Paraonette

Artwork by CompliensCreator00

**Paraonette** is the Parasite Complien. It belongs to the Dark Element. It is not known to grow into or from anything.

## Appearance

Paraonettes are long Compliens resembling a mix between an isopod and a myriapod. They have soft, beige underbellies, and long, segmented bodies with multicolor plating. They are typically red at the head, and move down a rainbow gradient, becoming purple at the back. Their head has two sharp mandibles near the mouth, and a mouth where the plating and underbelly meet. They have two large, black eyes with white irises. They have many segmented legs down the length of their body, and use strings hanging from the front two to manipulate the Exhorguts they parasitize. Generally, Paraonettes prey on Exhorguts, and are seen climbing out of their mouths.

## Information

While heavily armored, Paraonettes often have trouble escaping dangers, as they are fairly easy to flip over and have their soft underbellies exposed. Usually, their chitinous shells allow them to flee from danger, but without much means of fighting back, on their own, Paraonettes are fairly weak. As such, Paraonettes have primarily resorted to parasitizing other Compliens to give themselves more power.

While they are able to work with a large variety of Compliens, most Paraonettes specifically prey on Exhorguts. Paraonettes are generally resistant to an Exhorguts's toxins, so when an Exhorguts tries to eat them, this is when the Paraonette starts taking action. By slowly eating up the entire digestive system of its host, Paraonette leaves little more than a hollowed husk of the Exhorguts's body. From here, Paraonette produces silk from the spinnerettes inside its mouth to produce strings so it can manipulate the Exhorguts's limbs. While initially, there may be some resistance from the Exhorguts, there is little an Exhorguts can do to get more power without the ability to digest, and eventually it becomes little more than a corpse being carried around by the Paraonette.

With the Exhorguts's body, Paraonette gets access to far more power than it would have without it. While lacking most of its toxic, ranged attacks, a Paraonette controlling an Exhorguts can be a beast at close-range, usings its long, strong arms to land a variety of physical attacks. In addition, since Exhorguts is an often-feared predator, most Compliens will steer clear of a Paraonette inhabiting one, even if it is less dangerous nonetheless. The difference can be seen with the lack of external visage on an Exhorguts controlled by a Paraonette, but most lower-sapience Compliens can not see the difference, and hide anyway. It is estimated that about one in ten Exhorguts are hosts to Paraonettes.

### Habitat

Paraonette is generally found wherever Exhorguts is found. While their spread can reach as far north as southern Nagthoto, they are rarely seen outside of Flaura and Aclein.

## Growth

### Name

Paraonette is derived from "parasite" and "marionette."

### Design

Paraonette is inspired by the tongue-eating louse, a type of isopod that eats and replaces the tongue of fish. It also takes inspiration from marionette puppets.

## Trivia

* Its design was tested on Dirgeye and Soppler before being finalized on Exhorguts.