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.
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 except 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.
