Hacksnot
| Hacksnot | ||
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| (Proparapestilentia auxilioinvicea) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Oofle Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Fly Tropical Beach, Hydro Tropical Beach, Oz Subtropical Beach, Time Subtropical Beach, Time Archipelago Subtropical Beaches, Barlowe Tropical Mangal, Oz Subtropical Mangal, Time Subtropical Mangal, Barlowe Tropical Rainforest, Barlowe Subtropical Rainforest, Time Subtropical Rainforest Archipelago | |
| Size | 20 micrometer wide cells, 2 millimeter long ‘clumps' | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Parasite (Tamchuck, Marine Tamow, Tamhook, Beach Cheekhorn, Longjack, Spiny Dwarfjack, Malladact, Longjake, Quillyn, Little Manjack, Stowaway Harmbless, Hang-Gliding Pinyuk, Tamkor, Leemalla, Xatakbrak, Burrowing Tamjack, Shrogre, Carnofern Grubnub) | |
| Respiration | Passive Diffusion | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Mitosis | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Panpestilentia Pestilentales Pestilentaceae Proparapestilentia Proparapestilentia auxilioinvicea | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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In the tropics of Barlowe, a new form of pestilence has split from its ancestors, and it has a slimy little trick up its metaphorical sleeve for finding itself new hosts, but it would be wise to cover the basics of its lifestyle first.
Hacksnot is a respiratory disease that finds its way into the lungs of herbivorous and omnivorous carpozoans, usually shrews, the causative agent of the disease is a pestilence derivative called Proparapestilentia auxilioinvicea, but this will also just be referred to as hacksnot. Hacksnot, like many pestilences, forms a biofilm in the host's lungs and attacks the cells within with a cocktail of toxins, creating extensive irritation, which usually causes a couple of symptoms on its own including chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and can even lead to pneumonia in extreme cases. The host's body, meanwhile, usually responds with wheezing, labored breathing, excess mucus production, and, in endothermic hosts, a fever, the wheezing and labored breathing being an indirect result of the reduced function of the lungs due to the infection, meanwhile the fever is an attempt to overheat the hacksnot (which is overall ineffective as hacksnot is oftentimes more heat resistant than its hosts) and the mucus tries to flush the respiratory system. Overall, it resembles a fairly bad cold, and while a fair number of hosts may die, especially the young, old, or previously infirm, most manage to fight off the infection in a couple of weeks, though it can remain for an extended period of time in a more latent, less aggressive form with milder symptoms.
So now that we know what's rather ordinary about hacksnot, what is extraordinary? Well, hacksnot is often quite loose in the lungs, great big chunks of yellowish biofilm will often accompany sputum and phlegm, but a most disturbing thing takes place over a course of hours; these globs will begin moving around and searching for a nearby object to climb up. Before we go over why this happens, how exactly does a small flagellated eukaryote manage to move a mass of slime like this? Each individual cell, when incited to do so by light and a drop in temperature (changes in the environment typically associated with ejection from a host), will secrete a different form of biofilm, a slime, and begin to gather together, quickly forming a mass of cells suspended in this slime. As these cells beat their flagellae the slime around them begins to move, held together by proteins and surface tension, this causes the slime to sort of ‘overturn', slowly sliding across the ground as the bottom of the clump moves back and then to the top, and then is moved to the front of the mass as it goes under again, essentially rolling the slime. The slime is rather sticky and the mass usually does not weigh much, so this action allows it to climb even upside down, this is basically an all terrain vehicle for the hacksnot payload inside, kept lubricated and replenished by the constant secretion of new slime as well, though it is easily dehydrated and will desiccate quickly if exposed to dry air.
Why then, does this pathogen bother with such a complicated strategy? Well, while it can be spread normally between hosts through the air (albeit is often too heavy to stay suspended for very long), many of its hosts are not particularly social, so spreading between them is often an issue. Hacksnot alleviates this by utilizing its clumping ability to climb flora and usually will sit on the underside of leaves or fruits (to protect from drying out), and will remain semi-dormant in an attempt to conserve energy, only able to remain very infectious for about a week, but still capable of infecting hosts that eat it for up to 2 months. When the slime enters a host's mouth, almost always by being incidentally eaten alongside the flora it is sitting on, it will quickly dissolve in the saliva, aided by often being masticated. When this happens, the cells inside will quickly swim through the mucus lining the throat, though many will be swallowed into the stomach and die, and attempt to settle in the lungs, forming a biofilm and starting the cycle all over again. If they are consumed by a plent or other non-carpozoan, they will typically swim about for a bit in the esophagus, rather confused as the other kingdoms of fauna common to their range have lungs that are not attached to their digestive systems, and tend to die rather quickly, only occasionally causing a minor sore throat and dying off in spite of their efforts in a couple of days if they settle down regardless for one reason or another.