Corpus - Chaos, Evolved
After years of idly tormenting Shokushu's students, Spectre decided to attempt the unthinkable. Calling upon all its resources throughout time and space, the Thing from Beyond conspired to bring itself entirely into the Shokushu universe. Using the greatest of magics and the most advanced forms of science, it dared to physically transcend the barriers or time and space and bring it's eternal, unknowable chaos to that reality. Luckily, it did not succeed . . . Unfortunately, it did not fully fail, either . . .
For an instant, the insanely improbably techno-ritual seemed to succeed, tearing open a rift into the great Beyond. Spectre's impossible mass began to boil and seethe through the opening, it's unfathomable will warping reality even as it straddled the threshold. Just as it seemed success was within its grasp, the portal suddenly collapsed. Spectre was banished back into the Beyond and the universe was spared its doom.
Yet the tiniest fraction of the Thing's essence had escaped into the world. Such a thing should not have survived, yet impossibly, inevitably, it did.
Corpus is a tiny snippet of Spectre. It is a physical manifestation of pure chaos, madness incarnate. It's form is constantly changing and shifting as reality itself seeks to reject it. In order to survive, it must periodically stabilize itself by 'absorbing' the essence of creatures native to this plane. In the beginning, such absorption was a physical and irrevocable process, but now that it has built up a sizable amount of physical essence, it need only obtain ephemeral things: thoughts, emotions, energy, etc. It also no longer really consumes these things so much as copies them, impressing an imprint on its constantly shifting chaos matrix. In this way, Corpus learns and becomes more and more stable. It hopes to one day gather enough essence to overcome the universe's inherent abhorrence of its existence. Corpus has discovered the most efficient ways of imprinting new essence are sexual assault and, to a lesser degree, combat (mostly for arena/space scenes). It also may employ mind games, but those tend to lead to one of the previously mentioned methods.
Though it is but a tiny particle of Spectre's almost infinite consciousness, Corpus has vague memories of the Thing's past exploits. It is likely to seek out some of Spectre's past victims to corroborate those memories. Further, it believes the essences of such victims are of great importance to its quest for stability.
Corpus' first acts in this universe were to seek out and absorb the various creatures of Spectre's menagerie. Deimos, Nebthraxus, Xokuxuatl and all the rest became its first victims, absorbed physically and completely by the growing horror.
Corpus can temporarily shift into the form of any creature it has absorbed or imprinted, gaining access to all the knowledge and abilities they had at the time of absorption. It often does this when in the presence of a victim who has had experience with such a creature. The effect is almost involutary, requiring Corpus to concentrate if it wishes to avoid the change. On rare occasions, Corpus can even approximate the original Spectre's manifestation, especially if in the presence of a victim acquainted with that construct.
Due to its chaotic, shifting nature, Corpus' abilities and methods vary widely. Theoretically, it could do almost anything, but in truth, its capabilities are limited by whatever form it takes. If it is not mimicking a specific creature, Corpus is basically just a constantly changing mass of body parts and objects. So, it's abilities are limited to whatever those parts and objects can do. Further, Corpus' shifting form tends to gravitate toward things its victims fear or desire (one of the reasons it tends to mimic creatures that its victims have encountered before). A particularly strong-willed individual might be able to manipulate that tendency for a time, but will effectively be imprinting the creature with her own essence and thus likely to soon be facing herself . . .
As a being born of chaos, Corpus is effectively immune to most magical attacks. In effect, these are a type of essence that the horror can absorb. Physical and energy attacks may affect it, however, dependent upon its current physical form. Still, unless it could be utterly destroyed and its energy completly nullified in a single attack, it would reform eventually. It's only real weakness is other forms of chaos. A powerful enough blast of chaos could unravel the essence it has collected and destabilize it permanently.
Reference of imprinted forms:
Spectre - the Thing from Beyond.
Spectre's Monster Menagerie:
Deimos - Demon-like satyr.
Doppelganger - Shapechanging horror.
Corundus - 'innocent' crystal entity.
Magivore - a magic user's worst nightmare.
Nebthraxus - mummified alchemist.
Xokuxuatl - tentacled serpent.
Zharkun - deep throat fetish tentacle beast.
More Monstrous Mayhem:
Alpha Blue - space-going insectoid menace.