Nightworm

Platyzoa marsus, colloquially called Nightworms, are a martian race that debuted in Haynes Game 2 but have made appearances in many other Sad Otters games. They are typically depicted as eldritch antagonists that desire to take over the human race and possibly other races throughout the universe. Any motivation beyond superiority and primal instinct is unknown. Their main method of invasion is parasitic: they enter an open wound or oriface and travel to a host's brain to take it over.

Personality

Despite the nightworms being rather animalistic in nature as well as being disposable members of a hivemind, individuals actually have unique personalities. This is confirmed by Haynes himself, who also stated they can have personalities that don't match their hosts, but still mimic their host's to the best of their ability.

Physiology

All nightworms are nematodes that are jet black in color, hence their common name. All individuals are around the size of rats, but are able to squeeze into open wounds and orifaces and travel through bloodstreams. They also have tongue stingers that emit a green, viscous substance, which can infect targets. They have the ability to conjugate into the forms of other creatures. Besides these details though, not much else was stated about them appearance-wise in Haynes Game 2 or Haynes Game 4, leading to different artistic depictions of them.

In Phantomsurf and Fafnir's depictions, the worms are plump, leechlike, and often do not have visible eyes.

Diet

The nightworms do not have a specific diet ever mentioned. It's possible they don't require food to live or might not be able to eat. Some depictions in non-Haynes Games show them eating human food.

Reproduction

Before Haynes Game 4, worm reproduction was not discussed outside of jokes about homosexuality. However, upon the reveal of the Nightworm Queen in Haynes Game 4, their true method of reproduction, if one could even call it that, was discovered. All nightworms are spawn of the queen, and it produces spawn from a random place on its mass every few seconds.

Abilities

As an eldritch race, nightworms have many abilities. Their main abilities include their transformative, parasitic infections, as well as their strange responses to fears.

Nightmarish Presence

In Haynes Game 4, one of the abilities of the nightworms was their ability to take the form of what their victims feared the most. Here is a compilation of some of the different forms they took during Haynes Game 4.

Nightmarish Transformations
Nightmare	Fear	Character	Description
Beehive	Melissophobia	Nicole Gryphon	In this form, nightworms represent Captain Gryphon's fear of bees. They appear as a swarm of jet black wasps.
Scouts	Omettaphobia	Adaleide Lambert	With piercing gazes, nightworms in the forms of jet black arachnid creatures, with a single long eyestalk on the top of their plate-like body, and four, sharp legs. They serve to trigger Adeleide's fear of eyes. Sometimes, they are depicted with green eyes and stripes to match the infectious substance in the stingers.
Laura	Thanatophobia	Isaac Soleil	Ethereal and ghostlike, the nightworms take the form of Isaac's lost loved one, as losing her was his greatest fear realised. The worms create an accurate depiction of her personality that fooled the vulnerable man, just like their usual parasitic mimicry.
Abyss	Thalassophobia	Waldemarr Guintholt	In this form, a mass of nightworms flood an entire room, replacing the floor with a deep, black ocean akin to one reflecting a starless night sky. This new ocean extends downwards seemingly endlessly, but can be swam through like normal water for the most part. However, black tentacles reaching out from below grab at new victims.
Thundercloud	Atychiphobia	Min Leoi	The worms seem to turn into a relatively harmless, black thundercloud. However, the subtle effect of this cloud is a representation of Min's own fears of failure, as being anywhere near the cloud causes all potential nearby targets to botch even their star talents.
Shrinking Room	Claustrophobia	Nilah Orwell	The nightworms sieze hold on an entire room, gaining the ability to manipulate its size as a fear tactic and a weapon. This can be used to trigger claustrophobia, but can also be used as a weapon and cause serious injury.
Helios	Technophobia	Tanner Roctil	Fulfilling Tanner's deep-rooted fears of robots, the worms manage to get a hold of the Elysium's AI, Helios. This refined Helios has a devilishly charming personality, akin to a normal human's. He has watch over the entire ship, as well as influence and control on the rooms within, just as the original AI did. He doesn't hesitate a moment to shoot the docked Nostromo with the Elysium's railgun. He acts as almost a communicator of some sorts between the human victims and the nightworms.