Scoiris

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The Scoiris is a fungus, originating from Neihrenspried. It evolved in labolatory enviorment, originally being constructed as a bioweapon against Neihrenspried, developed by resistance, specifically by Nikolas Thornvell and Cryon. It occurs in Eldham, more specificaly in Myrtles abandoned mines and caves, and Novastonias town Alfelvellir where it's undergoing research by SRT led by Thylas Kamirek-Nuwan
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Scoiris was created in resistance labolatory. It's original creators were Nikolas Thornvell and Cryon who planned on using the Scoiris as a bioweapon against Neihernspried. Over the course of a week the scoiris would grow and evolve in chambers. One day the scoiris has shown to be aggressive in growth, shattering chambers glass exposing Nikolas to the spores. Soon after he became the patient zero, infecting others, mainly cryon. Going unnoticed the scoiris spread widely in the myrtles caves and old mines, eventually finding it's way to the outside and infecting a nearby village. Soon enough the new threat was recognized and the village was destroyed along with scoiris growing there. Not long after Nikolas was exposed as one of the infected and caught by resistance leader Sidja Foryel-Goldnyr and Mojas. They have developed a prototype cure and cured Nikolas, Cryon and other victims. After that Nikolas and Cryon recontained Scoiris and begun their work on better treatment for infected civilians. Soon after the resistance was disbanded and Nikolas died, leaving the labolatory unsupervised which led to Scoiris break out and slowly spread over the next 20 years. 
=== SRT - Scoiris Research Team ===
Around 20 years after Nikolas's death, scoiris has found new victims. Five civilians from Myrtle has disappeared, leading to creation of a search party led by Thylas Kamirek-Nuwan. Upon the discovery of Scoiris and early Stage 5 victims, Thylas arranged SRT (Scoiris Research Team) who worked in the abandoned Scoiris labolatory. After a breakout of a Stage 5A infectant, everyone from original SRT left, leaving Thylas alone, who then transported some samples over seas to his town, AlfelVellir, where he set up a labolatory and begun intense work on scoiris treatment.
== Propagation ==
=== Spreading ===
Scoiris spreads in 4 main ways. First is spreading by spores, that are released either by blossoming scoiris grass, or mushrooms. These spores will use wind to travel long distances and settle on the ground, acting like a seed and growing into scoiris clusters. Second way is spreading through roots of trees. These roots will spread over the area of up to 100m in diameter. These roots will then come out of the ground and spread around, completing the cycle and building up into more trees and covering more space. Third way is With the infection fluid or so called ,,glow juice". It is produced naturally in vines and trees, that will eventually discharge the fluid buildup, eventually reaching water supply and travelling long distances thanks to rivers and creeks. This fluid will sometimes infect any sprouting flora, creating new scoiris clusters. Fourth way is decomposing infected animals. Once infected fauna is unusable for the infection, either by loss of necessery for survival bodily fluids or by some other force, their corspes decompose up to 8x faster than usual, releasing the surviving Scoiris that will then infect the surroundings
=== Ways of infection ===
The methods of infection are divided into two types, directly and indirectly. These two types divide into their own ways of spreading the infection. Depending on those two types are ways of preventing the infection.
==== Direct infection ====
Direct infection is a plant->patient type. This type is used to discribe a situation where the victim is infected through inhaling spores, exposure to infection fluid and consumption of the fungi. As to the first 2 ways, best way of preventing the infection is a mask or cloth to cover any airways, and thick clothing to prevent infection fluid from contact with the body. If you were to consume a piece of the fungi, most effective way it forced puke.
==== Indirect infection ====
Indirect infection means patient->patient contagion. It can be done by exchange of bodily fluids like saliva, blood, sweat, urine etc. Most commonly it happens in case of infected animals, biting the victim and contaminating the wound with saliva. In that case the only way to prevent infection is immediate injection of the cure directly to the wound.
=== Infection stages ===
It is possible to get infected in many ways. The most noticable are: Inhaling spores, exposure to infection fluid, consumption, exchange of bodily fluids (saliva, blood etc.). Infection has been divided into 5 stages, the incubation phase, spread phase, lichen phase, manifestation phase and victim consumption. 
==== Stage 1 ,,incubation phase'' ====
Course and symptoms of this stage depend on the way of patients infection.
Course of incubation phase (Direct infection)
Type 	Incubation time	Immediate
Symptoms	Prolonged
Symptoms
Spore inhalation	5h-2d 	•Throat irritation;
•Dry cough	•Sinus pain;
•Dry cough;
•Frequent hiqqups
Fluid exposure 	3h-2d 	•Skin irritation;
•Melanin decay;	•Rash;
•Strong itch;
•Alopecia
Consumption 	12h-4d 	—	•Diarrea;
•Nasuea;
•Acid reflux;
•Abdomenal pain
Course of incubation phase (Indirect infection)
Type (bodily fluid
exchange through wound)	Time 	Immediate
Symptoms	Prolonged
Symptoms
Saliva	2h-1d 	•Rash;
•Increased pain	•Wound necrosis (unlikely);
•Hemostasis failure
Blood 	1h-12h	—	•Fatigue;
•Dizzyness;
•Insomnia;
•Hemostasis failure
Other 	5h-3d 	—	•Hemostasis failure;
•Rash
==== Stage 2 ,,spread phase'' ====
This stage begins after the incubation. The infection will grow into tiny ringworms and spread all around you body. It will target muscles, bones and nervous system. During that stage, victims experience light pain in parts of body where it incubated, pain in the spine as well as fatigue and dizziness.
==== Stage 3 ,,lichen phase'' ====
Now that Scoiris has spread all over the victims body, the ringworms will latch onto the muscles of the victim, causing strong pain in the body. Additionally victims will experience nausea, uncontrolled muscle movements, spasms, blackouts and short term memory loss. Victims will deny any possibility of infection and will avoid any medical help as the scoiris arrives at the victims brain and begin its takeover. At the end of this stage victims iris change colour into cyan or yellow. Infectants will also seek the nearest infection source and develop affection to scoiris. The infection will also weaken victims immune system.
==== Stage 4 ,,manifestation phase'' ====
In this phase recovery from infection is unlikely. Scoiris will completely take over victims nervous system and motor functions. It will silent the consciousness of the infected and implement it's hive mind. During this phase vines grow inside of the victims body, some creating a secondary vein system. These vines will eventually gently pierce through victims skin. It is common that small mushrooms will grow on victims body, which might release spores. Victims skin will begin to rot and decay leaving blueish flesh, which upon being cured will leave deep scarring. By now it is imposible to make contact with the victim as the zombified body will seek people who are not infected and force them into infection. In some cases, stage 4 infectants are able to hide traces of infection and mimic victims behavior to the point of nearly indistinguishable. Cured patients report that they were able to feel and see all that Scoiris would do with their body.
==== Stage 5 ,,victim consumption'' ====
Even though this stage is unlikely to occur, in some cases the infectants will enter some kind of cocoon filled with infection fluid. In the cocoon infectants mind will be completely wiped out while Scoiris takes absolute controll over the body. Flesh of the victim will slowly disintegrade and be replaces with Scoiris artificial mass, that acts as a highly flexible base for the body. The infectants after this stage divide into two subclasses: Subclass A is a humanoid entity, it moves fast, has longer limbs and its teeth are more like a canines. Their body is protected by a material that resembles scoiris tree bark. Subclass B are entities that take various shapes, most commonly spider looking monster with long sharp teeth. They move slow but are strong and grow up to 6 meters high.
Note: Treatment of stage 5 is not feasable. The only solution is to eliminate these sepcimen either by cutting head off, using higly concentrated cure or usage of explosives.
== Biology ==
=== Scoiris vines ===
Vines are the primary form of scoiris. They have two main variants, the first one grows on the ground surface. It takes form of thick cyan vines. They will often sprout small flowers and leaves. These vines generally are made of four main parts: The sack is the walls of the vine and what is visible outside. It has the iconic cyan color. It absorbs humidity from the air. Second layer is a sponge-like mass that is constantly wet in infected water. It is the part where water absorbed from the enviorment is turned into the glow juice. Third layer is the shield and it protects the veins transporting the glow juice. Fourth layer is the veins in the middle of the vines, that transport the glow juice. These vines often drill into the ground and find caves to spread in. Another type of vines are called sprouts. They're thin and grow upwards to the sky, with a slight tilt to the north. They are mostly filled with glow juice, only having enough scoiris fungi mass to cover the yellow glow within. These vines eventually grow into eachother creating the Everblue. 
=== The Everblue ===
Everblue is a tree-like structure specific to scoiris, created when 3 or more vines grow into eachother. The eventually merge and in the process leak glow juice, that will then harden and form a kind of purpleish tree bark. Top of the vines will form into tree crown and grow leaves. These trees will collect glow juice build up in large blisters on the tree crown and bark. If too much glow juice builds up in these blisters, they will pop with great pressure and cover nearby area, creating a threat of infection.
=== Glow juice ===
This yellow glowing fluid is a carrier of nutrients for scoiris. It has a viscous texture and is said to have a lemon taste. It's present in every part of scoiris. This fluid is extremelly infectious, and will cause rash, loss of skin pigmentation and hair loss. If it has contact with skin it will cause immediate infection and it's unlikely to prevent it.
=== Shroom lights ===
Shroom lights are collectives of glow juice, that appear on everblues and ground vines. They are created when the veins inside scoiris pop and glow juice finds its way to the very surface of the vines. It then forms some kind of bubble that glows intensively. Its surface hardens and makes it hard to break. The immense light emmited by these shroom lights might cause vision issues after prolonged exposure to it.
=== Scoiris mushroom ===
These mushroom grow on infected soil. They are cyan and have orange spots on them that show glow juice inside. They are said to have a good taste and are the fastest way of infection through digenstion. Sometimes these mushrooms eject spores that travel through the air and contaminate more area.
=== The devils compass ===
It is a specific Scoiris flower caused by successful sprout bubbles, little by little, the juice adapts to the air and the bubble expands in 4 directions in which the juice expands, they are the petals and due to the low juice focus in the center, it takes an orange color in the middle, getting more light colored as it nears the end of the petals, this flower glows in the dark and it always points to the location with the highest amount of infection (usually being the  center of the area).
=== Scoiris grass ===
It's a scoiris specific grass type tat grows up to a meter. Their tops are filled with spores and they often eject them to infect more area. They have a short lifespam due to very low amount of glow juice, lasting roughly three days.
== Behaviour ==
The scoiris has developped a kind of hive mind. Hosts are able to feel if other infectants are in danger and can communicate on long distances. It can take complete controll over hosts motor functions and consciousness. The Scoiris feeds on hosts bodily fluids to survive, once all nutrients are gone the host dies however the parasite keeps control of the body, in that case hosts body will quickly rot and become "unusable", however the death of a host is unlikely as Scoiris doesn't need lots of humidity to feed on. The process might take months or even years.
== Treatment & management ==
=== Cure ===
A cure for scoiris has been fully developed by Thylas Kamirek-Nuwan following instruction left by Nikolas Thornvell, however it comes with terrible sideeffects for stages 3 and 4, including permamently breaking down infectants melanin causing pale skin and discoloured hair, may cause internal bleeding and scars deep permament scarring on spots where vines would grow. Permament respiratory, nervous and muscle system malfunction. In some cases it will cause mental instability like depression, mania, masochism. Cured infectants will need several months of carefull physical therapy in order to return to full health, although chance of full recovery is very unlikely.
Scoiris cure recipe example: Glow Berry + alcohol + GlowJuice \ce{->[\ce{Boiled ~15min}]} Scoiris Cure
=== Vaccine ===
Vaccine is currently in production, due to it's unstable composition it has 7%±1% effectiveness, in ~60% will cause complications variating from slight fever and halucinations, to causing more serious complications like weakening patients immune system and exposing patient to serious diseases. In remaining ~34% it will be ineffective and will not cause any complications. Using this vaccine is prohibited for the time being, leaving other prevention measures like face masks and protective clothing. Vacciness are mostly based on a compund found in glow berries and glow juice neutralised with alcohol, all added to a neihernspried vaccine. The making process is different from cure and there is no specific method of production.
=== Containment methods ===
Scoiris is hard to contain due to it's egressive growth. It is recommended to use hardened glass, obsidian, iron and any rock with high impact resistance. Scoiris should be held in steryle enviorement with little to no sunlight and no access to fresh air. As for protection its best to use cloth masks in order to avoid inhaling spores and thick clothing to prevent glow juice from contact with skin. All clothes contaminated with scoiris are to be burnt to ash.
=== Weaknesses ===
Scoiris has only three weaknesses that directly neutralise it. First is fire damage. Even though it's not flammable due to it's high humidity, it is sensitive to high temperatures. Another is freezing temperatures. If humidity inside scoiris is frozen, it will not be able to operate and can be even shattered and destroyed. Third weakness is alcohol, which is a component of scoiris cures. Alcohol reacts with scoiris causing it to loose humidity and die. Cures based on alcohol are most effective but presence of it in them is the cause of treatment complications.
Category:Fungi
Category:Lore
Category:Biota
Category:Disease
Category:Traveler's Era