. 1. Infectant Form
Behavior and Characteristics:
The virus spreads primarily through bodily fluids, including blood and saliva. Bites from infected individuals are the most common transmission method, similar to rabies.
Incubation Period: After transmission, there is a short incubation period (12–24 hours) where the virus replicates rapidly in the host's cells, particularly targeting the nervous system.
Symptoms: Early symptoms include fever, chills, muscle aches, and neurological symptoms such as confusion and aggression. The virus manipulates the host's behavior to increase the likelihood of spreading the infection.
Infectiousness: Hosts in the Infectant form exhibit highly aggressive behavior, driven by neural hijacking that increases biting and scratching actions, thus enhancing transmission.
2. Mutagen Form
Behavior and Characteristics:
Mutation Trigger: Certain environmental factors (e.g., exposure to radiation, chemical pollutants) or prolonged infection can trigger the virus to enter the Mutagen form. This form allows the virus to adapt to various conditions and hosts.
Physical Changes: The host may exhibit significant physical changes, such as increased strength, altered limb morphology (e.g., claw-like hands), and heightened senses. This is due to the virus manipulating host DNA and inducing rapid mutations.
Survivability: The mutated hosts can survive in more extreme environments, such as high-radiation areas or chemically contaminated zones, where normal humans and many other organisms would perish.
Transmission: While still transmissible through bites and scratches, the Mutagen form can also release airborne spores under certain conditions, making it more contagious.
3. Controlling Form
Behavior and Characteristics:
Parasite-like Control: In this form, the virus evolves into a parasite-like entity that takes over the host's central nervous system completely. This can be compared to the behavior of certain parasitic fungi and protozoa.
Behavioral Manipulation: The host exhibits complex behaviors aimed at spreading the parasite, including coordinated attacks, nest building, and herding uninfected humans into areas where infection is more likely.
Intelligence: The virus imparts collective intelligence to its hosts, allowing for coordinated group behavior similar to that of ant or bee colonies. Infected individuals communicate through pheromones or chemical signals.
Long-term Goals: The primary objective of this form is to create a stable environment for the virus to thrive. Infected hosts work together to build a community that supports the parasite's life cycle, including protecting and nurturing new hosts.
Lifecycle and Progression
1. Infection and Spread (Infectant Form): The virus spreads rapidly through initial infection, causing chaos and increasing its reach.
2. Adaptation and Mutation (Mutagen Form): Under stress or in response to environmental factors, the virus mutates, creating more resilient and dangerous hosts.
3. Domination and Control (Controlling Form): The virus eventually transitions to controlling its hosts, establishing a stable environment for its propagation.
zombies store nutrition as crystals that the mutagen carries and crystallizes itself for evolution and as a reserve and that is how they are able to drink and eat so much blood and meat
and each set of virus changes so much that it kind of become subspecies, which is why merging is hard and that is why, after maturation, they seek dominance