Incutilis
Incutilises are intelligent, nautilus-like sea creatures that attack their victims' brains to take over their bodies, creating puppets to use for labor, combat, or their own malevolent amusement.
Description
An adult incutilis is slightly smaller than an adult human head. Its shell bears a pattern of crimson streaks that resemble the ridges and furrows of a brain. Incutilises hatch within the depths of the sea, where they start off consuming bottom-dwelling crustaceans and sometimes even whales or sharks, but as they grow into adults, incutilises instinctively crave the complex tissues of other creatures' brains—the more complex, the better.Habitat and Ecology
An incutilis makes excursions onto land specifically to use their iconic puppetmaster ability. They use their tentacles to crawl up onto shore or climb aboard a ship. An incutilis then drives their tendrils directly into the brain of a helpless living (or very recently dead) land creature, taking control of it through this neurological connection. They prefer to target humanoids and animals. This host—now called a puppet—rarely survives the experience. After the incutilis has taken full control, they can usually ride their puppet for as long as they wish. Often, they use the puppet to seek out other potential prey, battling other creatures until the wear and tear from repeated conflict renders the body useless.Background
Tristan remembers hearing about a tale from an old fisherman down at the wharf about a ship that only had Samual Hedgerow make it back to port after the rest of his crew had perished. A sea creature that embedded themselves in the brains of the crew and used them as puppets to slaughter to each other, and that seeing its colored pattern should serve as a warning.
Geographic Distribution
