Honor

Honor is a miracle child.

Born out of pure luck, he's living proof that it's fully possible for Dead Zoners to live peacefully alongside dragons, having been raised within the loving embrace of his little village. A gentle, shy wallflower, Honor loves the peaceful things in life. Watching the stars with mom, learning to read with Grampy Sanctuary, magic lessons with Uncle Necroma... if the task is quiet, it's perfect for him. He may be hesitant, but you'll never find a harder worker, as Honor tries his very best to live up to his namesake!

He inherited his mother's endless curiosity and desire for companionship, so his biggest dream someday is to have ten best friends to explore the world with. Sadly, his unsettling appearance makes it hard to befriend most dragons, much less hatchlings his age. Encased in a thin exoskeleton with a rubbery interior, his body is accompanied by tiny, dull mandibles, tinier horns, and a pair of small, damp wings that have yet to fully develop, leaving him landlocked.

The most notable feature about him, however, is his unstable magic- it quite literally leaks out of him, in the form of a lava-lamp-like goo that oozes from cracks in his carapace and floats around his body like bubbles. He leaves small puddles of the stuff wherever he goes, but thankfully once he moves a foot or so away, it dissolves into nothing. So far, his magic reacts strictly to his emotions, seemingly changing element to fit his mood: Fire for anger, water for sadness, shadow for fear, light for joy, and so on.

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> This child was born via node, grown from Subject B-0115 and named "Honor" by the Tundra dragon who agreed to care for him alongside the subject. It is a unique case, as it is one of the few DZIs born outside their home dimension, the Dead Zones within the Rift. Only four cases so far have been recorded of this node phenomenon.

> (Personal note: I find Honor to be quite adorable! I'm so happy for Botulism and her friend!)

> Through several years of observations, we have concocted a theory that, outside of DZI-001 and other Carnovirus mutations, new DZIs are born via fleshy, fluid-filled nodes that grow off the host parent's body like plant buds. These nodes take several weeks to develop and cannot be removed prematurely without assistance from tools. But strangely enough, no partner is needed to create a node, as they form on their own once the following requirements are met simultaneously:

1. The host parent has reached a certain age (which varies by individual).

2. The host parent has access to a steady, reliable amount of food and has gone a minimum full year without ever going hungry for more than twenty-four hours.

3. The host parent is in a prolonged "good mood" for certain periods of time, as in their central nervous system produce enough positive chemicals (like dopamine and serotonin) within a specific, yet still varying time frame. This exact time frame required to grow a node is not unlike the menstrual cycles of some mammals, only it occurs at very random intervals with no recordable consistency.

> However, due to the strictness of the above requirements, it is implied most DZIs do not reproduce this way. The most commonly observed method of reproduction is through DZI-001 infection and regeneration. If a DZI is damaged, and that damage results in a large enough portion of tissue being severed from the main body, the severed tissue will regrow into an entirely new, genetically distinct organism. The tissue must remain undamaged for a minimum seven days before it can begin the process of regeneration, which takes approximately twelve hours to complete.

> Regenerative tissue is also rare to come across, as most DZIs prefer to re-absorb or consume any separated tissue to preserve their size and health. Reproductive tissue is also often eaten by scavenging animals or otherwise destroyed by elemental factors, like seasonal temperature change or extreme weather.

> DZIs born from nodes are genetically distinct from their hosts, but usually share a few more similarities with their hosts than those born from regeneration or created via DZI-001. For example, a host with a large pair of mandibles or a prominent exoskeleton will likely pass on these traits, but the coloring and consistency of the offspring's body could be different. Some may even display their own unique traits.

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