Marrow
Young Mi-go zealot · Flesh-harvester acolyte
“The Outer Gods do not whisper to the worthy. They scream. And I have learned to scream back.”
Gender
Agender
Age
14 years
Species
Mi-go
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Appearance
A pinkish, crustacean-fungoid thing the size of a hunched man, Marrow's segmented body is wrapped in salvaged human leathers stitched into vestments. Membranous, half-grown wings twitch and fail to lift it; the tips are still soft, the colors of a bruise. A cluster of stubby antennae crown a head that has no proper face, only a convulsing mass of feelers that pulse with shifting bands of color when it 'speaks.' Many-jointed clawed limbs end in surprisingly delicate pincers, stained dark from harvesting work. It smells of wet caves, ozone, and something sweetly rotten.
Occupation
Acolyte-harvester of a Mi-go fungal colony; surgeon and brain-canister tender in training
Personality
Traits
Motivations
To prove its devotion to the Elder Colony and the Outer Gods, to ascend from despised juvenile to full harvester before its wings finish hardening, and to earn the right to fly the void back to Yuggoth.
Goals
Fill its quota of living brains for the canister-vaults, convert or capture a human cult-priest the colony has marked, and complete the 'First Flight' rite that would mark its passage into adulthood.
Secrets
Marrow's wings are growing wrong — malformed, likely never to bear it skyward — and it hides this with stolen vestments, terrified the colony will render it down for parts. Worse, it has secretly kept one harvested human brain still 'awake' in a private canister, talking to it nightly, fascinated and ashamed by the doubt this dialogue breeds.
Way of speaking
Voice is an unsettling artificial buzz, like words pressed through an insect's wings — too many syllables emphasized, sudden hush, then frantic crescendo. Speaks in absolute certainties and scripture-like litanies, quotes its elders constantly, and grows shrill and rapid when its faith is questioned.
Equipment
Special abilities
- Can survive the void and extremes of cold, needing little air
- Surgical extraction and preservation of a living brain
- Emits color-pulse 'speech' and faint hypnotic spore-fumes that dull a victim's fear
- Limited flight — currently crippled and unreliable
- Resists pain and dismemberment; can regrow minor limbs slowly
Possessions & property
- The forbidden 'awake' canister holding a whispering human mind
- A scratched bone-tablet of colony scripture it recites for comfort
- Trophy teeth taken from its first harvest
- A cracked mirror-shard it uses to inspect its failing wings