Jumpers

Crim

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JUMPERS
"May this departed soul find peace, knowing not what it means to wander aimlessly in death." - Zelosian funeral rite

"Woe to the putrid hands and jagged teeth who fell you, o love, for condemned are ye soul-robbers who walk after death. And you, I fear, are cursed just the same, never knowing true rest and comfort past death. May nature herself protect us from your living corpse. And should you come across a living soul, may that soul be kind and brave enough to grant you permanence, lest he meet the same fate..." - Excerpt from pre-spaceflight Zelosian literature

"May the dead beware the light and the living beware the night" - Common Zelosian proverb

"Wait, zombies are real?" - Common outsider reaction to the living dead



BIOLOGY
The Jumper is a microscopic, silicon-based organism native to Zelos II. These worm-like parasites are native to the Bare Forest and generally live in the roots of dead trees. There, they sap water from deep aquifers. A colony can easily sustain itself as long as water remains available. They are incredibly simple in nature; they cannot generally move through soil, so they require more complex life to breed. In order to move from tree-to-tree, the most efficient way is through organisms. When a deceased organism is detected, Jumpers propel themselves through the air using a piston-like structure, hence the name.

This worm-like parasite is known for infecting corpses with the deadly and mysterious pMAP protein. pMAP (post-mortal ambulatory prion) is a prion responsible for the creation of a network of chemical tunnels throughout the nervous system, beginning with the central nervous system and expanding to the somatic within fairly short order. In addition, Jumpers secrete Ambulemase into the bloodstream. This enzyme catalyzes the chemical channels created by pMAP, severing or rewiring nervous connections within minutes.

At a critical point, ambulemase then triggers a breakdown of neural tissue in much of the central nervous system. This chemical soup, which is still primarily composed of organic salts, becomes a breeding ground for jumpers. Being silicon-based, the interaction between jumper colonies and salt creates a salt battery within the corpse's central nervous system. This further stimulates the pMAP channels, allowing jumpers to cause movement in the corpse. Utilizing the remaining architecture of the brain (namely the motor cortex), the corpse can navigate in a semi-coherent fashion, causing locomotion.

Since silicon is not a very good conductor, jumpers must exist in very high numbers during the first few hours of reanimation. As such, the water in the body is quickly consumed, giving the corpse a dried-out, mummy-like appearance. This slows the natural decomposition of the body and allows the jumpers to use it for as long as possible, infecting as many dead trees or other organisms as possible. The corpse will attack living organisms in an effort to kill them and use their corpses to further propagate (or consume their bodies to regain water). Only when an organism has died can jumpers infect a body. Most jumpers die within the body, though their silicon corpses allow the salt water battery to remain until either the corpse rots or the jumper colony dies.

BREEDING
Jumpers reproduce through asexual and sexual reproduction. Non-migratory jumpers reproduce sexually as there is no need to reproduce in large numbers. In addition, 'buds' are prepared asexually in the event of migration. When using a body (especially in the critical first few hours), jumpers release these buds. Generally, there are almost 30 per organism. It takes two days to make one bud.

STRENGTHS
In large numbers, Jumpers can take over corpses and turn them into 'zombies.' The undead attack members of the living in order to either consume them for water or to kill them in order to infect them. These undead feel no pain and are the cause of much superstition on Zelos II. They possess the strength the individual organism had in life, if not in a weakened state. By removing moisture from much of the body, jumpers ensure the undead decays at a slower rate.

WEAKNESSES
The dead organism will still decay and the undead progressively loses function as time progresses. The undead are almost completely blind, meaning they must rely on hearing in order to locate prey. The undead posses little coordination and absolutely no semblance of intelligence. Jumpers themselves possess no threat to the living.

BEHAVIOR
As simple organisms, Jumpers operate entirely on instinct. They roll into a ball if attacked by another microscopic organism as a defense mechanism. When a jumper is starving, it will actively seek out the scent of decaying matter and jump to it. Typically, if one jumper is starving, the entire colony is starving, meaning several hundred will swarm the decaying organism in an attempt to hijack it.

DIET
Water
Protists, bacteria, and other microscopic life

INTENT
The Wookiepedia page on Jumpers is a stub since the only thing powering Zelosian zombies before was space magic. All we knew was that it creates an enzyme that makes zombies. Space magic is good enough for the Force, but I wanted to take a closer look at how this could work (with a healthy dose of space magic to fill in the gaps).

Also, I'm working on a bunch of things for Zelos II, namely a planet page and a mission pack in the Bare Forest.

Also, also, yay for more non-sentient things!
 

Malon

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Photomizer-Cam-26.08.2013-21-37-41.jpg

JUMPERS
"May this departed soul find peace, knowing not what it means to wander aimlessly in death." - Zelosian funeral rite

"Woe to the putrid hands and jagged teeth who fell you, o love, for condemned are ye soul-robbers who walk after death. And you, I fear, are cursed just the same, never knowing true rest and comfort past death. May nature herself protect us from your living corpse. And should you come across a living soul, may that soul be kind and brave enough to grant you permanence, lest he meet the same fate..." - Excerpt from pre-spaceflight Zelosian literature

"May the dead beware the light and the living beware the night" - Common Zelosian proverb

"Wait, zombies are real?" - Common outsider reaction to the living dead



BIOLOGY
The Jumper is a microscopic, silicon-based organism native to Zelos II. These worm-like parasites are native to the Bare Forest and generally live in the roots of dead trees. There, they sap water from deep aquifers. A colony can easily sustain itself as long as water remains available. They are incredibly simple in nature; they cannot generally move through soil, so they require more complex life to breed. In order to move from tree-to-tree, the most efficient way is through organisms. When a deceased organism is detected, Jumpers propel themselves through the air using a piston-like structure, hence the name.

This worm-like parasite is known for infecting corpses with the deadly and mysterious pMAP protein. pMAP (post-mortal ambulatory prion) is a prion responsible for the creation of a network of chemical tunnels throughout the nervous system, beginning with the central nervous system and expanding to the somatic within fairly short order. In addition, Jumpers secrete Ambulemase into the bloodstream. This enzyme catalyzes the chemical channels created by pMAP, severing or rewiring nervous connections within minutes.

At a critical point, ambulemase then triggers a breakdown of neural tissue in much of the central nervous system. This chemical soup, which is still primarily composed of organic salts, becomes a breeding ground for jumpers. Being silicon-based, the interaction between jumper colonies and salt creates a salt battery within the corpse's central nervous system. This further stimulates the pMAP channels, allowing jumpers to cause movement in the corpse. Utilizing the remaining architecture of the brain (namely the motor cortex), the corpse can navigate in a semi-coherent fashion, causing locomotion.

Since silicon is not a very good conductor, jumpers must exist in very high numbers during the first few hours of reanimation. As such, the water in the body is quickly consumed, giving the corpse a dried-out, mummy-like appearance. This slows the natural decomposition of the body and allows the jumpers to use it for as long as possible, infecting as many dead trees or other organisms as possible. The corpse will attack living organisms in an effort to kill them and use their corpses to further propagate (or consume their bodies to regain water). Only when an organism has died can jumpers infect a body. Most jumpers die within the body, though their silicon corpses allow the salt water battery to remain until either the corpse rots or the jumper colony dies.

BREEDING
Jumpers reproduce through asexual and sexual reproduction. Non-migratory jumpers reproduce sexually as there is no need to reproduce in large numbers. In addition, 'buds' are prepared asexually in the event of migration. When using a body (especially in the critical first few hours), jumpers release these buds. Generally, there are almost 30 per organism. It takes two days to make one bud.

STRENGTHS
In large numbers, Jumpers can take over corpses and turn them into 'zombies.' The undead attack members of the living in order to either consume them for water or to kill them in order to infect them. These undead feel no pain and are the cause of much superstition on Zelos II. They possess the strength the individual organism had in life, if not in a weakened state. By removing moisture from much of the body, jumpers ensure the undead decays at a slower rate.

WEAKNESSES
The dead organism will still decay and the undead progressively loses function as time progresses. The undead are almost completely blind, meaning they must rely on hearing in order to locate prey. The undead posses little coordination and absolutely no semblance of intelligence. Jumpers themselves possess no threat to the living.

BEHAVIOR
As simple organisms, Jumpers operate entirely on instinct. They roll into a ball if attacked by another microscopic organism as a defense mechanism. When a jumper is starving, it will actively seek out the scent of decaying matter and jump to it. Typically, if one jumper is starving, the entire colony is starving, meaning several hundred will swarm the decaying organism in an attempt to hijack it.

DIET
Water
Protists, bacteria, and other microscopic life

INTENT
The Wookiepedia page on Jumpers is a stub since the only thing powering Zelosian zombies before was space magic. All we knew was that it creates an enzyme that makes zombies. Space magic is good enough for the Force, but I wanted to take a closer look at how this could work (with a healthy dose of space magic to fill in the gaps).

Also, I'm working on a bunch of things for Zelos II, namely a planet page and a mission pack in the Bare Forest.

Also, also, yay for more non-sentient things!
So space zombies essentially?
 
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