Hybrids

Pilots with distinctly non-human traits were identified early in the Human-Vannai War, both in cooperative Pilots and mentally-subjugated Puppets acting as processor units for enemy Suits. The reason for the existence of these individuals was a topic of speculation throughout the war, all the way until the recovery of Prisoner One during the assault on the Vannai Mothership in 2017, which led to the confirmation that these individuals had Vannai genes spliced into their DNA, effectively making them Human-Vannai hybrids. Some had already assumed a direct relation between elves and the Vannai due to their resistance to Wilder Syndrome and the fact that of all Puppeted Pilot corpses that had not been reduced to only a Cyberbrain had similar features, but the actual reason the Vannai would bother doing such a thing was not known until the Japanese Empire shared the data the Engineers had hoarded on the aliens from Operation Fastball, where it was learned that the most likely reason was due to the Vannai attempting to cultivate a microorganism they called "Ligma" in hybrid blood. This news was received with mixed reaction by the Pilot community, among which "elves" had always been a tiny minority already subject to some prejudice.
To the public at large, however, the knowledge that elves were part alien never amounted to anything more than an easily-ignored rumour. People simply accepted, with remarkable readiness, that elves were part of the global population now, and from the onset of their existence elves enjoyed a degree of popularity and public fascination that has only grown since the war's end. This is largely due to most humans considering elves to be highly attractive and exotic, along with the potential for celebrity status that can come with being a Pilot. In light of their universal sterility, enterprising elves both male and female often chose to give up their Suits and become high-class sex workers to make a much safer and easier living, directly resulting in their gaining an unfavorable reputation among Pilots as having a predisposition for hedonism, laziness and cowardice (although the lazy, cowardly and debauched behaviors of human Pilots did not receive the same criticism from their peers). This physical attractiveness has also led to a persistent myth of elves possessing some form of hypnosis over humans, though the truth is rather more pathetic.
As a subspecies of humanity created by artificial means, all currently living elves were once human, and up until recently all elves were also once Pilots. The Engineers' Kappa Facility, which had been repurposed to aid in developing a cure for Wilder Syndrome, eventually independently expanded its goals towards restoring the genetic viability of Human-Vannai hybrids, which proceeded for the next two years until the facility's sabotage and death of most of the staff. Japan's discovery and recovery of the data the facility held allowed the Imperial Science Academy to complete this work, adding it to the successful "Advanced Human" program that produced individuals such as Hana Tanabe and Izumi Fujimaki. In this way, the Japanese were able to grow their own community of "civilian" elves that had never been Pilots, and furthermore enable them to propagate with humans or with other elves as a proper species rather than relying on gene therapy (ironically doing more for the Pilots as a group than the Engineers ever did). This gene therapy became one of the very few items that would be exported out of Japan following their rejection of the perverse Engineer government, allowing anyone with enough money to become an elf (albeit a sterile one). Humans that have been transformed into elves using the gene therapy method have an increased chance of undergoing what would be a rare occurrence using the Suit-method, having their skin darken and hair turn white or silver, producing what is known as a "Dark Elf".
Compared to a human, elves have better hearing and eyesight owing to these being physically larger, though only slightly in the case of the latter and of varying degrees in the former, as ear length can vary by individual. Elven reflexes are considered to be almost always better than a human's. It is assumed that elves have longer lifespans than humans, but as they have only been around since 2014 this remains to be seen.
===Strigoi===
Strigoi are a pseudo-mutation of elf originally encountered in Romania, caused by physiological and psychological changes brought on by infestation with a parasite, Toxoplasma sighis. Once the parasite spreads to the brain, it will multiply and eventually form cysts in the amygdala and frontal cortex, causing the psychotic behavioral changes that the Strigoi are known for: paranoia, jealousy, haughtiness and a hunger for human flesh and blood. T. sighis will also collect in the eyes of the host. Not only does this tend to cause the host's eyesight to degrade from lesions in the retina, but the T. sighis bradyzoites' metallic coating will also cause light passing through the retinas to be partially reflected, making the host almost blind in daylight. This does present an interesting advantage in low-light conditions, however, granting the host a rough equivalent to a tapetum lucidum (eyeshine) found in nocturnal hunters (though the mechanics are closer to examples found in spiders rather than mammals).
The microscopic parasites can be transmitted from person to person via body fluids (blood, saliva, etc.) but do not affect humans. Class A Cyberbrains, being cybernetic, are also unaffected by the parasite. Genetically, Strigoi are still simply elves afflicted by an infectious disease; they are not considered a separate or sub-species of elf. The psychological effects follow the physiological changes, and even should the damage done by the parasite somehow be repaired, the psychosis will remain.
For reasons that are probably readily apparent, they are commonly just referred to as 'Vampires'.
===Failed Hybrids===
The most significant effect of the creation of these hybrids was the unlocking the possibility of further human hybridization, with the methods used by the Vannai to bridge the gap between two species separated by interstellar distances adopted by humanity to create further artificial species. Human-Vannai hybridization still forms the foundation for many independent human-modification projects. Extensive cloning and gene-splicing experiments took place at the Engineers' Kappa Facility, producing a large number of artificial Human-Vannai hybrids. While the intent was for these clones to be grown brain-dead in order to study their living biology easily, the last generation of clones produced in Kappa were instead still functional and possessed feral, savage demeanor, leading to the death of the staff involved, as well as EuF operative Eddy Wójcik during a later investigatory mission.
Another known example of hybridization experimentation was encountered on Che En Lin's island in 2021. Although almost nothing is known about these "Mo Gui", their unique traits suggest a departure from the common methods of producing hybrids. Compared to a typical elf, they possessed a pronounced overbite that gave them a permanent fanged sneer, with a flattened nose and slit-like nostrils. Major physiological differences included increased upper body strength and oddly saurian-like legs, with a digitigrade structure with three clawed phalanges and a clawed calcaneus. Given their impressive resilience to damage and their responsiveness to Feycraft's psychotron, they may have also been intentionally infected with Radiologic Animation Bacteria.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:TE Species