joeyoo
February 2nd, 2024
Parasiticus project was officially founded on February 2nd 2024, but some of the cast existed way before that! PP takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has been overrun by an alien species of endosymbiotic parasite. You get to travel through the eyes of different characters to explore the world, but be careful! Not everyone is reliable..
Meet the characters!
Dimitri “Captain” Ruskof (3453)
Дмитрий «Капитан» Русков (3453)
Dimitri serves as your introduction to PP. Through his eyes, you are shown the world of 'transporters.' A career that focalizes on one thing : transporting resources across military bases, there's a catch though! The transportation is done uniquely through orbit. A necessity to avoid parasitical contamination and infection.
Dimitri grew up in the wasteland, and like his peers, life was incredibly difficult. Every hour, whether dawn or dusk, risk of infection or better yet death, was incredibly high. Survival was a gamble, and the parasites weren't the only fear! Due to the constant military bombings, the majority of the world is in a near constant nuclear winter! This leads to a large majority of humans developing health complications, and Dimitri's mother was no different. Because of this, Dimitri worked various jobs in an effort to get money to pay for his mothers medical supplies. It was while during one of his odd jobs at an agriculture field that he met a transporter, he didn’t need convincing when he heard the paycheck.
Transporters, despite being lowest on the military chain, are indispensable. They're sort of like the dishwashers at a restaurant!
Transporters are hired through "Nexarus". A spatial military program open to the public.
Joining is relatively easy, surviving isn't. Transporters are required to pass a physical exam and psychological assessment to join. Then, they must learn the 'Manuel' by heart.
The 'Manuel' refers to a set of rules imposed onto transporters to guarantee efficiency and safety across bases. Some examples are : If infected, kill yourself. Never speak about your missions. No vacations, always available. Document any anomalies or out of the ordinary things. Never use your weapon unless the cargo is in danger.
If any of these rules are disobeyed, by decree of Genesis, the offending transporter is executed. But hey! The pay's really good!
They are considered cargo, and are replaceable.
Through Dimitri's eyes, you accompany him on one of his missions, but there seems to be something on the ship with him..
A vital anomaly on one of the 'merchandise' forces Dimitri to the oxygen tank chamber where he discovers an airlock malfunction. He located the blown fuse. Surrounding it was a thick black substance, an unidentifiable ooze clinging to the wires, similar to tar. Dimitri decides to reconnect the oxygen manually, but before he can, the unidentifiable goo splatters onto his neck. He realizes this to be of parasitical nature, and retreats back to the cockpit, ignoring the computers warning, terminating the auto destruct, despite the sensors confirming his suspicion. "Cancellation risks parasitical importation. Proceed?"
According to the 'Manuel' , he should have already killed himself, but he only needed to be alive for the trajectory, not for the descent onto earth. Dimitri decides to return to the oxygen tank chamber, and successfully reconnected a fresh oxygen tank to the 'merchandise.' Feverish, he notices a black shadow in his peripheral vision, and blindly shoots. After fighting with the creature, it retreats under a metal crate. Dimitri pours a flask of alcohol around the crate and lights it, probing the creature to abruptly launch at his head.
This is your first introduction to a parasite larvae! Congratulations !
The creature is revealed to be no bigger than a small rat. The gun clattered to the ground as he clawed at his face, struggling to pry the writhing creature off him. Then, he coughed violently, black sludge bubbling up from his throat. After recuperating, he maintained the trajectory to earth, not expecting to survive the descent...
So, what is a parasite larvae?
The parasite larvae are an unknown species not originating from the milky way, and reproduce asexually. (Without the necessary need of a partner.) However, they reproduce within corpses (To eat the flesh). They must enter a endosymbiosis with another organism before mature age, or they will die. When merged with a human, the larvae commonly orally force themselves into the body of the host. The infection is catalogued through stages
Stage 0: Common symptoms of the flu, loss of appetite, fevers, sore throat, runny nose, nausea, dizziness. Does not have access to the hive mind, but may hear ‘distant voices’
Stage 1: Hysteria, insanity, dilated pupils, suicide, lack of blinking, bloodshot red eyes, loss of physical pain, visual and auditory type hallucinations. Loss of consciousness. Possesses access to the hive mind.
Stage 2: Abilities of metamorphosis between host and parasite if the host survives long enough. They are incredibly more violent than stage 1’s, and constantly seek to devour. They have been known to plant larvae eggs into the deceased wombs of organisms. Possesses access to the hive mind
Stage spontaneous type transformation: Anomaly occurring during stage 0 where the host will not undergo stage 1 to its full effect, or the complete absence of it. Instead, the host will enter an endosymbiosis with the parasite and gradually fuse with it, up to this stage it is considered stage prolonged type transformation. A second anomaly will occur if the prolonged type transformation is spontaneously affected (Like sudden death.) Stage spontaneous type transformation will occur instead where the parasite will immediately fuse itself entirely with the host within a matter of seconds, killing itself in the process. It will rapidly break DNA and reconstruct it on its own, tweaking it for the survivability of its host. This process is extremely dangerous, and is often done poorly. Many mutations occur during this process. The host will keep its consciousness but will usually suffer total memory loss. These organisms do not have access to the hive mind.
Stage prolonged type transformation: Anomaly occurring during stage 0 where the host will not undergo stage 1 to its full effect, or the complete absence of it. Instead, the host will enter an endosymbiosis with the parasite and gradually fuse with it over the course of months or years until it has reached a complete fusion and is considered ‘perfect.’ Commonly the parasite will replace an organ in the host's body. The host possesses consciousness and often keeps their memories. These organisms have access to the hive mind.
The hive mind: a ‘consciousness’ shared by the mutated. The hive allows for location sharing and thought sharing. The hive mind has a ‘queen bee’ named Mother.
Yeah yeah it's difficult ! But basically there's a one in a million chance that the host becomes an anomaly, which is the compatibility between parasite and human! Endosymbiosis!
An anomaly is considered a perfect specimen, while an infected is a temporary host!
Oh and anomalies guys got rapid cellular regen... yikes
So.... spoiler. But our dear captain is infected, though he tells you he's not!*
Dimitri underwent prolonged type transformation, he merged with a 'spatialis' type larvae. These larvae are very rare! They can't survive Earth's atmosphere, but thrive in space! Though there's not much food in space...
Officially, little is known about these guys! They possess camouflage abilities, even after death! They're social chameleon type killers essentially!
Dimitri possesses shapeshifter abilities by consuming the organic material of another organism, he can become them for specific lengths of time, it all depends on the quantity he ate. However, by will he can transform into his ‘original’ human state, due to his ADN being perfectly memorized during the metamorphosis. Dimitri's eyes will always remain a soulless black, where there is no light reflection.
Dimitri has a long black tail, covered in reenforced 'tar' like
plate. The tip of his tail is sharp, and resembles a stinger
that can inject venom into its victims. This venom attacks
muscle & skin tissue like a paralytic. He can never get rid of
this pesky thing, so he wraps it around his body
and hides it under his clothes!
He often spits, coughs or vomits because of the tar substance. A side effect to his body constantly reinforcing his body. It replaces his saliva. This substance has a bitter and sweet smell to it. It has also replaced Dimitri's blood and other...liquids.
His skin is essentially just a pretty face! Underneath it is a creature made from the same material as his tail! Speaking of which.. that thing is actually pretty heavy! During his metamorphosis, his spine was also reconstructed to carry the weight. His ankles and thighs were also reconstructed to allow leaping! He can actually hang from the ceiling with his tail.. creepy.
Enough with all of that, here's some trivia.
As you've probably guessed, Dimitri is heavily inspired off of the Xenomorph!
His introduction is a direct reference to the Alien movies,
and his infection is inspired from a face hugger.
The yellow 'cowtag' earing Dimitri wears is a reference to cows being cattle like
transporters! They're actually forced to wear that earing!
Dimitri is a good artist, and often sketches in space. He also journals his thoughts, it helps him stable his mind and stay in a state of calmness. He suffers from insomnia due to the constant different time zones he experiences, his body has forgotten when it's supposed to sleep.
Dimitri's red hair is actually dyed! He began dying it when he was 16 because his mother told him red was a color of good luck
Dimitri is actually natively Russian! He is bilingual, though he has a faint accent
The 'cough' Dimitri suffers from is actually extremely painful. It's like puking up stomach acid but it gets caught in your throat.
Dimitri is the only known anomaly known to withstand the hunger...
So! Dimitri Ruskof is no doubt one of the strongest anomalies,
with the sole exception of Joseph Reed, of course.
Joseph Reed
Joseph or Joey! (Yes that's where my name comes from) is a butterfly effect sort of character. Basically, PP wouldn't have happened without him! Or rather, not entirely this way. He doesn't majorly appear much in the main story of PP but he is the main antagonist of the prequel : The Journal of Mathew Dawson.
As of now, he is unbeatable in canon.
Joseph was infected prior to the apocalypse (So he's unc.) He ingested a parasite by swimming in a river, his infection included slowly losing his teeth, his ability to see, coughing fits, his skin drying up, his face rotting and cravings for human flesh. Eventually Joseph isolated himself and slowly began to lose his mind, he hung himself but the rope decapitated him instead of breaking his neck. He went through prolonged type transformation. Joseph is sort of an anomaly within the anomalies themselves.
He does not abide by the law that sudden death automatically begins spontaneous type transformation. His death is not considered 'sudden' as it was a variable within the endosymbiosis. The parasite merged to Joseph's decapitated neck, after previously having taken route within his brain.
Due to this variable, Joseph has lost all human functionalities of a brain. He does not possess emotion, the capacity of empathy or other. His pain receptors are largely diminished, and he has no desires, motivations, or pleasure apart from hunger.
Interesting enough, Joseph is a hybrid! Yes that's possible too! Nature's weird!
Joseph merged with a (dom)spatialis/(recessive)aquaticus type larvae.
The parasite created a fake head for Joseph, though his eyes remain maroon colored with 'split' pupils, and razor sharp teeth. Underneath this mask, is a head made entirely of rows of needle sharp teeth. In the depths of the mouth, is a black void similar to the tar like substance Dimitri possesses. This substance gives off an aroma that attacks the brain's prefrontal cortex, inducing sudden insanity in those who 'view' the real face.
This effect is irresolvable and always ends in death. This allows Joseph a temporary window of 'reality' manipulation. When the victim has become hysteric and disorientated, Joseph can 'mimic' his face into looking like someone else, this does not work if the victim is still sane.
Joseph cannot appear in any sort of reflections, any viewer will succumb to the insanity. This includes surveillance footage, however the footage may sometimes come up as static. Joseph cannot control this event. Joseph gets his eyes from his recessive side!
He's half fish...the man is near sighted, give him some glasses.
He's also so thirsty all the time! and dry! At least he can swim underwater for long periods of time...?
Here's some trivia!
His parasite final stage is inspired by a piranha and a sea lamprey
He is immune to the effects of drugs and alcohol
When he transformed, he lost the ability to write and had to start from 0, because of this, he makes spelling mistakes.
Joseph used to have a long serpentine green tongue. It was changed to red and a normal sized tongue
Did i mention he's a daddy?