Sorry about the delay - I was out of town yesterday. Just got this posted to the hub, great job and I look forward to all of the entries!
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TOPIC | [RoR] Design-a-Disease [Closed]
Sorry about the delay - I was out of town yesterday. Just got this posted to the hub, great job and I look forward to all of the entries!
@hinatot
Disease Name: Eater of Minds (Comedenti Mentium)
Also Known As: The Many
Disease Type: Parasite
The Many – or, more formally, in the language of those bold enough to study the species, Comedenti Mentium, the "Eater of Minds" – is a fortunately rare creature. What small population exists are mostly concentrated in the Scarred Wasteland, though rumors of them being spotted in other areas with harsh living conditions are not unheard of.
The Eater of Minds begins its cycle in the form of a larva that hatches from an egg, lain inside carrion by an adult unit, a reproduction that only happens a handful of times during the adult's life. Although a multitude of eggs are lain, usually only one larva survives, cannibalizing all its rivals until only it remains. This violent process only takes an hour or two to conclude.
Once alone, the larva forms a nigh-impregnable cocoon around itself, hiding in the flesh of its rotting nest, and remains dormant until devoured by a dragon – either by it feeding upon the carrion, or by eating a carrion feeder that had done so.
Only the stomach acid of a dragon is powerful enough to dissolve the barrier. Once so awakened, the still-mindless parasite burrows through its host and to its skull, where it roosts and begins its true growth and full metamorphosis into an adult. Perhaps the luckiest of the dragons that encounter the Eater of Minds, the host's brain is devoured, slaying it, and the Eater of Minds claims its first mind, gaining intelligence and their insatiable hunger.
The parasite grows and changes inside its now-dead host's skull, taking control of the nervous system so that it may move the body. Such movements are often strange and unnatural - at least until enough minds become part of the whole that it can emulate life more accurately.
Removed from the shelter of its host's skull, the Eater of Minds itself somewhat resembles a large insect or louse. Its outer shell is frail and soft, and its body covered in protective slimy, foul-smelling (some say it resembles the scent of rotting fungal matter) yellow mucus that dries quickly in open air. These are the reasons the creature prefers the safety of its host and seldom abandons it in its entire lifetime, usually only doing so to lay eggs or by being forced into finding a new host because the original host's body has been critically damaged. It possesses a quartet of three-jointed legs, the ends of which twist into hooked, pronged ends to help anchor itself in the surrounding bone. These limbs are unsuitable for walking, making it slow and awkward when it is removed. A pair of jagged mandibles, one on each side of its mouth, help it burrow, strong enough to rend flesh and dragon bone easily. Above the mandibles are four long, antenna-like appendages ending in needle-like, thin spikes. The Eater of Minds hangs inside its host's head upside-down, pushing these appendages through into the host's mouth. When feeding, it embeds these into the victim's head.
The Eater of Minds is always hungry for minds, and its existance often revolves around nothing more than obtaining more. Contrary to its name, it does not truly devour them, but instead adds them to an ever-growing mix of stolen experiences and memories. It absorbs the mind of its victim, stripping it of its past identity and adding it to an often malicious whole, leaving the body a mindless husk that follows the amalgam's will and provides it with disposable servants. These servitors possess no mind nor emotion of their own, and often mirror each other and the parasite's host in disturbing fashion – speaking with one voice, mirroring expressions – but they can be controlled individually as well, when such benefits the Many. While most specimens are content to use them as hunters or protection, uncaring of their appearance or health, more cunning individuals have been known to transform their thralls into agents or spies to do their bidding inside dragon society.
Though it may at times seem like these victims are nothing more than zombies, these bodies are very much alive – if without mind. Many scholar-dragons argue that the mind is the soul, the sum of what one is, their memories, personality, experiences – and that these husks are soulless mockeries of the dragons they once were. Worse yet, if the parasite is ever slain, the hollow bodies that were part of the Many do not die with it. These catatonic dragons, released from the will of the Many, must often be subsequently put down by their rescuers.
Disease Name: Eater of Minds (Comedenti Mentium)
Also Known As: The Many
Disease Type: Parasite
The Many – or, more formally, in the language of those bold enough to study the species, Comedenti Mentium, the "Eater of Minds" – is a fortunately rare creature. What small population exists are mostly concentrated in the Scarred Wasteland, though rumors of them being spotted in other areas with harsh living conditions are not unheard of.
The Eater of Minds begins its cycle in the form of a larva that hatches from an egg, lain inside carrion by an adult unit, a reproduction that only happens a handful of times during the adult's life. Although a multitude of eggs are lain, usually only one larva survives, cannibalizing all its rivals until only it remains. This violent process only takes an hour or two to conclude.
Once alone, the larva forms a nigh-impregnable cocoon around itself, hiding in the flesh of its rotting nest, and remains dormant until devoured by a dragon – either by it feeding upon the carrion, or by eating a carrion feeder that had done so.
Only the stomach acid of a dragon is powerful enough to dissolve the barrier. Once so awakened, the still-mindless parasite burrows through its host and to its skull, where it roosts and begins its true growth and full metamorphosis into an adult. Perhaps the luckiest of the dragons that encounter the Eater of Minds, the host's brain is devoured, slaying it, and the Eater of Minds claims its first mind, gaining intelligence and their insatiable hunger.
The parasite grows and changes inside its now-dead host's skull, taking control of the nervous system so that it may move the body. Such movements are often strange and unnatural - at least until enough minds become part of the whole that it can emulate life more accurately.
Removed from the shelter of its host's skull, the Eater of Minds itself somewhat resembles a large insect or louse. Its outer shell is frail and soft, and its body covered in protective slimy, foul-smelling (some say it resembles the scent of rotting fungal matter) yellow mucus that dries quickly in open air. These are the reasons the creature prefers the safety of its host and seldom abandons it in its entire lifetime, usually only doing so to lay eggs or by being forced into finding a new host because the original host's body has been critically damaged. It possesses a quartet of three-jointed legs, the ends of which twist into hooked, pronged ends to help anchor itself in the surrounding bone. These limbs are unsuitable for walking, making it slow and awkward when it is removed. A pair of jagged mandibles, one on each side of its mouth, help it burrow, strong enough to rend flesh and dragon bone easily. Above the mandibles are four long, antenna-like appendages ending in needle-like, thin spikes. The Eater of Minds hangs inside its host's head upside-down, pushing these appendages through into the host's mouth. When feeding, it embeds these into the victim's head.
The Eater of Minds is always hungry for minds, and its existance often revolves around nothing more than obtaining more. Contrary to its name, it does not truly devour them, but instead adds them to an ever-growing mix of stolen experiences and memories. It absorbs the mind of its victim, stripping it of its past identity and adding it to an often malicious whole, leaving the body a mindless husk that follows the amalgam's will and provides it with disposable servants. These servitors possess no mind nor emotion of their own, and often mirror each other and the parasite's host in disturbing fashion – speaking with one voice, mirroring expressions – but they can be controlled individually as well, when such benefits the Many. While most specimens are content to use them as hunters or protection, uncaring of their appearance or health, more cunning individuals have been known to transform their thralls into agents or spies to do their bidding inside dragon society.
Though it may at times seem like these victims are nothing more than zombies, these bodies are very much alive – if without mind. Many scholar-dragons argue that the mind is the soul, the sum of what one is, their memories, personality, experiences – and that these husks are soulless mockeries of the dragons they once were. Worse yet, if the parasite is ever slain, the hollow bodies that were part of the Many do not die with it. These catatonic dragons, released from the will of the Many, must often be subsequently put down by their rescuers.
@hinatot
Disease Name: Eater of Minds (Comedenti Mentium)
Also Known As: The Many
Disease Type: Parasite
The Many – or, more formally, in the language of those bold enough to study the species, Comedenti Mentium, the "Eater of Minds" – is a fortunately rare creature. What small population exists are mostly concentrated in the Scarred Wasteland, though rumors of them being spotted in other areas with harsh living conditions are not unheard of.
The Eater of Minds begins its cycle in the form of a larva that hatches from an egg, lain inside carrion by an adult unit, a reproduction that only happens a handful of times during the adult's life. Although a multitude of eggs are lain, usually only one larva survives, cannibalizing all its rivals until only it remains. This violent process only takes an hour or two to conclude.
Once alone, the larva forms a nigh-impregnable cocoon around itself, hiding in the flesh of its rotting nest, and remains dormant until devoured by a dragon – either by it feeding upon the carrion, or by eating a carrion feeder that had done so.
Only the stomach acid of a dragon is powerful enough to dissolve the barrier. Once so awakened, the still-mindless parasite burrows through its host and to its skull, where it roosts and begins its true growth and full metamorphosis into an adult. Perhaps the luckiest of the dragons that encounter the Eater of Minds, the host's brain is devoured, slaying it, and the Eater of Minds claims its first mind, gaining intelligence and their insatiable hunger.
The parasite grows and changes inside its now-dead host's skull, taking control of the nervous system so that it may move the body. Such movements are often strange and unnatural - at least until enough minds become part of the whole that it can emulate life more accurately.
Removed from the shelter of its host's skull, the Eater of Minds itself somewhat resembles a large insect or louse. Its outer shell is frail and soft, and its body covered in protective slimy, foul-smelling (some say it resembles the scent of rotting fungal matter) yellow mucus that dries quickly in open air. These are the reasons the creature prefers the safety of its host and seldom abandons it in its entire lifetime, usually only doing so to lay eggs or by being forced into finding a new host because the original host's body has been critically damaged. It possesses a quartet of three-jointed legs, the ends of which twist into hooked, pronged ends to help anchor itself in the surrounding bone. These limbs are unsuitable for walking, making it slow and awkward when it is removed. A pair of jagged mandibles, one on each side of its mouth, help it burrow, strong enough to rend flesh and dragon bone easily. Above the mandibles are four long, antenna-like appendages ending in needle-like, thin spikes. The Eater of Minds hangs inside its host's head upside-down, pushing these appendages through into the host's mouth. When feeding, it embeds these into the victim's head.
The Eater of Minds is always hungry for minds, and its existance often revolves around nothing more than obtaining more. Contrary to its name, it does not truly devour them, but instead adds them to an ever-growing mix of stolen experiences and memories. It absorbs the mind of its victim, stripping it of its past identity and adding it to an often malicious whole, leaving the body a mindless husk that follows the amalgam's will and provides it with disposable servants. These servitors possess no mind nor emotion of their own, and often mirror each other and the parasite's host in disturbing fashion – speaking with one voice, mirroring expressions – but they can be controlled individually as well, when such benefits the Many. While most specimens are content to use them as hunters or protection, uncaring of their appearance or health, more cunning individuals have been known to transform their thralls into agents or spies to do their bidding inside dragon society.
Though it may at times seem like these victims are nothing more than zombies, these bodies are very much alive – if without mind. Many scholar-dragons argue that the mind is the soul, the sum of what one is, their memories, personality, experiences – and that these husks are soulless mockeries of the dragons they once were. Worse yet, if the parasite is ever slain, the hollow bodies that were part of the Many do not die with it. These catatonic dragons, released from the will of the Many, must often be subsequently put down by their rescuers.
Disease Name: Eater of Minds (Comedenti Mentium)
Also Known As: The Many
Disease Type: Parasite
The Many – or, more formally, in the language of those bold enough to study the species, Comedenti Mentium, the "Eater of Minds" – is a fortunately rare creature. What small population exists are mostly concentrated in the Scarred Wasteland, though rumors of them being spotted in other areas with harsh living conditions are not unheard of.
The Eater of Minds begins its cycle in the form of a larva that hatches from an egg, lain inside carrion by an adult unit, a reproduction that only happens a handful of times during the adult's life. Although a multitude of eggs are lain, usually only one larva survives, cannibalizing all its rivals until only it remains. This violent process only takes an hour or two to conclude.
Once alone, the larva forms a nigh-impregnable cocoon around itself, hiding in the flesh of its rotting nest, and remains dormant until devoured by a dragon – either by it feeding upon the carrion, or by eating a carrion feeder that had done so.
Only the stomach acid of a dragon is powerful enough to dissolve the barrier. Once so awakened, the still-mindless parasite burrows through its host and to its skull, where it roosts and begins its true growth and full metamorphosis into an adult. Perhaps the luckiest of the dragons that encounter the Eater of Minds, the host's brain is devoured, slaying it, and the Eater of Minds claims its first mind, gaining intelligence and their insatiable hunger.
The parasite grows and changes inside its now-dead host's skull, taking control of the nervous system so that it may move the body. Such movements are often strange and unnatural - at least until enough minds become part of the whole that it can emulate life more accurately.
Removed from the shelter of its host's skull, the Eater of Minds itself somewhat resembles a large insect or louse. Its outer shell is frail and soft, and its body covered in protective slimy, foul-smelling (some say it resembles the scent of rotting fungal matter) yellow mucus that dries quickly in open air. These are the reasons the creature prefers the safety of its host and seldom abandons it in its entire lifetime, usually only doing so to lay eggs or by being forced into finding a new host because the original host's body has been critically damaged. It possesses a quartet of three-jointed legs, the ends of which twist into hooked, pronged ends to help anchor itself in the surrounding bone. These limbs are unsuitable for walking, making it slow and awkward when it is removed. A pair of jagged mandibles, one on each side of its mouth, help it burrow, strong enough to rend flesh and dragon bone easily. Above the mandibles are four long, antenna-like appendages ending in needle-like, thin spikes. The Eater of Minds hangs inside its host's head upside-down, pushing these appendages through into the host's mouth. When feeding, it embeds these into the victim's head.
The Eater of Minds is always hungry for minds, and its existance often revolves around nothing more than obtaining more. Contrary to its name, it does not truly devour them, but instead adds them to an ever-growing mix of stolen experiences and memories. It absorbs the mind of its victim, stripping it of its past identity and adding it to an often malicious whole, leaving the body a mindless husk that follows the amalgam's will and provides it with disposable servants. These servitors possess no mind nor emotion of their own, and often mirror each other and the parasite's host in disturbing fashion – speaking with one voice, mirroring expressions – but they can be controlled individually as well, when such benefits the Many. While most specimens are content to use them as hunters or protection, uncaring of their appearance or health, more cunning individuals have been known to transform their thralls into agents or spies to do their bidding inside dragon society.
Though it may at times seem like these victims are nothing more than zombies, these bodies are very much alive – if without mind. Many scholar-dragons argue that the mind is the soul, the sum of what one is, their memories, personality, experiences – and that these husks are soulless mockeries of the dragons they once were. Worse yet, if the parasite is ever slain, the hollow bodies that were part of the Many do not die with it. These catatonic dragons, released from the will of the Many, must often be subsequently put down by their rescuers.
Disease name--Trimalgamate
Disease type--congenital
It is a rare occurrence (1 of 750,000 nests) that after fertilization, two eggs will merge before being clutched, and the two fetal dragons will fuse into one entity within an egg, with two heads or doubled limbs. Since a clutch can show the breed of either parent, it has even been seen that such a conjoined dragon can be made of two breeds. Usually the larger of the two becomes dominant, and the smaller is a mute entity. Both facets of the conjoined dragon are necessarily of the same flight.
Such bispeciated conjoined dragons tend to be sterile. However there was one case seen in the Starfall Isles, in a clan living within the arcane energies of the Focal Point, where a guardian/tundra split did manage to brood with a fae. (It's magic.) The single egg nest produced a very unusual three way cross. It had the size and form of a guardian; within its chest was the head of a tundra, the crest of which was a fully formed but immobile fae. Sadly this remarkable Faetundian could not survive for long, as it turned out its digestion could handle neither plants nor insects. The Arcanist was quite excited to study this rare specimen further upon its exaltation.
@hinatot
(as an aside, I hope you've had a chance to peruse the Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases at some point.)
Disease type--congenital
It is a rare occurrence (1 of 750,000 nests) that after fertilization, two eggs will merge before being clutched, and the two fetal dragons will fuse into one entity within an egg, with two heads or doubled limbs. Since a clutch can show the breed of either parent, it has even been seen that such a conjoined dragon can be made of two breeds. Usually the larger of the two becomes dominant, and the smaller is a mute entity. Both facets of the conjoined dragon are necessarily of the same flight.
Such bispeciated conjoined dragons tend to be sterile. However there was one case seen in the Starfall Isles, in a clan living within the arcane energies of the Focal Point, where a guardian/tundra split did manage to brood with a fae. (It's magic.) The single egg nest produced a very unusual three way cross. It had the size and form of a guardian; within its chest was the head of a tundra, the crest of which was a fully formed but immobile fae. Sadly this remarkable Faetundian could not survive for long, as it turned out its digestion could handle neither plants nor insects. The Arcanist was quite excited to study this rare specimen further upon its exaltation.
@hinatot
(as an aside, I hope you've had a chance to peruse the Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases at some point.)
Disease name--Trimalgamate
Disease type--congenital
It is a rare occurrence (1 of 750,000 nests) that after fertilization, two eggs will merge before being clutched, and the two fetal dragons will fuse into one entity within an egg, with two heads or doubled limbs. Since a clutch can show the breed of either parent, it has even been seen that such a conjoined dragon can be made of two breeds. Usually the larger of the two becomes dominant, and the smaller is a mute entity. Both facets of the conjoined dragon are necessarily of the same flight.
Such bispeciated conjoined dragons tend to be sterile. However there was one case seen in the Starfall Isles, in a clan living within the arcane energies of the Focal Point, where a guardian/tundra split did manage to brood with a fae. (It's magic.) The single egg nest produced a very unusual three way cross. It had the size and form of a guardian; within its chest was the head of a tundra, the crest of which was a fully formed but immobile fae. Sadly this remarkable Faetundian could not survive for long, as it turned out its digestion could handle neither plants nor insects. The Arcanist was quite excited to study this rare specimen further upon its exaltation.
@hinatot
(as an aside, I hope you've had a chance to peruse the Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases at some point.)
Disease type--congenital
It is a rare occurrence (1 of 750,000 nests) that after fertilization, two eggs will merge before being clutched, and the two fetal dragons will fuse into one entity within an egg, with two heads or doubled limbs. Since a clutch can show the breed of either parent, it has even been seen that such a conjoined dragon can be made of two breeds. Usually the larger of the two becomes dominant, and the smaller is a mute entity. Both facets of the conjoined dragon are necessarily of the same flight.
Such bispeciated conjoined dragons tend to be sterile. However there was one case seen in the Starfall Isles, in a clan living within the arcane energies of the Focal Point, where a guardian/tundra split did manage to brood with a fae. (It's magic.) The single egg nest produced a very unusual three way cross. It had the size and form of a guardian; within its chest was the head of a tundra, the crest of which was a fully formed but immobile fae. Sadly this remarkable Faetundian could not survive for long, as it turned out its digestion could handle neither plants nor insects. The Arcanist was quite excited to study this rare specimen further upon its exaltation.
@hinatot
(as an aside, I hope you've had a chance to peruse the Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases at some point.)
@Hinatot I think maybe you should remove the mind control, as there are many literary/video game/anime uses of this, considering there is a real fungus that takes control of bugs' brains and basically makes it keep moving in order to spread the spores.
@Hinatot I think maybe you should remove the mind control, as there are many literary/video game/anime uses of this, considering there is a real fungus that takes control of bugs' brains and basically makes it keep moving in order to spread the spores.
[b]Disease Name:[/b] Vampire's Rot
[b]Disease Type[/b] Skin, multi-phase
Despite being around for decades, even centuries, Vampire's Rot wasn't discovered as a disease until less than five years ago, when an unfortunate Pearlcatcher had contracted it after a nightly gathering expedition. Further investigation as to how the disease had been transmitted showed that the disease was occasionally found dormant in multiple species of nocturnal animals that shyed away from sunlight, and that equally nocturnal dragon species were immune to the disease. Affected diurnal dragons, however, soon found themselves unable to enter the sunlight, as their skin would begin to blister and bubble, causing unbearable pain and the appearance of melting. After a week to ten days, give or take, the blisters will pop and the affected skin will start to look decayed, as well as the dragon's initial fever skyrocketing. Unless the dragon is kept in the dark for a prolonged period of time and regularily given tiny sips of blood from an immune, nocturnal dragon, the decay will spread, ultimately leading to the unfortunate dragon's untimely demise.
(Below, an example of why I shouldn't be allowed to illustrate things...)
[img]http://i65.tinypic.com/vcq8zq.png[/img]
Disease Name: Vampire's Rot
Disease Type Skin, multi-phase
Despite being around for decades, even centuries, Vampire's Rot wasn't discovered as a disease until less than five years ago, when an unfortunate Pearlcatcher had contracted it after a nightly gathering expedition. Further investigation as to how the disease had been transmitted showed that the disease was occasionally found dormant in multiple species of nocturnal animals that shyed away from sunlight, and that equally nocturnal dragon species were immune to the disease. Affected diurnal dragons, however, soon found themselves unable to enter the sunlight, as their skin would begin to blister and bubble, causing unbearable pain and the appearance of melting. After a week to ten days, give or take, the blisters will pop and the affected skin will start to look decayed, as well as the dragon's initial fever skyrocketing. Unless the dragon is kept in the dark for a prolonged period of time and regularily given tiny sips of blood from an immune, nocturnal dragon, the decay will spread, ultimately leading to the unfortunate dragon's untimely demise.
(Below, an example of why I shouldn't be allowed to illustrate things...)
Disease Type Skin, multi-phase
Despite being around for decades, even centuries, Vampire's Rot wasn't discovered as a disease until less than five years ago, when an unfortunate Pearlcatcher had contracted it after a nightly gathering expedition. Further investigation as to how the disease had been transmitted showed that the disease was occasionally found dormant in multiple species of nocturnal animals that shyed away from sunlight, and that equally nocturnal dragon species were immune to the disease. Affected diurnal dragons, however, soon found themselves unable to enter the sunlight, as their skin would begin to blister and bubble, causing unbearable pain and the appearance of melting. After a week to ten days, give or take, the blisters will pop and the affected skin will start to look decayed, as well as the dragon's initial fever skyrocketing. Unless the dragon is kept in the dark for a prolonged period of time and regularily given tiny sips of blood from an immune, nocturnal dragon, the decay will spread, ultimately leading to the unfortunate dragon's untimely demise.
(Below, an example of why I shouldn't be allowed to illustrate things...)