Rovers are dogs that have been infected by a strange and poorly understood parasite. The parasite, known as Famelicii, infects the animal over the course of 2-5 days, kills the brain, and assumes motor function over the animal. Additionally, the longer the animal is controlled, its bodily autonomy is restructured to better suit the parasite, though it maintains the animal's exterior appearance. The parasite absorbs the animals knowledge and memories, making it easy to imitate the animal's natural behavior to easily hide in plain sight.
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The rover is motivated to fulfill its primary biological needs - which are to eat other creatures. The parasite is unnaturally intelligent and curious though, leading many rovers to stalk and observe their prey longer than necessary out of sheer curiosity. Some rovers even befriend humans and are taken in as pets before eventually killing and devouring their "owners."
After about a 12-18 months, the Famelicii parasites reaches full maturity and begins producing eggs. At this stage, the rover will begin looking for potential hosts to bite, releasing larval forms of the parasite into the victim. Dogs and wolves appear to be the most susceptible though some suspect that the parasite could infect humanoids as well.
