Chitterling Infestation

"Chitterling infestation they call it in all the official books. We just call it Space Herpes. Everyone I know calls it Space Herpes. It's... It's Space Herpes. I don't know who comes up with the idea to call it anything else. Is it gross? Yes. That's the point. Space Herpes is gross." ~Commander Simeon Kim, AetherTech Solutions

Lifecycle

Chitterlings spread their infestations through their death burst, which flings spore-laced Osteodermsin all directions. These grow into more Chitterlings. In a length of time determined by the spores' environment, they gestate, then are born fully grown and extremely hostile. They have racial memory and lack any sort of childhood period.

In a Survivor

If embedded in living matter, the host's body provides an ideal environment for the spores. If the Osteoderm and spores aren't all removed, they will culminate in HT-4 hours and the Chitterling will burst from the host wherever the Osteoderm was embedded, likely crippling the limb or killing the host. The resulting Chitterling has its own racial memory as well as full access to the host's memories (but not their personalities). Note that multiple Osteoderms in a host is possible, if not likely.

In a Cadaver

If embedded in dead organic matter, the host's body provides a slightly less ideal environment for the spores. They gestate in 19 hours and burst out, with their own racial memories intact and partial memories of the dead cadaver. As above, multiple Osteoderms in a host is possible, if not likely.

In a Crewed Starship

If embedded in some out-of-the-way place on a starship, the osteoderms form tiny cilia that filter organic dust out of the air and pull it into canals in the bones, feeding the spores. These grow in relation to how densely populated the ship is. The gestation period becomes 40000/% of Capacity in hours.

In a Derelict

If embedded in a ship at around 5% its max capacity or less, there is not enough dust concentrating anywhere for the spores to grow. The osteoderm will grow a hard shell until enough organic matter gathers on the outer layers of the shell to kickstart a metabolic reaction (Usually the presence of enough people to form 25% of the max capacity of the starship.