"You're sleeping in the night,
So cozy in your bed,
When a sneaky parasite
Attaches to your head."
Parasitic Growth
Splinter - All Splinters
Set - Untamed
Class - Scavenger
Size - At the time of spawning, Riguputrika is simply an average sized wriggling worm. Once it begins devouring organic matter, the parasite quickly grows. Once it has quadrupled its original size, the razor-sharp teeth in its gaping mouth can plainly be seen. After a few short weeks (assuming there is enough food around) a Riguputrika has usually grown to the size of several chickens.
Lifespan - These parasites are resilient to natural elements, but they are still fairly easy to kill. When attached to a host, Riguputrika cannot die unless their host dies. Another common cause of death among the parasites is overeating. These monsters instinctively eat as much as they can find, then they promptly find more. If it consumes more organic matter than its current size can handle, the parasite’s skin ruptures from the inside. This breaks the vacuum chamber inside the parasite, causing a quick but extremely messy explosion of sorts. The Parasitic Growths do not ever seem to die of natural causes, so if you see one, please make every effort to kill it.
Weapon - The claws of Riguputrika serve multiple purposes: To grab surfaces, allowing the parasite to cling to anything, and to suck the lifeforce from its victims like a child drinking a milkshake through a straw. Dozens of these claws on each side of the parasite’s body allow it to make quick work of any host. When fully attached to a host, this is how the Riguputrika operates: Through the teeth, venom is injected into the host that quickly invades all its systems. As the internal organs are liquified, the claw-straws simply suck out what remains. It’s a horrific cycle of squirting and sucking that goes on until the parasite is satiated. All that’s left of the host is a dry, shriveled husk.
Habitat - The only places in the Splinterlands where Parasitic Growths cannot survive are the desolate places, those with nothing else living. They are never found in wastelands or deserts, for hot sand burns their fragile skin.
Diet - Although they can attach themselves to (and fully consume) anything living, Riguputrika have shown certain preferences in their eating habits. For one thing, they seem to despise horns. Any monster with large, solid horns is completely safe from attachment of the parasite, unless it is completely desperate. Also, since they prefer to attach to the head of whatever they are killing, they dislike monsters and people with large amounts of hair on the head, especially long hair. Long hair can entangle and interfere with the primary function of the parasite’s claw-straws.
Allies - It has been observed that Riguputrika only goes after living animals, monsters and people. So while they are not allies with the plant kingdom, they seem to coexist peacefully with all plant life. In the Mount Mox tournaments, the parasites have also displayed a special kinship to the legendary summoner known as Cryptmancer that is yet to be explained.
Enemies - The Parasitic Growths are especially drawn to the most populated cities in the Splinterlands. Lyveria has been successfully keeping them out at the walls, but some other cities, such as Azad in the Burning Lands and Beluroc of Mortis, have not been so fortunate. It is difficult to say whether they go for cities simply because of the greater concentration of host bodies, or because the parasites are pawns in someone’s greater plan to topple the most established civilizations in the Splinterlands.
Pastimes - The parasites known as Riguputrika have a single driving goal: To consume. Some parasites are small enough to live inside their hosts, gradually multiplying until they can take over from within, but these Untamed parasites attach from the outside. If a parasite is not already attached to a host and draining its life, then it is looking for the next one.
History
The Cryptmancer sits calmly atop his great dark tower in the Southern Wastes of Mortis at sunset, watching the visual symphony of the Splinterlands fade like a mirage into dusky darkness. He laughs to himself, a deep and ancient knowing laughter, and glances at the pathetic (but deadly) worm wriggling on the stone beside him. The Cryptmancer knows the parasite would never attach itself to its undead master. Besides, he has no physical lifeforce on which the beast could feed.
Cryptmancer recalls last night’s strange visit from the empowered one who called itself Dark Tzar. Few besides his Fleshmonger had ever been brave enough to visit the Mancer’s Keep, so the Cryptmancer had granted the Tzar audience. The Dark Tzar explained that it hailed from another place in time, a dark dimension, and it possessed valuable information that needed to be shared with the dark leadership of this realm. “Why not the Lord of Darkness?” Cryptmancer had asked the Tzar.
The Dark Tzar’s response had been quick and final: “Lagfael, the leader of Death, has lost his way.” The Lord of Darkness was not discussed again. The two wizards had talked of many things long into the night. In fact, thanks to the time-bending power of the Dark Tzar, a meeting that would have spanned many days was completed in a single endless night. It was not until after the Tzar had departed that the sun finally had begun to rise.
The Cryptmancer knows what is afoot. He knows what bubbles beneath the surface and what presses on the cracks in the weakening walls. He already knew of the Untamed, but it is only now that he realizes its true meaning. Untamed is more than a prophecy, more than a disaster, more even than a story. Untamed is a reckoning, a timed attack of the Planet itself, driven by forces beyond the comprehension of the greatest philosophers in the Splinterlands. And the parasitic worm that wriggles next to him is merely one of its weapons. The Dark Tzar had informed him that these parasites had already been birthed throughout the Splinterlands, that they would continue to spawn and spread, consume and grow. They will leech at the flesh of civilized society, weakening the Splinterlands and priming the land for the greater Untamed attacks that the Planet has in store.
The Cryptmancer stands to his full height, atop the pinnacle of his Keep and laughs once again, much louder this time. He is taller than anything, and he is filled with all the power of infinite darkness. He picks up the Parasitic Growth with both bony hands and holds the revolting thing in front of his face. It squishes and chomps as its teeth look for a host. After a few minutes simply studying the parasite, the Cryptmancer, apparently fully satisfied, suddenly pitches the worm into the sky, off the side of the tower. Watching it fall the vast distance to the wastes below, he says to himself: “What a delightful plague.”
One of my favorite cards!
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