Author Topic: Xtrata (Natural Pathogen/Lore)(ready for approval)  (Read 288 times)

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ApatheticExcuse

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Xtrata (Natural Pathogen/Lore)(ready for approval)
« on: January 14, 2017, 04:55:34 am »
Xtrata

Formal Designation/Terran Name: EXO-P-0457 / "The 'Gets"
Common Name: Xtrata, Rastali for "Loss"
Type: Suspected prion, though thus far no concrete evidence to support this has emerged. Assumption based on the lack of evidence pointing to other usual causes such as a virus or bacteria.

Transmission: Unknown, suspect consumption of infected material as main source, though air transmission is likely a factor as well due to the ease of transmission.

Treatment: Not available at this time on an individual level. Scientific consensus indicates rapid quarantine or planetary sterilisation initiated at first detection of symptoms appear to halt inter-planetary spread, though this is widely contested as the initial transmission method is completely unknown.

Weaponized: No, due to the nature of the disease, the time frame it requires to present, a lack of understanding of it's mechanics, and the lack of any effective treatment, Xtrata has been rejected for weaponization by all major races.

Lifeforms Affected: Sentient, organic. Basic makeup appears irrelevant as identified cases of infection in nearly all known sentient, organic life have been documented by the Rastal authorities, though synthetic life appears immune.

Symptoms and Presentation: EXO-P-047 is believed to present itself over the course of days to months after initial infection - due to the lack of ability to detect infection until symptoms begin to present, it is impossible to say with certainty how long an infection has been present. After initial presentation, most infected beings will run the full course of symptoms within as little as two days, and as much as three months. Universal symptoms include loss of cognitive and somatic, and autonomic memory.

Xtrata can be difficult to accurately identify as it is easy to mis-diagnose as a more mundane illness or injury, particularly as it often initially targets individuals susceptible to loss of mental acuity via other means before moving to the rest of the population.

Initial Discovery: EXO-P-047 was likely encountered early in mankind's travels into the stars, but due to it's nature, remained unreported for some time. First official contact with the disease occured during the initial border conflicts with the Rastal, and it was suspected to be some form of previously unseen viral weapon. The human administration operated under this assumption for the duration of the active fighting, as several frontier outposts fell victim to the disease. This has since been credited to the movement of troops between the afflicted worlds rather than an active attempt to spread the illness. Diplomatic contacts with the Rastal government after the official cessation of active hostility indicate losses from the disease during the conflict as well, and that their awareness of EXO-P-047 reaches back several hundred years to their entry into interstellar space.

Among the other fashions in which EXO-P-047 is unique, it is also one of the few areas in which both human and Rastal governments have agreed fully to co-operate and share knowledge despite ongoing hostility in nearly every other matter - a good indicator of the perceived danger of the disease.

Example Of Typical Case:

Patient 110453 is a physically fit human male of roughly 17 years of age, retrieved from merchant ship Dasher, registered as operating near present Terran border.

Note: Despite being registered to an area near the far edge of human space, Dasher was discovered adrift deep inside Rastal space, and would likely have simply been listed as "missing" in the official registries in any other circumstance. On initial boarding, the Rastal team discovered the rest of the crew had expired some months previous, with patient 110453 surviving only via cryogenic storage. It is assumed he was one of the first to present symptoms, and was frozen in an effort to halt the disease's progression and protect the rest of the crew. While the former was temporarily effective, the latter was not, and all other hands appear to have succumbed to the illness shortly afterwards.

The following log is several dozen pages in length in original form, and has been edited here for the sake of brevity.

Day 0 - Immediately after retrieval, Patient 110453 expressed confusion as to his location, recalling his previous location as "a ship, probably". It is worth noting that his recollection of the ship's layout, name, and crew appear incredibly vague or non-existent, though he is capable of recognising certain elements from his previous surroundings that make him believe he was on a craft. Basic testing reveals he is also unsure of many basic, common-knowledge facts and events.

Day 2 - Patient 110453 no longer responds to his name, and cannot recall simple tasks such as tying shoes or operating the lights in his containment cell. Verbal abilities also decline, though the patient does seem aware of this and frustrated by it, something not typical in EXO-P-047 cases. Concurrently, patient forgets social norms in bodily elimination of waste, and seems to be unable to be made aware that he is moving his bowls or urinating, or that he should not do so freely.

Day 3 - While attempting to converse with medical staff during mealtime, patient 110453 suddenly appears to lose focus and becomes non-verbal. Staff present at the time indicate that his expression became noticeably "glassy". In addition, the patient appears to have forgotten basic sustenance tasks such as chewing, swallowing, or even moving, though he is able to be moved around the room with guidance.

Later in the day, patient's condition had degraded to the point that guided movement was no longer possible. Scans indicate his brain seems to have simply halted somatic functions.

Day 4 - Patient 110453 expires, his body having ceased autonomic functions such as breathing or signalling the heart to beat. Autopsy reveals that the patient should still be alive and in impeccable help. In the words of the coroner, he "seems to have just forgotten how to be alive". Remains incinerated.


((So, it's an always fatal disease that kills you by making you forget everything, down to how to breathe. It affects everything that isn't a robot of some kind, and no one knows how it spreads, where it came from, or even really what it is. It will spread to everyone on a planet (and usually already has by the time the first symptoms show up, though this is hard to pin down IC, and it's possible that it actually takes quite a bit longer to infect everyone), but is more common on board space ships that spend great amounts of time travelling between systems, such as merchant ships.

As the creator, I will say here and now this will never be weaponized. For one, it doesn't kill quick enough to be useful, and for two, it's one of the few things/problems in the galaxy that pretty much every sentient race is willing to co-operate in solving (though only humans and Rastal are mentioned here as the description is written from the human perspective) because it's that potentially devastating to organic life.

Space just wasn't scary enough for me.))
« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 02:12:44 am by Discord »
Gone. Cheers guys.

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ApatheticExcuse

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Re: Xtrata (Natural Pathogen)
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2017, 04:12:50 pm »
If for some reason it actually matters how this is spread, I can provide that info as well as an origin (it's neither a prion nor technically natural, and can be cured in an unorthodox manner), but I think it's more fun to leave it vague and the actual post somewhat IC.
Gone. Cheers guys.

ApatheticExcuse

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Re: Xtrata (Natural Pathogen/Lore)(ready for approval)
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2017, 06:05:14 am »
Just a bump. I think this might be needed for something I want to do shortly.
Gone. Cheers guys.

guest48

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Re: Xtrata (Natural Pathogen/Lore)(ready for approval)
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2017, 07:41:06 am »
not sure if i actually have magic approval powers, but approved

Siege-Loli

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Re: Xtrata (Natural Pathogen/Lore)(ready for approval)
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2017, 02:02:30 pm »
Man I love space AIDS.

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