As the Infected Colonies came to understand their potential hosts as more than prey, their views started to splinter. Some did not care about the feelings of their hosts and carried on as they had before, while others sought a means to co-exist. Many Colonies have come to believe that it is their place to choose hosts that are deserving of death so that new life may blossom instead, seeking out raiders, tyrants, and others whom they believed they could offer redemption to by seizing their bodies and using them for good. A number of desperate worlds also sought out infection deliberately, offering to guide them towards future hosts who are in need of redemption and bring balance back to the galaxy.
How will your colony bring redemption to Sirius?
History
Unknown Origins
The Infected strain initially evolved as a heat-sensing parasite which could alter their host’s behaviour to spread more effectively. Some have speculated that the Infection has arrived in Sirius following the Radiance Cascade; others believe that the Radiance event may have jump-started or otherwise radically altered their evolution.
Failed Colonisation
These parasites were encountered on a world near the edge of the Zone scouted out by a human expedition and chosen for colonisation. The parasites spread rapidly through the colony, evading discovery until far too late. As the last signs of human life on the colony faded out, the first Infected Colony was born. The parasites gained a new level of intelligence through their hosts. With this, they realised they could now spread beyond their world and into the stars.
The Scourge
Several new infected colonies soon emerged as the parasite circulated along human-maintained trade lines, infecting numerous ships and reaching planets throughout the Sirius sector before a quarantine could be enforced. As they spread, the parasites soon came to understand their own nature better and how their procreation required the death of not just living but sentient creatures if it wished to continue to grow and understand itself.
The Fateful Encounter
Once discovered, the parasites became a source of curiosity for some of the Robot Legions, who would reach out to the Infected Colonies without fear of infection. The Robots soon came to understand that the parasites, while strange, were intelligent and not inherently hostile. Both species sought to understand their place in the galaxy, though unlike the Robot Legions, the birth of a new parasite always required the death of some host.
Splintering
As the Infected Colonies came to understand their potential hosts as more than prey, their views began to splinter. Some did not care about the feelings of their hosts and carried on as they had before, while others sought a means to co-exist.
Timeline
- 41 ARC - First encounter with Humanity
- 43 ARC - Spread through Human Cluster
- 47 ARC - Contact with the Robot Legion
- 51 ARC - First Reunion
- 54 ARC - Establishment of Quarantine Treaty with GHA
Society
Individuality
The original Infected Colony was composed of about one hundred different strains. These strains can each infect a vast number of individuals, self-replicating perfect copies of themselves. Each infected host will behave differently because the infection’s consciousness is ‘filtered’ through the host’s specific brain and body. So each infected is its own individual, not telepathically connected to others of the same strain. Nonetheless, all infected from a strain share the same goals and global philosophy, representing what other species might call a 'faction'.
Life Cycle
When ready to reproduce, the Infected seek out heat before letting out an explosion of spores. Successful spores attack their new host’s spinal column and eat up towards the brain. As it spreads, the Infection achieves a level of sapience similar to its host. The parasite consumes soft flesh for nourishment while pushing bone and other hard elements outwards to serve as protective shielding. Offspring of the parasite retain the memories of their parasite ancestors, though their host may affect how they view or even understand these memories. The infection slowly changes the host as it matures, distorting its original body more and more.
A ‘terminal’ stage exists among some mutations of the virus, where nothing remains of the host’s original biology except a spore-producing organism looking to spread its spores before death.
Strains
The Infection is divided into numerous strains, with varying philosophies. These strains tend to have a number of different strategies and views of survival, similar to traditions in most species, which most of their members follow.
Some strains send emissaries to other species, looking for willing hosts. They may strike deals with religious cults who view being infected as a kind of transcendence. Some groups in Sirius may offer hosts, ranging from condemned criminals to dying patients, to the Infected in exchange for their service.
Other strains have no problem with unwilling targets and will try to infect spaceship crews or isolated colonies to gain access to more and more resources and hosts. The most feared are those that research ways to become harder to detect, hoping to infect an entire planet or more before any sign is visible.
Redemptionists
Many Infected Colonies believe that it is their place to choose hosts that are deserving of death so that new life may blossom instead; they sought out raiders, tyrants and others whom they believed they could offer “redemption” to by seizing their body and using it for good. Desperate worlds have also been known to call Infected Colonies to help them, pointing them towards those in need of redemption.
Throughout Sirius, especially on worlds which the parasites have helped, many have come to view them as redeeming the infected, purging them of sin through pain and putting their bodies to a better use. Within these cults, many volunteer themselves willingly to serve as new hosts, eager to shed their former sins. Most parasites are confused by this, but the cults follow them nonetheless, and few parasites are willing to decline a new, voluntary host.
Reunion
Each Infected Colony regularly sends emissaries back to the desolate planet they originally appeared on. This world is situated within the Zone, hard to access for most species because of the Radiance. There is little of note on this world, beyond rocks, abundant fungus and the abandoned human research station. This world, however, serves as a vital meeting point for distant strains to communicate with each other, exchanging information and genetic material before going back to their comrades to update them.
The Radiance
The Infected Colonies see the Radiance as part of their origin, bringing their hosts and possibly gifting them with sentience. They refer to it as Orgrekh, or the Source, and view it with a religious reverence, and see its fickle gifts as a moral judgement upon the recipient; beneficial mutations are a gift, while negative ones are condemnation. Beneficial mutations have been known to create new strains, allowing them to infect further or grow more quickly, or making their bodies more durable. Negative mutations may prevent them from blooming or make them incompatible with most hosts. Some, particularly those with psychically sensitive hosts, feel pain as they approach, but this is seen as a sign of weakness in their host body, which must be endured and overcome.
Language
The Infected Colonies possess the knowledge of their host upon infection, but as their life cycle progresses, speaking their host's language often becomes more difficult. This has given rise to a unique language used by the Infected for communication among their own, allowing them to speak among those who have progressed farther into their infection or infected hosts who did not share a language with their own. Often, the Infected will adopt a new name, mixing a part of their host's former name and a part of the name in this language to make it easier for the Infected to pronounce and to represent their existence as a new entity while honouring their connection to their host.
Example Names
[Pier(re)][srag] - [Host's former name][Infected element]
- Zothrak
- Fatzegh
- Ulfrang
- Jokreg
- Piersrag
Trivia
Proverbs
- New life requires death. I apologise that it has to be yours.
- Some call it infection. We call it rebirth.
- We are thankful for those who surrender their bodies. We will treat them with care.
- Spread the word, share the spores.
- Give us your killers, your fools, your demented. We can make good use of them.
