Zernivian

Zernivian

(Creature)

Type

Aberration

CR

9

Environment

Any

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: The Hollow Cabal, pg(s). 61

Zernivians are rodent-sized, plant-eating aberrations that hide within the bodies of animals and incapacitate their prey with a unique herbicide. They have an uncanny ability to sniff out people infected by dycepskians.

Appearance

The rodent-sized zernivians are covered in grisly fur resembling exposed arteries.

Ecology

Zernivians hunt by taking over the body of a harmless animal, gaining total control over the host's actions. Once it locates prey, the zernivian leaps out and attacks with a combination of tongue lashings and a natural herbicide, leaving its former host unharmed. It is unknown where they originate or how they reproduce.

Sometimes, a zernivian becomes trapped inside a host, causing the physiologies of both to merge and mutate. No longer capable of finding prey without help, such zernivians become more amenable to other species.

Society

Due to their preference for dycepskians as food and ability to sniff out dycepskians hiding in the most unlikely hosts, zernivians are rightfully feared by dycepskians, who will do everything they can to cull them. Many unscrupulous merchants claim to sell pets possessed by zernivians, in order to capitalise on the fear of dycepskian infiltration. In truth, zernivians usually do not linger in a host unless prey is near; many pets advertised as zernivian hosts are nothing more than normal animals sold for an inflated price, and their vendors might very well be dycepskian hosts: someone who knows a zernivian's value is likely a high priority target for dycepskians to eliminate. Zernivian toxin is being studied for its medicinal properties, but no one has managed to cure a dycepskian host, even with a zernivian's help.