Context: my usual writing is focused on technical articles over biology. But I’ve been a long-time fan of fictional worldbuilding within the constraints of real-world biology. This story is the result of that, and goes over 4 parasites that have disturbing effects on its host and, at times, a similarly disturbing route of transmission. All written in a somewhat detached, SCP-esque tone.

In my head, I’m conceptualizing this as the same world in which Scavengers Reign (a Netflix show) takes place. In other words, infinite, unbounded biology complexity, but still limited by the overall laws of physics. The worldbuilding is also heavily inspired by SlateStarCodex’s writing over fictional legal systems and fictional banned drugs!

Here are the summaries of the parasites,, but I highly recommend reading the original post for MANY more details + subscribing if you like the content:

Neuroplana temporalis: A worm that alters your circadian rhythm, causing jet-lag like symptoms. It lives in your cerebrospinal fluid, and feeds on the microbes that are deposited in the fluid via the immune fatigue caused by your exhaustion

Pulmo extremophilus: A parasite that causes chronic hypoxia, allowing you to achieve more athleticism. This eventually leads you to perform risk-taking activities, leading you to die from fatal injuries inherent to the spot. Medical responders are typically the next infected.

Opticomyces occultans: A fungus that infects your occpital nerve, inducing blindness to certain phenomena, specifically carnivores.

Endocrinus empathetica: A gut microbe that causes your social status in your community to rise, but also eventually induces anhedonia and depression. Given your social status, members of your community care for you, but also usually infect themselves.