Publisher's blurb:
[GURGLING, BONES SHIFTING] Felicitations, sentient Earthlings—allow me to introduce myself. My people come from far beyond your icy “Oort Cloud”. We are sociological empaths; each of the delegation-cultures which has fanned out from Orion to touch other worlds are diplomats of the mind and wanderers stochastic. I am one such delegation-culture, and my million-million bodies are not unlike your Earth bacteria (though my degree of intelligence is, of course, far higher). My name, transliterated so that you may pronounce it, is Colony. For decades now I have lain dormant in the bodies of your people; I have spread and multiplied to become a global pathogen which knows no national borders, no divisions of culture or class. My integration, which has been deep and thorough to the level atomic, has reflected a relationship of exchange—with each body that I convert to my purposes, I begin to understand the human mind, the human heart, that much more, for you see this is my people’s way— we come bearing no particular message; we merely listen until we have learned to speak your language. Now, after ten Solar years of total immersion, I am pleased to announce my newfound purpose, and it is this: to sell you one-of-a-kind extraterrestrial defense solutions at low, low prices! [AUDIO ENDS]
CULTURE SHOCK is an NPC pamphlet for FIST that adds a randomly-appearing merchant to any campaign - namely, a sentient alien pathogen named Colony, which possess its hosts after they've died. Once a dead body has safely risen again as Colony, it will scrape together a humble camp—perhaps a crate to sit on, a lantern to see by, and an oil drum to contain a bonfire. Once situated, the host will flag down FIST with broad cadaverous gestures and carnivalistic flair, offering wares sold at “the lowest legal prices this side of the Perseus Arm!”