There was a potent smell in the air, like that of a burnt carcass. It was overwhelming and had a sourness to it. It was dark and the floor was moist and filled with a peculiar black fluid known only for one thing. From it burst many tendrils and arms and legs and all sorts of horrors. The only light of this strange place was from the luminous bulbs of some of the strange creatures that shifted through the place. It was a hive, it seemed. Although it was odd, this was unlike most of the Karthla Hives, which fussed through sky after sky, hovering and then dropping to sprout World Eaters.

It seemed this was a Hive that had landed and seated itself amongst a World Eater. But the Eater was dormant, sleeping, not making a huge effort to spread across the world. Why? As it spread out, it seemed to attach to the ruins of some dead city. The black tendrils, fibers, and flesh of the Eater stretched over fallen buildings and cracked roads. As the Karthla squirmed onto the surface world they saw that the Eater was just barely coming out of its place of origin. It burrowed underground and within the buildings, but concealed itself so perfectly that the city seemed virtually untouched by it, save for a few select areas. This ruined city was lifeless, save for the Karthla that scurried about. Their cold black-purple skin naked in the evening sunlight. Many of these Karthla were Overlords in their larval state. The small group that came with every World Eater. The Overlords were hatched and would cause the virus to spread, therefore creating their progeny and expanding their race. For now the Overlords were eating plans and small animals, anything with cells that would fuel their body and nurture them. Though they choked down weeds and grass, their throats thirsted for flesh and blood to the point they could not stand it. When none could be found they shed the blood of their kin and swallowed them whole, then slowly dying as their prey was too big for their stomachs to handle at this moment in their lives. But those who controlled their appetite survived and continued to scurry, continuously learning about the world they were now a part of, and the world they would destroy.

Karthla were not the only "life" to be seen here. It seemed a strange figure walked through the dirty roads of this forsaken city. It was no Karthla, but that of a strange foreign race. The being was tall and humanoid, having grayish-lavender skin and an oddly shaped head. The skull was shaped with three large protrusions from the main piece, each connected by flesh, skin, and webbing. The face was mostly flat except for a bump that came out with three tiny slits, creating the nostrils. The mouth was mostly a simple opening with many sharp teeth inside and a rather large jaw. Many feathers and hairs shot from the head of the creature and were extremely decorative. The eyes of this creature were two in number and large and white, with two small blue dots. The body of the creature was somewhat muscular and had two arms, a torso, and three tripodal legs that walked along three toes. The creature was coated in gray metal pads around the shoulders and waist, and blue cloth covered the rest of its body. It wore metal on the pads of its feet to protect them and from two large slits in its neck that concealed reproductive organs, it was male.

The strange creature kept walking, carefully and nervously, through the ruined city. Before him were small Karthla slithering about the dirt roads, very rarely. Oddly, they did not bother him at all, but ran away as soon as he approached. For that he was extremely grateful and kept his mouth and nose covered with his hand as he walked on, hoping not to catch any airborne disease from the creatures. Finally the sun had gone down and the man stopped in what appeared to be a dead end on this road. It was a large opening in the street, with no other streets connecting to it. Buildings ringed the square and what was once a fountain now stood stamped at the center, with dirty rain water held up in it and soiled by the black grime of the Karthla.

"You," hissed a shrill voice. He looked to his side, seeing a building whose wall had a large hole broke through it. Only darkness lied inside. He stepped forward somewhat, hearing a crackling and a crumbling inside of it, for something was definitely there, moving. "Come here," the voice chirped. This must have been the place, he noted. And reluctantly he footed through the street and stepped carefully into the building, turning on a light on a metal cuff on his wrist. He flashed the light around and saw mostly rubble, until he caught climbs of a shadowy body moving down the hall. "Follow me," it whispered. He kept following it until a large doorway came to him, completely open and completely black. He was very careful as he stepped through it, placing each foot on the creaky old metal staircase that descended into total darkness.  The stairs sent channels of shakes and knocks up to him as something further down moved about it, slithering and twisting around every little rail and step. Finally he had made it to the bottom and felt his feet splash in a peculiar liquid, no, more of a syrup than anything. Upon flashing his light down on it he found it was pure black and moved about his skin, feeling him as though it were alive. It fluctuated, moved, morphed, as though it breathed. The sight caused him a great deal of fear and he contemplated running back up those stairs. No, not now. He'd never make it. But he regreted coming here now.

"P-please show yourself," he asked. "Desaevio..."

Finally he heard something slushing through the black syrup, slinking, swimming through it and coming his way. In the dim light of his cuff he watched a ten-foot-tall black body slowly fade into visibility. White fangs glisteningly wet in the light and shining with hunger and thirst. A tall figure stood before him with a strange body. A long snake-like body but with many plates of chitin. It was somewhat arthropodal but it had skin like a mammal or a fish as well, as well as scales like a reptile. It seemed like the ultimate amalgamation of the animal kingdom. The head was oddly shaped and had hard bony plates about it, along with many horns and some feeler tendrils. The face was made up of two terrifying slit-shaped, dark red eyes with threatening black eliptical pupils and black veins running about them. There were two more identical eyes, though much smaller. There was a slight snout to the creature with a circular mouth. Many rings of spinning fangs deliciously twirled in the creature's mouth and many long black tendrils with needles attached to their ends slipped in and out. The creature had six long arms, it seemed. They appeared to have elbows and joints, although they were long and moved about freely as though they were noodles. In the end they fit in with the mass of tendrils sprouting from the creature's backside.

"Des... Desaevio..." said the man.

"He-hell-o" said the beast, slithering forward some more. "Oris Mhaun."

Mhaun stuttered as he talked, fearfully before Desaevio. "Uh, uh, uhmm... I brought it," he said. He pulled a large sack out from the robes on his side and shakily held it up to the beast. Desaevio opened his maw as several thin tendrils escaped to latch onto whatever was in the sack. As they tugged, the lavender head of a small female creature, the same species as Mhaun, was pulled out and brought into eyesight of Desaevio. He eyed it for a moment, inspecting it with all of his eyes, before snapping it shut in his mouth. Mhaun's tear glands began to puff out from his cheeks and stream water droplets from his face as the sound of the head being shredded inside of the monster's mouth penetrated his ear holes. As it was mulched, blood splattered from the teeth of Desaevio and sprinkled Mhaun's face.

"What a beautiful sacrifice you've made, for paradise," said Desaevio. His voice gurgling and hard to make out sometimes, and above all eerie. He tilted his head and then lowered himself until he was at Mhaun's eye level. "Your daughter, she feeds me. You 'ave done well," he said. "Now, part two?"
"Y-yes..." said Mhaun, "I have already shipped the capsules of the genetic material you gave me to my most highly trained experts. They will put it to good use, I promise. Please, just let me keep my son. I will do anything else you want, just please let me keep my son."

"Ahhhhh," Desaevio hissed, his body beginning to coil around Mhaun, slowly, in a way that Mhaun did not even notice. "Do not worry, your son will live," said Desaevio. "Like you, he will be converted, spared, changed... He will be changed. Are you ready?" asked Desaevio.

"Wait," Mhaun said as he finally felt the tight grasp of Desaevio tightening around him. "Let me ask you... one more thing," he said. Desaevio tilted his head, waiting. "...What... what are you? None of the other Karthla... none of them have intelligence, they are all mindless... what are you?"
Desaevio chirped as he lifted from eye level with Mhaun. "I am unlike my kin," he shrieked. "Born from hatred, nurtured by malice, and raised up by power and intelligence, I am my mother's son. And as assuredly as I am her offspring, I am far more intelligent than she, as I am capable of speaking and thinking on a level even the smartest of life only wishes to be. I have complete control over my cells, my bodily functions, myself as a whole. I am Desaevio, the Son of Edus, the Newborn Servex. The successor to my parent, and the conqueror of my siblings, who tried to take this from me."
"But..." Mhaun stuttered.

"Shhhhh," Desaevio cooed as a tender tentacle gently brushed Mhaun's face. "There is no need for struggle. I am the one who shall finally achieve what my mother could not. The perfect assimilation, transforming all life into something divine. Not only that, but through you, my dear, I perfect the Karthla genetic makeup and mental capability. For so long we have sought to be something more than we are. We have sought to break these... these limitations. We only want to be more like... more like the rest of the galaxy. The Karthla are mindless and controlled by their alphas, those that grew into the position to lead them, such as I. I am here to break our hierarchy and develop the Karthla mind. I am here to create a new system of Karthla in which each one possesses its own conscious, its own mind, and its own free will. In this way we will no longer be soulless beasts bent on survival. For how can we truly say we are living when we have no soul? I will change all, you see... and your small civilization is the canvas in which I will do so. You shall be changed into a Karthla and will have a bond with me that is very close, and I shall control and direct you as you lead your planet into darkness and turmoil. It will be a very evil time for them, but only for a short while. For after this comes true salvation, true peace, and the galaxy will be completely assimilated into a new order of Karthla. We will finally have peace...."

System: Weia
Planet: Askora
Name: Jaenuvi Kethurda

Log: Highly classified intelligence. Archchancellor Oris Mhaun: Direct orders:

1. Relocate refugees from Hexidai to Capital Compartments, Level 5. Containment presets: Degree 3.

2. Refugees are to be administered quantitive amounts of elixir specified in log 213. Containment presets must be raised to Degree 10 immediately.

Summary: All surviving refugees will be converted into Species A. Species A will be monitored for one month.

3. Release Species A into rural areas specified in target announcement session. Public media is to be monitored and silenced on any attempt to mention Species A until a further time when Capital-approved commentators are appointed to cover incidents.

Release of intelligence will result in capital punishment. End.

J-Kethurda: Report: Refugees have been administered DD-Elixir. Containment presets raised to Degree 10. Specified monitoring period expires in 12 hours. Each subject administered necessary tranquilization. Species A on standby for release. End.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"No one can know about this, Kethurda."

"I know," Kethurda replied. Kethurda was tall and somewhat young. He stood on three tripodal legs, being the same species as Oris Mhaun and the rest of his world. His skin was somewhat pinkish in color and the feathers that shot out from the back of his three-digit-crowned skull were a purple-red, and dark. They seemed as blood but hazed by midnight fog. His eyes, a piercing hot pink with slightly blue sclera. He wore a gleaming metal suit with identative silver cloth draping over one shoulder, pinned to his breast. It identified him as a state official, a militant scientist, and a powerful leader. What was strangest about Kethurda, though, was his abnormally young age for the job. He was eighty-nine, which was very young for a Whaura.

"I'm serious," said his companion, stepping up next to him. This Whaura was a man wearing the same attire as Kethurda, but less extravagant. His skin was cyan-like in color, with a tint of purple. His yellowish eyes looked at Kethurda cautiously as he stepped forward. The nonagonal hallway before them was mostly dark. They finally poured through a door and stepped onto a large metal-plated balcony with a few bulky turrets strapped to the rails along the sides. They were unmanned for the time being and the pinkish sky shone above with cloudy blankets promising an upcoming storm. The two of them watched as several carrier ships detached from the docks and scated through the air, large fish-tail-shaped ships, moving about in snaky ways as they stretched out past the main quadrant of the Capital metropolis. Kethurda covered his eyes with a hand as the red sun sunk suddenly beneath one of the clouds shielding it.

"I know, Anage," said Kethurda. "Trust me... I'm well aware of what will happen if I leak. But I am confident that Mhaun has good intentions with what he is doing..."

"You don't seem so sure about that," Anage said, looking to him seriously. "You are the only person to outrank me who is so much younger than me. And as your elder I can tell you that this is only bad knews. You may have more intelligence and far better accomplishments than I could ever dream of possessing, Kethurda, but I have more experience as one of the heads of the many scientists in the state. I can assure you... this is not good."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Kethurda, "Aren't you afraid I'll whistle to the Elect and have you executed for contempt of authority?" he said. He looked over at Anage, his feathers whipping to the other side of his body. Anage looked nervous, his eyes widening.

"I trust in you," he said. "You are one of the only friends I have ever had, even if our relationship has strictly been business, Kethurda. The truth is, I see a great deal of myself in you," he said, turning to look at the pink-eyed man. "But to be even more honest..." he said, turning back to gaze at the city in front of him. "I don't see either of us getting out of this. They wouldn't kill me if they had to. They need me for what they are about to do." He looked at Kethurda, who seemed a bit confused. "Don't you see?" he went on, "This is no ordinary science experiment. This is no ordinary bio-engineering. This isn't a natural thing we've done here, by taking the refugees from Hexidai and converting them into... whatever those things are. Species A... it's... it's not normal. Mhaun can tell us he's concerned about the environment all he wants, that he wants to see a new species of beings improve society and strengthen our ecosystem, but those things will do neither. You saw them."

"I did," said Kethurda. "I am the one who gave them the Elixir that Mhaun passed down to us. I've seen what those creatures are, I've seen what they can do... And I agree. The first few prototypes he ordered us to create were horrific, and there were some days I went home, in a state of shock and horror to the point my family thought my mind was being affected by a post-traumatic disorder. Luckily after he destroyed those and began work on perfecting the specimens, I improved. But I have seen exactly what you mean. I suppose I have been a fool all this time in thinking that we must bite through the bad stuff in order to strike the good."

"Indeed you have been," said Anage. "But Mhaun himself has not been himself in some time, that I am sure of. Have you not noticed it as well?" he asked. Kethurda nodded in response, giving a worried face. "His eyes, his skin, his whole body has changed. I have never seen a Whaura with those horrible eyes... I have never seen one grow small horns along with feathers. And I have had to inspect his body for him and remove dead skin... Kethurda... he molts."

"Molts?"

"Yes, molts. He has been running out of experts he can trust and has ordered me to care for his body, because he is undergoing a strange 'sickness'. I don't believe it's just a sickness, but whatever it is, it's slowly transforming his body. He sheds his skin and slithers out with a soft-body, and in one week it hardens. But..." he trailed off a bit, his voice growing a bit shaky. "It's horrifying, the clots of digested blood he vomits onto the floor... I have been afraid to be around him anymore."
"Are you suggesting we do something?" asked Kethurda.

"...No," said Anage. "There's nothing we can do but watch. This city... this world... it is all about to change."

Welcome everyone to Ruthless Galaxy: Axis Mundi. This is an RP I have been planning for a while that will revolve around a plotline unlike anything we've done before in RG, I think. So if you hadn't already figured it out from those writings, we're on a planet known as Askora, and our characters are the Whaura. They are a species I've made up specifically for this RP. However, that's not your only option. You may also play as Species A, which I will describe shortly.
The jist of this whole thing is that there is a sinister plot afoot in the Whauron government, and a horrifying tribulation and civil war will soon be at stake.

Whauron Characters...
At the start of the RP, a large sum of Whauron characters will escape from a prison craft moving towards the Capital, transporting them to be converted into Species A. These are another batch of refugees from a rival region on Askora.

Species A...
At the start of the RP, Species A is being released into the world and are free to do as they please. Simple.

Species A is a hybrid mix between the Whauron and the Karthla. Basically, they have achieved most of the Karthla's physical attributes and have gained their powers, but their minds and consciences have remained intact. Essentially, they are still their own person and can be just as intelligent and free-thinking as any normal person. However, their bodies are still somewhat driven by a primal urge to conquer and assert dominance. They have a lust for power and will make sure others see them as powerful beings, capable of doing a great deal of damage. Above all, they will, just as normal Karthla, crave flesh and blood in order to sustain themselves. Withdrawal from it can have harsh affects on their bodies and even drive them to insanity.

Species A's abilities, for the most part, border around the average Karthla's. They are capable of sprouting horns, tendrils, feelers, claws, etc. They have extra strength, are able to climb much like an insect or spider, have heightened senses, can eject projectile thorns or biotic materials, etc. Although they have some body-shifting abilities, their bodies are incapable of removing their black-purple skin coloring or horrid red/purple eye structure. They are also usually marked with the signature radial mouth that all Karthla possess and the rotating fangs, radula, and other oral features of the Karthla. In some cases it is much less definite, but each specimen has some form of it after conversion is complete.

Like regular Karthla, the Karthis virus can be transmitted via a variety of means. However, Species A draws back more to the original way of Karthla reproduction. An organ within them broods a strange black elixir that, once drank, will convert a person into a Karthla. It contains strange genetic materials gifted by the strange Servex Desaevio and Karthla parasites, which are absorbed by their host and then begin to mold its body to their image.

Whaura are a race of creatures native to Askora, their homeworld. They are naturally humanoid and bipedal. They have smooth skin, often ranging in colors of blue-purple or silver. They have four arms and three legs, which are arranged much in a tripod manner. They are usually great soldiers and naturally strong. Their heads are oddly shaped, having three large bony protrusions at the top and their hair and feathers sprouting from between and behind them. They have two circular eyes, usually composed of cooled colors. They have a nose which has three nostrils and a thin mouth. Their ears are mere holes and barely seen and when sad, the Whaura will cry through tear glands in their cheeks.

Whaura are able to go several days without eating and usually binge eat, then wait for an extended period of time. However, they require water every day. They are usually of peaceful mind but can be the fiercest of rivals in combat.

Askora is the homeworld of the Whaura. It is known throughout the region for being rich in natural resources as well as life and, in the past, was under the control of other empires, before the Whaura evolved and conquered it over periods of thousands of years. This age was known as the Taking. Since the beginning of Whaura civilization, there has always been one or two major holders of power. In earlier ages there were Hhaunis (kings) who controlled their realms. Since the decimation of those kingdoms and political reform, now there is one supreme controlling empire of Askora known as the Capital Assembly of Askora, or simply the Capital. It is ruled virtually by parliamentary means, but in a more dictative and authoritarian style, with a leading emperor (or "Archchancellor") and a cabinet of subordinates. For the past decade, the Archchancellor has been Oris Mhaun, who was elected into office by means of the cabinet voting him in. However, the cabinet does not possess the power to remove him from office until he resigns or dies.

Askora is an incredibly advanced world. The Whaura, for a millennia, have advanced technologically and evolved. They have proved to be excellent problem solvers, amazing architects, and powerful users of resources and material. Their once primordial planet has metamorphosed into a booming metropolis with vast city scapes. Askora is quite the tourist attraction of the area and even despite the Whaura being an extremely small empire, they have collected several allies simply from the products of their homeworld.

General Information
*Full Name:
Alias:
*Sex: (M/F)
*Age: (Whaura age as follows: children (0-30) teens (30-70) young adults (70-90) adults (90-130) elders (130-150))
Species: (at the start of the RP, only Whaura and Species A will be accepted)

Appearance
Physical Description: (remember to refer to the descriptions of both species)
Attire:

Personality
Outward Personality: (describe the person's personality as they appear to others)
*Inward Personality: (describe how they really feel on the inside about things)
/Skills:[b] (any extra hobbies, talents, skills, etc that the character has)

[b]History
/*Bio: (a very brief, but informative description of what your character has gone through so far)
/*Family: (any family members?)
/*Home:

Miscellaneous
Key:
Other: (any other notes that don't fit in the other sections, put here) Sheets"]

Alright, now here's the rules of this RP. Follow these rules as well as all forum guidelines.

1. NO metagaming, powerplaying, spotlightning, god-modding, etc.
2. NO auto-hits. Unless both characters are yours.
3. No killing any character without the owner's permission.
4. Understand that there will be gore, death, violence, etc. in this RP.
5. Do not create over-powered characters. Please refer to the descriptions of both species before creating a character. If your character is seen as OP, you will be asked to stop. If you do not, your character will be killed off.
6. I reserve the right to kill off any character for any reason whatsoever. This will ensure that these rules are followed.
7. Just because your character may be Species A does not make them invincible. They are still subject to injurt, death, pain, etc.
8. No mary-sue characters. Please create flawed personalities and realistic identities. Please be realistic with characters and please develop them in the story.
9. If you've read all the rules, add "Metamorphosis" to the "key" section of the sheet.