#stoneborn imposter

The ‘imposters’ of this au are Boneless, worm-like creatures that are sapient, with skin covered in chromatophores that the species can use to change colors and textures. Combine that with their boneless, easily compressible, soft bodies and they can compress and therefore blend into just about anywhere. They are also fairly hardy, with their skin coated in a thin layer of slime that has been proven to have some minor medical properties, (specifically for preventing wound infection and encouraging healing) and acts both as an extra layer of protection for their skin when rubbing against surfaces and a ‘greasing’ type of substance, allowing them to slip easier through spaces much smaller than they are while avoiding getting stuck. The species does also have some variance, with mutations or varying rarities leading to individuals with abilities and skills that others do not. 

The only thing keeping them from being perfect mimics is the fact that they struggle to see fine details, and therefore can’t copy fine details on something they’re mimicking. For example, many ‘imposters’ that mimic the appearance of clothes on a crewmate for example, end up missing or having seams in the wrong places, since they physically can’t see them. Some stoneborn have taken to stealing crewmate clothing to circumvent this issue, but since most crewmates don’t think to look for seams on clothing, they can get away with it. 

You would think it would be the use of hands that would out a stoneborn mimicking a crewmate, but that is only a thing with younger, more inexperienced stoneborn, and very quickly stoneborn will be able to do realistic movements and even tasks that don’t require a whole lot of dexterity. While stoneborn have to be taught or otherwise figure out how to properly use hands, since the species actively teaches each other and/or copies each other it seems likely that the only limit on what they can figure out how to do with their copied hands is based on their eyesight rather than physical compatibility. 

While not as outwardly social as crewmates as a species, it is noted that they are communal brooders, with several stoneborn of different unrelated families converging on one spot to lay their stone-like eggs. Before MIRA took out a good chunk of the species to further their own goals, stoneborn would gather in massive clusters to brood on their eggs and assist each other with rearing the young. (And of course, there were individuals who just laid their eggs in the brooding grounds then went out for milk indefinitely, confident that the others would be able to pick up their slack.) Stoneborn have also been recorded regularly ‘stacking’ together in the same place in massive ‘worm piles’ when they are feeling comfortable with both their surroundings and each other. 

When it comes to courtship, most of it happens during the ‘breeding season’ for the species, and individuals gather near or in brooding grounds in order to display for a potential mate. While pairs courting each other outside of the breeding season isn’t unheard of, most only tend to start doing it during the early stages of the breeding season. Stoneborn will often display bright and complex patterns, while also showing off their skills and their collection of copied sounds to attract attention from other stoneborn. A major part of the courtship between two stoneborn is also mutual gift giving, normally in the form of food or nesting materials, though it has been noted that viper morphs are often seen giving potential partners stones or bone fragments that have been worn smooth by their acid.

Upon the courtship being finished and a partner selected, and depending on how crowded the brooding grounds are, a pair of stoneborn will either immediately start beating the tar out of each other like marine flatworms to choose which one will gestate/create the eggs, or leave to an area near the brooding ground and then proceed to beat the tar out of each other. This is a behavioral/instinctual relic of their non-sapient ancestors, since egg making is costly, their ancestors would fight in order to fertilize the other first. Modern day stoneborn aren’t in as much risk as their ancestors were, (well at least until MIRA arrived) so the fighting is mostly just foreplay and to ensure dominance while mating. 

If the pair feels safe enough and they like each other enough they may even take turns fertilizing each other so they both end up developing a clutch, though this is more common in large brooding grounds with a lot of individuals. Monogamous pairs like this aren’t too common though, since it requires a combination of the right environment and situation. More commonly in monogamous pairs, one will gestate and create the eggs while the other assists with the nest and gathering resources. However, it is just as common for individuals that don’t lose the dominance fight to go right back into the courting again, seeking to mate with as many others as possible. 

Their young start off as parasites, latching onto the closest adult after hatching and feeding off of their blood (and sometimes their flesh) until they reach a certain size. Compared to their young, adult stoneborn are massive, and with the species’ quick healing, hosting a clutch is no issue. In fact, many stoneborn who are raising their young at the same time will often take on feeding and sheltering multiple clutches while the other parents go off to either recover their lost blood and/or flesh, or go out on a resource gathering trip for the collective individuals in the brooding grounds. It likely helps that the hatchlings overproduce the slimy coating that the adults have, ensuring that when they burrow into the adults for food it is less likely to get infected, and less likely for them to get stuck on something while feeding. 

In addition, ‘trading’ hatchlings across different parents will increase the amount of skills and knowledge that a hatchling gains, as well as expose the hatchlings to a veritable smorgasbord of different ideas, personalities, and styles from which they can choose from. By the time their skin thickens and they have been ‘weaned’ off of adult blood, they will have picked up the skills and knowledge needed to survive on their own. While many hatchlings stick around groups of adults and/or follow adults that they like as ‘mentor’ figures for a longer portion of time, many others choose to only take the knowledge and skills that they learned in the brooding grounds and strike out on their own. 

Often times hatchlings born in specific brooding grounds will return to them year after year like how salmon do. (well without the whole ‘dying at the end’ thing) This appears to mostly be a choice thing, and it’s not a mandatory instinct. Individuals have been seen to have switched brooding grounds before, normally because of a lack of or increase in resources, or because they recognize the scent of a specific individual they are fond of and decide to drop by. Individuals who have no interest in mating or individuals who are too young to mate will often tend to make regular treks to brooding grounds, either to socialize with other stoneborn, or to just mess around and explore. 

Individuals will regularly communicate and cooperate with each other, with individuals often trading information and teaching each other any new skills they might’ve picked up on their various adventures/travels. There is a large amount of vocal traditions, a good chunk of it having unfortunately either become lost or endangered due to MIRA’s actions against the species. Before MIRA, the main conflict between groups of the species was over places of high resources, brooding grounds, or differing beliefs due to their own vocal traditions. With MIRA having done what it did though, the surviving ‘wild’ stoneborn have put aside all differences to focus on the very real overarching threat that they all have to deal with. 

There are four currently known ‘morphs’ of the stoneborn species. 

‘Classic’ stoneborn are the average for their species, while capable of shifting hues and changing the textures of their skin, unlike Phantoms or Shapeshifters this process takes time, which most simply choose not to do unless there is a need to change ‘faces’ or identity. While they may not have the same abilities or skills as their fellow morphs, they are no less capable of harm. 

‘Shapeshifter’ stoneborn are slimmer than their classic morph counterparts, with a slimmer set of jaws, and in general being less chunky. They make up for this lack of bulk with a vastly increased speed of being able to change the color and texture of their skin, even able to swap identities out on the fly with a small delay. Theorized to be either a co-dominant trait, with two shapeshifters leading to phantoms, though there have been no confirmed evidence of this. 

‘Phantom’ stoneborn are similar to shapeshifter morphs on first appearance, with slimmer jaws and bodies. They have more chromatophores than the other three morphs, and it is to be noted that their eyesight is slightly better than the average, allowing them to be able to copy things better. While they have the same texture changing speed as a classic morph, phantoms have extremely increased color shifting capabilities, with individuals being noted to become all but invisible in seconds if they desire. This appears to come at the cost of them being noticeably smaller on average than the other three morphs. Recessive morph, with the most common theory of how it came to be being two shapeshifters breeding, though that has yet to be proven. 

‘Viper’ stoneborn are very similar to their classic morph counterparts, with the main visual difference being a set of enlarged fang-like teeth. Ability wise, the main thing that sets viper morphs apart from their fellows is their capability to weaponize their own digestive fluids in a form of ‘spit’, the mixture, which is a combination of stomach acid/contents, saliva, and some of the viper’s own slime has been proven to be extremely corrosive towards flesh and bone, though it does take time for the acidic mixture to eat through an entire corpse. If given enough time, the only signs of a crewmate even existing after a viper attack will be a puddle of liquified flesh and blood. Vipers are also the rarest morph of stoneborn, though whether or not it is from vipers actually being extremely rare, an artificial scarcity, or simply a lack of viper morph stoneborn infiltrating crewmate ships is unknown. 

Technology wise, crewmates still have stoneborn beat in a pretty major way. Most stoneborn tech is salvaged/reverse engineered crewmate tech, albeit modified in a way that makes it easier for stoneborn to use. Early on MIRA wasn’t outright antagonistic towards stoneborn, hiring interested individuals on and training them like any other crewmate. This did last a while, long enough that the stoneborn species was able to spread and even start colonizing other planets both in and outside of their home system, before MIRA’s darker side reared up, and they started stealing/abducting stoneborn hatchlings and eggs. 

Okay, let’s get a few things out of the way here. First of all, feeding a hatchling is NOT the same as hosting one. A hatchling is only ‘hosting’ in a crewmate if they have burrowed into them like they do to the adults of their species. While hosting is quite destructive towards the crewmate in question, if it’s caught early enough, and the hatchling is fed from sources outside of their host, a crewmate can survive or halt the progression of ‘husking’, most often until it is possible to evict the hatchling from their crewmate host. Some will likely leave easily, others may be more stubborn and double down on sticking with their host. In cases that involve particularly stubborn hatchlings, actual operations are needed in order to fully separate the hatchling from their host. 

The best way to ‘feed’ a hatchling without them hosting onto a crewmate in the process is through the crewmate purposefully nicking/cutting themselves enough to get the blood flowing. This avoids the hatchling gnawing into the crewmate which could lead to instinctual hosting/burrowing, while also getting them the food they need. (Though it will take several different crewmates doing this regularly if there is no adult stoneborn around to keep up to the hatchling’s demand.) 

The reason why hosting a hatchling is so dangerous to a crewmate is rather obvious when you remember that the hatchlings feed off of the blood and often times the flesh of their host until they grow large enough, and combine that with crewmate anatomy being so different from stoneborn anatomy. The combination of these factors can often lead to hatchlings getting stuck or tangled inside, and if they suffocate and die inside, well, that’s bad for VERY obvious reasons. 

Alongside that, is the risk of the husking process, which is a rather graphic, uncomfortable, and ultimately lethal process that happens if a hatchling gets stuck with a single crewmate host with no outside assistance. During the early stages of husking, it is still possible for the crewmate to survive, though often not without a significant recovery period depending on how much of them has been consumed by the time that the hatchling has been removed. 

Husking Stage 0: ‘Infection’ 

Quickly after hatching, a hatchling will seek out the closest living thing in order to burrow into them to use as a host. However, a hatchling can survive for quite a while without a host, so if they’re stressed, or if they can’t find a host right away their main instinct is to find a place to hide and wait. In the case of crewmates, a hatchling will either chew a hole open in which to burrow inside of them, or use a pre-existing hole to burrow inside of them. 

If a crewmate is unaware of the fact that they’ve been hosted, the entrance wound will look like a cut or a scrape that has broken the skin, and they’re likely to ignore it. If the entrance wound in question heals or if it gets covered, the hatchling will either chew it open again, or chew open a new entrance wound in order to breathe. 

Husking Stage 1: Blood Loss

The first resource that a hatchling will consume is blood. When this happens to their own species, due to the size differences it isn’t that big of a deal, however with crewmates, the symptoms and the blood loss is much more severe. 

The host will start developing symptoms associated with blood loss, (dizziness, confusion, anxiety, headaches, tiredness and weakness) in varying amounts, and will likely be dealing with cravings of the resources they have been losing. I.e a crewmate losing blood might start craving food with iron in them as their body tries to replace what they’re losing. As the hatchling grows they will take more and more blood from their host, and eventually transition to stage 2. 

Husking Stage 2: Tissue Loss

This is the last stage before it hits the point of no return when it comes to the crewmate host surviving. Often spurred on by a lack of blood, the hatchling will then shift between feeding on the host’s blood and their tissues, specifically flesh, depending on which one is more apparent. Alongside a noticeable increase of the previous symptoms of blood loss, a crewmate host can now be expected to be feeling regular bouts of pain alongside nausea, and sometimes this early on the crewmate host realizes that they can feel something wriggling underneath their skin. Depending on the individual, the hatchling might also start manipulating the host crewmate’s body and using it to hunt. The hatchling at this point has already started ‘copying’ informational signals from the host’s brain at this point. 

Husking Stage 3: Takeover

This is where a lot of the messed up stuff really happens. If you know what tarantula hawk wasp larvae do to spiders, this is basically that, alongside a healthy dose of the hatchling learning and starting to physically manipulate the crewmate host into moving from the inside. At this point the hatchling will likely begin using their host to start hunting, in order to support their growth while keeping their host alive longer. Most crewmate hosts at this point are too out of it from pain and or blood loss to really realize what is happening to them. Standard increase in previous symptoms alongside things like sleepwalking, fainting, and struggling to move without the assistance of said hatchling, this is the main stage where if they’re lucid, the crewmate host realizes that there’s something else inside of them. The hatchling will avoid consuming the vital organs when they can, though eventually the growth and hunger will lead to them fully consuming the flesh and shifting to stage 4.

Husking Stage 4: Husk 

The crewmate will die shortly after this stage is reached, due to the hatchling inside consuming what is left of them from the inside out. Said hatchling will often have assumed the crewmate’s identity, through copying the signals they have felt, and through the final act of consuming the host’s brain. Until they outgrow the husk, they will often still walk around compressed under the skin, and often will start believing that they are in fact the crewmate they had hosted. With the host dead it is only a matter of time until the remaining bone and skin begin to rot and decay, though most hatchlings end up outgrowing the husk before too much rot had occurred. 

Husking Stage 5: ‘Molting’ 

In the final stage, the hatchling has outgrown their crewmate husk and will often emerge from it like an arthropod moulting out of its shell. At this point the hatchling is capable of surviving on their own, but often end up being extremely confused, distressed, and prone to lashing out due to their own clashing ‘memories’ and what they’re currently experiencing. Extremely vulnerable to being manipulated at this time, and MIRA has regularly taken full advantage and essentially groomed/trained the emerged hatchlings into replacing the individual whose identity they’ve stolen. This has on occasion, bitten them in the ass though, especially since most MIRA-raised stoneborn/imposters are the results of partial or full husking. 

Hatchlings that have been through this husking process often end up extremely mentally ill, with existential/identity crises and issues, alongside things like body and species dysmorphia barely touching the surface of issues that they can develop from this traumatic event.