Answers! I’m assuming that since you’ve read that stuff I’m free to go all out with spoilers, which I’m gonna have to do to answer some of these. Note: Some of this is just my personal take on it, quite a few of these things haven’t exactly been put in-game yet, so they are still kinda fluid. (And having multiple lore interpretations going on at the same time helps to emulate the confusion the researchers and scientists were feeling. :P)
Goo intelligence is really more present on a macro scale then a micro one, with some exceptions (such as the brain blobs or [lore-wise] zombie master/necros). However on that macro scale it’s at least intelligent enough to somewhat be recognized as one of the major Nether players, so take that as you will. Generally figure that on the individual level it’s not much smarter then your average zombie or blob, i.e., not smart. Intelligence can be developed (as we see in brain blobs/masters), but it usually comes at some sort of tradeoff, such as masters or necro’s frailty. Eventually we would like some of those to be able to convey that intelligence to the goo nearby them, as brain blobs already do (they control nearby blobs to make them act more intelligently).
Not so much. The fungus could probably do it (though it wouldn’t), and possibly some sort of triffid gestalt (which would have more difficult since they aren’t exactly a hive mind), but for the most part nothing the player does is on a big enough scale for the blob mass-mind to actually understand it. It’s an entity who’s mind spans multiple universes, nothing you are doing here is even close to being large enough to get it’s attention.
The goo, as one of the major Nether players, occupies a variety of planes. It’s ability to adapt and form symbiotic relationships with just about anything means that it can live on lava worlds just as well as ice ones, and if there’s a goo home world out there nobody has been able to find it yet. That said in it’s solo form (as blobs) it tends to like more temperate temperatures, though there are outliers that exist.
[spoiler=Does the goo have any plans or is it just reactionary to certain stimuli?]Same sort of matter of scale here. The goo has plans, but they are on a macro scale, not on a micro one. Basically those plans come down to:
- Adapt/join
- Spread
- Destroy things that refuse/prevent #1
On an individual level it’s pretty much acting on the “instinct” level, with the obvious exceptions of brain blobs (and latter masters/necros hopefully).[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Are the other nether creatures like the Blank Body, and MiGo part of the blob or are they separate and have different goals?]
They are their own separate set of beings with their own goals. Things like the Blank Body, flying polyp, yugg, etc. are pretty much just the local Nether wildlife making it’s way through the portal. Some things have some intelligence, but are limited enough that they don’t really count as players, like the Gracken. Others have enough intelligence that they could possibly be considered “minor” players, like the MiGo, have empires that span a few planes, and have even gone far enough to enslave lesser races in their territory (like the kreck). Some have enough power that they could probably be minor players, but their dimensions are far enough removed that the dimension cracking is finally giving them access to the other worlds (like the shadows).
So yes, most of them have their own goals, but most of them have at least heard of each other. Eventually I’d like to see even more Nether<->Nether interactions, but faction stuff is a little new right now. That said virtually all of them know of the big 3 (i.e. the blob, the fungaloids, and the triffids) and have taken steps in interacting with them in some way (assuming they aren’t in the wildlife group).
There’s also a handful of stranger creatures (like the amigara horror) that were here before the blob invasion. Those are Horror’s, not Nether creatures, and they are native to our plane.[/spoiler]
Joining, fusing symbiotically with everything present, and then using it to potentially go to other worlds, possibly mutating it to form a more harmonious whole along the way. That said it’s unlikely to get that far, since both the triffids, fungaloids, and other minor players have all got their sights set on this world as well. Finding new planes like that is a kinda rare thing in the Nether. Having that new plane simultaneously connect with enough others that all three big players have access to it? Extremely rare. Add on the fact that said connections make it very valuable as a staging ground to spread to other planes and everyone with some sort of a brain is very interested in adding it into their possessions.
No. Living and other pre-dead things only.
They don’t need to eat, if that’s what you are asking. The blob gestalts a lot of it’s energy across itself, so fully active blob creatures (like the zombies) don’t really need much in the way of it (since there’s other places where the creatures are managing entire worlds for energy intake to be spread throughout the system). Dormant/symbiotic blob creatures (like the giant insects or the player) still need to eat though.
It can repurpose itself or its hosts, but it can make much more radical changes in its hosts than it can to itself. In addition if any part of the blob changes too quickly and too radically it risks being recognized as “non-blob” and impeding the blob’s desire to spread and adapt, leading it to be targeted as a hostile. As such you generally don’t see too many large-scale blob adaptations, more of an extremely gradual change to become more efficient. In the hosts though, anything goes.