Homebrew Blackscale Species Details

The Blackscale, also called the Ebony, are an insect-like race of vantablack parasites that require the bodies of intelligent creatures in order to survive within Afterward. Specialized to survive the harsh void of Nowhere, Blackscale chitin calcifies with continual direct exposure to reality. Furthermore, their adaptibility allows them to slowly alter the living or undead forms of intelligent creatures in order to act as hosts, emptying out much of the internals so as to contain the proper internal atmosphere, causing their physical form to expand to match the shell of their hosts, and giving the appearance of blackened veins.

If without a host, a Blackscale will not be able to survive for longer than a day in Afterward. Inhabiting lesser creatures, such as animals, will extend this time to roughly a week, but ultimately a Blackscale requires an intelligent host in order to survive. 

Unused to the mannerisms of mundane creatures, Blackscale, upon inhabiting a host, are not able to perfectly copy many of the unconcious actions that most creatures take, marking them as distinctly unnatural. Over time, a Blackscale will be able to get used to their host, but it's entirely expected that to see an undead breathing, or an elf forgetting to, once inhabited.

Beyond acting simply as hosts, those that the Blackscale inhabit can also be used as a vector for infection. Physical contact with living bodies or warm corpses allows for the injection of prepared childer, which slowly grow and prepare the infected to be inhabited ahead of time, needing only a new Blackscale to come and take over the body after it's been worked, and even causing them to seek out the Ebony to become inhabited, in especially late stages of infection.

Invaders of Afterward, the Blackscale are strictly prohibited within the Corpse-Mother and the Manse, with exceptions being notable and uncommon, albeit not quite extremely rare. Owing to their virulent nature, Blackscale players can expect to see a level of suspicion from native races of Afterward, but to be warmly welcomed by their own kind.

Blackscale Names

A typical Blackscale will likely take the name of their host, due to the inherently clandestine nature of their invasion, but a recognized or permitted Blackscale is likely to take upon a name that sounds especially eldritch-sounding.

Age

Blackscale reach maturity in a matter of months, but don't tend to age within Nowhere. Their hosts tend to wear out around 50 years after initial inhabitance, and Blackscale themselves can survive for millennia, provided they can find a source of hosts.

Alignment

Most Blackscale tend towards the chaotic alignments, favoring themselves and their own desires. Many trend evil, placing their own survival over that of any others, but there exist quite a few that survive off of recent corpses, rather than taking over living creatures.

Blackened Parasite

Dying as a Blackscale doesn't always mean you need a new character; provided you, the parasite, survives past the immediate death of your host, you can have up to a week to find a new host. During this in-between state, your size becomes small, and you suffer a malus of three to all rolls. This won't inhibit your ability to use tools or armor, although armor especially might not fit as well. Upon finding a new host, you require an uninterrupted long rest in order to refit it to what your previous host was capable of.

Parasitic Infection

Physical contact with a living creature can be a vector for infection; upon coming in skin-to-skin contact with another being, you can roll an unarmed strike against their AC to infect them. This is noticeable to the infected unless you can provide an alternative for a stinging pain. After two weeks, the infected will become habitable for all Blackscale; it will not require a long rest to inhabit them and refit them, instead occuring immediately. After a month and a half, you can have the infected begin to seek you out. After three months, the infected will begin actively seeking out any Blackscale. The infection can be halted by most churches and apothecaries within the first couple of months, after which it becomes much more difficult. Reversing the infection is much more difficult, however.

Languages

All Blackscale can speak common, and speak to one another without needing verbal communication.

Size

A Blackscale without a host is Small; a Blackscale with a host matches the size of the host's race.

Blackscale Traits

Owing to their origin from outside of reality, and the need to turn an intelligent creature into their host, Blackscale and Blackscale-infected tend to share certain traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by two, and your Strength score by one.

Void-born Resistance

Blackscale have advantage on rolls against poison, and are resistant to poison and cold damage.