Modern Breed Standards
Pathogenecytes exist in multiple forms, generally divided into ranks. It would be folly, however, to assume that a higher rank is inherently better: while some Pathogenecytes fall to Pathogenerator due to an inability to contain their own Strain, others choose to be Pathogenerators and specialise in the creation of specific new diseases. Long-standing members of a rank are most usually there by choice, not due to any failing on their part, and all should be treated with respect.
Pathogenecytes usually manifest a rank within a week of infection, though this may change over time depending on a multitude of factors. While some gain control and precision, increasing in rank and scope, others lose control, be that due to lack of ability or due to over-exposure to disease. Some become such a threat to others that they are stripped of their strain, becoming Hollow, while others leave the usual standards aside entirely and choose to have truck with the strains of Shade.
To some degree, appearance can indicate what rank a Pathogenecyte is. Tertiary genes indicate a Pathogenecyte’s speciality, while their secondary colouration indicates how far they’ve gone into this. Lastly, the primary colouration indicates their rank. However, some dragons end up skilled beyond what their appearance indicates*, which is worth being aware of.
*Any dragon of at least level 15 can be registered as the rank above what they qualify as. Any dragon that fits a rank's gene requirements and has reached level 25 can be registered as any rank.
Note that dragons will be registered as their gene rank unless specifically requested. If you level your dragon after registering them, you will need to re-register them as their new rank.
1. Reaper
Flesh & Muscle Specialist Reaper
The most powerful of all Pathogenecytes, few stabilise after infection as a Reaper. Instead, most dragons must work to achieve this rank. These are the prodigies, the elders, the greatly skilled, and are usually highly specialised, even more so than most of their kin. Of all Pathogenocytes, Reapers are the only ones able to Reap the original Strain from other dragons of the subspecies. While most can call back other infections they unleash, only Reapers have the capacity to Hollow a Pathogenerator and only Reapers have the potential to Reap Shade from an Infested, albeit at risk to themselves.
The vast majority of Reapers are immediately recognisable as what they are, their primary colour setting them apart from their kin. However, there are some Reapers who prefer to stay as the rank they settled as, only revealing their capacity to Reap strain from Pathogenerators when forced to tip their hand. A Reaper is intensely skilled, and what they show you may not always be the case.
Reapers have a Cinnamon or Caramel primary, a secondary that complements their tertiary, and a tertiary to indicate their speciality.
Primary: Cinnamon-Caramel | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Leopard, Ripple, Slime, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Copper (Flesh & Muscle), Ruby-Maroon (Blood & Fluid), Coral-Wine (Magical Disease)* | Clouded, Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Ruby-Berry | Ghost, Okapi (Flesh & Muscle); Crackle, Veined (Blood & Fluid); Glimmer, Runes (Magical Disease); Smirch (Blood & Flesh); Opal (Blood & Magic); Koi (Flesh & Magic).
Note: While ideally the secondary and tertiary should be complementary - the colours of the secondary matching the gene of the tertiary, both being of the same or overlapping specialities - this is not strictly necessary, especially in Reapers who've reached the pinnacle of the Strain. At this point, they can and often will specialise where they will, becoming pathological polymaths.
* All colours between Dirt and Wine are permitted; the indicated colours simply have a clear association.
2. Command Vector
Blood & Magic Specialist Command Vector
The vast majority of Pathogenecytes end up at this rank, be that because they manifested this rank after their first week of infection or because they worked their way towards it from a rank below. While these dragons aren't capable of Reaping the original Strain from other Pathogenecytes they are highly skilled Pathokinetics, able to direct and command disease, even summoning it back to themselves. Some few Command Vectors gain abilities beyond their rank but do not visually express so, but this is a rarity. Regardless, Command Vectors make up the large part of the community, with many taking on Viral Vectors as friends, colleagues, assistants and students.
Primary: Sand-Soil | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Leopard, Ripple, Slime, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Copper (Flesh & Muscle), Ruby-Maroon (Blood & Fluid), Coral-Wine (Magical Disease)* | Clouded, Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Ruby-Berry | Ghost, Okapi (Flesh & Muscle); Crackle, Veined (Blood & Fluid); Glimmer, Runes (Magical Disease); Smirch (Blood & Flesh); Opal (Blood & Magic); Koi (Flesh & Magic).
Note: While ideally the secondary and tertiary should be complementary, with the colours of the secondary matching the gene of the tertiary - both being of the same or overlapping specialities - this is not strictly necessary. While less common in Command Vectors than Reapers, it is still occasionally seen in this rank.
* All colours between Dirt and Wine are permitted; the indicated colours simply have a clear association.
3. Viral Vector
Flesh & Magic Specialist Viral Vector
Most Pathogenecytes start at this rank when their first week of infection is up and they are the second most numerous group. Additionally, some dragons choose to remain at this rank, specifically using their Pathokinetic ability to spread the strains of disease they develop. Some of these strains will be weaker than normal while others will be stronger - while others still will be mutative disease, designed to address conditions that mere disease-curing cannot treat. Some also use this ability to self-modify more than the subspecies does with their tertiaries, and voluntary Viral Vectors are prone to wide additional mutation almost comparable to that more commonly seen in Pathogenerators.
Viral Vectors who remain at this rank by choice often end up far more skilled than their appearance might indicate, and many come to match or even surpass their Command Vector colleagues, be that in Pathokinetic skill or in more specific niches.
Primary: Hickory-Vermilion | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Leopard, Ripple, Slime, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Copper (Flesh & Muscle), Ruby-Maroon (Blood & Fluid), Coral-Wine (Magical Disease)* | Clouded, Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Ruby-Berry | Ghost, Okapi (Flesh & Muscle); Crackle, Veined (Blood & Fluid); Glimmer, Runes (Magical Disease); Smirch (Blood & Flesh); Opal (Blood & Magic); Koi (Flesh & Magic).
Note: In this rank the secondary and tertiary should be complementary, with the colours of the secondary matching the gene of the tertiary - both being of the same or overlapping specialities.
* All colours between Dirt and Wine are permitted; the indicated colours simply have a clear association.
4. Pathogenerators
Magical Disease Specialist Pathogenerator
Pathogenerators are not the normal state of things. Some few end up as Pathogenerators after their first week and then work their way up, while others settle at this rank or choose to become this rank. Some few others fall several ranks after exposing themselves to further infection in the hope of becoming stronger only to lose control. In these instances they often become the most dangerous, as their trained specialities are now turned against both themselves and others.
It is worth noting that not all Pathogenerators lack control - indeed, most maintain considerable control - and that when they do it is often not as one might fear. Most have tamed their disease to their bodies, but let their infections ravage their own flesh - their own, and no one else's. In this way they become archives of disease, constant ongoing experiments as to disease development and resistance and otherwise allow for rapid study of a variety of infections. There are Pathogenerators that choose to do this, finding that it aids the studies they took on the Strain in order to continue while others take a different path. Some Pathogenerators are quite insane - and often end up Hollowed to save uninitiated dragons - while others are the exact opposite, sane as can be and perfectly friendly.
Primary: Ruby-Carmine | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Jupiter, Leopard, Ripple, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Copper (Flesh & Muscle), Ruby-Maroon (Blood & Fluid), Coral-Wine (Magical Disease)* | Clouded, Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Saturn, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Ruby-Berry | Ghost, Okapi (Flesh & Muscle); Crackle, Veined (Blood & Fluid); Glimmer, Runes (Magical Disease); Smirch (Blood & Flesh); Opal (Blood & Magic); Koi (Flesh & Magic).
Note: In this rank the secondary and tertiary should be complementary, with the colours of the secondary matching the gene of the tertiary - both being of the same or overlapping specialities.
* All colours between Dirt and Wine are permitted; the indicated colours simply have a clear association.
5. Mutated Pathogenerators
5.1. Seeping Pathogenerators
Pathogenerators who went too deep into bloodborne disease, these dragons seep infected blood from every pore, smearing their infection on everything. Their bone marrow works overtime to produce this excess, and their body adapts to allow it, just as hairy frogs are adapted to allow poison blood to coat the bones they break into claws when time comes to fight.
While highly dangerous to the uninitiated, these dragons are often the primary source of vaccination materiel and innoculative strains created by Pathogenecytes.
Primary: Ruby-Carmine | Iridescent, Jupiter, Leopard, Ripple, Slime, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Ruby-Carmine | Clouded, Current, Hypnotic, Saturn, Sludge, Stripes
Tertiary: Ruby-Carmine | Gembond, Scales
Note: The most powerful of this variant tend to be be XXX or XXY, with their particular infections either distributed evenly throughout their body or safely contained within their scabs. Either way, it indicates a skill in maintaining the balance of their own infection, and such Pathogenerators should be treated with respect.
5.2. Mesiodens Pathogenerators
The consequence of wild, fleshly mutation, Mesiodens Pathogenerators produce teeth and scales in their wings and flesh and spines, growing heavy armour and additional weapons where none might expect it. Many might find the glaring bone-white against their bloody hides daunting, or be afraid of hurting the dragons by touching the protrusions, but the nerve endings where these emerge are often deadened, allowing their bearers to use them more reliably.
Mesiodens Pathogenerators are sometimes hired by other Pathogenecytes seeking to travel, as their strength is well-regarded.
Primary: Ruby-Carmine | Bar, Falcon, Laced, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Ruby-Carmine | Daub, Edged, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Stripes
Tertiary: Maize-White; Banana-Flaxen | Keel, Spines
5.3. Radiating Pathogenerators
Magic is a wild and dangerous thing and some few learn this the hard way. Radiating Pathogenerators manifest infectious curses and magical diseases, which spread in a miasma around them, and their hides are marked by the forever shifting mixture of magic and disease that laces the whole of their body.
Usually well-contained around the uninitiated, most Radiating Pathogenerators like spaces in which they can allow their mutative miasma to roam free, and are often asked to help bring biodiversity to an area.
Primary: Ruby-Carmine | Iridescent, Jupiter, Lionfish, Slime, Poison
Secondary: Ruby-Carmine | Hypnotic, Noxtide, Saturn, Sludge, Toxin, Trail
Tertiary: Coral-Wine | Glowtail, Smoke
5.4. Adorned Pathogenerators
Some Pathogenerators choose this path, looking specifically at mutative conditions and ways to change themselves. In doing so, however, some change themselves into something entirely else, shrinking as they change mass from flesh and bone to hard as metal and stone or altering the texture of their skin, scale and fur to their pleasing. These dragons seek a particular kind of beauty, a certain kind of permanency and change, and are, of all Pathogenerator varieties, most known to let the chance of control slip away in their eagerness to achieve this. The most common breeds to take this path are Obelisks, while Spirals are the least likely, but all breeds are capable of it.
Primary: Ruby-Carmine | Crystal, Iridescent, Metallic, Starmap, Wasp
Secondary: Ruby-Carmine | Alloy, Bee, Constellation, Facet, Shimmer
Tertiary: Ruby-Carmine | Crackle, Glimmer, Filigree, Opal, Sparkle
6. Hollowed
Flesh & Magic Hollow
In some cases, a Pathogenecyte loses all ability or willingness to contain their power and a Reaper will be asked to step in, stripping them of the Strain. In these cases the unique colouration of the Pathogenecytes is removed from them, leaving them with a dulled, limited colouration, as well as severing them from other disease and even their pathokinetic ability. Some of these dragons are grateful for being saved from their worst impulses and the effects of their infection, while others deeply resent it, going on to attempt to sabotage Pathogenecytes. Others still have been known to join the
Mercies, seeking some kind of return to what they once were. Regardless, their genes will reflect the schools of disease they once studied, though their colour only indicates their Hollow status.
Any dragon of any rank may be Reaped and made Hollow if they are deemed a danger to their Cell, their Clan, or those dragons they originally sought to serve, though Reapers Reaping one another is almost unheard of. The only Reapers known to Reap others of their rank are the Founding Three, and then only in dire circumstances.
Primary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Leopard, Ripple, Slime, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Clouded, Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Ghost, Okapi (Flesh & Muscle); Crackle, Veined (Blood & Fluid); Glimmer, Runes (Magical Disease); Smirch (Blood & Flesh); Opal (Blood & Magic); Koi (Flesh & Magic).
Additional: Must be XXX, XXY, XYY or XYX.
Fossilised Hollows
6.1. Mesiodens Hollows
While not all chosen mutations last through the Hollowing process, the additional growths of Mesiodens Pathogenerators are amongst the hardest for a Reaper to remove, being fully grown and incorporated into the body of the Pathogenerator in such a way that they last. Thus, some Hollows still show evidence of where they’d specialised before a Reaper stepped in.
Primary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Bar, Falcon, Laced, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Daub, Edged, Hypnotic, Peregrine, Safari, Stripes
Tertiary: Maize-White; Banana-Flaxen | Keel, Spines
Additional: Must be XXY.
6.2. Adorned Hollows
The sanity of Pathogenerators is ever in question, as their choice to constantly create new strains and change themselves can be more than obsessive. This is why the Reapers watch them and why the Reapers are forever ready to step in. In the case of Adorned Pathogenerators, some become obsessed with the beauteous way they wish to change themselves and must be saved from themselves, lest they petrify - while others must be prevented from wreaking this fate on others.
Primary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Crystal, Iridescent, Metallic, Starmap, Wasp
Secondary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Alloy, Bee, Constellation, Facet, Shimmer
Tertiary: Tarnish, Copper, Rust | Crackle, Glimmer, Filigree, Opal, Sparkle
Additional: Must be XXX, XXY, XYY or XYX.
7. Infested
Any dragon, no matter their background, can become touched by Shade. Some are taken by force, consumed against their will, while others enter into a pact by choice, unaware of their eventual fate. However, to Pathogenecytes, the Shade is just another Strain, and one that is the utter antithesis of the Plaguebringer’s love for life and survival. Some Infested prove able to shuck the shackles of the Shade themselves, eventually returning to their settled colouration, while others turn to Reapers, asking aid in removing the Shade from themselves.
While these procedures are risky, they do tend to work - but a dragon which made such a pact is forever marked by the Shade. Some learn to live with this while others choose instead to hide it. Others still undergo scattering procedures, remaking their entire self and starting their life anew.
7.1. Voluntary Infested
Due to their voluntary infestation, these dragons have a finer control of the Shade and often limit how it can display itself. Further, due to the voluntary nature of their infestation, the Shade trusts them in a way it does not those it consumes and generally holds itself back from devouring them rapidly. For the most part, these Infested resemble the Pathogenecyte they were before, with their tertiary slowly darkening to indicate just how close to the end they are as their Strain is slowly consumed. However, the more they are consumed, the more the Shade simplifies the markings they earned, stripping them of their identity.
Primary: Cinnamon-Carmine | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Jupiter, Leopard, Pharaoh, Python, Ripple, Slime, Tapir, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Wine | Current, Daub, Hypnotic, Morph, Peregrine, Sarcophagus, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Lead-Midnight; Abyss; Hunter; Umber; Sanguine; Wine | Crackle, Glimmer, Okapi
Note: Due to the genes and the Sanguine and Wine tertiary options, you may have a dragon who can qualify as a variety of Pathogenecyte
as well as being an Infested. This is to allow you to have Voluntary Infested that have not yet been discovered if you so choose. In the case of these overlap dragons, please say when registering which you'd like to register them as.
7.2. Consumed Infested
Those consumed against their will, these Infested rapidly lose contact with the Strain they had once adapted to so well, as it is steadily killed off by the Shade. Without the Strain to mark them as a Pathogenecyte, they instead revert to their original colouration, aside from the changes they had wrought on themselves and the ever-growing stain of the Shade as it consumes them ever more.
Primary: Any | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Jupiter, Leopard, Pharaoh, Python, Ribbon, Ripple, Slime, Swirl, Tapir, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Lead-Midnight | Clouded, Current, Daub, Eel, Hypnotic, Marbled, Morph, Peregrine, Safari, Sarcophagus, Saturn, Sludge, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Lead-Midnight | Any Pathogenecyte Tertiary Gene + Stained
Notes: For ease - Crackle, Filigree, Gembond, Ghost, Glimmer, Glowtail, Keel, Koi, Okapi, Opal, Runes, Scales, Smirch, Smoke, Spines, Veined + Stained
7.3. Freed Infested
Some few Voluntary Infested realise their error and shuck the bonds of Shade before it goes too far. Some few Consumed Infested seek or are given the help they need before they are rendered a husk. However… the Shade had still touched these dragons and while its power may be gone, the marks it leaves linger. To some, these are battle scars, something to be proud of. To some, these marks are shameful, a sign of their weakness. To others they simply are, something they will grow from and become more than. Regardless, the majority of Freed Infested retain a mark of their time in the Shade's grasp.
Primary: Cinnamon-Carmine | Bar, Falcon, Iridescent, Jupiter, Leopard, Pharaoh, Python, Ribbon, Ripple, Tapir, Tiger, Vipera
Secondary: Dirt-Wine | Clouded, Current, Daub, Eel, Hypnotic, Morph, Peregrine, Safari, Sarcophagus, Saturn, Striation, Stripes
Tertiary: Lead-Midnight | Capsule, Contour, Ghost, Lace
8. Pathogenecuties
Flesh & Magic Specialist Pathogenecute
In some cases, exposure to the True Strain causes unexpected consequences. With certain mutations forever limiting their growth, some Pathogenecytes are struck by Eternal Youth. The exact effect varies - some few mature mentally, while remaining physically young, while others mature very slowly, and will eventually achieve adulthood. Most, however, have a kind of lasting neoteny and while they can be intelligent, capable of study and specialisation on their own, most remain in the care of fully grown Pathos, usually parents, siblings or other family members.
A Pathogenecutie can be of any rank or variant listed above. What sets a 'Cutie apart is not their genes or colours, but the following:
Requirements: Eternal Youth Scroll applied; Innocent, Goat or Primal eyes.
If your dragon fits the requirements but you would
not like them registered as a Pathogenecute, please add a note to your registration request, specifying that you'd like them registered as though they were an adult. If they are a level 25 given an Eternal Youth scroll, you can register them as whatever you want.
