The planet was on the verge of attaining a biological singularity. Cloning, panacea implant organs, and more intelligent brains were trivial problems. The real interest to some on the bleeding edge of science was in creating exploratory nodules into other dimensions.
They had no idea just how big the Verse was, and how their plans of developing bio-things that could go elsewhen and rebuild a means to transport back were fatally flawed by the size of the Verse.
Not that it really mattered. They were twice doomed. Once by their own lack of caution as they rushed to embrace their new powers without consideration, and twice because in certain places, the boundary between Reality and the Border Supernatural flexed and pulsed. And something horrid waited on the far side and when a lab drifted across the barrier and back again, it often had something new in the minds of the researchers gifted by That Which Waits.
(So far I'm describing a very hi-tech bio world mixed with Cthulu for horror.)
The Explorer Mod has twenty-six small legs, and a shell with infrared nodules for sensing all around its perimeter. Its size varies from baseball half to frisbee sized. It can run endlessly at three mph, or spring up to twenty feet every ten seconds until it fails a Stamina check.
That Which Waits changed it.
It gave it a new purpose, and new powers.
When these Lawspiders now were tossed by their hundreds throujgh the intermittent gates to various elsewhens, many of them became versers. Something in their biology made them especially attractive to scriff, even more so than humans.
And then they died as That Which Waits wanted them too.
Those that versed were now full-fledged Lawspiders.
They are able to operate in an Earth Normal Body Bias.
A Lawspider will arrive in a world, and parasitize the dominant life form if it can. They will not attack creatures with animal intelligence, for long. Once attached, they can analyze the chemicals in the blood for signs of active intelligence. This is not always successful as some biologies don't meet their specifications for intelligence. Elves are notably immune to Lawspiders. Also, any biological creature with a very high will and a highly chaotic nature combined tends to cause fatal reactions in a Lawspider parasite. Lawspiders also only affect carbon based lifeforms with an internal skeleton.
A Lawspider will bite its host, anesthatize it, and attempt to form a chemical phobia about remembering its existence. It should be noted that a Lawspider is the product of a very as in extremely advanced biological society.
After succeeding, or killing its recalcitrant 'host', (we will assume success here), the person resumes their daily life. About two weeks later, they begin to operate in their sleep cycle as a Lawspider controlled entity with hooked bones rising out of their body.
During this time they become much more obsessive on Law however that would work with their personality. They approve of more Law.
After more time (and killing and building of a genetic factory to create more this universe Lawspiders), the bones are up to eight inches above the skin, and the Lawspider convert eats its own brain, and assumes a sunken face look.
After another two weeks, the Lawspider has the ability to shoot silk from the ends of its bones. This silk is sticky and can wind up its victims. If a Lawspider has time it will fully wind up a victim and hang him up. The silk is coated with a substance that softens tissue. A fully coated person would over the period of a week be turned into soup for the Lawspider to drink later. This is considered a delicacy by Lawspiders who have to rely on fresh meat on the nights they are active most of the time.
By this time, the Lawspider should have a couple dozen this universe Lawspiders converting locals into monsters.
The prime Lawspider is of course a verser and it, but not the person's body, will be versed out if its killed. It regards the person's body as equipment that it disowns.
A Lawspider is not really that intelligent. Their ability to create a gene factory is largely instinctual with a very complicated 'recipe' with lots of contingent conditions to follow depending on the tec h of the world involved. That part was created by That Which Waits.
Lawspiders are mostly cunning. However, they are capable of remembering a verser who killed them in a previous world.
I'm also thinking that Lawspiders should reduce creativity. Now having them reduce the bias level seems totally horrible, but instead, what about a magic dampening field that is strongest at the highest levels of the bias. The field is centered on the Lawspider and its size and strength varies with the age of teh spider. The Verser spider would obviously have the most.
============
Lawspiders are a representation of out of control Law. The Law is the bones that form the framework. And also Toqueville added that in America, we would not be done in by tyranny, but by a steadily expanding spiderweb of well-intentioned laws that would soften the national character until we were tied up.
So there's my metaphor.
And now we can have a multi-dimensional monster that can pop up in most worlds, and chomp on the local citizens. And in each world, it looks a bit different as humans are not aliens, but it will take either.