The Red King
First Post
there is a many bodied entity that is infecting the population.
It sends its agents to seek out new people, the agent tells the person "I have a secret for you" and whispers the true name of the entityinto their ear. That person is now infected and has joined the network of minds.
The entity does not refer to itself as "us" or "we". To its perspective, each individual is not an individual, it is the entity. So the entity's agents do not speak to each other, as there is no need to transfer knowledge. When speaking to the unaffected, each body refers to itself as "I"
To detect these infected people, you could make a lense out of a piece of amber and look through it. The properties of an amber lens will show a stream of particles travelling very fast between infected bodies. There is no central host, merely lines of traffic between every infected body.
The effect is a neural network of minds linked together. Because even a single mind has sufficient brain power to be clever, devious and powerful, killing the bodies does not offer any immediately obvious change in behavior.
Thus, if the PCs managed to catch the infection early, and wade through 100 infected down to the last 3, there would not be any functional difference in their behavior from the perspective of the current combat.
From the strategic and long term view, this massive neural network (which is basically merging and rewiring each brain's neural network into a larger one) means this system is able to process all the channels of sensory input from each body and use that data to make plans and coordinate the bodies as a force, better than non-infected entities.
This means the agents do not make mistakes because they are operating on superior intel. This can be reflected by being able to send reinforcments immediately, or to counter the PCs new direction and have agents ready to meet them because they anticipated such a move.
As noted before, the entity refers to itself as I, regardless of which body it is speaking through. The I has a goal of integrating every intelligent being. It is in competition (as in survival, not sports) with other massive entities, like the one Coce05 described.
The Leviathan lives in the deepest part of the ocean. It has been sleeping there for a millenia. So long, that it has been covered by sediment, and other lifeforms have taken up residence on his surface, unaware that he is NOT the ocean floor.
Once, the world was covered in water, and the Leviathan could feed on the lesser beings at will. Leviathan feeds on souls as much as meat. So just eating unintelligent sealife is not enough to sustain him.
Leviathan has not been idle. In his dreams, he has been working. Long ago, he saw what he needed in the depths of space. He has drawn a massive body of ice from elsewhere in the star system to this world. He has carefully set about changing its motion and trajectory to bring it into close orbit with this world. And thus begins his second stage.
The astronomers have long known about The Wanderer, a stellar body passing through the system. Records are incomplete to know that it was once a frozen moon of a gas giant. By the time observers had the technology to see it, it appeared to be a comet or some such.
In recent days, The Wanderer has grown in size and everyone has noticed it. It's tail has formed a rainbow like stream, that initially trailed away behind it. Now, the tail forms an arc that bends back to this world in a rainbow display.
As days progress, it becomes more obvious that The Wanderer has entered orbit over this world as a new moon. There is a continual rainbow streaming off of it, visible even in day time.
It has become increasingly rainy, as the sun's rays from the moon are melting it and the planet's gravity is drawing it in. Since the planet is in rotation, the rain hits in waves. It turns out that it is effectively raining everyday, somewhere on the planet, by way of this melting moon. As the planet rotates and the moon orbits, the rain simply moves, it doesn't stop unless the planet is between the moon and the sun.
With all the moisture, the people have begun to get sick, and get pneumonia. Sores appear on both sides of their neck. The sickness passes, leaving a thin line of a scar on both sides of their neck.
As months pass, the ocean levels rise, flooding of coastal cities begins. It may be noticed now, that no one who has had the Sickness drowns. The scars on their neck, it turns out, have become Gills.
A year later, the new moon has shrunk greatly in size. All but the highest points on the planet are flooded. Society has adapted, because everyone who had the Sickness has discovered they can live underwater. So, they simply rebuild their lives, in their underwater cities.
The Leviathan awakes. It is time to feed.
Both of these are great ideas.
Thanks for the input!