Ahhh. Interesting. That said, I was still going along cosmic horror lines. The idea that this is a being with a single consciousness and many seemingly normal and yet corrupted bodies (which explode into a chaos of tentacles at the worst possible moment) is one I like. As far as the infiltration of the womb goes....I'm thinking that this happens almost literally. Perhaps the woman breaks some kind of pregnancy taboo. Maybe the Thing comes to the dreams of the clan women who bear no children. It wears the form of a beautiful goddess and she/it offers fertility. Perhaps a single living fragment of the horror creeps INTO a sleeping womans womb and devours the unborn child, replacing it with a sort of changeling. In this way, the thing can insinuate itself into a stead over a lifetime....or worse, over generations.
Although I can definitely see the similarities, ogres seem more like a race that propogate themselves via rape and adultery. They do what they do to survive (although they're horribly evil). The Thing With Many Bodies attacks the morale and purity of the clan in a host of fashions. It's more like a familial curse than anything else. I'm now of the mind that there should be some kind of seasonal test of purity conducted by Urox's followers. A bit like that bit in John Carpenter's 'The Thing' whereby the blood of the survivors is tested in an open flame. Only significantly more brutal. That way, the people don't resort repeatedly to the Urox followers ritual. It's just too savage and often results in the deaths of those entirely pure.
For the record, I'm also going to have it absorb the bodies and souls of those it slays, keeping the clans bold ancestors trapped inside its multifarious selves.
Would you say that's still too similar to ogres? I value any opinion on the matter. :)
>
> Selon In_a_flat_field <beautychokes_at_...>:
>
> > (I'm thinking that it has some kind of fertility connection. I'm all for
> > infiltration...what about the wombs of the clans women?) , but I really
> > appreciated reading the learned community's take on the matter! ;)
>
> /// Your Glorantha is yours, but what you suggest is in fact well-known : it is
> OGRES. They are very handsome (with flashing teeth) and they like to seduce
> women so their race spreads. And yes, they do eat humans (which they call
> food-men). "Eat your ennemy in secret" is their motto.
>
> The thing with many bodies I see more as a cthuloid horror, perhaps the
> manifestation of the clan's fears and dark secrets.
>