The Monstrefact: The Icrotic Slime of Necromunda

and dystopian anarchy. You're way better off running away from most innocence of the Underhive, but one of its monsters is also a sought after commodity, the parasitic icrotic slime. As described in the publication Necromunda Outlander's rule Book, an adult necrotic slime is a slow moving, fist size globe of translucent sludge. It creeps up on a slumbering humanoid. It first engulfs the sleeper's head before oozing into the

flesh and eventually colonizing the host's brain. Once in the brain, the slime reproduces and the young feast on the gray matter, which turns the host into a shambling zombie, and eventually the creatures burst through the host's skull. This is all pretty standard sci fi brain parasite stuff, to be sure, But the really interesting wrinkal in the creature's life cycle is the way it defends itself during its initial conquest

of a new host. It's slow moving and not particularly strong, so you could simply pull it off your head before it has a chance to seep into your flesh. But to protect itself during this vulnerable stage, we're told this fictional slime releases chemicals to induce a feeling of power and euphoria in the host. They feel so good they simply don't want to remove the slime from their head.

As such, some of the many desperate denizens of the Underhives us the slime as a narcotic, trusting a friend or an accomplice to simply remove the slime from their head before matters progress too far. It's a wonderfully dark creation, clearly drawing on natural world examples of brain eating amibas and such behavior hijacking parasites as the protozoa, Toxoplasma GANDHI. Various parasites are known for their ability to hijack behavior, but I don't think I'd ever read about one from

the real world that's linked to feelings of euphoria. Euphoria is generally associated with a number of typical life experiences and activities, but of course it can be boosted by various substances or generated via brain disease or injury. But euphoria as a product of host manipulation by a parasite, again,

nothing turned up in my research. But as Martin Hyle discusses in the two thousand sixteen Frontiers and Ecology and Evolution paper, host manipulation by parasites, any manipulation by parasite will depend on a physical or molecular trigger that comes with a metabolic cost. That cost would have to balance out in the creature's evolution. While some studies have linked Toxoplasma gandhi to libido in some host subjects, we really don't see anything like, say, the sex parasites from David

Cronenberg's film Shivers in the real world. In both Necromunda and Shivers, the monstrous parasites in question are far more useful as a means of commenting upon or exploring other social concerns. However, I did find discussion of a southeastern African plant known as kat or katha edulis. The plant contains a stimulant and when chewed, can produce feelings of excitement meant appetite loss and even euphoria. Like other euphoria

inducing botanical substances. We're not talking about a parasite here, but according to a two thousand and twenty two paper by Jacob Nehru Nahiga for the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, the leaves as sold in parts of Kenya are sometimes contaminated with intestinal parasites, generally due to quote poor storage of leaves, personal hygiene, and polluted environmental conditions.

It's not quite a sci fi brain slug, but it checks off a couple of the boxes here under some circumstances. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com Stuff to Blow Your Mind. It's production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.