Drunkard's Walk Forums

Now, this is not, yet, a new critter: I do mean the RFC tag this time, because I am not sure it it will fit in the setting, so I'd appreciate opinions.
A have just watched part of a documentary about cave animals, on which the Slovenian Olm (Proteus Anguinus) starred, and it gave me an inspiration.
The olm is a very creepy, and cool in a lovercraftian way, animal, and I may do something about it some day, but the inspiration this time had nothing to do with the animal itself, but its gills, as pictured here:


They can be retracted, and the red color is due to oxygen-rich blood.
My inspiration was to create a worm symbiont, that would look like this. It would be placed in the neck, or maybe the flanks, and allow whoever used then to breathe underwater -probably not indefinitely, but up to one or two hours. It would feed directly from the nutrients in the host human's blood, symbiont style.
Once stuck, I think it probably should remain in the body unless surgically removed.
Now, I am sure it would not be a common animal -if I remember correctly, the only big bodies of water in fenspace should be Lake Tezuka in Kandor, Lake Enki in Marduk, and possibly Crystal Venice (of which we have no data). But fen are eccentric like that, and Genesis Genetics is headquartered in Marduk. Not to mention than the owner and chief genetic designer of Genesis is probably mad as a hatter anyway; if the inspiration struck, he would make it whether someone is asking or not, and only afterwards worry about possible uses.

I imagine it would come with some issues... one, that you would get biomodded by it (and those already biomodded couldn't use it, unless said biomod had already made them somewhat amphibious...), and two, you couldn't cover them up without, at best, significant discomfort. Add to that the fact that you have to go for a nice dip once a week (and not waist deep, you'd better be actually making use of it in the water) or start feeling rather dehydrated...
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

All I have to say is...

EEEEEYYYYYyyyyyyyuuuuuuuurrrrrkkkk....

Ew!. Just. EW!

Also. Getting enough oxygen to supply the human body might be an issue through such small gills, relative to our size.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

I did want to avoid the biomod effect, actually -if the water breathing symbiont is going to biomod you into an amphibian, then you may as well attempt the biomod with no intermediaries.
But there is not reason the first generation to be the perfect result, on hindsight. The final, non-biomoding symbiontes may appear after a a couple years of refinement.
The rest of the comments are on the lines I was thinking:
-They will be placed in the flanks, not the neck. While the neck idea looks cool, they will need to be bigger, in proprotion, for a human. The animal will have borrowing tentacles in the base, wich will connect directly to the lungs.
-Since it is connected to the lungs, it cannot be "taken off" or torn away without significant damage. A skilled surgeon can take the symbiont with no further damage to the host, but it will kill the animal.
-You could cover it -the original inspiration's gills are retractile. But you can only cover the red tendrils (the actual gills). the body itself would be visible. You would need either loose clothing or specially designed thigh clothing -but since they need to be uncovered to extend the gills, merpeople never bother. They either go shirtless, of use shirts with the sides open
-It is not meant to be used indefinitely underwater. With training, you can remain up to two hours underwater, but will need to surface adn breathe air eventually.
-The gills have to be kept moist. After a couple of days outside water, the host will feel serious discomfort, and will dehydrate fast. he will need medical help for dehydration in two or three weeks. Dehydration can be prevented by the use of a simply water sprayer -once a day in a normal planet atmosphere, but in dryer places like artificial space habitats will need moisturizing two or three times a day (if they even end up in a desert, they will start two dry after barely two hours)
Incidentally, while I said that open water is rare in fenspace... I had forgotten about the entire faction of the submariners! Not than it is likely Oscar will even know about their existence by the time he starts messing in matters forbidden by fen and gods, but still.

Also,

Quote:[b]Dartz wrote:[/b]

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All I have to say is...
EEEEEYYYYYyyyyyyyuuuuuuuurrrrrkkkk....
Ew!. Just. EW!
 

Badmouthing my dearies, will you? A creepy-crawly-ist, are you? Just wait, as soon as I hit "post" I am contacting a shinobi team to drop an entire batch of Spooky Tarantulas (with extra slime throwers) in 77 Frigga's ventilation system. And the showers.