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The Infectant Virus, also known simply as The Tyrisian Plague is a deadly virus that has, as one of its names suggest, plagued the Tyris Cluster for longer than most modern civilizations have existed. Those infected with the virus slowly turn into Infectants and become a part of the Infectant Horde.
Biology[]
Dubbed Plaga omnia (P. omina) by the Tyrisian scientific community, the Infectant Virus is responsible for the illness known as the Tyrisian Plague. The virus itself is on average 1.5 microns in length, making it an exceptionally large for a virus. The capsid that contains the virus' genetic material is octahedral in shape and sits atop a cylindrical sheath. One of P. Omina's unique traits is that the genetic material inside of the capsid was classified by both Mirusian and Tyrisian virologists to be neither deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). Scientists from United Flooian States dubbed this genetic material "tantonucleic acid" (TNA), named after Tyris Tantum, after the suspected location of patient zero of the first recorded outbreak of the Tyrisian Plague. The Infectant Virus' sheath sports seven tail fibers that it uses to latch onto uninfected cells. The capsid of the virus also features an "x" shaped ridge on either side of it, which is one of the easiest ways to identify the virus under a microscope.
Like most viruses, the Infectant Virus is unable to reproduce on its own. Instead, the it reproduces by entering the body of an organism and injecting its TNA into the host's cells. From there, the reproductive system of the host's cells are hijacked replicate the Infectant Virus. Hosts transmit these newly born viruses into other organism through the transfer of bodily fluids such as blood and saliva. It is possible for the virus to infect plant cells, but it seems that it has a preference for organisms made of flesh and blood. Infected individuals are aptly called Infectants, and are organisms driven by the need to create more hosts for the Infectant Virus.
The Infectant Virus seems to be able to "save" the genetic material of the hosts it infects. It has been observed that successive generations of the Infectant Virus contain fragments of the genetic material of its current host and the hosts of their ancestors. When the host's cells are used to manufacture more viruses, there is a genetic transfer occurs during replication. The host's genetic material is copied, but stored as TNA rather than DNA or RNA inside of the Infectant Virus' capsid. Through this, some scientists pointed out that the Infectant Virus contains genetic material of many extinct species that have once come into contact with it, acting as a sort of archive of life in the Tyris Cluster. It is unknown why it would want to save the genetic material of its hosts, though virologists speculate that it either uses this genetic material to make infecting hosts easier, or it doesn't serve much purpose at all and is the sloppy end result of the replication process.
All strains of the Infectant Virus are very resilient. They are capable of surviving without a host on surfaces and in various fluids for up to two months. The Infectant Virus is also quite capable of fighting the immune system of most organisms, mostly due to the species' ability to rapidly reproduce while inside of a host. It is also quite resistant to harmful radiation as testing indicated that even after it was exposed to lethal doses of Gamma radiation, the virus' TNA was still intact. The reason for this radiation resistance is unknown, though a few scientists have speculated that it is an adaptation picked up from the genetic material of previous hosts. This would be remarkable, considering many of the known radiation resistant/immune species of the Tyris Cluster are inorganic, and thus unable to be infected by the virus. This would make saving genetic code for these races' radiation resistant adaptations incredibly difficult if not impossible.
The P. omina species curiously does not have any known ancestors or relatives outside of strains that evolved from itself. It is also the only species to use TNA for genetic code rather than the more common DNA or RNA. This has led virologists to assume that the historical record of the virus is still mostly incomplete. Ancient records that were written over 500,000 years ago indicate that the the original strain of the virus may have been genetically engineered. However these records are not reliable due to their supposed age, unverifiable nature, and the fact that the era of history when the records were supposedly written is famously blurry when it comes to separating fact and fiction.
Variants[]
There are multiple known variations of the Tyrisian Plague that mutated from the original P. omina virus. These variations, also known as strains, are created when an Infectant has survived long enough and managed to become powerful enough for mutations in their genetic code to occur. Infectants created by these individuals are infected with the new strain rather than the original P. omina. Each strain has unique characteristics that differentiate them from their sibling and parent strains.
Known Strains:
- P. omina unium - An ancient strain of P. omina created by an Infectant known as Alpha. The Alpha Variant of P. omina has adapted to be heavily resistant to essence based weaponry and abilities. This does render its hosts unable to harness essence efficiently however. This strain is very rarely seen.
- P. omina saras - A strain born from the Infectant Hive Mind that was responsible for the extinction of the Flooian people. This strain's main adaptation is its ability to infect already dead tissue. This allows for the virus to reproduce, and therefore mutate, rapidly. Unlike it's sibling Alpha Variant, the Saras Variant has many child strains that branched off of it due to this adaptation.
- P. omina saras dualius - A strain of P. omina saras created by an Infectant known as Beta. Unlike it's parent strain, the Beta Variant can incubate for an indefinite period of time before actually attacking the host's cells. This makes the Beta Strain especially deadly, as a seemingly healthy individual could become a ticking time bomb if the virus attacks them in heavily populated areas. There are currently very few ways to detect a dormant Beta Variant infection.
- P. omina saras gamus -
- P. omina saras signus -
- P. omina saras thetus -
- P. omina saras deltus -
- P. omina saras omega - A recently curable and possibly extinct strain of P. omina created by an Infectant known as Omega. This Omega Variant makes its hosts capable of wielding larger quantities of essence when compared to other strains. However, it makes the hosts more vulnerable to weapons and other items that can dampen essence such as Alphorium.
Quotes[]
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