Virus

Greedy wallet destroyer. I love her.

Clan Alchemist Evil Potions Master



So basically Virus is, on the surface, the clan's alchemist and Outbreak helps her out. In reality though she's an 'evil' potions master who wants to spread a certain plague about the land and her children often help with those goals. Outbreak is actually like her undead manservant, here is the post where I thought more into the idea. I like to think that Outbreak has lightning eyes because of some Frankenstein-esque reason like him being 'resurrected' by Virus's knowledge of alchemy and the help of lightning.. Bogsneak eggs do come from Baldwin, don't they? So it makes sense that a similar procedure could spark life back into a body. Though it was just an experiment and it did have some side effects because Outbreak had suffered "slight" brain damage ("That's just what happens when you play with lightning, now quit whining about it" -Virus), thus altering his personality to be inexplicably paranoid and prone to delusions ("a gift from my night with Death and a curse for leaving her come morning" -Outbreak). The physical consequences are nothing to sneeze at either. His body was weakened so he has a hard time building muscle and his bones break easily. The whole 'whisker snafu' is just because his right whisker got cut off in the battle he lost for his life. To remedy all this Virus started brewing potions to fortify his body and to repair the whisker... with mixed results ("Well at least I know how not to make the potion!" -Virus "Yeah but you still don't know how to make it either. And you turned my nose green... wait what happened to my skin color!" -Outbreak gaining his poison gene). In the end she discovered a bacteria on one of her 'health vacations' to the Wyrmwound ("Gotta keep my immunity up somehow don't I? What kind of Plague dragon would I be if I caught a cold?" -Virus responding to suspicious clan members). This bacteria infected hosts and took over cells (and eventually the host itself), playing parasite by feeding off them while keeping the host alive as a home and tool to spread. In about 30% of cases the host was able to resist being taken over by the bacteria ("After a very interesting and painful looking fever madness" -Virus) and gained helpful side effects like increased regeneration, strength, agility, intellect, and disease resistance ("Basically a huge system upgrade!" -Outbreak). In 65% of cases the bacteria was successful in overtaking the host and it basically became a walking zombie with similar enhancements but driven by instinct and the desire to spread their disease ("Similar to the genus of fungi called Ophiocordyceps that were told of in old folklore about those that came before" -Virus). In 5% of cases the host was killed within hours of agony.

Virus saw an amazing potential in this bacteria and brought it back to the clan for testing. After many failed attempts she was able to create a potion that worked similarly to the wild bacteria but with "A whopping 85% success rate and only a 24% chance of deranged and possessed behavior!" "But that leaves 1% missing?" "Oh yes. There is still a 1% chance of a painful death. Isn't that great, only 1 instead of 5! It will be some of the finest work of Plague kind" "It kills and takes away sanity, Virus!" "Only in those who are not fit enough to survive, my dear. And besides, this could be a cure for your condition! Isn't that wonderful?" "I am NOT drinking that." But, of course, Virus eventually got her way and, unfortunately, luck has never been one of Outbreak's strong suits ("RNG hates me" -Outbreak). He was part of the 24%. The bacteria started taking over his mind and body. Luckily, Virus had prepared a backup plan in case this happened and was able to place a necromancer's spell on him that let her control his mind instead of the bacteria. Which brings us to his current condition. Since then Virus has worked everyday to improve her potions by sending Outbreak to test it on unsuspecting dragons he finds and he brings back their blood for analysis, hoping to find a vaccine. She suspects that since the bacteria kills off invading and competing bacteria, she might be able to make a purely beneficial strain that can kill the bacteria trying to take over Outbreak's mind without trying to take him over itself. And once that's out of the way she can lift the spell and start focusing on spreading the plague to the whole of dragonkind! Wonderful, isn't it?

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Virus and Outbreak's past before the 'incident' that lead to Outbreak's death is largely shrouded in mystery, but some dragons say that they knew of them before the incident, know their story. Some say they even know and have talked to the parents of the two dragons. Those who claim this speak of a happy, normal couple. A young, witty technician rising through the ranks, cut down too soon by a jealous rival and left to die. An aspiring and intelligent alchemy student, twisted by the grief and hardened by the pain. And a blind choice that changed them both permanently.