OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a parasitic lifeform to be used as a character and for potential use in further events and for other players to experience with
- Image Credit: Jose Pericles
- Canon: No
- Links: N/A
- Name: Unglowraith
- Designation: semi-sentient / sentient. Fully sentient until stages 5 and 6 where they entirely rely on animalistic instincts with only vestiges of previous intelligence.
- Homeworld: Unknown
- Language: Galactic Standard, various other languages
- Average Lifespan: 400 years if fully formed, if not completely transformed, add 25% of the life expectancy of the host to the host's age (Example: Host is expected to live 100 years, now lives 125 years)
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description:
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
- Breathes: Types associated with the converted host. So a converted human would be type 1
- Average height of adults: 2.8 meters
- Average length of adults: N/A
- Skin color: Pale white, gray, sometimes with colorful patterns in yellows, reds, and blues
- Hair color: Black, gray
- Eye Color: pale white
- Distinctions: Through a parasitic process of infecting a host, the Unglowraith can slowly transform any species into their bestial species. Unglowraiths are not force-dead, they simply lose the potential to use the force starting at stage 3.
- Races: N/A
- Strengths:
Unholy Reflexes: The beast begins to get faster and their response time increases drastically with each stage.
Night-Vision: Stage 3 can see well in the dark, stage 4+ Can see perfectly in the dark.
- Weaknesses:
Deep Cave/Space Weakness: Either coming from deep space or originating in deep caves, the Unglowraith have a weakness to sunlight. (Stage 3: Difficulty seeing and uneasiness, Stage 4: Intense Sunburns, Stage 5-6: Searing of flesh
Beasts Not Forgotten: They're parasitic demons, few people like them and even more people go out of their way to exterminate them
Growing Insanity: At stage 5 the host begins to lose their ability to reason.
Iron Reliance: The Unglowraith is dependent on Iron to survive until it has fully transformed, at stages 3-5 lack of Iron from a prey's blood or other sources will end up killing the host.
Severe Nickel Reaction: Due to unknown causes Unglowraiths have bizarre reactions to Nickle, burns, sores, and dizzyness follow being injected (or stabbed) with nickel, and simply coming into contact with it for too long causes similar, although less extreme effects. It was originally thought to be silver, but it turned out that it was the nickel that was being used to fortify the soft metal that is silver that causes the effect.
CULTURE
- Diet: Carnivores, primarily consuming blood
- Communication: Stages 5+ Shrieks, hisses, distorted unintelligible snippets of the host's language as if from a mad man. Stages 1-4, any language the host speaks.
- Technology level: N/A
- Religion/Beliefs: N/A
- General behavior: The ultimate motive of an adult Unglowraith is to reproduce. Upon landing on a planet, the Unglowraith will spend about a month, gettings its bearings, adapting to the new environment, and shedding its hibernative state. After that it begins to hunt, starting at the lower end of the food chain, eating weaker, slower, smaller creatures as it continues to adapt, slowly moving up until it establishes its location in the local food chain. From there it begins to find candidates, always targeting sentient organisms or beasts with an equal intelligence to their own, infecting them with their parasitic virus. After the host reaches the gestational period, the unglowraith finds it, and drags it to a dark secluded area to help it progress, bringing it food and sometimes even mouth feeding it, feeding it more of the disease each time to speed up the transformation. After that unglowraith is fully transformed, they move on and make another and so forth. However, the transformation only works on organisms with iron-based blood, and a humanoid body structure. Should an unglowraith be unfortunate enough to land on a planet with non-iron based life, they simply do not reproduce and try to survive. Unglowraith feed on blood to get to the iron, to feed the reproductive virus running in their veins.
The fully formed adults lay dormant in specially created fleshy cocoons within or on asteroids, it is assumed that their homeworld was destroyed by some catastrophic event and they cling to its shattered fragments for centuries in a form of stasis created by their cocoons waiting to be reawakened. These cocoons are flame resistant and as sturdy as steel, yet easily destroyed easily by any form of blaster or lightsaber.
This cocoon is formed by the apparent wings on the arms of the Unglowraith, after finding a suitable spot to cocoon the beast spreads its wings to cover its body, they slowly begin to fuse and the metabolism of the Unglowaith drops drastically, putting it in a near death-like state. The wings then harden drastically, forming the exterior of the cocoon as they fill with bone, then the bones of the entire organism lock, acting almost like a spring system to increase durability upon any sudden impact, usually associated with the falling of the asteroid they have clung to. This transformation leaves the Unglowraith understandably weak and vulnerable, even for weeks after the transformation back into their mobile form, the bones must be reset and the once fleshy bits to the wings are shed, letting them regrow into their original form.
Upon landing, the Unglowraith begins to become mobile again and begins its hunting and reproduction cycle, until the pack gets too large (usually getting as big as 4-5) upon then Unglowraiths may begin splitting off to create their own territories.
The truly unique aspect of the Unglowraith is the way it reproduces, infecting a host with an advanced biological parasite/virus. This virus acts similarly to a modern-day CRISPR, slowly transforming the genes. To become more and more Unglowraith in nature until the transformation is complete. This virus feeds off of Iron in the bloodstream, causing iron deficiencies resulting in pale skin, sensitivity to sunlight, and lower body temperatures, but the virus quickly adapts the DNA to negate all the other symptoms, as if to try to hide the deficiency, while increasing calcium deposits in the mouth and forming new teeth to replace the hosts original teeth. The more of the disease that is pumped into the system, the faster the change can occur completely. The transformation has several stages.
Stage I: The infected human (Or any near-human with iron-based blood.) begins to show signs of the disease, paler skin, sensitivity to sunlight, cooler body temperatures, aches, vomiting. Untrained physicians may just assume this is an iron deficiency and will simply give the patient more iron, which will speed up the process. Stage I, should the disease be caught, usually by the calcium build up, it can be cured. (Playable)
Stage II: The disease gets worst, teeth begin to fall out as new canines replace them, sensitivity to sunlight begins to intensify past iron deficiency and to the biology of the Unglowraith, causing physical pain when in direct sunlight. The host begins to have an overwhelming thirst for iron based blood. The disease can still be cured, although the physical changes already made will remain. (Playable)
Stage III: When the host begins to feed on blood, which is primarily to get the iron deposits to feed the virus, it is too late. The host can no longer be cured. Eyes of the host begin to become pale and fader, night vision increases, increased strength and reflexes, and the ability to spread the disease appears. Any force abilities the host may have had or had the potential to have is cut by a third. The individual is now infertile, incapable of having biological children (Playable)
Stage IV: The infected becomes increasingly stronger, faster reflexes, stops needing to feed as much, blood turns black. Eyes now completely white and reflective, hair either falling out or changing color to black or gray. Force power is cut by another third, leaving only a third of their potential. Sunlight is now incredibly uncomfortable and gives intense sunburns after short periods of time. (Playable)
Stage V: The host begins to go feral, lashing out, relying more on instincts, speech becomes difficult and they rely on more primitive means of communication, sunlight now scorches their skin, they often seclude themselves from others in dark areas, wings begin to form on the arms. At the end of this, the host forms a cocoon similar to the adult version, where their body undergoes drastic changes. (Non-PC)
Stage VI: After a month within the cocoon, the host emerges a full-fledged Unglowraith. Those grown from intelligent species (humans and near humans) will be much more intelligent and competant than those grown from beasts. (Non-PC)
Sith Alchemy has found a way of stopping the process at a given stage, giving the individual the physical strengths in exchange for force-based powers. However, some sith viewed this as deforming their righteous cause or perverting the sith's body, or even sacrilege against the force, so these covens of Unglowraith hosts often were secluded on distant planets or space stations.
THE CURE
The Cure for the infection caused by an unglowraith comes in two distinct variants,
Total Cure: Which completely cures the host, although certainly physiological changes that have occurred such as new sharp teeth or eye color stay, the rest have a chance of vanishing as the genetic makeup of the host remakes itself. The cure, is just as previously mentioned, a genetic virus synthesized from the host's original genes. The artificial virus goes through and basically replaces the genes that the Unglowraith virus corrupted, effectively stopping and reversing the clock. This is done through advanced medicinal needs.
Halting Cure: Through sith alchemy, the process can be stopped. The Sith who has been infected and has stopped the virus will get all bonuses of whichever stage he/she is in, as well as the negative effects such as depleted force-power and sensitivity to sunlight, however the Virus will no longer progress any farther, and due to the alchemical component introduced can no longer regress either, even if the cure above is used. Very few sith remember this ancient alchemical practice, but in the most ancient or most forbidden tomes the knowledge can still be found.
Total Cure: Which completely cures the host, although certainly physiological changes that have occurred such as new sharp teeth or eye color stay, the rest have a chance of vanishing as the genetic makeup of the host remakes itself. The cure, is just as previously mentioned, a genetic virus synthesized from the host's original genes. The artificial virus goes through and basically replaces the genes that the Unglowraith virus corrupted, effectively stopping and reversing the clock. This is done through advanced medicinal needs.
Halting Cure: Through sith alchemy, the process can be stopped. The Sith who has been infected and has stopped the virus will get all bonuses of whichever stage he/she is in, as well as the negative effects such as depleted force-power and sensitivity to sunlight, however the Virus will no longer progress any farther, and due to the alchemical component introduced can no longer regress either, even if the cure above is used. Very few sith remember this ancient alchemical practice, but in the most ancient or most forbidden tomes the knowledge can still be found.
If a character is one of these Unglowraith hosts then they'd introduce their race as so: Host Race, Unglowraith, Stage of Progression (example: Human, Unglowraith Stage 3)
