Phorid

## Phorid Infesta

Phorid is the result of an ancient parasite latching onto a human body and never letting go. The symbiotic organism went on to form an Empire in the early days of the Old Republic, and has lasted throughout several Eras worth of conflict.

## Origin

The planet of Felucia has been known to produce quite a number of bizarre things, including the Rancor and even battlegrounds. The parasite that merged with man to create Phorid is rumored to originate from this Outer-Rim planet, but communicating with the creature about the subject hasn't ever been known to end very well.

### *Initial Story*

Some 3 centuries before the events of The Old Republic, an exploration team sent from a neighboring planet landed on Felucia to study the dense jungle ecosystem, and find out how and why the planet's denizens had evolved the way they had.

One particular scientist, Ruiff Hek'Shi, got a little too curious and ended up losing his way in the forest. Having no way of contacting his team (the planet had no access to Hologram tech), he was stuck in the dense forest.

While attempting to create a fire from the over-damp wood, what looked like an over-sized, bulbous, orange worm wriggled its way next to the scientist and laid still until he turned his head. He was more than surprised to find the creature there. In fact, he was quite fascinated, and since he figured that he may have been the only one to have ever laid eyes on it, he began to write a short description of the worm in his journal;

*"The first creature I've come across since losing contact with the research team appears to be docile, despite its intimidating appearance. It has a distinct neon orange color, with a long crest protruding from where its spine should be (I'm assuming it's an invertebrate). It resembles a worm, albeit an extremely fat one."*

Being the scientist he was, he experimented on the creature. Signal commands, to see if it was sentient. The researcher gazed in awe as the creature's head followed his hand as he moved it about.

*"I've just confirmed that the creature is indeed sentient! Or, at least partially."*

He spent the rest of the day observing the worm, jotting down his findings. By the time the jungle had gone dark, the bio-luminescent worm provided light and warmth for him.

He fell asleep against a chopped-down log, and left his journal wide open against it.

The curious larva wiggled itself up to the journal. Apparently, the creature could read, and it wasn't happy with what it read.

Come morning, the researcher awoke to the sight of the creature laying on top of it. Initially thinking it wanted to play with him ~~dumbass~~, he attempted to pet it. A tube-like structure shot from the head of the creature and enveloped his hand, slowly sucking it in. Horrified, the scientist fell off the log and tried to run. But the worm had already engulfed half of his arm, and was working its way up to the shoulder.

Despite the scientist's efforts, even after continuous blaster fire, the parasite eventually consumed his upper torso and head, replacing his limbs with ones grown by the creature. It merged his brain with its own neural system, and forming an odd-looking, four-eyed, shelled carapace around it.

The newly formed organism was entirely sentient, gaining the ability to comprehend that which it could not before.

It picked up the soaked journal and made out a single word from a random page; "Phorid". It was what the researcher had planned to officially name it. Honoring his last wish, he decided to go by that very name.

Back home, the lost researcher's family mourned, not even knowing that he was twisted into something devilish.

Not to mention that he was coming home.

### *Return Home*

The next research pod that landed on the planet was greeted by none other than the remnants of Ruiff merged with the worm, to the team's surprise, disgust and dismay. The mutant easily slaughtered the team and boarded the pod, returning to the neighboring planet.

The planet's denizens were a very backwards people, relying very little on technology and instead focusing on agriculture and tradition. The one setback of this decision is that the people had little defense against invaders aside from the wildlife and the primitive weaponry. They did harbor blasters, but they were old and rusting, barely functioned half of the time. The ones that the first research team came with were the only properly functioning ones on the entire planet.

The lack of protection allowed Phorid to march right into the village where the researcher came from, and massacre it.

The aftermath of the decimation is where Phorid learned that he could absorb the biological matter of dead organisms, after he learned he could do it to living ones.

He abused this power by travelling around the planet, killing and absorbing village after village (he may as well be considered Cell at this point).

Once he reached the capital, he was unstoppable. His body brimmed with energy. To be more specific, it *radiated* it, killing any and all who were brave and stupid enough to get too close.

He murdered the Royal Family in cold blood, and donned the robes of the planet's Monarch.

He had successfully committed genocide.

### *Newfound Power*

Phorid eventually learned how to control his radiation successfully, and send it out in bursts when needed. He used this to torture the wildlife of the planet, letting them get close then blowing up in their faces. They experienced exponential pain from dissolved limbs and muscles.

Phorid just laughed after every kill.

He did this to amuse himself for century upon century. The wildlife developed a natural instinct to avoid him, but that didn't stop him. His constant state of energy gained him a strong connection to the Force, which allowed him to lock his victims in place from a distance before pulling them in for a radiation blast.

His connection turned dark.

The corruption gained from the turn bled into his body, changing it from neon orange to scarlet. The corruption affected his mind too.

He went mad, letting out a radiation release that killed the majority of the surviving lifeforms on the planet.

### *Aftermath*

By the time he had developed this crazed mindset, the Old Republic and the Sith Empire were going at it. Felucia was targeted as a potential base of operations by the Empire, but the neighboring planet sparked even further interest; mostly barren, but a single patch of fertile land still existed. A research team was dispatched.

You know how that song and dance goes.

After failure to reestablish connection with the team, a squadron of soldiers were sent to the to the planet to investigate, alongside a Sith Lord whose name was permanently lost to time.

The squadron encountered the crazed Phorid upon landing, standing over piles of clothes and research equipment. The soldiers were ordered to fire, but Phorid made short work of them. It was the Sith Lord that he struggled against.

To be specific, he was brought to his knees,

### *Enslavement*

The Lord offered to spare his life if Phorid agreed to become his apprentice. It was more of a title than an actual relationship; it was just an attempt to gain prestige in the Empire. Phorid became the Lord's combat slave for many a year, decimating armies and eradicating cities just as he did before of his own accord, until his connection to the Dark Side (and his personal energy) became so strong that he shattered his shackles and destroyed his "master".

The Saber that the lord once used to level entire kingdoms donned itself upon Phorid's tattered belt.

### *After-Aftermath*

Phorid took his master's place in the Empire's complicated hierarchy, leading invasions against the Republic.

He served several centuries underneath the Empire's banner as a loyal, powerful and intelligent warrior.

Then Darth Bane came along, enacted the Rule of Two and Phorid was forced into hiding until the time of the First Order.

A Knight of Ren backed him up against a wall on Hoth's old Rebel Command Base, and nearly killed him. Out of pure hatred, he formed the Spawn of Phorid, a group of soldiers, Jedi, Bounty Hunters and former Knights, and vowed to destroy the Knights if it was the last thing he did.

Unfortunately, the New Sith Empire beat him to the punch. The Spawn merged with the Empire, Phorid gained a position in the Dark Council, and the rest, as they say, is history.

## Abilities

As stated in the extremely long backstory, Phorid is in tune with the Dark side of the Force, gifting him the abilities of levitation, mind tricks, force pushing, and force choking.

The details are lost, but at one point Phorid was said to use Force Lightning to level a battalion of First Order Stormtroopers.

Being a parasite, the organism that merged with Ruiff gave the resulting Phorid the ability to absorb the life force of other beings via elongated and extremely piercing appendages that lodge themselves within a victim's body and redirect the ATP gain of the body to him, granting an energy and power boost to him. The victim is absorbed entirely, leaving behind only what he/she was wearing.

His biological energy build-up has also gifted him the ability of Radiation blasts, both large and small-scale.

A side effect of the exponential energy gain, which has yet to wear thin, gave him an invulnerability to pain. He can still feel pressure, just not pain.

He can quickly regenerate wounds and lost limbs, and even bits and pieces of his Neural System. However, if his head is blown completely off, it could take years for it to grow back fully.

In a way, Phorid is biologically immortal.

***~~The article is yet to be finished. More items will be added in the future.~~***