli will only survive for a maximum of a year.
For the host of a Kuli the need to find new sources of djed is greater than one without, especially if the Kuli is not kept in a dormant state for long periods of time. A Kuli will very quickly consume the djed of the host if allowed, and so many choose to simply keep the creatures outside of their body and feed them much like pets instead of letting them remain dormant inside of them. If the Kuli are housed inside of the body and remain active a host may only go 2 days without finding a new source of djed for their colony and Kuli, but if the Kuli are allowed to go dormant their djed consumption decreases and the amount of time between hosts increases to the usual 7-8 days. A queen may have up to 2 Kuli at one time, and she can only birth 4 during the entirety of her life time. The creation of a Kuli requires a considerable amount of djed from the queen, so during the first few bells after one is hatched the need for djed becomes so great that the Kuli immediately seeks to exit the body and find a new source. The queen will often alert the host when a Kuli is about to be hatched, after which time the host should make immediate preparations for its feeding lest they lose their own life to its appetite.
Summoning
The coordinates for the world Raldat are common enough and easy to find in any older book on the subject of summoning, but they do not fall under the classification as a common world. While the Hakali themselves do not pose a great threat, the possibility of finding a Kuli is enough that it is recommended that only competent and above in summoning attempt the summoning. This is to ensure the strength of the leash would be enough to hold a Kuli that is in search of new prey. The most difficult part is finding the Hakali. Having a familiar greatly increases the success rate of this summoning as it can enter the portal and search the immediate area. It is often easier to identify a colony that is still within a decomposing corpse, but sometimes they can be spotted while still in the living host, especially if the organism has multiple breeches in its skin and the Kali wiggling on its surface. A truly lucky Summoner may even find one on the ground near their summoning portal, which is the most ideal situation which very few can boast of every seeing. A Kuli could very well be spotted venturing on its own, or even attached to an organism just across the portal.
The queen must be brought through the portal either by the Familiar or by the Summoner. If the queen is within the range of the portal the Summoner can simply reach in with his hand, preferably gloved or otherwise protected, or even tongs and pull her out. More often than not, however, a whole decomposing corpse is brought from the portal for the Summoner to dig through in search of a queen. Once brought into Mizahar the queen must be stored in a sealed jar with either fresh earth and green or a recently deceased organism for her to feed on while the Summoner prepares her host. The queen can only be kept like this for a few bells, upwards to a day, before she will begin to wither and die, and so the Summoner must act fast. If he wishes to take the Hakali into himself to form a colony he must carefully introduce her to his own body by either directly ingesting her (if she is small enough) or letting her burrow in through his abdomen. The latter is highly discouraged as the process is highly painful and can sometimes lead to death if the queen burrows too far and ruptures another organ as she makes her way to the stomach and intestines. It is recommended if possible to find a smaller queen and directly ingest as this has the highest success rate.
After the first 10-15 days the colonization begins, and at this point the new Host will begin to hear the first whispers and feel the beginning stages of the telepathic link with the queen. It takes only 2 days for the colonization to be completed, and at this time the Host can influence the Hakali in his body and at this time he will first notice the drain on his Djed.
Once a Summoner takes in a Hakali colony as its host the process cannot be reversed unless by surgical means. The queen becomes an intimate part of the hosts body and djed, and she will live for as long as the host lives if not longer. While the host can loosely direct when and where the Hakali move within their body they cannot prevent them from traveling everywhere they wish to go. That means it is very possible they will squirm under the visible skin and break the surface and reveal themselves at random times, which can be quite disturbing for those who see this and do not know about the infestation. Many who host these creatures face social isolation as their body becomes filled with wiggly creatures that disgust most who see them, but this is one of the risks a Summoner must take to fully utilize these amazing creatures.
When a new queen is born within the host the current queen will inform the host of her presence. At this time the Summoner can decide if he wishes to infest someone new, or simply let the queen follow its natural life cycle. Colonization works just like infestation. The Summoner simply has to have physical contact with the new host to be and direct the new queen to burrow into the person's body. The person can also ingest the queen directly if they are more willing for the colonization. The new host will undergo the same process as normal, just as the original did, and the Hakali's life cycle will continue.
When attempting to capture a Kuli directly, a prey creature of some sort should be offered to lure the creature across the portal where the leash can be established to restrain it before the Summoner himself attempts to capture it. Full protection should be worm to cover all exposed skin, including facial coverings to prevent it from entering the body through the mouth. The Kuli can be stored in a tank or a jar, and can be fed any form of organic animal djed source to aid its survival. Without its queen the Kuli will only last upwards a year, during which time various uses can be found for it.