Look for horror stuff. I think you might find some images in D&D rulebooks (referenced to the Tome of Madness and things like that, or stuff related to aberrations in general and Abolez in particular), Call of Cthulhu (Mi-Go, Shoggoth, Deep Ones...), some images from The Witcher (the pic of the princess Geral saves on the opening movie with an arm still mutated is priceless), some of Desty Nova's stuff (from Gunm/Battle angel Alita), Ninja Scroll (both the movie and the senseless series), Dead Space, Quake, Doom & Friends, the Stalkers from Half Life 2, the Husks from Mass Effect, a lot of stuff related to the Tzimisce and the Wyrm in the old World of Darkness (Vampire & Werewolf, respectively), some Dragon Age plague-related stuff, the old Kult RPG, and form Warhammer 40.000 stuff related to Necrons, techpriests/servitors, Dark Eldar... Also, TvTropes.org with the search term "Nightmare Fuel" (and its brothers 8th octane nightmare fuel, accidental nightmare fuel...). Gross, alien, disturbing... And if you can't tell what the hell is it used for just by looking, perfect!

I would go for surreal horror. The main disturbing thing about exsurgent things is that they are utterly alien, they *were* familiar things or people, and they often don't make sense in the mental frame of transhumans. They are the Unknown, and it is a very aggressive Unknown. http://cghub.com/images/view/241303/ http://oyoz.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/keep-time-for-experimentation.html http://cghub.com/images/view/114816/ http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=54&pictu... http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=62&pictu... http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=1&pictur... http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=52&pictu... http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/galeria_karta.php?artist=52&pictu... Sure, tentacles, slime and organs in the wrong places elicit a direct reaction: http://cghub.com/images/view/85163/ http://markpowellart.com/gallery But that is just normal human fears. The Zahir or the Blue Tigers in Borges short stories are much more frightening exsurgent threats because they don't make any sense. A monster that is an abstract shape, more reminiscent of a spot of dried watercolor paint on top of your perception than a real *thing*, is really unsettling. Especially if it tells you it was your mother, but got better.

Sepherim wrote:

In any case, remember that often the exsurgent don't look different at all to normal transhumans, and can be anyone. I think this part of subtlety and paranoia is very important to portray. Think of asyncs, for example, which are infected by the Watts McLeod strain of exsurgent.

And beyond asyncs, there are some exsurgents that have access to psi powers that break the fundamental laws of reality. And a great movie that showcases something very similar to that is Akira. Go watch that film NOW!

Lord High Munchkin wrote:

The point is that one doesn't know that they are exurgents... until they suddenly transform into something "really horrible".

Or simply do something horrible. There may be plenty of exsurgents that look human in every other way, but work towards goals clearly created by an exsurgent strain.