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[Man of Paper]

Core Thread

Bio Phase, Turn 1

In order to curb the market on BioOrganic Weapons research and development, as well as the necessary response to outbreaks, we must first actually develop our BOWs. Currently the only samples on-hand are the ones purchased from the Black Market.

Toxoplasma Corpus: T. Corpus is based off of the commonly found Toxoplasma Gondii parasite. The parasite can live it's entire lifespan within a single host, but is driven to spread itself to preserve the species should the host's body inevitably begin to fail. T. Corpus infections typically start after the eggs are ingested. The eggs hatch and the small worm-like parasite burrows through the stomach lining and makes it's way into the bloodstream. The larvae can feed off of any tissue, but will tend to target the nervous system and can "hijack" it in order to manipulate the host's behaviors. T. Corpus infection rapidly makes it's way to the brain, where a combination of the feeding larvae and the hijacked nervous system cause the host to turn "rabid" or "feral" until the infection results in the host's termination. As larvae mature they will migrate back to the stomach to lay more eggs. The host's body will attempt to purge the parasitic eggs through vomiting and diarrhea as the infection enters it's final stages, but this only helps to spread the eggs to new hosts. Toxoplasma Corpus may infect a variety of species, but most readily make their homes in humans. Stockpile: 3 (0/3 Deployed)

We also managed to get our hands on a hefty stockpile of firearms and ammunition.

Samurai Edge: A 9mm semiautomatic handgun with a 15-round magazine. Reliable. Stockpile: Infinite // Deployment Limit: Company 

We can rename the T. Corpus parasite should we choose to, but we also have some more important things to consider. We have 2 Bio Actions to consider this turn, and can use them to develop new viruses, modify our current virus, or use both to develop a unique Boss pathogen.

We are also trying to maintain a positive public image, and what better way to do that than rebranding! We have until the end of the Deployment Phase this turn to create a logo to plaster on everything we own. This can be rendered through art or a textual description. When deciding on a new logo, make sure to decide which Continent we launch our public service campaign in. This will result in an increase in Relations with that continent!

Spoiler: Pathogenic Research (click to show/hide)

Toxoplasma Corpus: Based off of the Toxoplasma Gondii parasite. T.Corpus infests hosts as eggs in the gut that hatch worm larvae and spread throughout the hosts, ending in the brain, although an infected subject will have parasites throughout the body. T.Corpus eats the body's tissues and takes over the nervous system. Infection results in rabid or feral behavior until host death. T.Corpus eggs spread through vomit or feces. The parasite can live it's entire life cycle within a single host. T.Corpus targets vertebrates, but most readily finds it's hosts in humans. Stockpile: 3 (0/3 Deployed)

Spoiler: Mercenary Equipment (click to show/hide)

BRIGANDINE: A highly protective and advanced CRBN suit with good mobility made of plastic, rubber, and aramid fibers. Very durable. Has an amazing air filtration system and backup air supply. The helmet has a powerful lamp and video camera as well as full communications suite and HUD for displaying teammate statuses. A forearm computer allows for control of the suit's subsystems. Stockpile: 5 (0/5 Deployed) // Deployment Limit: Platoon

Samurai Edge: A 9mm semiautomatic handgun with a 15-round magazine. Reliable. Stockpile: Infinite (0/- Deployed) // Deployment Limit: Company

Spoiler: Relations (click to show/hide)

Africa: 0
Antarctica: 0
Asia: 0
Australia: 0
Europe: 0
North America: 0
South America: 0

[Doomblade187]

Regenerative Infection (Revision of T. Corpus)

As part of the optimization of our BOW, a more durable host can spread the infection further. By hijacking the body's natural healing systems, we can put them into overdrive to prevent the early death of the host. While this makes our BOWs tougher to kill through things like blood loss and low level trauma,  it is not without symptoms. One symptom of this accelerated healing process is a highly aggressive fever.

(MoP, is this valid? I really mainly want the toughness boost, I just figured bleeding all over the place instead of bleeding out immediately would be better for infectivity.

Edit: Removed the bloodborne pathogen bit.

[Failbird105]

BOW Design: Husk Hivers
Our Toxoplasma Corpus is... basic. That much is plain to see. It works well enough, hell it's the best mammal oriented zombifying parasite out there for now, but it's... not great. What we need is something more, something big, something fresh, the real bees knees.

So we made parasitic bees.

The Husk Hivers, outwardly, are nothing more than larger than average bees. Or at least, when they start out that is. A larval Husk Hiver, on its own, will grow into what seems to just be a big bee. It's what that bee does that makes it terrifying, and the only limits on what they can use as a host are size(large dog at a minimum) and warm blood.

A Lesser Hivers sting will still result in its death like it will for an ordinary bee, but the sting will implant several eggs into the host, along with a numbing agent. These eggs eventually hatch into larvae, who will steadily begin eating their way deeper into the host. Slowly but steadily, they will burrow their way into the hosts abdominal cavity, where the infection will begin in earnest.

Once the Larvae reach the torso, they will begin to create a hollow space, secreting two fluids, one a sedative that keeps the Host docile, the other a sealant steadily firms up, both preventing the area from collapsing and blocking any healing from taking place, turning the hosts body into a hive. The Hivers, in this optimal environment, will mature and begin to lay their own eggs as they grow into their greater form.
The Greater Hiver, compared to the lesser, is significant in size, more comparable in size to a large rat than any form of bee. Their stingers far larger and sharper, and their sting no longer suicidal to use.

Fully grown Greater Hivers will emerge from the host to create more new hives, while the still growing ones will continue to convert the rest of the host body into a new hive, continually growing Greater Hivers until the body has lost its warmth or moisture, from which point only Lesser Hivers will be produced until the body is totally exhausted as a food source.

Obviously, these requirements of warmth and moisture to grow into their full size means that Husk Hivers will be significantly hampered in areas that are cold or dry, however locations that are very warm or humid will lead to far longer lasting hives. Also, one last bizarre note, the Hivers seem... utterly terrified of Honeybees. We can only assume this has something to do with bizarre interactions between honeybee pheromones and the Hivers own senses, but either way it is likely the greatest enemy to our Hivers may be Bee Keepers. Fitting.



This is a long one, but other than by greatly simplifying the language used I don't really see a way to cut down the explanation without leading to something being lost.

[Twinwolf]

BOW Design: Reptitis

The Reptitis parasite is a parasitic pathogen notable primarily for it's "prepatory" stages of infection before the "weapon" part of "Bio-Organic Weapon" comes to the fore; the lab techs have been calling it a "social" parasite and

In the larval stage, it is transmitted primarily by exchange of bodily fluids; blood, saliva, and so on and so forth. In this stage, the subject undergoes what would appear to be a particularly rough flu or other illness as the larvae make themselves at home in the body. After the gestation period is when things start to get interesting. The symptoms subside in the subject, but all of a sudden they are very, very social. The infected show a significant increase in extroversion and desire for social interaction of various types. This provides a venue for transmission of additional parasites birthed during the gestation.

After a period of time, infected individuals will find their increased extroversion fading and replaced with irritability, irrational anger, and antisocial behaviors. They and other infected will tend to withdraw from society - after which the next stage of development occurs. The mature parasites will further infest the infected's body and mind, extending it's influence greatly. Mental faculties decline, while the host's physical attributes are enhanced. At this point, the first visible signs distinguishing a Reptitis infection appear, in the form of scale-like growths across the subject's body, along with toughened skin, nails, and teeth.

Eventually, the group's mental functions will be largely restricted to basic needs - and a feral rage at the uninfected. This is the point where the infected will make themselves known, roving around in packs as they assault uninfected ferociously. Occasionally, if an individual is subdued without significantly impairing their physical function, they will be dragged back to the den and forcibly infected with the parasite.

Our scientists believe that the observed behaviors are only the beginning of Reptitis' potential, and that further research and development would see significant improvements.

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection (1): Twinwolf
Husk Hivers
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf

[Failbird105]

Replenishing Infection (Revision of T. Corpus)

As part of the optimization of our BOW, a more durable host can spread the infection further. By hijacking the body's natural healing and bodily fluid production systems, we can put them into overdrive to prevent the early death of the host. Meaning that the infected hosts fluids such as blood, saliva, and even sufficient quantities of sweat carry and can transmit the parasites and eggs to others. Similarly, this also sends the production of these fluids into overdrive.

From there, we made one last improvement, allowing adult T. Corpus to survive for a moderately extended period outside the body provided they are within a decently warm liquid, allowing them to move between potential hosts via mere contact with the bodily fluids of infectees, rather than ingestion. This makes the T. Corpus hosts notably more resistant to blood loss and minor trauma and far better at spreading the infection.

It does not,  of course, come without symptoms however. In particular the excessive healing comes with a high fever, and the excessive fluid production can lead to all sorts of problems such as high blood pressure, swelling, frequent need to lose the bathroom, slurred speech, and dehydration. In total, Toxoplasma Corpus is liable to be far more obvious an infection, but far more contagious.

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection (1): Twinwolf
Husk Hivers (1): Failbird
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (1): Failbird

[Twinwolf]

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection:
Husk Hivers (1): Failbird
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (2): Failbird, Twinwolf

[Doomblade187]

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection:
Husk Hivers (2): Failbird, Doomblade
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (3): Failbird, Twinwolf, Doomblade

[Taricus]

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection:
Husk Hivers (3): Failbird, Doomblade, Taricus
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (4): Failbird, Twinwolf, Doomblade, Taricus

[chubby2man]

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection:
Husk Hivers (4): Failbird, Doomblade, Taricus, C2M
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (4): Failbird, Twinwolf, Doomblade, Taricus
T.Corpus - Violent Acidic Ejection (1): C2M

I like the Husk Hivers, and upgrading our base zombie seems like a good idea. One concern I have with the replenishing infection upgrade is the transferability through sweat, which seems like a bit of a stretch for a parasite. I get that it’s you know a zombie parasite, but I’m worried that that would be crossing into a more viral territory.
So heres an alternative proposal to improve infection rates; throwing up in peoples faces.


T. Corpus Mod: Violent Acidic Ejection

We have modified the T.Corpus parasites larva phase so that it causes the hosts stomach to produce a more caustic stomach acid in great quantities. The eggs of the T.Corpus parasite are dropped into the acidic stomach where they are held. Some modification are made to the hosts brain to cause a violent ejection of stomach contents upon experiencing a strong emotional or physiological response, such as in a fight.
The stomach acid is strong enough to cause burns on exposed skin and wear away concrete. The eggs can be lodged in the skin, and eventually make their way inside a new host. The “enhanced” stomach acid will eventually wear away the stomach lining and destroy the host, but that process takes months to kill the host.
( T. Corpus hosts vomit a caustic acid on victims, causing painful burns and helping spread the parasite.)

[m1895]

T.Corpus - Regenerative Infection:
Husk Hivers (5): Failbird, Doomblade, Taricus, C2M, m1895
Reptitis (1): Twinwolf
T.Corpus - Replenishing Infection (5): Failbird, Twinwolf, Doomblade, Taricus, m1895
T.Corpus - Violent Acidic Ejection (1): C2M

[Man of Paper]

Bio Phase, Turn 1 Results

Proposal: Husk Hivers
Difficulty: Very Hard
Result: (4+1)-2=3, Buggy Mess [Pun Not Intended]

Husk Hivers are the first parasitic BOW we've made from scratch in-house, so it was bound to hit a few bumps along the way. Husk Hivers are actually nests for parasites that come in a number of forms which all go through the same general stages of growth:

They begin as eggs stored within the stinger of Lesser and Greater Hivers, which average about four centimeters and nine centimeters long, respectively. The eggs get implanted along with an irritant that causes swelling and itchiness, but increases bloodflow to the injection site. If the host's blood isn't carrying Queen Hiver pheremones, the first eggs to hatch will result in Queen Larvae. If there is a Queen Hiver, the pheromones cause the eggs to undergo changes resulting in Lesser and Greater Hiver Larvae.

Lesser Hivers are the most common within a hive, and tend to be "housekeepers". They stick close to the host and are responsible for implanting more eggs within it. Their short existence is very much suicidal, as their stinger will pull off after the first jab and result in it's death. When the host hive is in immediate danger, Lesser Hivers may seek to overwhelm the threat.

Greater Hivers are highly aggressive and will attack anything within range of the Husk Hive Queen's "sphere of influence". They can sting multiple times before being at risk of death, but inject fewer eggs than their Lesser kin. They will go into a frenzy and die soon after exiting the Queen's sphere of influence.

Queen Hivers seek out the heart when born and latch onto it, injecting a chemical cocktail into the bloodstream containing her own pheromones to convert unhatched eggs. This cocktail also drugs the Husk Hive and pushes them to seek isolation as the Lesser Hivers do their work, while ensuring they stay conscious and active for as long as possible. Their pheromone is also emitted from the Husk Hive, but it can only carry about 15 meters in concentrations enough for the Greater Hivers not to, as one researcher eloquently put it, "lose their shit", although environmental factors such as wind may affect that.

The entire process is intensely painful for the host, the Husk Hive, from beginning to end. Infection starts with a burning itch, then a few days later a painful stabbing as something digs it's way to the heart. The inflammation and itching caused by the Lesser Hivers expanding the hive is bad enough to drive the host to madness. As the chemical mix the Queen injects floods the host's brain, the host will flee any and all contact with others. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on where you stand, the constant screaming in pain tends to draw attention.

The host will, eventually, succumb to their internal injuries and die. At this point the Lesser Hivers will enter a feeding frenzy and rapidly strip the host's body down to the bone. During this process they will devour the Queen, sending the Greater Hivers into one last berserk frenzy before the whole nest dies off.

Hivers are absolutely afraid of honey bees, and will flood into their Husk Hive to hide if they sense any nearby.

Husk Hivers have a Stockpile of 2.

----

Proposal: Replenishing Infection (Revision of T. Corpus)
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (5+4)+1=10, Superior

Work on refining the Toxoplasma Corpus parasite went well this month. We increased the hardiness of the eggs so that they could survive and mature in environments other than the stomach. The Toxoplasma Corpus parasites now find themselves attracted to sweat, and salivary, including mucousal, glands, where they will lay eggs and stimulate productions of the various glands' excretions. The parasites can also lay eggs and survive within the circulatory system, meaning a T. Corpus infection can also spread throughout the body quite rapidly. Eggs and living parasites can transmit quite well through contact with infected bodily fluids.

An interesting and unexpected modification to T. Corpus' behavior comes in the form of a "healing factor" for the infected. While it's not actually anything too impressive, if a host's body is injured, adult T. Corpus parasites will rush to the area and act as a sort of coagulant and disinfectant, plugging wounds and eating away at severely damaged flesh. Later stages of infection make this boost to resilience more potent, but even a mild infection can see some level of injury maintenance.

Toxoplasma Corpus infections tend to exhibit dozens of different symptoms, but most common, beyond the feral rage, are fever, constant sweating, and drooling.

----------------

It is now the September Infection Phase! You can select one of each different BOW you have at your disposal and deploy them to any Continent you wish! Remember that you can get as specific as you want with the location the pathogen is deployed at, whether it's the type of environment you want or a certain city. To facilitate not making the votebox give everyone a stroke, please write up and vote for singular plans instead of voting for each possible deployment on an individual basis. Also remember to keep the new Company logo in mind! We'll need one by the end of the turn, as well as the Continent we'll be focusing our public outreach initiatives at.

Spoiler: Pathogenic Research (click to show/hide)

Toxoplasma Corpus: Based off of the Toxoplasma Gondii parasite. T.Corpus infests hosts as eggs in any bodily fluid that hatch worm larvae and spread throughout the hosts, ending in the brain, although an infected subject will have parasites throughout the body. T.Corpus eats the body's tissues and takes over a multitude of system. Infection results in rabid or feral behavior until host death. T.Corpus eggs spread through vomit, feces, blood, mucus, and saliva. Adult parasites act as a coagulant and will actively work to seal wounds. The parasite can live it's entire life cycle within a single host, but can just as easily survive outside of it, provided the parasite is within a bodily fluid. T.Corpus targets vertebrates, but most readily finds it's hosts in humans. Stockpile: 3 (0/3 Deployed)

Husk Hivers: Living beings turned into nests for an aggressive swarm of parasitic bees. The entire process of infection is incredibly painful and drives the host to madness. The bees come in Lesser, Greater, and Queen. Lesser and Greater Hivers are slaved to the Queen of their Husk, and can only go 15 meters from her before losing her scent and their minds and dying. Lessers take care of the nest and expand the hive while Greaters attack any animal or human that gets too close, spreading eggs with their stingers. Once the host dies, the Lesser Hivers devour the corpse and Queen while the Greaters go into a frenzy and die. Hivers will retreat into the hive in the presence of honey bees. Stockpile: 2 (0/2 Deployed)

Spoiler: Mercenary Equipment (click to show/hide)

BRIGANDINE: A highly protective and advanced CRBN suit with good mobility made of plastic, rubber, and aramid fibers. Very durable. Has an amazing air filtration system and backup air supply. The helmet has a powerful lamp and video camera as well as full communications suite and HUD for displaying teammate statuses. A forearm computer allows for control of the suit's subsystems. Stockpile: 5 (0/5 Deployed) // Deployment Limit: Platoon

Samurai Edge: A 9mm semiautomatic handgun with a 15-round magazine. Reliable. Stockpile: Infinite (0/- Deployed) // Deployment Limit: Company

Spoiler: Relations (click to show/hide)

Africa: 0
Antarctica: 0
Asia: 0
Australia: 0
Europe: 0
North America: 0
South America: 0

[m1895]

Husk Hivers Deployed: The South Pole, Antarctica
T. Corpus Deployed: Arturo Prat, Antarctica

Operation: Fuck Antarctica (1): m1895

[Taricus]

Husk Hivers Deployed: Brittany, Europe
T. Corpus Deployed: Rust Belt, America

Operation: Fuck Antarctica (1): m1895
Operation Rust: Zombie (1): Taricus

[chubby2man]

Operation: Fuck Antarctica (1): m1895
Operation Rust: Zombie (2): Taricus, C2M

Works for me.

[Doomblade187]

Operation: Fuck Antarctica (1): m1895
Operation Rust: Zombie (3): Taricus, C2M, Doomblade