Hairworms

The Hairworms are brain-controlling parasites that can be found in levels that contain a large volume of water and aquatic levels such as Level 30. The Hairworms can enter into the human body through the upper region of the human head or through open wounds. Once the parasite has entered into the human body, the person will start to show various symptoms -which will be explained in effects thread- which will eventually lead to their death in a very painful way. It was seen that the parasite cannot live outside water for a long period of time, and their mobility decreases greatly when they are out of water. Hairworms can be killed by stomping on them or with fire. The length of the fully-grown Hairworms varies between 5-10 cm and width of 1-2 mm. The worms contain an organ similar to a brain on the top right side of their bodies which also has small needles used to dive through the flesh and brain tissue. Although their "brains" are unevolved, The Hairworms have shown evidences of having low-level intelligence.

The Hairworms does not have any optical organs that could be used to navigate their way. instead, The Hairworms navigates through the pores that are spread around their bodies which can detect the sound waves. The pores turns those sound waves into electrical signals and sends those signals to the brain-like organ of the worm, which lets the Hairworm navigate their way.

Effects:

Stage 1

10 — 30 minutes after the parasite enters the body, The first symptoms start to show up. First, a mild headache begins, followed by sickness. If the worm has entered through a wound, the surrounding area of the wound will get redder and inflate.

Stage 2

At this stage, The parasite breaks through the blood-brain barrier and enters into the brain. Muscle spasms starts to occur and the person slowly starts to lose control over their muscles. The brain inflates to encounter the parasite which causes sensitivity towards light, confusion, slower reactions and severe headache. Cysts start to form all over the body. The parasite orders the salivary glands to increase the production of the saliva. The larvae of the parasite starts to spread around the body. This stage lasts between 30 minutes — 6 hours after the Parasite enters into the body.

Stage 3

At this stage, The personality of the wanderer starts to break down. The body turns into a host for the parasite, and screams violently before losing all of their memories. After that, a desire for a body of water grows, the body mindlessly wanders around looking for a spot for the parasites to escape the body. At this stage, the wanderer is seen to become extremely violent and aggressive. Crypts explode and unleash thousands of larvae. The wanderer also spits out saliva filled with larvae of the Worm uncontrollably. When the body finds a safe spot for the worm to escape, The person uncontrollably jumps into the water and the worms escape by the upper region of the head while the person drowns. Then, the cycle repeats.