Mimic

Mimic
A mimic is a shapeshifting, predatory animal that lures in travelers by appearing as various objects. These can range wildly depending on the amount of biomass that the mimic has eaten, from small chests and barrels, to trees and houses, and if ancient myths are to believed, the size of mountains. There seems to be no limit to how large a mimic can get if it allowed to grow.

Biology
Mimics internal and external physiology can change by extreme amounts depending on the thing they are mimicking. In an inactive state, the outer "shell" of a mimic appears to be an identical copy of the material the creature is imitating. The common chest mimics outer shell, for instance, looks, feels, smells, and even tastes like actual wood. The only way to differentiate a chest mimic from an actual chest is to attempt to attack it, or open it up. In either case, the mimic will switch to an active state. Its previously hidden mouth will open, revealing at least four large teeth. Its eye(s) will open, and it will attempt to stab its victim in the neck or back of the head with the end of its tongue. If the mimic misses, then it will quickly grow some sort of leg(s) or appendage(s) to allow it to follow and attack its victim, until it tries to stab its victim with its tounge. If it penetrates, the mimic will first begin devouring the brain matter of its victim via sucking it out through its tongue. The victim, at this point, is helpless to prevent the process without outside help, as the mimic completely paralyzes its victim. Once all brain matter has been consumed, the mimic then pulls the now lifeless victim into its body, where its internal stomach acids will breakdown the victim. During this process, the mimic steals memories, emotions, and knowledge from the victim to give itself the knowledge required to mimic new things. For instance, a furnace mimic, after consuming enough blacksmiths, builders, tinkers, and other persons, might gain enough knowledge to completely mimic a forge. If this example mimic has enough biomass, then it might transform into such a forge. If mimics also achieve enough biomass, they may reproduce. While such reproduction hasn't been directly observed, it's been hypothesized that mimics reproduce in some form of asexual reproduction. While mimics shape shifting abilities are second to none, there are no  1  3  7  10 mimics mimicking organic creatures There is currently an unknown amount of mimics in the world that are mimicking human/humanoid/biological creatures, but the number is presumed to be quite high.

Behavior
While mimics usually are solitary hunters, sometimes they group together to form a "nest". The nest of mimics will not just mimic the environment around them, but actively change it. For example, a nest of mimics far from civilization may look like a small house, with some chests, furnaces, and beds inside, and a few lone trees surrounding the house. They will generally cooperate to make such a place look as inviting to organic creatures as possible. Should any creatures step in, or trigger even one of the mimics active states, the whole nest will come alive and attempt to consume the person. There are only two recorded survivors of such traps.

Origin
It is unclear where mimics came from, however, three popular theories have been made:

None of these theories can be completely disproven or proven; though they do all explain how mimics have their ability to shapeshift.
 * 1) Mimics are demons summoned by some ancient culture
 * 2) Mimics came from a rouge shooting star that hit the planet
 * 3) Mimics are elder creatures that have existed before sentient life fully developed