Naka

Close up of an adult Naka

Few monsters come close to home. They bide their time in the darkness where the light of civilization entraps them, forever to dwell in the forests where no man dares walk. It is a benign danger, or so they thought. Man is often led to ever more risky ventures, inviting danger with the prospect of fortune. Only when it bites us do we reconsider. Through generations of tightly packed buildings we’ve prevented the monsters that dwell in the woods from attacking us, but created an entirely new monster. Years of packed human and elvish settlements have made a ripe ground for plunder for one of the most vile creatures yet discovered. The conniving Naka. First discovered in the waterways of the Kazoku villages, the Naka has gone on to spread across the entirety of the continent, bringing ruin  to those unaware. Currently it’s considered the most successful parasite to exist on Ludwag, prolific and exploitative of the blissfully unaware. There is little history of the Naka, its existence only briefly noted by Lizardmen and Meridian settlers of old. Its body does not appear in the fossil record, leading some to suggest it may not be inherently native to the continent. Some blame the arrival of the Shijonians whom the name of the creature is derived from as the culprit for its introduction. Others still suggest an otherworldly presence to which the Naka are its punishment. Whatever the case the Naka proves to be a sore mark in Ludwag’s side, forever eating away at the weak and the feeble.

## ***Physiology and Anatomy***

The Naka begins life as a mere egg, no larger than mere cells. They float on the river current or the sewage drains of cities, amassing in reservoirs and wells. These eggs are not visible to the naked eye and prove to be difficult to trace under scrutiny as they often mimic the appearance of other river debris. It takes a few days for these eggs to hatch and often ends the Naka here as they hatch outside a host, killing them almost instantly. If a Naka egg does enter a host's body typically via ingestion they will survive into the larval stage. Naka eggs inside a host will begin to pull proteins and sugar from the stomach using a series of pedipalps on the eggs exterior, letting the Naka grow in size while still germinating in the egg. Smaller eggs are also pulled into the larger egg and siphoned for energy, beating out the smaller competition as time goes on. This is assisted by a series of prongs on the exterior of the egg, acting in a similar way to a proboscis as they drive into the smaller eggs exterior to kill the embryo inside.

When Naka hatch at this point they’re relative to that of a pin-head, growing over the course of a week to the size of a pin. The Naka instinctively swim toward the bottom of the stomach or latch onto the top of it to snag food as it enters or exits from either end. Assisting in grounding them to the stomach wall as a series of spines which attach to gaps in the stomach tissue, suspending it in the event of a sudden movement. Naka also at this point receive the hormonal drive to begin actively competing with each other, killing and cannibalizing one another by driving their developing fangs into each other's heads. Over the course of this growth period only a single Naka will survive past the larval stage. At this point the host will not feel the Naka dwelling in their stomach as their small size and relative benignness makes them a non threat at this point. If Naka are caught in this state of development it is very easy to remove them from the bowels, a simple flush of the digestive system with any sort of cleaning agent will kill any juvenile Naka in the system, thus preventing further stages.

The final stage in Naka development may take several months to conclude, the single Naka will grow in size until it covers the duration of the stomach's underside. Some adult Naka have been recorded to be as long as a human arm. Their spines mature into rudimentary limbs of which to climb around the stomach and bind into the stomach wall. Smaller spines cover the Naka’s torso to support it when it is inactive. Its teeth and jaw fully form allowing it to fully capitalize on undigested food inside its host’s stomach, becoming an active detriment to their health. Hosts supporting a fully-grown Naka will undergo severe weight loss and fatigue as a result of lack of food, becoming consistently more tired as a result. Hosts of Naka will sleep whenever the option presents itself and will almost never be active during the night. Adult Naka produce a series of chemicals which numbs their hosts ability to feel anything in their stomach, often described as “A feeling of emptiness” by sentient hosts. Fully grown Naka also possess a skeleton of cartilage which may flex and bend with their host's body, allowing them to move throughout their digestive system without issue.

## ***Psychology***

Naka are nocturnal in nature. When the night settles or their host falls asleep Naka will move toward an orifice on their host's body, pulling themselves loose in their sleep. From there a fully grown Naka takes up the role of predator, feeding on small game or wounded and sickly animals which it dare come across. The Naka instinctively knows when their host will wake or fall asleep through means not currently understood, returning to their host before they awake every single time. Beyond that the Naka are relatively unintelligent, they do not coordinate and they have no compassion for their fellow Naka. If two adult Naka meet outside a host it’s very likely the two will either kill each other or simply ignore one another. They cannot be reasoned with. They cannot understand their impact. All a Naka knows is an incredible desire to feed.