The Monster

*Note: This article contains spoilers for Carrion's ending.*

**The Carrion**, also known as **The Monster** or simply **Carrion**, is the main playable character of Carrion. It is an amorphous biological mass of unknown origin, with it's only apparent desire being to attack and eat humans in order to grow evermore in size.

## Biology

While having no permanent size or shape, the Carrion is generally composed almost entirely of pulsating, blood-red biomass resembling raw meat, sometimes with vivid blue veins snaking across its body. Other body parts will grow from or vanish into its central mass at random regardless of its size: round, bulging eyeballs of varying colors, gaping mouths lined with misshapen teeth, and numerous whip-like tentacles. These tentacles can stretch and shrink at will, and are used for locomotion, manipulating objects, removing obstacles, and snatching human prey to be pulled into one of its many maws.

Being a boneless, amorphous blob, the Carrion's body can stretch and reshape itself with ease, able to squeeze into ventilation ducts and cross over large gaps, as well as climb up sheer walls and hang from ceilings with its many tentacles. The Carrion is also quite strong, able to pick up heavy objects, from humans to vending machines, and fling them across the room with ease, as well as rip off doors from their hinges, smash through wooden walls, and shatter tempered glass. It can also swim by undulating its body like a jellyfish, and seems to be able to breathe underwater (if it even breathes anything at all). The Carrion is overall highly resilient, able to feed directly off of high-voltage electricity, survive falling from several stories high without issue and shrug off multiple gunshot wounds, though it is highly vulnerable to fire. Even so, The Carrion can quickly regrow biomass by consuming humans, though it is unable to consume soldiers due to their armor.

At first it seems the Carrion's mentality is that of a common predator, focused only on survival and escaping the lab, as well as hunting for food. As the game progresses its implied that the Carrion may be smarter than it appears, since it knowingly operates levers and buttons to progress through each level, indicating that it at least somewhat understands what they do. Absorbing the contents of the various containment units throughout the facility allows it to gain new abilities, and possibly intelligence, as its methods become more sophisticated and complex (comparatively speaking, as the Carrion nearly always ends up leaving a bloody, gory mess in its wake). Once it gains the ability to possess humans, it seems to know how to mimic human behavior as well as use tools and firearms. Whether this is something it knew beforehand or somehow gained the knowledge by absorbing the human host's brain/memories is merely speculation.

The Carrion seems to be able to reproduce asexually- as it travels through the facility, it leaves behind various "nests" where it leaves behind a throbbing, tumor-like sac of flesh, secured with multiple root-like tentacles snaking across the room and burrowing through the walls and earth. It also has the ability to shed large portions of its own biomass to leave behind in a safe place, should a larger size be detrimental to facing any upcoming challenges. This shed mass appears as a large, blister-like orb filled with biomass, which seems to remain alive until it is devoured and re-absorbed once more.

## Abilities

*Main article: Abilities*

The Carrion possesses a variety of maneuvers it can employ, owing to its ability to absorb and deposit biomass and the genetic code of other lifeforms. Several of these actions make use of The Carrion's many tentacles, such as moving itself by latching tentacles onto hard surfaces, picking up objects or lifeforms with a "Prehensile Tentacle", and shaping them into different offensive forms. Others are more passive in nature, including being able to absorb and store electricity, shapeshift into a group of aquatic worms, or simply roaring.

A unique ability of The Carrion's come in the form of a parasite. Using a much smaller, flailing mass of tentacles, it is able to take control of other organisms, though not perfectly, as The Carrion has to leave a thin trail of biomass connecting it to its puppeteered victim to maintain control, and it always ends up bursting out of the victims body either at will or on the latter's death. At the end of the game, however, The Carrion absorbs a complete form of the Parasitism DNA, allowing it to take the shape of a human completely and entirely, though this ability is only used in-game once at the very end.

## History

The origin of The Carrion is entirely uncertain. While there are various theories that draw from details from the game, primarily the three flashback sequences used to explain its existence in the facility, none of these are confirmed, mostly drawing from speculation where evidence is lacking.

### Theories on Origin

#### New Species Theory

The Carrion is possibly a species either entirely unknown to humanity prior to recent events or fabricated by humanity. Evidence for this comes in the form of its appearance and biology being completely unique to itself, as well as its discovery in The Derelict. If this theory is true, The Carrion is more likely to have been created rather than having evolved, as at the time of its discovery, humanity had already colonized and mapped a significant portion of Earth. Its discovery in The Derelict, which is itself possibly of human origin, may imply it was created by ancient humans. However, this theory is likely false. There is no evidence of ancient humans existing in The Derelict, and Relith Science did not create The Carrion, as evidenced by the flashback sequences. Other details also conclude that this theory is likely incorrect.

#### Alien Theory

The Carrion is potentially a being from another planet or galaxy, unnatural to Earth entirely. Evidence for this comes from, like the New Species Theory, The Carrion's unique appearance and biology and discovery in The Derelict, with although The Derelict itself also has evidence, including the fossilized remains of a cycloptic entity and a the skeleton of a humanoid creature that died from "massive head trauma". The closest possibility of how The Carrion would've been brought to Earth is likely by some method of transportation, as other possibilities such as a crash landing or being intentionally sent to Earth are ruled out by the location of its discovery. In fact, because of The Derelict's age, as suggested by antediluvian moss discovered in the area, The Carrion may be a remnant of ancient aliens that created this place. However, the evidence for this theory's existence is lacking, as there only a select few signs of The Derelict being of otherworldly creation. Therefore, this theory, while having some merit, is likely incorrect.

#### Tubifex Worm Theory

The Carrion may be an evolved species of *tubifex* worm, previously unknown to science. *Tubifex* worms, also called "sludge worms" or "sewage worms", are a real-life species of small, aquatic worms that live in dense clusters at the bottom of rivers, lakes, and sometimes sewer pipes and outlets. They are a hardy species, able to thrive in low-oxygen, heavily polluted waters few other organisms can tolerate, and feed off of bacteria found in sediment deposits. The basis of this theory comes from the appearance of "an unidentified species of *tubifex* worm" in The Derelict, with *tubifex* worms being similar in nature to The Carrion (*tubifex* worms in real life often appear as writhing piles of thin, red worms). In fact, The Carrion itself was first found in a body of water, in the form of a large biomass. This is often considered the most likely theory, as not only are *tubifex* worms the most comparable creature to The Carrion, but the true number of *tubifex* species is unknown, with 13 currently identified. This is currently the most accepted theory.

### Incident At Relith Science Facility

#### Discovery in The Derelict

After finding an unknown structure known as The Derelict, company Relith Science sent out a research team into the area, with the mission of investigating the area. Several of the evidence used in theories of The Carrion's origin come from notes written by the lead scientist in the expedition. After blowing the caved-in entrance open, the team, along with a camera drone, descended into the facility, where more notes on The Derelict were taken.

At some point, they discovered a large biomass of unknown origin, where they took photos and samples. This is theorized to be The Carrion, evident by the lead scientist emerging from The Derelict late at night, where the area was already locked down following the death of the pilot in mysterious circumstances, and attempting to board the bloodied helicopter, only to be identified as a threat by nearby scanners and shot. Upon being attacked the scientist transformed into The Carrion, but the creature was contained.

#### Containment Breach

The Carrion, after being captured, is believed to have been broken up into various biomass samples, of which were placed around the Relith Science Facility for security reasons. The Carrion itself was placed in the BSL-4 Research Ward, near the Anomalous Materials Vault, in order to continue study on it while also keeping it secure.

However, at some point, The Carrion was able to break out of it's test tube, escaping out of containment into the rest of the BSL-4 Research Ward through the ventilation. It began attacking and killing the science team, and after placing a hive, breach the BSL-4 Research Ward.

#### Initial Reaction

Relith Science reacted to the BSL-4 Research Ward's containment breach by requesting all science personnel to arm themselves with firearms, in order to defend themselves. While the military junkyard was initially safe, The Carrion ended up entering it via a vent, and killed the science personnel hiding there. After obtaining a biomass sample that was contained in the military junkyard, The Carrion breached the area, before finding it's way into the uranium mines.

Relith Science, having realized that the situation was worse than thought, sent their onsite military into the facility to aid in containing The Carrion. While unable to consume them, the creature still killed them, compromising another biomass sample of which caused it to grow further in size. Relith Science sent out a message to the personnel in the uranium mines informing them that the hazardous waste landfill under the military junkyard had not been breached, however, The Carrion soon found it's way into the area, killing any personnel or soldier it found, and eventually breached the hazardous waste landfill.

#### Further Breaching

Venturing further into the facility, The Carrion discovered a vent leading to the botanical gardens, where soldiers wielding flamethrowers had already entered to prevent the creature from further growing, via flames. However, their effort proves futile, and The Carrion succeeded in traversing to another biomass sample, before escaping the botanical gardens. It makes its way to the leviathan reef base. (work in progress)

## Trivia

* The Carrion doesn't have an official name, but most refer to it as "The Thing", "The Creature", "It", or "Carrion", the name of the game.
	+ Carrion is widely compared to John Carpenter's movie, *The Thing*, given its ability to change its body shape at will as well as mimicking humans by killing and absorbing their bodies.
	+ Carrion can also be compared to the Xenomorph from the *Alien* film franchise, given its predatory cunning, resilience to bullets, fear of fire, and tendency to travel via ventilation shafts.
	+ The Carrion's shape and abilities are comparable to the Shoggoths from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, a race of giant shapeshifting alien blobs with multiple eyes and tentacles.
	+ Carrion by definition is the decaying carcass of a dead animal.
* Its eye color changes with its evolution stage.
	+ First stage: Green
	+ Second stage: Yellow
	+ Third stage: Red
* The creature is very durable as it harvests electricity to gain energy, take multiple bullets and survive catching on fire for long amounts of time.
	+ Its shell makes it tougher, it's shown to be capable of protecting the monster from explosives that could instantly kill it.
* According to the animated trailer, the creature seems to be able to control its host without the long tentacle that follows behind it when you control a person in the game, or that the monster is hiding within the person and the person has free control over their body and was just heading to the lab without knowing the monster was inside them.
* According to behind the screams, the monster claims it is an artist and loves art, though it isn't known to be canon.
* According to the trailers, whenever someone is possessed by the monster, their nose starts bleeding, although this probably isn't a direct symptom, and more like a side effect of being stuffed with a mass two times their size.
	+ In the comic, the monster states to an soon-to-be-victim that it inherits the desires of the organisms it consumes. Said victim questions if the monster would want to kill itself if it absorbed enough life hostile to itself (like the victim). The monster doesn't answer, so it is unknown if that would be the case.
		- This fact also may disprove the Tubifex Worm theory of the monsters origins. The monster merely lists the worms as one of the organisms it has absorbed the DNA and 'desires' of, specifically its desire to eat and grow. However this brings the question of why it absorbed the tubifex worms if it did not already have those desires. The monster may be an unreliable narrator.