Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
- Name: The Zerek Strain
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Homeworld: Biotech/alchemy facility on Endor. Development threads: Setting up the biotech/alchemy facility, field testing a prototype strain against Blazing Chain pirates, R&D discussion and samples exchange with the Plague Doctor.
- Language: N/A
- Average height of adults: N/A (bacterium)
- Skin color: N/A (bacterium)
- Hair color: N/A (bacterium)
- Breathes: Anaerobic
- Strengths: Can excrete Sith Poison. Cannot be differentiated from other bacteria save by advanced medical science or a skilled healer or alchemist. After 24 hours, only a skilled healer or alchemist can remove the poison. Designed for maximum effectiveness against humanoids, but can infect all carbon-based life-forms larger than bacteria, including flora.
- Weaknesses: Infection can be treated by a heavy antibiotic regimen within the first 24 hours. Sith poison effects are not significant until near the end of the incubation period.
- Distinctions: Can excrete Sith Poison.
- Average Lifespan: N/A
- Races: As with all biological weapons, mutation is frequent.
- Diet: N/A
- Communication: Communicable by fluids or contact with eyes, nose, mouth, wounds or burned tissue, eight hours after the host is first infected. Not communicable by air unless vaporized. Due to a short lifespan outside of an organic host or storage medium, transmission is generally person-to-person. For example, mass distribution via water supply would be a less viable means of transmission.
- Culture: Bacterial.
- Technology level: N/A. Occasionally deployed in standard chemical-dispersal grenade shells as a pale, bitter mist.
- General behavior: Symptoms within the first 24 hours are flu-like. After the incubation period concludes, the following symptoms are generally experienced: Overpowering rage, significant pain, inhibited health, significant difficulty focusing on the Light Side of the Force. Cognitive impairment or death may result.
- History: The alchemist Rave Merrill, working under the direction of the bioweapons expert known as @[member="The Plague Doctor"], saw the potential of combining her alchemy with the Lords of the Fringe bioweapons program. Various strains were tested on captive Gorax and Yuzzem, and then field-tested on Blazing Chain pirates at Taloraan. The resulting strain is capable of infecting a target with Sith poison, nearly always producing a turn to the Dark Side.
- Notable Player-Characters: Good luck with that.
- Intent: A biological weapon for story purposes. Safeguards have been worked into the submission to prevent, for example, mass application to a planet. Permanent (ie, post-24h) infection requires permission of the subject's writer.
