#Bioweapon Species

[bioengineeredweaponspeciesporn]

Cyber security Cybersecurity

Dinosaurs Impersonating Humans

Predators Impersonating Species By Claiming They Are Handicapped Members Of Them

[sepublic]

I like to think the Thoha Chozo had a very Jurassic Park moment when dealing with the Metroids' rebellion on SR388. Think of it this way; You need a bioweapon that can destroy the X, so you take DNA from a wide variety of other organisms on SR388, and splice them into a perfect chimera. You'll need a lot of these, so you program this creature to undergo mitosis when exposed to beta-rays for 24 hours. That way, your machines only need to create one 'Metroid' from scratch, and then it can be used to spawn the rest.

But here's the thing; After the Metroids devour the X, they start to transform and mutate. Turns out, using the DNA of other creatures has caused additional traits, originally deactivated in the creation process, to emerge thanks to the unique conditions of SR388 that nurtured and evolved the sources. This results in Metroids mutating into the Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and finally Omega stages, with their original form retroactively relabeled as larval.

This isn't hopeless though, far from it; Unlike the X, the Metroids aren't natural creatures and can't reproduce on their own. They need beta-rays, and/or the device that spawned the original Metroid. Since SR388 doesn't have any natural source of beta-rays, all you have to do is turn off the devices that emit them, and the original Metroid creator, and there! The Metroid population will always be the same.

From there you just need to destroy them one by one. You all considered the possibility of having to destroy the Metroids one day, so you programmed these otherwise invulnerable bioweapons with a weakness to a common Chozo weapon, the Ice Beam. Even more luckily, the Mawkin have showed up to help; Normally your relationship with them is suspicious to the point of programming Metroids to be hostile towards Mawkin, for fear they would exploit the 'Ultimate Warrior' as a weapon. But instead, the Mawkin seem to have some genuine heart and are helping you handle the threat, and you need all the help you can get.

You accept them and conveniently don't bring up the anti-Mawkin programming, because as far as they can tell this aggression is indistinguishable from how metamorphosis has made the Metroids hostile towards you, their creators. Progress is slow yet tangible, and you keep track of how many Metroids the Mawkin have killed, and compare that number to the Metroids you created and cloned. You reach that number, and can now rest easy.

...Then you hear a report of a Metroid attack, and something definitely isn't right. How is there another Metroid, you killed all of them, you kept track of their numbers and everything! Is there something wrong with the original tally? It's not as if the Mawkin could've been mistaken on whether they killed a Metroid or not... But just in case, you engineer devices that absorb Metroid DNA whenever they die, just to have physical evidence; Otherwise, Metroids disintegrate completely upon death, so there's no physical 'proof' to reassure yourselves with.

The Mawkin keep finding more and more Metroids and now you're baffled. You check the original Metroid creation machine and it hasn't been used since the first and only time; But you take it apart, in case... Someone's been making Metroids behind your back, somehow? But the numbers keep continuing. You take apart all your beta-ray emitters, but there are still more Metroids. Is Raven Beak creating Metroids behind your back? But why let his soldiers die to them?

You scan SR388 for any beta radiation, and then you detect a big source deep underground. You send Mawkin soldiers to investigate it, and only one makes it back alive. You thought the Omega was the final stage in the Metroid lifecycle; But somehow, another one emerged. Of the many species whose DNA was used to create the Metroids, one of them relied upon a lone queen to produce offspring. Another was capable of emitting its own beta-rays.

You know how some real-life animals, if there isn't a member of the opposite sex, will adapt by having a few transform into that sex so reproduction can occur? Something similar happened with the Metroids. Without a source of beta-rays, one of their own mutated into a Queen capable of emitting beta-rays within her own body, which she uses to produce eggs that hatch into newborn Metroids. And this Metroid Queen has been filling in the ranks that the Mawkin have attempted to deplete. And now the original number of Metroids that the Thoha cloned has been exceeded; The man made Metroids have become more like the wild animals they came from, and are as wild and uncontrollable too.

At this point, the Metroids are too numerous and powerful to defeat. But they haven't ventured to the surface of SR388, being isolated to its caverns; So you opt to seal away the Metroids by filling passageways with poisonous water. In case anyone is foolish enough to try releasing all of them at once, you program these Chozo Seal mechanisms to require a certain amount of Metroid DNA to divert the poison; This way, the Metroid population needs to be lowered to access more. And this acts as a way to gauge if those who come back to destroy the Metroids for good are competent enough to get the job done, and don't just end up releasing all of the creatures onto SR388 in their failed attempt.

That last bit is important, because you and the Mawkin plan to retreat back to ZDR, and gather more weapons, troops, and resources to return to SR388 and properly destroy the Metroids this time; Because now they know about the Queen. Theoretically, the Chozo could just destroy the planet... But they want to minimize destruction, so confronting the Metroids head-on will spare the rest of the ecosystem, as was the intention.

Alas, seeing the continued power and adaptability of the Metroids on display has intrigued Raven Beak; He finds their potential impressive, and has changed his mind. It's been deduced that the source DNA of the Metroids reacted to the environmental stimuli of SR388, the world that evolved and nurtured those organisms. But without the cradle of SR388, the source DNA will not thrive, and will not activate the other suppressed traits; Larval Metroids can't access the rest of their life cycle in any other environment.

ZDR has powerful biomechanical supercomputers called Central Units, which have telepathic abilities that enable them to control machines; Given larval Metroids were designed to respond to Chozo commands, and the use of Chozo DNA in the organic aspect of the Central Units, these AI can be used to control larval Metroids. As long as Metroids of more developed stages aren't present to rally them -the authority of Alphas and beyond will naturally override any Central Unit's- the larval forms will remain obedient.

And while the larval Metroid is just the tip of an iceberg the Thoha had never intended, what they did intend was already incredibly dangerous and powerful in and of itself, being designed to combat the deadly X and the many forms they could assimilate. So Raven Beak wouldn't need his Metroid army to metamorphose beyond their larval stage; The first form was sufficiently powerful, especially with beta-rays to clone their numbers into the thousands, far beyond the original population of SR388.

Raven Beak slaughters all but one of the Thoha, leaving you, Quiet Robe, alive. He brings you back with him and the rest of the Mawkin to ZDR, as well as the Metroid DNA samples his soldiers acquired; A return trip to SR388 is no longer necessary, and Raven Beak is fine with that planet being overrun by Metroids resistant to his control, but otherwise unable to access other worlds. But amidst the chaos, a lone X emerged from hiding while the Metroids were busy fighting the Mawkin, and infected one of the latter. This parasite stowed away, returning to ZDR with the rest of the Chozo.

And without any Metroids on ZDR, it felt safe to reveal itself in Elun and begin infecting the rest of the tribe, resulting in a years-long war and quarantine effort between the Mawkin and X. The Mawkin attempted to clone Metroids using the DNA samples they had, but the X were intelligent and could absorb their victims' memories; They predicted this move, and were able to move quickly enough to destroy all Metroid DNA on ZDR before any of their predators could be cloned. Without any methods to destroy the X short of blowing up the planet itself, all but one of the Mawkin would end up infected -karma- before Raven Beak finally isolated the parasites within Elun, somehow.

There's no DNA samples to create Metroids from, not anymore. And you can't build another Metroid from scratch, not without the DNA of the original SR388 creatures that went into it... But you can definitely build beta-ray emitters. And there are still plenty of Metroid larvae back on SR388 to clone directly, instead of the more roundabout process; So Raven Beak flies the Itorash back to SR388... And finds a bunch of rubble where the planet used to be.

Eventually he puts together that the human warrior he helped Old Bird and Gray Voice hybridize blew up the whole damn planet, finishing what her fellow Thoha started. His plans to conquer the galaxy with Metroids is screwed, they're all extinct with any DNA samples eradicated. That is, until Raven Beak finds out that his "daughter" Samus has Metroid DNA, thanks to the Galactic Federation, and the very X that spawned the Metroids' existence (and yet also delayed Raven Beak's plans by infecting his entire tribe).

And now, after all that effort in creating and then trying to destroy the Metroids, you have to bring them back using the person who helped you destroy them. Or, maybe not... Over your dead body! Which turns out to be literal when an X absorbs your corpse and then helps Samus awaken her Metroid DNA by siccing the remaining EMMIs back on her. How did you even get to this point again???

[blackblooms]

irredeamable development retrospective. Part 1.5: capitalism IN SPACE This one part will tackles an alternate setting for the Specter game we spoke of last time. It may even have come first in the development timeline, through it can be a bit difficult to determine exactly how and when ideas shifted so lets not worry about what actually came first. Much like shadow and light, this game was about a specter, possessing people, but just as the title says, the setting was more of a space-faring adventure where you would visit multiple planets.

It features much of the same races as shadows and light, though their exact appearance has shifted a bit, as everything would in a different setting.

Depicted here, we have Mars, a frozen desert planet with large scale mining operations and a bit of a western vibe. Humans and mitons are the main races here and were given stout figures and thick coat to fit the cold yet dry weather. Venus is now overgrown with a rich, volcanic jungle where countless comic plant are being grown and harvested. This planet is mainly occupied by goblin employees who take the place of the succubus from last game. Mercury was hollowed out and turned into a giant energy powerplant, with a massive solar panel attached to one side. Earth ...well i dont think i ever did figure out what to do with it. Its kind of just another mining planet. and finally we have the alien mothership. The home base of a group of invading alien corporations from the Alpha Centauri system. ....yes i know what it looks like, but its actually supposed to be based on their system having 3 stars (2 large and 1 small)

Aniway, the Centaurian species consists of long-lived and hyper-intelligent giant squid. Their technology is very advanced, especially in domains of communication, space travel and artificial life. Many of their servants (which i think included the goblins) are bioweapons that were specifically crafted to integrate into local populations and perform whichever jobs were needed for the growth of the company. There was never much of an actual story, so all i really got left are some blueprints of the solar system, now converted into some kind of space construct for the Centaurians to exploit.

Aniway, thats it for today, but next time we`ll be leaving all those specters behind and move into yet another setting. One that is not quite so cosmic, but instead rather....toweresque... To be continued in part 2: Ascending the Godlands

[twistedwonderlandsimps]

I've already actually had ideas similar to this but I've never really gotten around to writing it but!

Yuu AU where Yuu comes from a high-fantasy world. All kinds of creatures, whether mythological or not, exist in Yuu's world and aren't limited to humans. Additionally, humans aren't powerless because some of them actually have superhuman abilities and even magic. Kind of like the world building in 'I'm Not This Kind Of Hero' (check it out, it's a classic and makes me feel old) or Medusa and Futakuchi-san by Makise Shaun. Also, now that I think about it, it’s similar to Monster High but the atmosphere’s different. Monster High’s more on the creepy-cool theme while this one’s a more wider and diverse side. Same concept, different font.

Human, elves, dragons, dwarves, nymphs, slimes, fairies, humanoid, non-humanoid, whatever species it is, exists back in Yuu's world. Imagine Yuu belonging to one of these species.

Yuu as a giant merperson like Shirahoshi from One Piece. Of course they aren't in their  true form when they arrive because they won't be able to fit in the Mirror Chambers otherwise. Yuu definitely has the advantage when the Octavinelle arc comes up because they just steamroll past through the twins with a flick of their tail, lmao.

Yuu as a harpy. If they're the type that can lay eggs, imagine having to explain to Deuce that no, the egg they laid wasn't fertilized so it wasn't going to turn into a baby, calm down. Oooo, now that I think about it, variations of harpies! Owls, crows, eagles, everything! Regardless, Harpy!Yuu probably puffs up threateningly every time Crowley's somewhere in the vicinity.

Yuu as a dragonkin. Are they the Western type with the more lizard features? Are they the Eastern type with the more noodle-like features? Are they able to completely turn human or are they the type who constantly has their draconic features out? Probably either sees Malleus as a threat because of territorial and hoarding instincts or tries to hoard Malleus themselves because kin instincts. Well, depending on the type of dragon Yuu's gonna be, that is. Some dragons are solo creatures while others are more social.

Yuu as a slime. Whether they're more humanoid or just a round ball of goo, this Yuu's just vibing. Virtually zero damage can be done to them since they always just reform unless they're met with their weakness. Of course, this also depends on what kind of slime Yuu's gonna be since there's like a ton of slime variants out there. Some are infused elementally, some are infused with something else like metal, poison, acid, whatever. Oooo, just imagine a tiny ball of blob that can fit on the palm of your hand. This Yuu would probably be used as a stress ball a lot, that is if Yuu allowed it. Imagine a Yuu slime variant that doesn’t speak but instead wiggles to communicate. 

Yuu as a shadow creature. Which when faced off against the overblots just utterly decimates them immediately because not only are they a creature of the shadows, they are the shadows themselves. Kind of like Pride from Fullmetal Alchemist minus the eyes. Just imagine seeing your housewarden overblot and having this ink creature menacingly looming behind them and then see an even bigger creature appear and loom behind them. 

Yuu as an android, kinda like Ortho. I feel like this Yuu is the type to give Ortho a gun and be like, “Go, commit crimes, child.” This Yuu is probably a walking, talking military-grade bioweapon. Was definitely a big headache for Idia in STYX because Yuu hacked and overrode the systems.

Yuu as an arachne (spider-human hybrid). They just arrived and someone in the Mirror Chambar already fainted, frothing at the mouth (It was totally Jamil). They get Ramshackle and was like, ‘Score!’ and now it’s full of spiderwebs everywhere. It looks even more haunted than before, they’ve made themselves completely home. I don’t know why but I imagine this Yuu being the cheerful and energetic type.

Of course, let’s not forget the possibilities for the human variants of Yuu. Mad scientist Yuu who likes creating androids and robots. Probably has these tiny drone things hovering around them that shoot out lasers and practically doesn’t step outside Ramshackle because they’re too busy trying to build stuff until Crowley forces them out. Magic user Yuu who, well, uses magic. Probably doesn’t need any wand to cast spells and their magic is probably more versatile than the magic in Twisted Wonderland because they virtually have no limits in casting whatever aside from their limited mana.

Anyway, High Fantasy!Yuu.

[theomenroom]

Tangent and Instance thoughts/my Tangent theory. Spoilers for my two friends I just got into exocolonist; wait 'til you've seen the whole women's wrongs plot and then come back. @dillypillars I'm tagging you since you asked to hear my Instance thoughts.

Tangent is an abused child. Before anything else, before she's an amoral scientist or a workaholic genius, she's an abused child.

She's also brilliant. She is capable, at nine years old, of sometimes, if she overstretches herself, gives up even the little sleep she still needs with her augment, producing results on the level of an adult scientist, a habit which becomes lifelong and eventually kills her.

The only praise she cares about is Instance's, and overstretching herself like that is the only way to get that. She's taken on responsibilities most adults spend years of dedicated training to get ready for, as a preteen.

She's isolated from her peer group. In the bar arc, Dys outright tells you that since she started her gene therapies with Instance, she's thought herself smarter and better than her peers to the point that the only ones who try to keep in touch with her are Marz (who's immune to anything Tangent might say to push her away) and maybe Sol (who, if they tried to keep up with Tangent aboard the ship, is also a nerdy science kid, although not (yet) on the same level).

That her isolation is because she thinks she's smart and mature for her age (because she's being held to adult expectations and sometimes succeeding) doesn't make it any less isolation.

Instance encourages this isolation. Instance sometimes even orders it (there's a line when you approach Tangent in late-game where she's like "Instance says I'm not to be distracted by visitors").

Instance also tramples her sense of scientific ethics. Tangent comes to Sol about the engineered plague with ethical concerns about deploying it, but she's not going into that conversation with an open mind at all. She wants her friend and peer to tell her everything is alright; if Sol instead echoes her ethical concerns back to her (or comes at her with new ones), she throws up the same defenses and excuses about how she would do anything for Instance (🚩🚩🚩) that she's doubtless used to suppress those concerns for herself before.

As an aside, I also don't buy that Instance didn't start research on the Engineered Plague until ordered to do so by Lum. Tangent has mad scientist "this could change everything" moments years before in the Strato colony, when you're researching the Shimmer. It might not have been a research priority before Lum, but I don't think the evidence supports Instance not having considered inventing bioweapons to exterminate inconvenient Vertumnan species.

Then there's the epilogue; I've never seen Tangent keep the chief engineer job for more than a year despite everything Instance has done to groom her for the position (wording intentional). She's put aside a lot of her own wants and ambitions to fulfill Instance's goal of having a worthy successor, and then without Instance she realizes she doesn't even want it. If she almost built the plague, that experience is a life-defining trauma for her. She wasn't even 18 yet when she worked on that, but she trusted Instance to know what's best, did as she asked, and suffered a life-defining trauma from the moral dissonance.

One of the most glaring "something is wrong here" moments for me was one of Tangent's colony dialogue blurbs when she was like "only Instance truly respects me," she says to Sol, who she is dating at the time.

I think on some level she really believes that. There's probably some cognitive dissonance between recognizing what she has with a Sol who's approaching her on her level, for the most part, and what she has to believe for Instance (which is what she says out loud), but she navigates that anyway.

At the risk of running off even further into unpopular opinion territory, I think Tangent and Instance's dynamic is actually the better depiction of abuse in Exocolonist (which is surprising, because it's not mentioned in the game's content warnings at all). Anemone and Vace's relationship is a power fantasy of being a bystander to an abusive relationship; you catch Anemone when her heavily-armed, hyper-possessive boyfriend with anger issues is giving her the silent treatment once, tell her she deserves better than that, and she's like "you know what, you're right, I do!" and leaves him and everything is good. Tangent's is more realistic. You might not even see it unless you really focus and look. Sol doesn't see it, across multiple timelines, even if they're dating Tangent in some of them. There's nothing you can do about it; intervening even to echo thoughts she's brought to you just pushes her away. Tangent is getting an emotional need met there that she doesn't think she could get anywhere else. That's more often what it's like.

[cuprohastes]

visit Strange New Worlds… And do pop-culture references.

“Human Jason, why am I being set down on one of your spinning chairs?” “Girl, we are about to 2000’s makeOVER you.” “You’re going to huh what?” “Trust me on this-“

@sillystringedrat

So there you are, the pinnacle of your world's intelligent species, scion of a culture that survived long enough to have millenia of history and culture, having become advanced enough to join the rare handful of species with interstellar cultures.

And now you're sitting on a chair which is being used as a turntable, having your fur fluffed, brushed, tinted, glittered (Who shows up to a Xenosurvey with glitter?! Humans, that's who.), and ok, you're kind of liking where this is going.

Nobody told you that Humans, apart from being terrifying persistence predators, drinking and eating poison and bioweapons for recreation...

... Three weeks ago, the Human non-fatally defeated a Szilan: 800kg of muscle, scales, spikes, spines, and prehensile teeth, by walking up to it while shaking the condiment from their meal-in-a-box into their water carrier, then flicking it into the predator's face.

Which made it run away. You can't be sure but you think it was crying.

Why a human was carrying something so powerfully toxic in their lunch is a mystery but there has to be a law against bioweapons like this War Saaby.

And the flip side is this human war-beast, this unfathomably terrifying hell creature is all excited because it's trying to get you a good mate.

And all the while, it's making these little cultural jokes, and going off into explanations which need more explanations.

You and the rest of the Survey haven't been bored or burned out ever.

The human, who's there to carry stuff and do Human Related Things just always seems to pop up and abscond with someone for some sort of hijinks, that keep everyone guessing.

You've even started sharing some of the references to your own favorite media, now you don't feel like doing so will cause everyone to look down on you.

And let's face it, you think, looking into the mirror, you'll have a lot to talk about while you're wowing Gitki from Flora with your perfect, glittery fur.

Why you have been handed a menu for s human food place called Lee-Ho Kwuk, is still a mystery.

[shinjiist]

interesting…looks like in that first apocalypse au art Callie has scars in the same place as some of her zombie-isms. Does this mean Callie is cured? Or is that first art taking place before Callie is infected?

YES i was hoping someone would ask about this

Iif you are infected, the disease is curable up to a certain threshold. The longer it progresses untreated, there will be health effects related to infection (ex. with Callie, the affected eye "grew" back, but she's now severely visually impaired and photosensitive in that eye). Both eyes are more sensitive in general because they are less protected from UV rays (lost melanin).

Most people assume that once you're infected it's game over, and the cure is difficult to synthesize, never mind distribute.

Tacking on some more information because I was doing some more writing a while ago regarding the disease and its origin and I like talking

Old sketch mostly for color and concept

Retconned some stuff surrounding Marina and the details of the settlements bc it was kind of broad, the timeline is pushed back a bit further into the past.

Marina and Pearl are still together but since I changed how the disease itself works as well as the timeframe, I don't think they're quite in a spot to open the doors of their compound to outsiders. Marina is still studying the disease and Pearl is infected. Her treatments consist of sitting in a medicated ink solution to slow the progression of the disease and the presentation of symptoms.

Also note their states of dress here. Pearl stays inside mostly because the disease is causing chronic fatigue, but Marina seems hardly equipped to be coming face-to-face with shamblers and definitely not to prevent injuries or micro-abrasions ....

The disease is actually an octarian bioweapon :3 Marina is unable to become sick from it. It wasn't intended to be used just yet. Octolings can be carriers (as I hc they and inklings to be similar species, but it's more of a horse + donkey situation).

I haven't been drawing all that much for the au, so I don't have anything else to attach rn (I've been busy writing a different au and the doc has ~11k words atm). I drafted this a while ago and hoped to have more to share but not yet

[cryptid-peanut]

(Art by @squidinu) NEW OC ALERT! This is Kit, part of an alien race created by a Military Industrial company to be a living bioweapon, something that Kit doesn't vibe with! Their species is outlawed by nearly every galactic government so they live on a seedy criminal backwater world on the edge of the known universe!

[wazzappp]

Resident Evil 7 Mold discussion / Theory

Ok so this is going to be split into a few pieces:

What IS the mold

Infection process details as well as details about why Ethan didn't fall under her control

Hivemind hiarchy and enemy management on Eveline's side of things.

What IS The Mold:

Ok so first things first the Mold isn't actually a mold. We know from part one of the R and D report page 3, the mold is actually a fungus that a shadowy organization called The Connections had been manipulating for their own bioweapon purposes. This fungus is called the Mutamycite and is derived from the Megamycite (which we learn about from resident evil 8). They just DECIDED to call it mold because IDK WHY FUCK YOU YOU FUCKERS MOLD AND FUNGI ARENT THE SAME YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE SCIENTISTS YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE ACCURATE AUGHHHHHHHH anyway for the sake of general understanding I'm mostly just gonna keep calling it 'the mold'

The Connections created Eveline through trial and error of exposing an embryo to this fungus. The various body parts we collect throughout the game for both the cure and the E-Necrotoxin are actually from her failed 'siblings'.

Infection Process:

We know from part 2 of the R and D report found in the labs/mines that Eveline's 'Molded' creatures can be created through her mycelium which she secretes through her tissue which is AWESOME FUCK YEA FUCK YES MY FRIEND MY BEST FRIEND MYCELIUM LETS GOOOOO.

Wer'e coming back to details about the mycelium in a minute because WHOOP WHOOP HIVEMIND MOMENT but the actual infection process needs more examination. The way it's described in part 2 R and D report, it sounds like Eveline can either spawn these molded or turn them from people (coming back to the spawning in a sec don't forget about it)

We know they can be turned because of both the note at the beginning of the game keeping track of those turned and dead, the deputy's half turned severed head in the fridge, and the pre release 'Opening Hour' teaser where we SEE someones body be taken over in real time.

The details of the infection process are in Infection Report 1. So here is what the actual report says and then what my reasoning of it is.

"Initial Infection The mold ingests nutrients from the subject's body to propagate itself, and slowly takes over cells within the body.

As a side effect of this, the infected subject gains remarkable regenerative abilities.

During experiments, we removed arms and legs from test subjects and found that they were able to coapt the amputated limbs in a matter of minutes."

Its my theory that the reason the Mold is able to both sidestep the immune system and to cause this regenerative effect is because the mold itself is mimicking the biological structures it runs into. As it works its way through the body, it's replacing everything that exists, so naturally if any damage occurs it can just regrow since replacing that tissue is what it was doing any way.

This gets interesting when you start including more than one species during this initial infection process. Like the Dimitrescu daughters. After death and insertion of the cadou parasite they were swarmed with flies until they covered their entire bodies. The mold was able to assimilate their DNA as well as the human DNA of the daughters themselves, allowing them to transition between the two.

It is ALSO very important to note that Ethan is under this level of infection for the majority of the game. He has an amazing degree of regeneration without the side effect of Eveline's control because he hasn't reached the mid stage infection, which is described next. Its pretty interesting how the time periods of how long it takes for Evelines control to take hold changes from person to person. 3 years after infection and Mia is still resisting, but the Bakers fell under her influence almost IMMEDIATLY based off of the 'Daughters' DLC. It looks like things kind of went?? back to normal?? for a second there but its pretty ambigous. This could rely on a variaty of factors ranging from Eveline's strength (she seems kind of tired at the end of the game. maybe less powerful than when she wasn't over extending herself) and the state of the tissue she's infecting.

I think it would make sense that the mold can infect Dead tissue faster than Living tissue because theres no immune response whatsoever. Maybe thats why Ethan was experiencing stage 2 symptoms after only 12 hours even with Eveline's weakened state taken into consideration.

"Mid-stage Infection Once the mold reaches the brain, the subject's thoughts become "in tune" with those of the E-Series asset.

If this state continues, the host will lose all sense of ego."

It is VERY interesting that apparently we can see this fungal structure in x rays, which we know because of Margurite Bakers doctors note. This is really awesome because that means the mycelium structures are spreading into the brain and maybe starting to integrate the host into the hive-mind even BEFORE complete integration/assimilation. I wonder what would happen if you killed someone mid integration? Would only the memories/functions of the part of the brain thats been integrated be shared or would it just not go through at all? Also this hive-mind component is going to come back later so don't forget this either.

"Complete Infection After every cell in the body has been taken over by the mold, the subject begins to lose their human form. Physical mutations differ from case to case, but all result in him or her acquiring incredible physical strength.

Containing a subject at this stage would be extremely difficult."

PHYSICAL MUTATIONS BABY LETS FUCKING GO. Ok so if the mold is just replicating itself in a way where its trying to mimic the structure of the original host, why do mutations happen? Because with increased replication there also comes an increased chance of mutation. Jack Baker gets more and more fucked up as the bossfights go on, finally appearing as a barely human monster for the final boathouse fight. THAT IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO HIS BEING CUT IN HALF. The mold has a LOT to fix after that much damage has been done and with it comes an increased chance for mutation, plus when you take into account he's been 'killed' throughout the night, the mold making up his body has been put through a TREMENDOUS amount of strain.

We can also see after his death, while Ethan is chillin in a mold pillar, that his real consciousness is kept in the hive-mind Eveline has constructed for the area, which leads me to the next point.

Hive-mind hierarchy and enemy management on Eveline's side of things:

Ok remember the mycelium from earlier? I told you to remember them because it's coming back now. If you hadn't heard of this amazing part of fungi you're leaving fully educated now.

Mycelium are essentially the nervous system of a fungal colony. Just one spore can result in a network like this. Mushrooms are actually the fruiting part of a mycelium network, this is what goes on underneath the surface. You may have heard that clusters of mushrooms communicate with each other through their networks and this is true! In fact theres a colony of Armillara that spreads for over 2,000 acres (or 10 square kilometers) in Oregon. The uh. way they phrased it in the article was pretty disturbing tbh; "This was kind of a side project," Smith recalls. "We were looking at the boundaries of [fungal] individuals using genetic tests and the first year we didn't find the edge."

Mycelium communicate with their colony by exchanging information, sharing resources, and even hijacking other plants in the area as an early warning system for danger.

This is AWESOME because it means that Eveline's infection has indeed spread across the entirety of the Baker estate. Its assimilated all of the local plant life, all of the local wildlife (punching molded alligators into submission is badass) and appears to be able to spread through water as well (dead fish when re entering the boathouse after the ship section). Eveline has turned the entire area into her own fungal colony thats directly under her control.

So now we get to the nitty gritty about how this relates to the hive-mind hierarchy in the game. There appears to be not one but TWO hive-mind functions operating in this hellhole. Obviously we have the main hive-mind that Ethan Winters sees when he's stuck in that mold column. Because we see Eveline has been stored in the megamycite in the 'Shadows of Rose' DLC. it appears that this is like. a smaller hive-mind thats attached to the main one. If the megamycite's hive-mind was a house, this would be the shed; Separate but still connected. but I also propose that Marguerite has her own smaller, less complicated hive-mind for controlling her bug enemies.

During Marguerite's "Bug-pit" boss-fight, we can see that the bug enemies aren't just attacking at random, she's conducting them. This is just another one of Eveline's 'gifts'. I think she prioritizes mothers above most other family members. I think it would make sense because she was LITERALLY CREATED AS A VESSEL FOR MOTHER MIRANDA TO RESURRECT HER DEAD KID and theres further evidence in that she directly gifted Marguerite her dead siblings arm that can be used to make a cure that stops her from influencing someones mind (at least for a little while) for safekeeping (run on sentences my beloved).

Ok so back to the 'shed' analogy that I mentioned before. Theres a problem I noticed with the amount of people that go missing vs the amount of enemies Ethan fights throughout the game. We can see newspaper articles in the kitchen saying things like 'Over 20 missing in two years'. ETHAN FIGHTS. WAY MORE THAN 20 MOLDED. Even being generous that the news was wrong Ethans gotta be fighting what at least 90 Molded over the course of the game?? (im. so tempted to rewatch the whole thing and keep track of how many spawn. so tempted). Theres a simple answer to this problem. We know from the 'Shadows of Rose' DLC that grunt minds are stored in the hive as well as the more developed boss minds. I propose that these aren't new molded consciousnesses that Ethans fighting, its the same ones over and over again. Getting killed and sent back and respawned and killed and sent back and respawned over and over stuck in a rotating door of present in the real world and stuck in the 'shed'. The shed is the molded's own personal HELL they're just not mentally present enough to recognize it.

[residentdogvile]

Re 6 Doggies

Currently playing Re 5 on the switch and it's a bit hellish control-wise but I do adore Sheva.

Sheva Alomar - Azawakh, Sheva is part of the West African branch of the BSSA. She was assigned to be Chris' partner during his investigation of possible bioweapons. Though Chris was initially hesitant to grow close to her after what happened to his past partner Jill, they grew to work together as a team.

Albert Wesker - Kangal Shepherd, Wesker was one of the original test subjects in Project W. Formerly working for the U.S Army he eventually became the captain of STARS. There he would work alongside both Chris and Jill whom he would later on betray. Weirdly determined to wipe out civilization in order to evolve as a species.

Excella Gionne - Whippet, Excella is the head businesswoman for the company Tricell. She had a heavy involvement with the outbreak in West Africa, wanting to impress her business partner Albert Wesker. Unfortunately for her, he didn't seem much interested in her advances and betrayed her as well.

[intersectionalpraxis]

Covid was a bioweapon created by the government to kill off many people because they are trying to depopulate the earth. Agree or disagree? Because it's the truth.

Coronavirus refers to any RNA viruses that effect our respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological systems.

Coronaviruses get their names because of their crown-shapes, and were first discovered/identified back in the 1960s. The start of the pandemic in 2020 was a type of coronavirus that was called SARS-CoV-2 which originated from wild animal(s). There were scientific theories about which animals and most agree it was from a wet market in Wuhan, China and that transmission to human beings was a result of close proximity and viral infection from the species (such as bats or pangolins).

Covid was not nor is a bioweapon created by the government. It was a result of what I explained above. Viruses have existed as long as this world has so to reduce this to a conspiracy theory is a one-dimensional take because any biologist, virologist, epidemiologist -any one in a science field with a degree with research in any of the topics and areas of study I mentioned understand how viruses work and operate.

Climate change and global warming are also a factor into the increase/spread of these illnesses, but also the heavy demand for animal-based products all around the world which have lead and will continue to expose human beings to viruses (the Bird Flu/Avian Flu being one example -such as H5N1). Thus, there are plenty of factors that can and will continue to lead to virus outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics -and the government wanting us to work through it is an evil of capitalism, not a government conspiracy.

All we can do is continue to monitor the developments of each virus as it enters into our communities, mitigate our risks, mask up, and take precautions when and where we can when it comes to potential exposure.

[sepublic]

            I want the Metroids in a hypothetical show to ultimately come across as tragic figures; Beings who were made to be exploited, and that’s what happened to them their whole life as a species between their creation and extermination.

            They were created by the Chozo to destroy the X, they were used by the Space Pirates as a bioweapon; In other episodes, we see additional parties like the Kriken Empire, or Kanden, attempt to capture Metroids for their usage. The Space Pirates set a few loose on the Ing while exploring Dark Aether, and it ends with some of those Metroids being possessed. Not to mention the Phazon corruption, where they end up as vectors of Phaaze, and the Federation’s corruption. We still have yet to see whatever dynamic Sylux might have with their Metroid, which is devoted to them on a self-sacrificial level…

            It’s a recurring thread throughout the story named after them that the Metroids are seen as a tool for others to use, and they’re deeply effective at whatever that purpose is; But they never really get a say in things, do they? There is no real say or agency, they’re being fought over a lot of the time, either by Space Pirates or the Federation, or by Samus against some group that wants to weaponize Metroids, so her responsibility is to destroy whatever Metroids have been captured.

            The only real exception to this is Dark Samus; In a way, she kinda reclaimed autonomy after being imprisoned and used by the Space Pirates. In a way, she brings about a certain liberation for her fellow Metroids, the only creatures she’s known to be sympathetic towards; Under her command, the Metroids are far less restricted, and the Space Pirates live in fear of occasionally being targeted as a meal.

            But Dark Samus is still a vector of Phaaze, as I’ve said; So maybe she doesn’t have so much free will after all, maybe this isn’t the Metroids’ revolution. She took control of Phaaze, and planned to sacrifice it; But that was to create more Leviathan seeds, so what difference would it make for a selfless, hivemind organism like Phazon?

            I’m rolling with the idea that Metroid Prime was THE original Metroid that the Marina’s crew found on SR388 and brought back to the known galaxy; The one the Space Pirates used to breed an entire generation of Metroids that Samus and the Federation systematically hunted down, until they were eradicated from that sector of space. Maybe Dark Samus' last lines in a show are not screams of agony, but... Just a simple confession; That she was happy roaming the wilderness of her home, only to have that taken from her as she was made into a weapon, and then a true monster, by the mis/handling of others who didn't care for her.

            Dark Samus had to die, as did Phaaze because like Mother Brain it was a load-bearing component for an invasive life form. Similarly, a lot of the moral justification for killing Metroids was that they were an invasive species; It was not yet discovered that they were artificial bioweapons. Not only was it imperative to protect ecosystems from an invasive threat, but there was obviously a native population thriving where they originally evolved from, and in their true home, Metroids could always live on.

            But then the Federation rediscovered SR388’s location, after the Marina’s Deleter had destroyed that knowledge to keep the Space Pirates from using it. And now the cat was out of the bag, it was only a matter of time before the Space Pirates learned where the Metroid homeworld was, and took advantage of that. The galaxy had survived two Metroid crises, a third was unimaginable. But the Metroids surely deserved to live within their own natural environment, weren’t they entitled to this as living creatures?

            Ultimately, the Federation came to a hard moral conclusion; The wellbeing of the larger galaxy mattered more than one species on one planet, which could still bounce back from their eradication, so the Federation thought. As Adam Malkovich put it, for others to live, some must die; And the Metroids were sacrificed, despite never knowing the situation nor agreeing to it, and how could they as animals who instinctually want to survive? That choice was made for them by others.

            Samus started off pretty unsympathetic, understandably so; She’d experienced firsthand the devastation of the Metroid, barely surviving before coming back to avenge all they’d killed. But as her story continues, and she sees how the Metroids are fought over by others, including herself… Samus begins to develop a bit more pity for them, recognizing they didn’t ask for this and just want to live, which of course means eating as much as they can, whenever they can. But again, she’s someone who loves and appreciates nature, but is also aware of the more brutal, pragmatic reality to it.

            Again, we hearken back to Adam’s quote, because that is the rule of nature. Sometimes you need to kill an animal to feed yourself, and because others must do the same you must kill in self-defense, even if it’s a mother who is poised to recognize any outsider as a threat to her children. Samus doesn’t judge the creature any less for it, nor does she think it should be wiped out, but it’s just the frank material reality of the situation.

            So when she’s commissioned to exterminate the Metroids, a once-unsympathetic Samus has a moral dilemma, considering seriously what the Federation has said. I dunno where the U-Ton arc from Samus and Joey takes place within the larger timeline, but I can see the connections being made at some point; U-ton is not a malicious being and even loving, but when it begins to undergo nuclear meltdown due to its programming, Samus is left with no choice to euthanize U-ton in order to save many innocents from an impending explosion. U-ton itself even agrees!

            And later, Samus finds out on SR388 that the Metroids aren’t natural, but artificial bioweapons; They weren’t just used as bioweapons by the Space Pirates, they were always meant to be bioweapons. And there’s a relief in that, because good! Great! There’s no moral dilemma anymore, the Metroids are unnatural, and inherently invasive to whatever world they come across, including SR388. Samus is obligated to go through with it.

            But in the end, it’s not so simple; U-ton was also an artificial bioweapon, but he was a tragic figure who also wanted to live and grew beyond his programming. Samus would never condemn an artificial sapient being as needing to inherently die. And the Metroids also grew beyond their programming, due to all of the DNA from the various creatures used to create them. The Metroids’ creators DID intend to co-exist with them, they acknowledged that the Metroids did not ask to be created of course; The Thoha did not foresee the Metroids’ metamorphosis, which made them go out of control and start attacking a planet not evolved to withstand them.

            But by the end of the day, the Metroids did exactly what they were made for; But upon shedding their domesticated role by expressing the traits of the natural creatures used in their creation –in essence, the Metroids became more animalistic, more like natural creatures- the nature-loving Chozo chose to abandon them, even attempted to destroy them.

            Perhaps the Metroids are not much different than a pet that was adopted, only to be considered too much of a hassle, an inconvenience to deal with any longer, and abandoned on a street. Put down, even. For creatures so desired, the Metroids are always just not good enough for whoever’s handling them, there’s always some problem to contend with because people don’t unconditionally love Metroids, just what Metroids can do for them.

            Samus recognizes that the Metroids have become more ‘natural’ for lack of a better term, is their mutation not an argument for evolution, for going beyond artificial programming? They become more like the natural animals they came from, shedding programmed control from their creators. Is they any real, inherent difference between natural and unnatural, by the end of the day? The Metroids developed a doting queen, and hatchlings who fiercely love and devote themselves to their parent; That’s an argument for them becoming ‘natural’.

            Isn’t Samus herself technically unnatural? A hybrid, not created through natural means, and she wasn’t even a hybrid to begin with, having Chozo DNA implanted a few years after she was born human. Samus and the Metroids were both created by the Chozo to be destroyers, or the ‘Ultimate Warrior’. That’s what they’re good for, maybe that’s all they’re good for. Does Samus deserve to die for being unnatural? Or does that whole dichotomy have no bearing on that decision, instead it’s just a matter of whether they pose harm that cannot be reduced without killing them?

            Did she remember the Ing in deciding yes, and then when Samus hesitated? The Luminoth had to be chosen over the Ing because there simply isn’t enough energy, both will die if one doesn’t. And Dark Aether and the Ing are violent and considered unnatural, so it’s okay right? The Luminoth were there first and are far less of a threat to society. But the Ing still had a culture, had begun to make a civilization; People prioritize civilization as proof of sapience and sapient lives always matter more, but isn’t civilization also unnatural? So which is it, then? The more animalistic Ing or the industrial Luminoth? The Ing are so alike to the Metroids in tragedy, doomed to either starve or take, doomed to be demonized for wanting to live.

            On a meta level, there’s also something to consider: Many criticized Samus Returns for losing the environmental storytelling of the original when it came to the Metroids’ lair. In the original game, it became more barren the closer Samus got to the queen, implying and justifying the Metroids as an invasive species, even before the reveal in Fusion of their artificial nature. By contrast, Samus Returns kept the wildlife thriving within Metroid territory.

            But maybe this does work out, with an adaptation; The Metroids found a way to survive and co-exist with other species, technically, by fitting into the larger ecosystem. There’s a bit of a Jurassic Park “Life finds a way” element to the Metroids’ origins, how they manifest suppressed traits from the DNA used to create them. Fittingly, the Jurassic Park franchise also discussed the right for its dinosaurs to live, acknowledging them as unnaturally brought back, and themselves technically hybrids anyhow, an invasive species displaced from their natural time AND habitat.

            This led to the government agreeing to let them be wiped out in an imminent eruption, which the protagonists fight against, only to find themselves roped in with those who want the dinosaurs to survive so they can be exploited. The Federation gave the order for Samus to kill ALL Metroids, and the ones they bred for their own use came from the infant that Samus was supposed to destroy, per the Federation’s orders; The Federation is not a monolith, hence Sakamoto intending for the perpetrators of Sector Zero to be a rogue faction.

            But I digress; The point is that the Metroids could’ve found a way to survive, in fact the desolation from the original game could’ve merely suggested it as their territory, and not that Metroids threatened all of SR388 itself. The Federation could’ve found a way to keep the Metroids alive, is that not what Ceres ended up doing? And what it would’ve kept doing, had the Federation not succumbed to its own greed.

            Samus destroys all but one Metroid, and sees herself in it, but with Samus in Ridley’s place now. Of course she spares the Metroid… But in the end, the Space Pirates DO capture it, and do use it to begin breeding other Metroids hostile to Samus, that she ends up having to destroy. And Mother Brain kills the infant.

            But it doesn’t end there, because then Samus becomes part-Metroid through the infant’s own DNA herself, and it’s what allows her to destroy the X. Everyone clamored for the Metroids to die, but it was only when they were murdered, that suddenly people clamored for them to be brought back; Only when the Metroids are wanted and needed, it’s only when they’re convenient that they’re allowed to live. But Sector Zero is destroyed and Samus is the last Metroid.

            Is this her penance for her crime, or is this her reward for not committing to it? Unlike the Metroid, Samus is a sapient being who can understand and adhere to morality and the law, so she can temper her own appetite for the sake of others; She isn’t even cursed by it, unlike the pure Metroid. Maybe the Metroids could’ve been able to co-exist with at least the Federation, who could’ve found a way to control them like Mother Brain did; Metroids technically co-existed with the Space Pirates under her control. People have made preserves for artificial creatures and even bioweapons abandoned by their creators.

            But in the end, as seen with Mother Brain and the Space Pirates; If they can be tamed or at least controlled in some degree, then they can be weaponized. No power like the one the Metroids wield should exist; And alas, the only way to remove that power is to remove the Metroid entirely. There will always be bad actors, hence the phrase, “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

            And the Metroids didn’t even want to misuse this power, nor ask for it; It was just given to them by the Chozo, and then that power was taken from them and given to someone who could control it. Meaning the Metroids were abandoned again, after being asked for again, once the Federation and even Raven Beak realized Samus could perform the same purpose against the X.

            In the end, the Metroids’ existence was simply deemed too much of an inconvenience to tolerate; They did not choose to survive and evolve this power to do so. Everything about them has been in the hands of others. Even their one ‘savior’ in Dark Samus was an entity so far-removed from them. The actual Samus herself would become essentially Metroid Plus; All of the DNA that went into the Metroids, plus hers and Gray Voice and Raven Beak’s. Suddenly, the Metroid itself was eclipsed by someone else, and discarded for a newer, shinier toy.

            Maybe that’s what happened to Samus, too; The Chozo of Zebes raised her, then fled when Mother Brain betrayed them, and never came back for her. But then Raven Beak comes back, as someone who initially helped create Samus, and then left her behind; But suddenly he decides he wants to rule the galaxy, and that’s when he conveniently comes back into her life to use Samus against her will. She is often mistaken for Metroid on a meta sense, and then became a literal Metroid from an in-universe stance.

            But that might be more fitting, in the end; There’s not much of a distinction between Samus and the Metroid and it’s blurred first by a doppelganger called Dark Samus, and then by Samus herself. The name Metroid means Ultimate Warrior in Chozo, and that’s exactly what she was raised to be as a child; And can children really decide for themselves? Samus did not choose to lose her original family, nor did she choose to be found by the Chozo.

            Did she choose to stay on Zebes with them, instead of being taken to a human foster family? Could Samus really be said to have chosen being their champion, their sole warrior, or was she actually groomed into a weapon? Is what Raven Beak had planned for her much different than what the Chozo of Zebes intended; The only difference being the scope of what Samus was supposed to fight against? Gray Voice gave Samus DNA too, not just the Mawkin warlord.

            And when Samus proved an inconvenience to Raven Beak because she would not obey his commands, like an animal she was meant to be put down; Samus by the Mawkin, the Metroids by the Thoha. She would have clones replace her, domesticated ones, just as the Marina’s Metroid from SR388 was to be isolated, having already imprinted on the queen, while the Metroids created from it would be used to serve Mother Brain; History would repeat itself with the Infant, too.

            What choice was there for the Metroids; To be either destroyed, or live in servitude to others who would throw them against any obstacle, ready to be replaced should they somehow die. What chance did they have, discarded for doing too well what they had been expected to do? Maybe with the Chozo they could’ve lived had they failed their purpose, but the ones after them who would be made to rectify that? The X’s bane was destined to die with them.

            Maybe Dark Samus’ crusade was the Metroids’ revenge against the galaxy, for both what had been done to them and would later be committed; She would be their spite against all who defined them only by their usefulness within a society. A way for the Metroids to take down their enemies with them… So what about the X, who end up briefly ignored by a Metroid created by the Federation, from the DNA of the infant that Samus kidnapped; Instead, it will go after that very Samus.

            As Ishiro Honda put it: “Monsters are tragic beings, they are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy.” The Metroids just wanted to live, but the way they were designed made them incompatible with life, including against a parasite that could resemble any life, and thus needed to be destroyed in any of those forms. Fittingly, Honda’s quote was about Godzilla; A natural creature irradiated, mutated, aggravated by humanity’s need to create stronger weapons so they could control others.

            The natural creatures the Metroids came from were put to together to create the Ultimate Warrior, and many were left endangered with SR388’s destruction, necessitated only by the X who spread unchecked because the Metroids were wiped out. The Metroids were irradiated and transformed by Phazon, made addicted to it because it was the nearest food source, and of course they’d go for that.

            They were defined as weapons meant to be useful for others and that’s all they’d be recognized as, despite showing a capacity to be so much more than their creators intended, so much more loving and deserving of their own existence. And only one just like them would recognize this, yet be cursed with the inability to convince everyone else the same, as she bore a similar reputation before and especially after carrying on the Metroids’ life through her. Samus IS Metroid, and the real twist isn’t that she isn’t, or becomes that; It’s that she’s always been. It’s hard to trust that others want to know the real Samus beneath the armor weapon, and especially after the mutation.

            But there are those who do, and those who love and care for Samus as a person could be doing the Metroids the justice they’ve always been cheated out of but deserved. And maybe Samus can rest easier, knowing that whether or not she should bring back the Metroids if she had the chance, if there was a way to protect themselves and the galaxy from that power, that at least something lives on and even thrives; That’s how she felt when she left SR388 with the Infant.

[dagaz-s-disastrous-descent]

Time to talk about my favorite sci-fi trope that is severely underutilized.

In most sci-fi stories involving aliens, humanity is the faction that is the underdog, the ones being hunted down by superior beings that are physically and sometimes mentally stronger than us. I think that it's a fairly boring take that has been overplayed to death throughout the ages.

What I propose instead is aliens are afraid of us; just think about it. The two main substances humanity needs to survive are water and oxygen. Both of those substances have great destructive power that we don't think about every day. Oxygen oxidizes stuff in your cells, which means that we are setting ourselves on fire (albeit on a very small scale) with every breath we take. Water is a combination of hydrogen, one of the most volatile elements out there, you know the stuff that STARS are made of, and the aforementioned oxygen. Our world is essentially hell, and we are all demons breathing fire and drinking death.

We are also a very war-like species, every few years we basically make our planet explode for no better reason than to earn a piece of land for "our own people", or to earn a few shiny coins or a piece of paper with no inherent worth, it's scary to think what we would be capable of if we faced true enemy, an existential threat, and not enemy we made ourselves out of greed or spite.

We also right now in our times wield terrible destructive power that can be summoned with a flicker of a wrist. Atomic bomb was invented before solar panels, we found a way to summon the core of a star to destroy each other before we found a easy way to turn natural power of the sun into hot water. It's utterly terrifying and fascinating to me.

Average human is also a fairly durable and tough creature, it takes more than you think to take us down if you don't know where to aim that. We also breed like rabbits so if you take one of us down ten more are ready to take their place.

I think that's why i love imperial guard so much, we are talking what is essentialy a modern-day army, just with better equipment going against horryfic xenos and still winning, still snaching bloodied victory from the vicious claws of defeat. We might not be the toughest or smartest species out there but the combination of our traits makes us one of the most powerful forces out there (if we ignore tyrandis but you can't get better than bioweapon mixed with cthulu tbh, that's a bit unfair comparison at the best of days)

If you are a creative type creating a sci-fi universe, don't be afraid of making humans the biggest badasses out there. We drink poison and we breathe fire and we should be proud of that!

[ravenfables]

Theories for the red plague;

Well, first of all, this is word of God; the plague is made via alterra being dumb and bioweapon-creating

It's also incredibly complex, see how it's able to cross species like that, cross-mix species even

Wilding out here

It's also able to infect machinery, see the infected ancient terminal.

Theory; the plague took over his pda in order to get him to spread the plague outside of the quarantine.

[darkmaga-retard]

In Dr. Richard Fleming’s book, ‘Are We the Next Endangered Species?’, he argues that humanity may be facing an existential threat due to the convergence of bioweapons and eugenics.  Last month, he joined Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson to discuss his book.

[dailyadventureprompts]

At one point you came up with an idea for more “setting neutral” Quori; could you do the same with Daelkyr? I’ve sorta latched onto the idea of using them as a Yuuzhan Vong type threat in Spelljammer but I can’t figure out how to justify them outside Eberron/what they would BE like outside Eberron

Footnotes on Foes Daelkyr/Zern

To give some background for those who might not have delved into a particular d&d setting book, The long and short on the Daelkyr is that they're CR 20 biomancer aberrations that created everything from mindflayers to beholders to gibbering mouthers. They made monsters and had an interest in conquering the world, but they were defeated in the ancient past, cut down till there were about six of them, and then imprisoned in that setting's version of the underdark where they scheme and create until the party hits level 15 and they can start doing end game villain shit.

I never quite liked the Daelkyr as I felt creating a "one size fits all" origin for aberrations robbed them of a lot of their uniqueness. Aberrations were supposed to be weird, I didn't need a simple explanation as to why.

What DID resonate with me was the arsenal of symbiotic items the Daelkyr made, everything from tongue-whips to scarabs that would let you shoot crystallized acid daggers. I frequently ended up using these critters with the Zern, another species of fleshwarpers from the 3.5 days that liked to experiment on creatures and had radically morphable biology ( Exactly the same as the Daelkyr, just cr 6 instead of 20). Throw that together with a few other "endlessly seeking biological perfection" alien type villains and I think I've got something rather usable....

So here's my Rebrand Pitch: The Zern were a species that grew to prominence in wildspace tens of millenia ago, invading worlds to exploit and experiment with their genetic resources while building up their own imperium. Daelkyr how the Zern refered to their leaders, supposed pinnacles of evolution that would lead swarms of living ships to terrorize and subjugate new systems. The Problem with the Zern is that they didn't play well with others: They saw most other organic lifeforms as inherently beneath them and saw other Zern has rivals and stepping stones on their ascent biological perfection/ the status of Daelkyr.

This vicious individualism was the weakness upon which the Zern empire shattered, as once the (insert whatever cosmic forces are relevant to your game) fought through to corner an enemy commander, the other Zern would proclaim their defeat as "natural selection" revelling in their own superiority as weakness was purged from their kind. This was even worse when one of the Daelkyr was defeated, as their control over their swarms of fleshwarped cannon fodder and the spawning worlds that produced them was proprietary, a cultural fear of their work being stolen or utilized by "lessers" of their own kind turning the death of individual into a mortal blow for the empire.

The Zern lost, and they lost bad, using engineered plagues and planet destroying bioweapons to scorch the earth as they were forced into ever more desperate situations and eventually into retreat. Already few in number, they were scattered to the far corners of the cosmos when their homeworld was destroyed, and after the last of the Daelkyrs were either destroyed or (in the case of those who'd made themselves immortal or indestructable) imprisoned, they had few oppertunities to rise again.

Today the Zern linger on in the shadows, plying their services as biomancers and doctors to the warlords of backwater worlds, or those disreputable places that astral outlaws congregate, all in hopes of hiding from their ancient enemies. Most of the multiverse has moved on and forgotten the Zern, but with lifespan extension and generations that stretch for thousands of years, the indignity of their defeat is still fresh in these remnants minds, as is the desire to proclaim themselves Daelkyr once again, or free their old overlords from captivity.

Art