Iiboy the Slender Xeno-Stoor Worm

Iiboy (/ee-'boy/) is a Slender Xeno-Stoor Worm that "guards" the Eehesu (/ee-'hay-soo/) Reactor on the planet Gya (/'gyah/). Iiboy wields a Sniper Throwing Mud Sword, Yputnj (/ee-'put-uhnj/).

## History

Iiboy is from the remote oceanic planet Eaai (/ay-'ah-ee/), which hosts a population of Xeno-Stoor Worms. He was the bodyguard of Ema (/'ay-muh/), an ambassador of their planet who specialized in relations with the human inhabitants of the planet Gya in a neighboring star system. Ema and his associates had gigantic ties tailored for them to wear on visits as a show of respect for the Gyaan (/'gyah-uhn/) people, since that is the business dress of their culture.

### The Slender Curse

Iiboy's colleagues have said of him that he was immensely loyal to his job, even going so far as to avoid eating during designated meals for days in order to keep diligent watch. The motivation for his apparent paranoia remains a mystery, as even Ema had been documented as saying that his level of attention was not only unnecessary but often made him feel uncomfortable. Even so, Ema kept him as a bodyguard for many years.

Iiboy began to exhibit symptoms of the Slender Curse around his eleventh year of service. His facial features began to "melt off", and, shunned by associates, he slithered into Gya's desert wilderness, possibly driven by hallucinations. By all accounts, Iiboy should have died shortly after, but the Slender Curse kept him alive and completed his transformation. While Eaaian Xeno-Stoor Worms usually wield their swords by their mouths, Iiboy has adapted to his lack of mouth by wrapping his body around its hilt.

### Iiboy's Encounter with the Eehesu Reactor

Iiboy wandered the wilderness for several decades without a single documented sighting, though there are a suspicious number of missing persons cases around the area he allegedly inhabited. Twenty-three years after he was last seen, he reappeared near the city of Eehesu, which had just finished the installation of an experimental new energy source, the Eehesu Reactor. Eyewitnesses claim that Iiboy seemed to bolt for the colossal structure upon first "sight", hovering off the ground, and wrapping himself around it. The output of the Eehesu Reactor decreased by fifteen percent that day, and that number has remained consistent during its use to this day.

Scholars of the Slender Curse theorize that the Eehesu Reactor emits an energy signature similar to the life force of living beings, which attracts Slender folk. Iiboy's apparent new ability to defy gravity may be an affect of self-applied psychic manipulation. His ability to move under the observation of the city's inhabitants defies the known paralysis effect of the curse, but Slender beings have been known to move under observation in rare circumstances where they have been significantly provoked. Perhaps the reactor's energy output is enough to excite Iiboy to overcome that effect.

Since the day Iiboy wrapped himself around Eehesu Reactor, he has not moved, and all attempts to move him have ended in failure, and even lost lives as Iiboy has utilized his Sniper Throwing Mud Sword to strike down any who have come within range of it. The Eehesu Reactor was engineered to be self-sustaining for more than two centuries, so no manual maintenance to it has been necessary. Thus, the city of Eehesu has decided to halt all further attempts to remove Iiboy and has instead erected security to keep others from the danger. The mayor has been recorded as saying "he's a better defense system than we could have asked for anyway, so we decided to just let him be. As long as no one comes within twenty miles, he seems to be fine, and we seem to be fine with that."

## Yputnj the Sniper Throwing Mud Sword

Iiboy wields an honorable blade of his people, classified as a Sniper Throwing Mud Sword. Common Stoor Worms quickly decay into fertile soil after death, but Xeno-Stoor Worms dissolve into a mysterious mud that persistently stays wet, while never losing the shape its formed into during the early stages of decay. Since the planet Eaai has no solid core, the Xeno-Stoor Worm culture there has taken to using the mud remains of their deceased to form objects, including their weaponry. Typically, the object formed takes the name of the individual whose remains it is made from. Iiboy's sword was formed from the body of a fallen brother in arms, Yputnj. Sniper Throwing Mud Swords are engineered to be thrown, and to be thrown far, as an offensive option in the frequent battles on the surface of Eaai between the Xeno-Stoor Worms and the Flying Gorgons that inhabit its skies. Since a thrown Mud Sword is not meant to be retrieved, throwing one is preserved for what the Xeno-Stoor Worms call a "grave go", a chance to strike an important target that is worth the sacrifice of blade, even in failure. Iiboy still wields Yputnj to this day. Scholars of the so-called Slender Curse believe the irremovable attire effect is also attributable to objects on the person at the time of conversion, in this case Iiboy's blade. While most Slender beings tend to use unknown psychic abilities to subdue their victims, Iiboy has been noted to use his sword to strike down those who have drawn too near.