Color Out of Space
Chromiant, also known as the Color Out of Space, is an extraterrestrial mutagenic pathogen that assimilates and mutates any lifeform it comes across into eldritch aberrations.
Description[]
Chromiant is an eldritch pathogen that is presumed to be sentient in a sense and can take a variety of forms. However, its density and mass is dependant on the volume that is within the meteor fragments. Example, the Chromiant found by the Gardner house was miniscule and thus had a gaseous form, while the one at the Beira D oil rig was able to accumulate enough nutrients to gain a more solid biomass resembling otherworldly siphonophores.
It appears to "infect" the local plant life and the results were great discolorations in the flowers, grass, and trees. In the later stages of the infection, the plants became grey and developed “a highly singular quality of brittleness”. Along with the discoloration came the ruining of fruit and vegetables grown along with the abnormal behavior of the plants during the night. The flowers would glow in the darkness and the trees seemed to reach out to the sky and move without the wind.
In addition to the destruction and alteration of the plant life, livestock and people underwent drastic and grotesque mutations. Mutated humans seem to retain a portion of the personalities, until their biomatter is completely assimilated into the Chromiant's biomass. Going near the Chromiant would induce vivid hallucinations fell into a gruesome state of grayish decay before ultimately dying, leaving behind a useless and inedible meat. While inedible for terrestrial beings it is revealed that is part of a dietary sustenance for the Cats of Saturn.
History[]
Origins[]
Chromiant is believed to have originated from an area of space or other dimensions where natural laws differ from our own. It was said to have been mined and harvested by the Mi-go from the planet Yuggoth particularly when several fragments of meteors carrying the pathogen landed on the planet which formed its craters. On Yuggoth the Chromiant was dubbed as the "Vile Fungus" and due to Yuggoth's atmosphere it metamorphosed into fungal matter that infected the Mi-go and forced them to spread its spores across the cosmos, particularly in regions where there are habitable planets, similar to Earth's ophiocordyceps.
It eventually found its way to Earth via meteor showers with one having landed in the depths of the North Sea many years prior to the incident involving the Gardner family in Arkham, Massachusetts. Chromiant first emerged when it began to mutate the soil and wildlife surrounding the Gardner family's residence. Upon the arrival of the pathogen, the Gardner family descended into madness, poor health, and ultimately death, with the last surviving member being Nahum Gardner, who described it as a "sucking, burning thing that is not of God's work."
Beira D Incident[]
A second incident occurred involving the Chromiant though on a larger scale in December 1975, on an oil rig named Beira D in the North Sea. The drill made contact with a massive fragment of the meteorite that carried untold amounts of Chromiant within. Due to the meteorite's otherworldly material, it was highly difficult to penetrate until it finally cracked and immediately began to ensnare the oil rig with its eldritch multi-colored biomass, assimilating and mutating all the workers on board until a Glaswegian electrician named Cameron "Caz" McLeary destroyed the oil rig along with the Chromiant.
However, remnants of the Chromiant were managed to be recovered by Gentex when they came to investigate the wreckage of Beira D disguised as a decontamination company. Gentex experimented with the surviving Chromiant mutant strains to create bio-organic weapons and sell to the US military. They would eventually end up in a legal battle when it was discovered there was insider trading between Gentex and rival company the Chrysalis Corporation who sought to use the Chromiant for their own ends.