Virus Strains: A Reference
Jun 27, 2017 1:46:02 GMT -5
Post by Mani4c on Jun 27, 2017 1:46:02 GMT -5
There are several different classes of Virus throughout the digital world, with many of them taking a myriad of forms and sizes, but one thing among them is absolute, they all fall into 5 distinct categories. These categories are based on how the virus functions, it's abilities, and even its personality if it's the rare specimen who is capable of sentient thought.
Please note, these classes are different from the THREAT classes of virus. As such, I shall be using the term STRAINS to refer to the type of virus, while CLASS shall be used to denote how dangerous it is, it's power level, in other words.
Viral Strains:
Strain no. 1-Infectors: This is what most people think of when they hear the word "virus" within the digital world. A malicious program made up of corrupt, naturally contagious code strings who either by design or by instinct sets out to spread his/her/its specific code to others. Infectors are very similar to the next strain of virus we'll be discussing, Propagators, except for one key aspect. Propagators use their code to alter the victim into a virus themselves, much like how a virus injects a cell with it's genetic material to replicate.
Infectors differ in that they are a type of predatory Virus, incapable of reproducing in such a way. Instead, they use their code to weaken or outright cripple their prey, making them viable for consumption. When an infector consumes enough code, it skulks off to a secure, hidden place, and uses the code to make a hive, where more of it's specific code string can be replicated naturally. However, this process is much like cell division, to make more, the original dies.
Strain no. 2-Propagators: Propagators, also known as "breeders" or "Spawners", are a very specialized type of virus, who's specialty is not absorbing or "eating" their prey, but instead infecting them and corrupting them into another, new virus. This can be done in several ways, either through an injection, an aura, or even allowing themselves to briefly become one with their prey, hiding as non-hostile data and slowly altering the host until it's too late to reverse the process. This does not kill the host, or the virus, instead, the viral code merges and becomes one with the victim's code, creating a unique virus (or, if the victim is lucky, a virus/avatar hybrid, who are generally sentient and not necessarily dangerous.) instead of a clone of the original propagator.
As such, Propagators are far less likely to attack a target outright, instead preferring to stalk their prey until they are along and vulnerable. Propagators are also one of the virus types who are most likely to be sentient, both due to the higher thinking and planning needed to actually capture and convert their prey, and because about 75% of propagators were once avatars themselves, and possess a larger amount of logic and cognitive code then other virus types.
This makes them actually more liable to be "friendly" than most other kinds of viral being, aside from hybrids, they simply seek mates as opposed to prey items. And with Abraxas' downfall, many new, sentient propagators are actively courting non-viral avatars without any attempts at forcing the issue. One can only hope that other viruses will follow suit.
Strain no. 3-Controllers: This is potentially the most dangerous strain of virus one can encounter, with Titans being a narrow contender for either second place or surpassing the Controllers. Controllers, as the name implies, are viruses who possess the ability to puppeteer viruses who are weaker than them, with some stronger variants possessing the ability to actually control an avatar once the victim is implanted with a "Reciever", usually a type of viral strain that reacts to the Controller's will.
Controllers themselves are almost always sentient, with prime examples being Abraxas, Zeus, and to a certain degree; Hecate. This fosters the idea that all (or at least most) Controller viruses are Despots or psychopaths. This stigma often leads to avatars who have been hybridized with Controller code to go into hiding, or offer their services to the NPD in an attempt to avoid violent, and often fatal reprisals.
Interestingly enough, some Propagator strains possess a far weaker version of a controller's infection and puppeteer ability, though it is limited to inflaming emotions, such as anger, fear, or even lust. This ability does not seem to be a sign of connection between the two strains, simply an adaptation to ease hunting and converting prey.
Strain no. 4-Spawners: Spawners, often referred to derisively as "broodmares" by anti-viral activists (and some members of the NPD I might add.), are a strain of viruses that, like Propagators, are more focused on reproduction than killing. However, while Propagators prefer to "bring others into the fold" as it were, Spawners prefer to make new viruses..."in house".
Spawners achieve this by infecting the world around them, instead of hunting other avatars for raw materials. They anchor themselves into the ground, or into a piece of architecture, and bond to it, drawing in data and consuming it for fuel. Then, once they reach "critical mass", they begin to terraform the immediate area around them and turn it into a hive, where new viruses are born, raised and eventually released into the cyber world...often causing havoc, through no fault of the Spawner itself.
Unfortunately, this makes Spawners into unintentional threats, which, due to their low processing power, often leads to them being put down, as any attempt to harm their "children" leads to a vicious and incredibly violent attacks. The rare sentient Spawner cases are often able to be talked down and convinced to move to an uninhabited area, and are generally non-hostile, possessing motherly demeanor and an absolute LOVE for children.
Spawners are also the most likely strain to mix with other virus types, and as a result, almost all viruses posses a fragment of Spawner code within them, which is theorized to be the core of their instinctual need to hunt and replicate.
Strain no. 5-Titans: This strain of virus is one of the most destructive, completely implacable, and as far as what's known, utterly incapable of sentience. The result? A large, powerful engine of destruction, who's only driving instinct is to level anything before it and consume the remains, before moving on to consume the next victim it crosses.
Titans are everything the Controllers are not. While Controllers are generally weak in terms of combat (The three most famous examples notwithstanding), Titans are horrifyingly powerful, built like tanks and reaching upwards of 30 feet high (with the largest specimens reaching a terrifying 50 feet!), they are Kaiju come to life.
Thankfully, Titans are extremely rare, and oftentimes hunt well and away from civilization in an attempt to avoid a potentially fatal confrontation. Unfortunately, The sheer amount of code required to MAKE a viral titan makes their abilities and appearance completely random. Some are great, lumbering Godzilla like monstrosities, while other are like living storms or nebulae, hovering over anything sorry enough to be spotted before simply obliterating it and snapping up the remains. Titan class viruses are almost ALWAYS A-class or higher, with some skirting the edge of X-class on occasion.
((MODERATORS NOTE: Titan class viruses are for SCRIPTED EVENTS ONLY! And will ONLY appear if the head mod and one other mod approve of it's appearance. This is NOT up for debate whatsoever and WILL be enforced.))
Please note, these classes are different from the THREAT classes of virus. As such, I shall be using the term STRAINS to refer to the type of virus, while CLASS shall be used to denote how dangerous it is, it's power level, in other words.
Viral Strains:
Strain no. 1-Infectors: This is what most people think of when they hear the word "virus" within the digital world. A malicious program made up of corrupt, naturally contagious code strings who either by design or by instinct sets out to spread his/her/its specific code to others. Infectors are very similar to the next strain of virus we'll be discussing, Propagators, except for one key aspect. Propagators use their code to alter the victim into a virus themselves, much like how a virus injects a cell with it's genetic material to replicate.
Infectors differ in that they are a type of predatory Virus, incapable of reproducing in such a way. Instead, they use their code to weaken or outright cripple their prey, making them viable for consumption. When an infector consumes enough code, it skulks off to a secure, hidden place, and uses the code to make a hive, where more of it's specific code string can be replicated naturally. However, this process is much like cell division, to make more, the original dies.
Strain no. 2-Propagators: Propagators, also known as "breeders" or "Spawners", are a very specialized type of virus, who's specialty is not absorbing or "eating" their prey, but instead infecting them and corrupting them into another, new virus. This can be done in several ways, either through an injection, an aura, or even allowing themselves to briefly become one with their prey, hiding as non-hostile data and slowly altering the host until it's too late to reverse the process. This does not kill the host, or the virus, instead, the viral code merges and becomes one with the victim's code, creating a unique virus (or, if the victim is lucky, a virus/avatar hybrid, who are generally sentient and not necessarily dangerous.) instead of a clone of the original propagator.
As such, Propagators are far less likely to attack a target outright, instead preferring to stalk their prey until they are along and vulnerable. Propagators are also one of the virus types who are most likely to be sentient, both due to the higher thinking and planning needed to actually capture and convert their prey, and because about 75% of propagators were once avatars themselves, and possess a larger amount of logic and cognitive code then other virus types.
This makes them actually more liable to be "friendly" than most other kinds of viral being, aside from hybrids, they simply seek mates as opposed to prey items. And with Abraxas' downfall, many new, sentient propagators are actively courting non-viral avatars without any attempts at forcing the issue. One can only hope that other viruses will follow suit.
Strain no. 3-Controllers: This is potentially the most dangerous strain of virus one can encounter, with Titans being a narrow contender for either second place or surpassing the Controllers. Controllers, as the name implies, are viruses who possess the ability to puppeteer viruses who are weaker than them, with some stronger variants possessing the ability to actually control an avatar once the victim is implanted with a "Reciever", usually a type of viral strain that reacts to the Controller's will.
Controllers themselves are almost always sentient, with prime examples being Abraxas, Zeus, and to a certain degree; Hecate. This fosters the idea that all (or at least most) Controller viruses are Despots or psychopaths. This stigma often leads to avatars who have been hybridized with Controller code to go into hiding, or offer their services to the NPD in an attempt to avoid violent, and often fatal reprisals.
Interestingly enough, some Propagator strains possess a far weaker version of a controller's infection and puppeteer ability, though it is limited to inflaming emotions, such as anger, fear, or even lust. This ability does not seem to be a sign of connection between the two strains, simply an adaptation to ease hunting and converting prey.
Strain no. 4-Spawners: Spawners, often referred to derisively as "broodmares" by anti-viral activists (and some members of the NPD I might add.), are a strain of viruses that, like Propagators, are more focused on reproduction than killing. However, while Propagators prefer to "bring others into the fold" as it were, Spawners prefer to make new viruses..."in house".
Spawners achieve this by infecting the world around them, instead of hunting other avatars for raw materials. They anchor themselves into the ground, or into a piece of architecture, and bond to it, drawing in data and consuming it for fuel. Then, once they reach "critical mass", they begin to terraform the immediate area around them and turn it into a hive, where new viruses are born, raised and eventually released into the cyber world...often causing havoc, through no fault of the Spawner itself.
Unfortunately, this makes Spawners into unintentional threats, which, due to their low processing power, often leads to them being put down, as any attempt to harm their "children" leads to a vicious and incredibly violent attacks. The rare sentient Spawner cases are often able to be talked down and convinced to move to an uninhabited area, and are generally non-hostile, possessing motherly demeanor and an absolute LOVE for children.
Spawners are also the most likely strain to mix with other virus types, and as a result, almost all viruses posses a fragment of Spawner code within them, which is theorized to be the core of their instinctual need to hunt and replicate.
Strain no. 5-Titans: This strain of virus is one of the most destructive, completely implacable, and as far as what's known, utterly incapable of sentience. The result? A large, powerful engine of destruction, who's only driving instinct is to level anything before it and consume the remains, before moving on to consume the next victim it crosses.
Titans are everything the Controllers are not. While Controllers are generally weak in terms of combat (The three most famous examples notwithstanding), Titans are horrifyingly powerful, built like tanks and reaching upwards of 30 feet high (with the largest specimens reaching a terrifying 50 feet!), they are Kaiju come to life.
Thankfully, Titans are extremely rare, and oftentimes hunt well and away from civilization in an attempt to avoid a potentially fatal confrontation. Unfortunately, The sheer amount of code required to MAKE a viral titan makes their abilities and appearance completely random. Some are great, lumbering Godzilla like monstrosities, while other are like living storms or nebulae, hovering over anything sorry enough to be spotted before simply obliterating it and snapping up the remains. Titan class viruses are almost ALWAYS A-class or higher, with some skirting the edge of X-class on occasion.
((MODERATORS NOTE: Titan class viruses are for SCRIPTED EVENTS ONLY! And will ONLY appear if the head mod and one other mod approve of it's appearance. This is NOT up for debate whatsoever and WILL be enforced.))