Goo Coats

A parasitic and slightly magical goo-based creature created by random chance from interactions of Taint and Balefire Radiation. This amorphous blob attaches itself to the brain of its victim, completely overwhelming their nervous system and rewriting the neurons inside to adapt it to their needs. In other words, it brainwashes its victim and then takes complete control of their mind, effectively turning it into theirs. These Coats form a sort of pseudo-hivemind capable of sharing thoughts and senses between members across distances of up to 1 mile or 1.5 km and spread by direct contact with uninfected neural tissue. This can take the form of a tendril through the ear or just slapping a hoof-full of goop onto the brain directly. Once a brain has been converted, it cannot be cured and will continue to produce goo even if completely washed off (at which point the brain stops thinking until the layer is regenerated). Coats take on personality traits of the brains they infect, thus making each goo an individual while still retaining some base level traits of their 'family.' Hiveminds are formed based on lineage and not all Coats are in the same hivemind nor can share thoughts across different 'families.' Each 'family' is identifiable by the shade of goo they produce.

The only involuntary physical difference after infection is a change of the victim's irises to match that of the goo's color and a slight tinting of the brainmatter. For comfort, the goo often cuts and detaches the skullcap of the host to give itself more room to grow. If necessary it can reattach the cap to disguise itself, but the increased pressure may hinder the brain's performance.

Due to the forceful nature of the rewriting process, the brain is slightly damaged and thus suffers a -2 INT penalty after conversion. This cannot make brains to into negative numbers and bottoms out at 1.