Somas (Mosaica soma) are a species of humanoid* Mosaics.
.anatomy
Somas are composed out of two distinct components, a Heart and a Shell.
The Heart of a Soma is the true organism, resembling a yellow slug-larva-thing. They are completely helpless, can barely move on their own, cannot speak, and have very weak senses.
The Shell is a humanoid construct piloted by the Heart. They are 1.9 m in height, have skin made out of a flexible, metallic alloy, have silver hair, and have animated LED eyes, displaying an animated yellow iris. Their faces are capable of displaying the full extent of human emotion.
.behaviour
Somas are created by the Serpent, being considered mutated Vespers, although they lack pretty much all abilities and traits associated with Vespers. They are social and cooperative, from an outside perspective having very little differences to humans.
.abilities
The Heart takes control of a Shell by being placed inside its chest cavity. From there, the Heart will spread a nervous filament throughout the entire chassis, taking direct control of the motoric and sensory functions of the Shell, which from this point acts as a direct extension of its body. The Shell grants Somas enhanced mobility and senses, and the ability to speak.
There are still flaws with the Shells. Damage to the Shell will resonate and damage the Heart, which can kill it. While they can be upgraded and repaired, Shells cannot be reliably swapped, as the control method means the Heart becomes integrated inside one, making the transplant extremely complicated and dangerous, and causing extreme discomfort to the Soma while it is forced to adapt. Most sensors and motoric controls are located in the head, which means Somas can enter a catatonic state if their head is injured or severed. And damage to the Heart and chest area is almost always fatal.
.vexers
Vexers are an extremely rare anomaly where Somas which retain the Vesper ability of using Vectors, directly caused by the Serpent’s negligence when overriding the Vesper code. With enough training, Vexers can gain access to other Vesper abilities, albeit much harder for them to perform.
.production
Somas are created when a Vesper womb is corrupted by the Vesper. Instead of following its intended development, the Serpent injects itself as the base code, forcing the womb into a state of permanent neoteny, eventually creating a Soma Heart.