Mycelian Zombism (Mie-See-Lee-Anne Zom-Biz-Mmm)
Mycelian zombies are a form of zombie originating from a mutated strain of mycelian which originally came from the island of bungus and was then experimented on by the Remnants in an attempt to make a powerful bioweapon. Mycelian zombism is a rare form of zombism originating from a mutated strain of mycelian which originally came from the island of bungus and was then experimented on by the Remnants in an attempt to make a powerful bioweapon.. This zombism causes an infected to grow stronger and healthier while retaining their speed, but slows reflexes decreases fine motor skills, and all but kills the mind as the spores grow over it and syphon away the brain replacing it with further cordocepts. This strain of mycelium is highly infectious from their bite, and even just breathing the spores, and once infected is nigh impossible to cure. All that remains of the individual in most cases is a near mindless soldier who hungers for a feast of flesh, either for themself or for a mama shroom, and to infect with no regard to memory or emotion. Deadly to enemies, but even deadlier against friends.A bite with death
A young woman enters a dark room, she knows she should not be here but has ventured through the door to the ruins anyway. She tries to survey the room but the darkness consumes everything. Her pulse quickens with fear before she grabs a piece of paper and converts it into a globule of light to illuminate the room, as she does the corpses become illuminated too and she stumbles back muffling a scream and dropping the globule which then dissipates. Pulse quickening as a bead of sweat drips down her face she grabs another slice of paper to restore the light, a scraping sound and a low growl, she fetches the paper and forms light once more. The light flashes and she feels something grab her leg before she can see, as her eyes adjust quickly she sees one of the corpses has her leg as another moves toward her. They approach slowly but there is no escaping it once it has you as she tries her best to escape they sink their teeth into her supple flesh, she screams and inhales deeply.
Some time later another enters the ruins, the corpse of a young woman added to the ranks of the undead.
Transmission & Vectors
Transmission comes through airborne spores exhaled by an infected individual, and through spores injected directly via a bite. If an area runs out of food a group of infected individuals may grow inert near their mama shroom and begin growing further mushrooms and fungus, which if ingested will infect an individual.
Once an infected individual turns completely, usually about 3 days after infection, they then become infectious via breath and through their bite.
Symptoms
The beginning depends on the route of infection, someone infected through inhalation may begin feeling short of breath or having lung pain, while an individual who ate the fungus would begin with stomach pain and general queasiness. Infected who were bitten will notice the bite does not heal, even with magic and will dry up but seem to spread, like an infection as fungus begins growing out of it.
Over the next 3 days the symptoms above will slowly get worse and the subject will grow more irritable, more angry, more violent, as well as experiencing memory loss. During this time the individual gains an form of resistance to other poisonous effects while this affliction rewrites their nervous system. On the final day before the infection fully takes hold the subject will be hungry, no matter how much they eat, then at the end of that day fungus will sprout from their head and the transformation will be complete and irreversible.
Once full infection takes root, the infected gains enhanced strength and health, but lowered fine motor function. Highly flammable and sensitive mushrooms slowly grow from the body, particularly out of the face and eyes. In addition, the mind of the former owner of this body is near-lost to a new mind taking taking over as the fungus forms a new form of brain and consciousness over the previous one. Some things remain, particularly strong memories and feelings, but most is replaced with hunger and a need to infect more, along with anger and grief. The infected becomes a new slow hand of death, sent up from hell some might say to drag living beings down to the afterlife until their brain is fully destroyed, and this one claw stopped. But there will always be more.
Treatment
Most doctors and clerics will try to look on the bright side and say treatment is possible, or it simply has not been found yet, but the bottom line is except through extreme divine intervention, once fully infected that is the end.
But, if the infection can be caught before it fully takes root on the brain, some greater restoration magic can disintegrate the spores and fungus within the body. This takes incredibly powerful bardic song, clerical magic, or druidic power however and so is not readily available to most, especially if far away from civilisation.
The most common treatment is to kill carriers using that which they are most susceptiple to, the cleansing power of fire which will burn through the body of course, but also the brain that can catch fire with but a spark. Other than flame, it can be hard to put down someone carrying this disease as they seem to just keep getting back up with most non-brain-destructive wounds.
Hosts & Carriers
Near enough anything living which has a brain of some kind can be infected. This included Humanoids mainly, but animals and other monsters are not immune, and anything that can be infected with it, can carry it and infect others further.
Prevention
Some exceedingly lucky individuals may possess immunity for some reason or another, but the only consistant immunity ot be found is in that of individuals sworn to gods as their paladins, and gifted divine health. In these individuals the spores burn away on contact with the inside of their body, or with their blood.
History
During the age of wild magic, human travellers sailed the seas and eventually happened upon The Isle of Bungus where their boats broke down and they became stranded. The island being a natural haven for fungal life, was a beautiful place that the humans decided to settle. Some years later one of the women among their ranks died and so she was buried. Her wife was quite surprised however the next day when she was greeted by her wife back from the grave. Inhabiting the island was a sentient fungus which can possess the bodies of the dead, or even steal the bodies of the living.
Some centuries later, the Remnants were searching for a way to get a leg up in their war with the Serpentine, and they found this mycelium on the isle of bungus then took a sample back to one of their research labs in The Emerald Peaks, specifically Remnant Research Station 14. After Research Station 14 recieved the sample of mycelium, they began working on weaponising it. The Mycelium was naturally passive, and even intelligent, sentient, sapient even, but the remnants were gifted with biomancy and had their ways to twist the minds and biology of others using an echo of druidcraft.
Overtime, they managed to enhance the aggression of fungus and make it replicate, heal, and infect much faster. They stripped it of most of its sapience, but overtime their fungus developed a hive mind, and their pile of corpses dead from either the fungus, or from being cut loose from experimentation was growing larger. One such night they were waiting on further subjects who never came and the fungus broke loose, infecting everyone in the station but knocking out the power in the process. Unable to leave, the fungus stewed and grew inside this place, becoming a powderkeg of a future zombie infection. In 1084 FA, this possible epidemic began with the infection of Primula Exspiravit and Etierne Samalicious. Another individual, Chet Alexopolus would have been infected if not for the blessing of The Golden Phoenix.
Some centuries later, the Remnants were searching for a way to get a leg up in their war with the Serpentine, and they found this mycelium on the isle of bungus then took a sample back to one of their research labs in The Emerald Peaks, specifically Remnant Research Station 14. After Research Station 14 recieved the sample of mycelium, they began working on weaponising it. The Mycelium was naturally passive, and even intelligent, sentient, sapient even, but the remnants were gifted with biomancy and had their ways to twist the minds and biology of others using an echo of druidcraft.
Overtime, they managed to enhance the aggression of fungus and make it replicate, heal, and infect much faster. They stripped it of most of its sapience, but overtime their fungus developed a hive mind, and their pile of corpses dead from either the fungus, or from being cut loose from experimentation was growing larger. One such night they were waiting on further subjects who never came and the fungus broke loose, infecting everyone in the station but knocking out the power in the process. Unable to leave, the fungus stewed and grew inside this place, becoming a powderkeg of a future zombie infection. In 1084 FA, this possible epidemic began with the infection of Primula Exspiravit and Etierne Samalicious. Another individual, Chet Alexopolus would have been infected if not for the blessing of The Golden Phoenix.
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