Creating Biologically Plausible Monsters

[Majin Gojira]

I've been doing some work on biologically plausible takes on various 'monsters' (IE: Ghosts are several varieties of fungal fruiting body, dragons are psuedo-pterrosaurian varanids, werewolves are 150lbs baboons, etc), at least in a "Biology can do this" sort of way, but there is one thing I wish to emulate that is proving very, very difficult.

The "Durability" of an undead zombie.

Nature has a lot of ways to make a contagious parasite that puppets its host to do what it needs to reproduce, including being violent towards other members of its species, but the durability of the undead is proving to be a puzzler.

The best, and least plausible, method I have so far is a large parasitic worm that 'animates' a recently deceased corpse. The worm uses filaments to move the body around, albeit badly, to grab and bite others so it can inject its eggs into new hosts.

But it doesn't really 'click' for me.

Does it work for you, or do you have a better idea?

[Jub]

What if the parasite doesn't actually kill the host but as part of the infection stage it shuts down certain processes such that the host often appears dead to even trained medical professionals?

[Majin Gojira]

What if the parasite doesn't actually kill the host but as part of the infection stage it shuts down certain processes such that the host often appears dead to even trained medical professionals?

It's not so much as 'appearing dead' as 'being extremely durable' part that I'm interested in mimicking. Shutting down various body parts/forcing the body to keep going despite grievous injury is a half-measure, but a decent one.

[Jub]

What if the parasite doesn't actually kill the host but as part of the infection stage it shuts down certain processes such that the host often appears dead to even trained medical professionals?

It's not so much as 'appearing dead' as 'being extremely durable' part that I'm interested in mimicking. Shutting down various body parts/forcing the body to keep going despite grievous injury is a half-measure, but a decent one.

The parasite could feed the host drugs in response to stimulai and that could add another measure of toughness. Toss in pain insensitivity, and the host metabolism being turned all the way up and you might get rapid healing when food is plentiful. You could even give the host signals that bypass certain biological safeguards, risking cancer and other mutations for non-mamalian regeneration.

They can only ever get so tough unless you have the host start producing Kevlar skin or some such, but you could probably get a nasty enough monster to make it feel unstoppable to unprepared victims.

[LadyTevar]

What if the parasite doesn't actually kill the host but as part of the infection stage it shuts down certain processes such that the host often appears dead to even trained medical professionals?

We already have "zombie parasites" that do this with ants and snails. There's parasite wasps that implant eggs into caterpillars and other insects, and the new-born larva release drugs that make the caterpillar protect them, even as they're eating all non-essential body parts. Also, we have the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, found in cat feces, that makes rodents unafraid of cats and even effects humans.

So, the theory of parasitical control is very sound.

[madd0c0t0r2]

What level of durability are you aiming for?

Low-end 28days "what any human body can do when unrestrained and frenzied, but the self inflicted damage and starvation adds up"

To

Wwz book levels of "it hit a mine two years ago and the upper body has been waiting in long grass ever since, while these ones are wandering the seabed"

[Solauren]

Well, 28 X later Zombies are just people with a variant of Rabies (when you get down to it)

For 'dormant for years even if half damaged', I envision a parasite that severly inhibits any and all bacteria and virus's in the body, sort of like a super-immune system. The zombie will still rot, just slowly. Non-vital to a zombie organs and flesh would be cannabalized by the parasite, causing zombies made by 'fresh' victims to eventually take on a cadaverous appearance (with it being more prounced around injuries). The process would also strengthen the tissue that wasn't cannabalized.

i.e a zombie doesn't need a most of the digestive track, body fat, and about half of the brain. The parasite would consume those, and use them as raw material to reinforce what it needs to keep, as well as storing some of the chemical energy for periods of hybernation.

That would explain 'zombie rot', as well as zombies that take alot of damage but survive for years missing half their original body. It was simply 'extra mass' that was essentially being used as a larder by the parasite. When the body runs out of on hand materials in itself or to hunt, it goes dorment until exposed the right hormones and/or pheramones (those released by humans).

[Majin Gojira]

What level of durability are you aiming for?

Low-end 28days "what any human body can do when unrestrained and frenzied, but the self inflicted damage and starvation adds up"

To

Wwz book levels of "it hit a mine two years ago and the upper body has been waiting in long grass ever since, while these ones are wandering the seabed"

Let's try to crank it as far as we can go without getting too ridiculous (like WWZ book level).

Well, 28 X later Zombies are just people with a variant of Rabies (when you get down to it)

For 'dormant for years even if half damaged', I envision a parasite that severly inhibits any and all bacteria and virus's in the body, sort of like a super-immune system. The zombie will still rot, just slowly. Non-vital to a zombie organs and flesh would be cannabalized by the parasite, causing zombies made by 'fresh' victims to eventually take on a cadaverous appearance (with it being more prounced around injuries). The process would also strengthen the tissue that wasn't cannabalized.

i.e a zombie doesn't need a most of the digestive track, body fat, and about half of the brain. The parasite would consume those, and use them as raw material to reinforce what it needs to keep, as well as storing some of the chemical energy for periods of hybernation.

That would explain 'zombie rot', as well as zombies that take alot of damage but survive for years missing half their original body. It was simply 'extra mass' that was essentially being used as a larder by the parasite. When the body runs out of on hand materials in itself or to hunt, it goes dorment until exposed the right hormones and/or pheramones (those released by humans).

Is it wrong that I'm reminded of the Boney type zombies in the film Warm Bodies?

[Solauren]

Is it wrong that I'm reminded of the Boney type zombies in the film Warm Bodies?

Not at all. I enjoyed that movie. Boney type could be what happens when they have enough food the parasite manages to consume most of the host without breaking down.

[madd0c0t0r2]

Made me think of some sort of parasite cicada - the infected human feels a compulsive need to gorge on protein and bury itself somewhere isolated. There, the host hibernates while the parasite replicates, consuming most of the organs and brain, pumping the waste and toxins out through burrowed holes in the skin. This slick black coating strongly inhibits the usual grave beasts from their work. It is hypothesised that the same coating is how the parasite prevents cannabilisation between hosts. In dry areas, the host withers, flesh pulling back leaving nails and teeth and bones protruding. In wet areas, the host swells, great soft bags of jellied flesh that come off with any moderate contact, spilling eggs and biting parasites as they part.

After a hibernation period that varies by region but is typically a small prime number of years, the infected awake and dig themselves out in one joint night of a new moon. They are still driven to gorge but in their weak and frenzied state are more likely to wound. Some, limited, studies have indicated that combined damage to eye muscles and brain mean the mature hosts are unable to see much except movement outside 2m range and are effectively blind inside that limit. They wound and then are attracted to the next nearest fleeing victim. And so spread is maximised in the approximately seven days the hosts can operate in before starving.

The newly infected have an incubation time of between 3hours and three days, with the time duration being inversely proportional to the degree of exposure. Still with some sense of self and intelligence they are slowly filled with overwhelming sense of self preservation and hunger. A mature host may charge a gunline. A new infectee will use weapons it is familiar with and act more in ambush. By the time someone knows they are infected they are pathologically unable to kill themselves. The worst will stockpile meat or victims without really acknowledging what they are doing. The strongest willed infectee may be able to lock themselves in a room or chain themselves to a pipe, but a few days later will see the emergence of a host that gnawed its own arm off to escape, or a near-hibernating host hiding inside a hollowed out sofa or ceiling panel, waiting for sufficient noise and movement to indicate prey and freedom to complete it's cycle.