Techrot

The Techrot are a faction encountered in Höllvania, teased during Whispers in the Walls and were formally introduced in The Hex quest.
The Techrot are a precursor strain of theTennoCon 2024 Artist Deep Dive - Infested Mall Concept by Kory Cromie that fester within the underground caves of 1999. Blending organic decay with retro machinery, the Techrot voraciously consumes technology and data. Old CRT monitors, keyboards, and tangled wires emerge grotesquely from the affected environment, birthing entities crafted from these distorted, corrupted machines.
The take increased damage from and damage, but resist damage.
==Overview==
Unlike other Infested strains, the Techrot displays a dependence on technology, usually being only capable of propagating and spreading via wiring and circuitry. It consumes and digests any nearby data and tech, such as computers, arcade machines, internet cables, and speakers, while spitting out contorted entities of twisted wires and computer monitors that violently shamble towards any uninfected target. To further its spread, the Techrot also employs the use of glowing, flower-like lures to draw in potential victims.
In some cases, it creates actual humanoid entities, such as the Legacyte, and can propagate through human hosts, as seen by the Hex and Eleanor specifically. Depending on how evolved it is, instances of Techrot can even express limited human emotion.
==Lore & History==
Due to an unknown reason, an outbreak of Techrot arose within the city-state of Höllvania. The year 1999 would have come to be known as the "Plague Year""I went among the denizens of the plague year like a savior, my hands filled with healing." - Albrecht's Notes, the Vessels, after the Techrot had significantly overrun the city, leading to a mass quarantine and declaration of martial law, giving control of the state over to the for decontamination. While the Scaldra have mostly controlled the outbreak on the surface, the Techrot continues to conquer the underground areas of Höllvania, such as its transit railways."If the Scaldra control the streets, the Infested runs rampant in the underground. You'll need to explore this subterranean area to navigate freely — but enter cautiously, or you may find yourself quickly outnumbered and out of options." - 1999 update page blurb
===Testudo Syndrome===
Before journalist Eleanor Nightingale published the article "The Techrot Festering Beneath Höllvania", Techrot was referred to as Testudo, meaning "Turtle", because one of the earliest and most distinct symptoms was a hardening of patches of skin. With the use of Helminth infusions, these same patches would become "armor" for the members of the Hex.
===Creation of the Technocyte Coda===
Intercepted e-mails between the music agency HitMaker Music and a Director from the Höllvanian government reveal that the Techrot has existed since at least the year , where it was employed for the Technocyte Coda project. The manager of HitMaker, Gregory V, sought to use the Coda to innovate in the music industry, using the superstar boy band On-lyne as the basis for the project.Good morning Director, it is my pleasure to inform you that HitMaker Music accepts your offer. There's a smokin' young secretary faxing you our signed NDAs as I type this. Everyone here looks forward to hearing more about the Technocyte Coda project. As they say, nothing beats Höllvania innovation! This promises to be a fine partnership.
Keep up the good work. - Hacked Emails, December 1998
On February 1998, Gregory V delivered DNA samples of the boys to the Director, and was impressed by how quickly progress was being done on the project.I'm happy to hear that the boys' samples arrived safely. Hairbrushes from pop star dressing rooms leading to major technological advancement... It's amazing, when you think about it! I hope you get what you want out of them. What was it again? DNA? You've made incredible progress on the Technocyte Coda project in just a few short months. Nothing like loose regulations to encourage innovation, I suppose. Your broken eggs make the most delicious omelets. We love that about Höllvania! - Hacked Emails, February 1998
By August 1998, the Director reports that the Coda are predictable, standardized, and controlled, to which Gregory V approves, leading to the manager to further anticipate seeing them in play.Been thinking a lot lately about some words I saw in your Technocyte Coda debrief: predictable, standardized, and controlled. Music to my eyes right now. The only thing predictable about pop stars these days is their whining and complaining. Fame really goes to their perfectly coiffed heads. How are things going with the Technocyte Coda? I can't wait to meet these new and improved stars. - Hacked Emails, August 1998
By December 1999, the Director and the manager propose to have the prototype Coda eventually replace On-lyne, starting with having the Coda conduct off-camera interviews, and they soon hope to be able to replicate the physical traits of the band.I think it's an inspired idea to have the prototype Technocyte Coda replace the boys for spoken interviews. We'll use the scripts you provided, and I'll make sure no cameras are present. The boys will remain on standby for in-person appearances only. Here's to hoping the Technocyte Codas will soon be able to replicate the boys' physical appearance too. - Hacked Emails, December 1999
===Albrecht Entrati's Foray into 1999===
In this point of history, the Orokin scientist Albrecht Entrati would travel back to the past and come visit, offering his aid and services to the citizens suffering from the Techrot plague, becoming known under names like "Dr. Entrati" or "Doktor Friday". To the ones who volunteered, however, Albrecht offered more than a cure: Helminth infusions from his time. Many of the volunteering patients passed away in medical operation,"Aren't you forgetting the hospitals full of dead people he tested on before us?" - Aoi, 1999 comic but the few that did not would have successfully become partial Warframes called Protoframes."To those who volunteered, I brought more than health. Their bodies were primed; it needed only the Helminth infusions, brought from my own time, to work the alchemy of transformation. They have become partial Warframes, still in possession of their free will, yet enhanced, Void-attuned, capable." - Albrecht's Notes, the VesselsThe survivors would come to form the group known as The Hex.
===Suspicious Correspondence===
Somewhere in Höllvania, a shell game development company, Digital Extremes (the in-universe counterpart), has put up waivers requesting developers for a game called WAR SECTOR. Unbeknownst to one Sam Paige, who would be hired by the company's automated screening systems,"Thanks very much for the warm welcome! I’m really excited to start my first day. And so soon, too! Honestly, I couldn’t believe I got hired without any interviews… Digital Extremes's screening process really must be state of the art. I guess that's what I should expect from the best in the business." - Suspicious Correspondence, 01_Lure.kin no one actually works in the Digital Extremes offices in Hollvania,"Hope you're doing well! I just wanted to check in since I haven't heard very much from the rest of the team yet. Actually, I haven't really heard from anyone yet. It's a bit of a ghost town here right now." - Supicious Correspondence, 02_Cheat.kin and the company's recruitment process was bastardized by the Techrot to unintentionally lure in unsuspecting people by scraping off code and data. Albrecht Entrati would later comment on their failure to quarantine the Techrot within the company's offices, and criticize their attempt to employ the Techrot as an artificial intelligence to advance game development."How unfortunate. It would appear my firebreak was insufficient to the task of sealing off this unsightly ordeal. Playing with such an invasive organism as if it were common clay… Gauging the limits of its creative ability for the purposes of, ugh, popular entertainment. Folly. Worse than that: a waste of precious time. As this site now appears able to lure fresh meat into its charnel halls — unintentionally, I might wager, as it mindlessly mimics data long since absorbed — it has become too dangerous to leave to simple quarantine. Even scraps of technology derived from these aborted tests will already be infested. The very source code is now amenable to contagion." Suspicious Correspondence, 06.Contact.kin
==Missions==
==Enemies==
*Techrot Galliflex - This aggressive melee unit dashes at enemies, lashing out with frenzied strikes.
*Techrot Volatile Galliflex - This self-sacrificing unit ignites its subsumed propane tank and then charges its prey, for the survival of the Hive.
*Techrot Miasmite - These tiny nodules of Techrot are the diabolic union of an arc welder and a gas can. Usually attacking in groups, they explode as soon as they near their target.
*Techrot Matmas- This tottering, bulbous Techrot creation can inflate bladders to become airborne, raining down destruction on those below.
*Techrot Skuzzi- Once a simple workstation, the servant has turned against its former masters.
*Techrot Obsolyte - Even redundant technology is given new life through the Technocyte Virus.
*Techrot Babau - The rapid decay of human ingenuity produces daemons. Often found growing on neglected Hell-Scrubbers.
==Notes==
*Despite being considered an Infested strain, Faction Damage Mods against Infested have no effect on Techrot.
==Trivia==
*During the 1999 segment of Whispers in the Walls, Techrot Galliflex are introduced but were not named in the HUD, and were instead labeled as "????".
*Despite their obvious connections, the Techrot are considered a separate Faction from the Infested. They are displayed in their own section within the Codex, and will fight Infested if spawned alongside each other in the Simulacrum.
**While the Techrot and the Infested are presumably the same entity (the Technocyte Virus), they display odd evolutionary differences from each other. Uniquely, prior to the introduction of the Mutalist Strain, the Infestation could only infest living things, and not mechanical entities. Meanwhile, the Techrot is primarily able to infect machines, but has a difficult time infecting humans or other living objects.
==Gallery==
File:TechrotSigil.png
File:Arthur vs Techrot.jpg
File:1999 Infested concept.webp|Concept art
File:1999 Infested Mall.jpg
==Patch History==
es:Techrot
Category:1999