Iago

Description of Iago's life prior to his death and transformation:

Iago Collins is a 27-year old drug addiction counsellor from Stanley, the capital city of the Falkland Islands. He is a greatly respected member of his community, building a reputation for generosity and trustworthiness. His entire family had lived on the Falklands for decades, leading to him being an exceptionally well-connected member of society.

He lives alone in a small three-room bungalow on the outskirts of town, cycling to work on his old, beat-up bicycle every day. He doesn't have too much money, but he's able to live happily within his means.

Iago, himself, was addicted to opioids for a good chunk of his young adulthood, only being able to kick his addiction with the help of his good friends and a newly opened addiction counselling centre, being lured in by its facilities to safely inject drugs, and staying because of the degree of support he'd received by the staff. As a token of his gratefulness, Iago started working at the counselling centre full-time, quickly becoming one of the hardest workers in the facility.

Iago's favourite pastimes include swimming in the cold waters of Stanley Harbour, hiking in the ragged hills of his home island, and generally being out in nature. However, he's also a gregarious sort, having no problem making new friends and spending time socialising with complete strangers. He's always been known as a skilled mediator, often being looked to for calming conflicts and serving as a messenger in interpersonal conflicts.

Concerning extraterrestrial life, Iago doesn't hold any strong opinions as to whether it exists or not - he just hopes that, if it does, it's at least easy to talk to.

Description of Iago's physical appearance prior to his death and transformation:

Iago is 1,72 metres tall, smack bang in the average where height is concerned. He's got curly brown hair of medium length, pulled together in a ponytail. He has a light dusting of beard, never settling for the "clean-shaven" look. His dress sense is quite traditional for the harsher climate of the island - sweaters, tartan shirts and jeans. He rarely leaves his house without his well-worn leather hiking boots, extremely useful for wandering the island's harsh terrain.

He takes pride in the perfume he makes himself from flowers and herbs he gathers during his numerous hikes in the Stanley area.

Description of the "alien life" encountered by Iago:

The "aliens" "live" - both concepts painfully human to describe these beings - in an asteroid cluster within the system known in human maps of space as VCC 1993 in the Virgo Cluster - a place most hostile to life as one might know it on earth. This system lies 55 million light years away. These "aliens" exist as strand-like constructs, covering the asteroids in atom-thin layers, functioning similarly to a nervous system. One moment in an immeasurable tapestry of time, conditions on an asteroid within the system randomly aligned to be favourable enough to permit the coming about of this being, and it has existed there ever since.

An extremely long time ago, 74.3 million years precisely, this being set its consciousness to places beyond what it had already inhabited. Since time and distance were concepts not shared by this being, it set its sights upon a random planet in a random solar system - which just so happened to be Earth.

Due to how light works, what this being perceived was Earth 148.6 million years ago - the distance that light needed to travel giving a reflection of a planet that was as much older as its observer was light years away.

This being set its sights upon one particular creature it could perceive - the allosaurus. Not for any given biological advantage - it had just, by chance, noticed the allosaurus when looking at earth. As such, it imprinted a copy of a visual scan onto itself.

This being sought to connect with this place somehow - and so it separated an extremely small part of itself - only a few atoms - and flung it towards Earth at a speed about three quarters of the speed of light, bearing the copy of the Allosaurus scan.

In the present day, 74.3 million years later, this particle reaches its target, starts to accumulate microscopic debris in Earth's atmosphere, slows down significantly, and impacts Iago Collins in Stanley, Falkland Islands, killing him instantly.

Description of Iago's transformation following his death:

Stage One: Immediately following Iago's death (0-10 minutes after impact):

Iago will have died to massive blunt force trauma to the torso due to the particle impacting his thorax, embedding itself deep into his body. Due to the particle's similar functionality to the nervous system, it should immediately start connecting itself to Iago's nerves, causing his body to seize on the ground.

The particle of the alien being should expand rapidly, filling the cavity left in Iago's thorax with thin, spider-web-like tissue. It will immediately learn how to accommodate a carbon-based existence, constituting itself out of a pure form of the element, becoming unbreakably hard.

The being will expand its control of Iago's nervous system, adapting to learn which muscles control what action, and how to move his body according to its desires. Five minutes after impact, it should be able to lurch on unsteady knees, much of the body hanging uselessly.

It will test the functionality of Iago's organs, rebuilding damaged tissue out of its own web-like material. It will begin expelling air out of Iago's body, resulting in a horrifying death rattle, while flailing limbs to test functionality.

Stage Two: Following the being's complete takeover of Iago's nervous system (10-15 minutes after impact):

The being will expand its influence over Iago's brain, being able to control the body in a more natural, fluid fashion. It will learn how to see through eyes, and slowly start adapting Iago's memories to its own existence, melding the two irreversibly. It is now neither purely alien, nor is it purely Iago - Iago now exists as a inseparable amalgamation of his own thoughts, experiences and entire existence - and a completely incomprehensible being.

Iago's personality prior to his death shapes the new being's goals. Since Iago was a gregarious, diplomatic person, this new being seeks to be an envoy of its "species" - even though it cannot be called such, to Earth, seeking tolerance and hoping to understand both Earth and Humanity, which it had not observed during its preliminary perception of Earth.

Since the being seeks to replicate its image of an Allosaurus, it will trigger a complete restructuring of Iago's body to better suit its "expectations" of an Allosaurus. Iago should end up becoming a massive anthropomorphic Allosaurus-man.

It will begin by covering Iago's body in a thick layer of greenish-gray scales made out of its own ultra-hard carbon, matte and sleek, as well as nearly indestructible. It should also completely make his hair fall out in favour of these scales. It should also expand his fingernails into long talons.

Stage Three: Expansion of Iago's physicality (15-30 minutes after impact):

As soon as Iago is completely covered by scales, he should be able to stand up perfectly upright, slowly regaining the use of his vocal chords. He should now be able to speak, the alien using Iago's knowledge of human language to communicate.

Iago's frame should expand significantly, turning increasingly muscular from a lean, average build. His muscles should balloon to proportions akin to a professional bodybuilder, about as muscular as a human being could get without hampering functionality.

At the same time, his height should gradually increase to the size of an Allosaurus over the 15-minute timeframe, while keeping his entire body proportional - including his private parts. All of this new tissue should be built from the nigh-indestructible carbon material. The average Allosaurus is about eight metres in length, so his height should reach a dizzying 831 centimetres - 8.31 metres (27'3'' feet) - packed with steely muscle and covered in grey-green scales.

Stage Four: Fine-tuning of Iago's transformation (30-40 minutes after impact):

When Iago has reached his final height of 831 centimetres - 8.31 metres (27'3'' feet), his face should expand outwards into an imposing, many-toothed maw, his eyes changing into the muddy-brown, slitted eyes of an Allosaurus.

He should possess the trademark facial ridges of an Allosaurus.

His legs should be arranged in a digitigrade fashion, with huge paws tipped with talons capable of carrying his considerable body weight.

He should grow a long, thick tail, equally scaled and adorned with many spines.

Iago now doesn't have to eat, drink or sleep to live, though he can do so if he wishes.

Description of Iago's personality after the transformation:

Iago should retain the most prominent personality traits that he possessed prior to his death and transformation. However, the alien being should influence him to become more curious and even more gregarious, hoping to absorb as much information as possible. He should also be very eager to tell of the alien being's existence prior to its arrival on Earth, considering himself an emissary from VCC 1993.

He should be eager to make friends on Earth, hoping to convince everyone that nothing malicious resides in VCC 1993. He should retain all of Iago's previously possessed knowledge.

Iago should now be able to accurately see into space up to a distance of 1.1 billion light-years away, being able to precisely make out even the smallest objects on unfathomably distant stellar objects. He should often send out microscopic particles on their long journey back to VCC 1993, laden with information about Earth, hoping to convince the alien being of the success of his "mission", if it could even be considered such.

Iago should see it as his mission to promote harmony and peace wherever he goes, seeing Earth as a beautiful place that should be protected at all costs. He should gain an even greater appreciation for nature, meticulously observing and visually scanning plants and animals.

He should still be able to speak normally, inheriting his oratory skills from pre-impact Iago.

Iago should NEVER refer to the system as VCC 1993, since it has no name in the language of the aliens (they don't even possess a language, for that matter).