Worm Prophet

Even though they believe they'll dwell with their deity in the afterlife, when nearing death, some priests desperately call out to any gods willing to listen. The worms that consume such an ex-priest's flesh absorb these prayers, transforming into a worm prophet, a pious swarm strider that might worship hundreds of gods without calling any one its patron, perhaps collecting dozens of religious symbols or haphazardly tearing pages out of various religious texts and binding them into a contradictory new scripture. These creatures often lose whatever edicts and anathema bound them in life and instead hungrily seek to convert others to their hodgepodge faith—or "indoctrinate" victims by consuming those who won't join willingly. Worm prophets don't typically have reservations with entering their swarm form whenever they see fit.

All living creatures eventually become worm food. Yet if a creature perishes while gripped by overwhelming emotion or unfinished business, its flesh can become infused with those obsessions or a simple refusal to perish, infecting whatever detritivores feast on the body. As they feast, the invertebrates awaken to a type of collective intelligence, including some of the dead creature's memories and motivations. Once the body is stripped bare, the vermin swarm together and intertwine to recreate the dead creature's form out of thousands of wriggling bodies. These reborn are known as swarm striders.

Though many swarm striders are accidental creations, a few rare mortals purposefully transform themselves into swarm striders through powerful rituals. Most often, this process involves specially preparing a grave with ample scavengers and enchanting the site with occult magic to anchor their soul until it can live within the swarm. Through transformation, these intentional swarm striders seek out the power to slip past any defense or claim the virtual immortality of an ever-regenerating horde, as a swarm strider can reconstitute their form from even a single worm. However, the transformation inevitably scars the creature—often causing emotional detachment, the disintegration of old taboos, and a dissociated sense of self now that one mind has become a thousand. In their transformed state, even the best-intentioned swarm strider might embrace villainy and lose any semblance of their former selves over the span of many years.