Mijuyuyong

The Mijuyuyong is a relatively rare species of lifeform that undergoes a unique and extreme metamorphosis. Initially taking the form of colonial motile bacterium, a sufficiently large colony of this bacteria will metamorphose into an mostly gaseous, electrophagic entity through an arcane and barely understood process. The Mijuyuyong is widely regarded as something of a nuisance, though when observed from afar, many regard the Mijuyuyong as a beautiful phenomenon. Originally discovered in the Dandong system, they have spread throughout most of the galaxy as an invasive species as a result of invading ships.

Stage I: Bacteria Colony

The first stage of the Mijuyuyong's lifecycle begins when a mature Mijuyuyong dies. As a the animal becomes increasingly corporeal towards the end of its life cycle countless billions of cells undergoing apoptosis fall to the ground. From these dying cells, larval Miyuyong bacteria cells arise. Over the course of several days, these individual cells consume whatever organic matter they can while moving towards each other and undergoing extensive mitosis. As Mijuyuyong cells collect together a colony forms. The colony represents the first full stage of the Miyuyong's life cycle. A colony is cluster of motile organisms that move like a mat of viscous material. The colony slowly feeds on whatever material it encounters producing a strong acid that will dissolve most non-metallic materials it encounters. A sufficiently larger colony will undergo a metamorphosis into the second main stage of the Mijuyuyong.

Stage II: Gaseous Entity

The second stage of Mijuyuyong's lifecycle occurs as a colony of juvenile bacteria grows sufficiently large. Through a poorly understood process of metamorphosis the colony of bacteria merge into a single creature, and the liquid cytoplasms of their cells convert to gas. Once this process is complete, an adult Mijuyuyong comes to be. Adult Mijuyuyong are entities that consume electrical energy to produce energy. Appearing as a cloud of colorful gas, the Miyuyong can be quite beautiful to behold. However, as human built fusion reactors produce an enormous amount of electrical energy these creatures are drawn to human settlements, where they can consume the bioelectricity of humans causing headaches or other maladies, or feed on electronic devices or generators causing computer crashes, electrical disturbances or other problems. This cause them to be seen as a major nuisance at times, especially in the confines of starships which, it is believed, is the means by which the species spread throughout the galaxy. As an adult Mijuyuyong begins to die, it expels gases from its cells thus beginning the reproductive process.