Ozryel

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Name:  Ozryel

Notes:  Ozryel are an ancient parasitic species that requires humans for use as both food and as a means of reproduction.  Their vector for a human turning into an Ozryel is a capillary worm, which, once introduced into the human host's bloodstream (either through an Ozryel's feeding or direct invasion by the worm through a wound or orifice), introduces an incurable and fast-acting virus.  By manipulating the host's genes, the virus causes a human to undergo numerous, radical physical changes.

The origins of the Ozryel species predates known history and their active efforts to keep their existence as majorly removed from knowledge as possible.  As such, only those few who actively oppose their spread in human communities have kept human and human related governments aware of the threat the Ozryel pose.  Still, due to known and theorized Ozryel colonies in the dark depths of space, the species continues to resist eradication.  Combined with their knack for expanding their numbers, this makes the species seem to have the same mythical survivability as the infamous cockroach.

Due to the continued lack of reliable records regarding the Ozryel species, it is unknown how the virus they use to reproduce affects any species other than humans.  It is even questionable how it would affect human off-shoots and mixed descent individuals.  However, it is theorized that those genetically similar enough to base humans would be similarly affected.  That is, assuming it didn't prove fatal to the host instead of mutative.

[b]Physiology[/b]

The first and most distinct Ozryel adaptation is the development of a long, retractile proboscis beneath the host's tongue, capable of extending up to six feet from the mouth. This "stinger" is both the Ozryel's feeding and reproductive mechanism, shooting forth to latch onto human prey's throat or thigh, both draining the victim's blood for nutrition and infecting the human with capillary worms. The Ozryel's jaw is set at a lower hinge than a human, the mouth gaping like a snake's when the stinger is deployed. As the structure of the stinger is modified tissue from the human lungs and throat, Ozryel are incapable of physical speech once the stinger is deployed, beforehand; grunts and rudimentary monosyllabic speech is still possible (words like mama, papa, love, help, cold, et cetera).

An Ozryel's physical appearance is governed mainly by the host body shedding those human traits that are obsolete to its new life cycle. Hair and fingernails are gradually lost, while the external nose and ears atrophy, leaving a fully matured Ozryel's skin as smooth and featureless as marble. The Ozryel's complexion is extremely pale between feedings, but appears a flushed red following a recent blood-meal. Eye coloration consists of a black pupil surrounded by a red sclera, with a white nictitating membrane sliding across for protection. The middle fingers of both hands grow and strengthen, and a thick talon develops in place of the lost fingernail. As Ozryel reproduction is achieved through viral infection of hosts and not through any sexual mechanism, the human genitalia also atrophy, leaving a mature Ozryel with no discernible sex.

The digestive and circulatory systems of an Ozryel are simplified and fused, the Ozryel's interior organs most resembling a series of connected sacs. Nutrition from a blood feeding is transported throughout this system via a thick, viscous white fluid that forms the Ozryel equivalent of blood. The capillary worms are present in this fluid, swimming throughout the circulatory system and often visible beneath the Ozryel's thin skin. Like rodents, an Ozryel is unable to vomit, its suction-based digestive process functioning only one way. All bodily waste is excreted from a single rectal orifice in the form of a pungent ammonia-based spray; an Ozryel will excrete for the entire duration of a feeding, purging old food as it consumes new blood.

The Ozryel's body temperature runs extremely high, at 48.9 °C / 120 °F, and a human is able to feel their ambient heat from several feet away.

Many of the physical changes from human to Ozryel occur gradually following the initial worm infection, and are accompanied by great pain. A newly "turned" human will lie in a state of suspended animation for an entire day, rising the next night as a nascent Ozryel. The stinger is present for the Ozryel's first foray to facilitate feeding, but other traits (hairlessness, talons on the mid-digit, lack of distinct internal organs) will develop within the first seven nights following infection. The Ozryel's mental state will also be confused at first, and its movements will be clumsy and awkward. As it matures, however, the Ozryel will become supremely agile, able to leap great distances and climb sheer surfaces with the aid of its talons. Full maturity, physically and mentally, occurs within the first thirty nights.

In spite of the Ozryel's morbid biology stripping legend of its romance, the most famously admired trait of the 'undead' remains intact: immortality. Unless slain by violence or sunlight, an Ozryel's parasitic body structure will neither fade nor weaken with the passage of time, giving it an effectively endless "life"-span. Even in those cases where the host body is damaged beyond repair, an Ozryel of sufficient power can transfer its consciousness (via a torrential capillary worm transfer) from one human host to another.

[b]Senses[/b]

The sensory apparatus of the Ozryel is highly adapted for its nocturnal life cycle. Colour vision is replaced with the ability to sense heat signatures, and the world is perceived in a monochrome brightened by sources of warmth (such as human prey). Hearing is greatly enhanced, in spite of the loss of external ears.

The Ozryel's greatest sensory asset, however, is the "hive mind" that all new Ozryel share with the Ancient that propagated them. Each Ozryel, through some undefined telepathic link, is able to send and receive thought and sensory information to and from its Ancient progenitor. In this manner, the Ancient Ozryel direct the actions of their individual spawn through mental communication, regardless of distance. Perhaps akin to its radiation shielding properties, the element lead has the effect of blocking this mental connection.

In spite of their biological inability to speak, Ozryel can communicate with humans through telepathy, transmitting thoughts directly into a person's internal monologue. Those Ozryel seeking to pose as human can train themselves to move their lips in a pantomime of speech, but the actual communication is still via thought-transference.

An Ancient Ozryel is also able to use this telepathic ability as a weapon; known as the "murmur," this mental shock-wave has the ability to completely overwhelm the minds of surrounding human beings, rendering them unconscious.

Ozryel also experience an overwhelming compulsion to infect family members and those they cared about as humans (their "dear ones"). They possess a unique ability to locate such targets, this sense being likened to a pigeon's homing instinct.

[b]Weaknesses[/b]

Many of the traditional vampire-like "weaknesses" of common folklore remain effective, although their potency is explained in terms of specific effects on Ozryel biology.

Sunlight is the Ozryel's ultimate destroyer, specifically ultraviolet light in the UVC range. This is due to the germicidal properties of the wavelength, as it breaks down the virus-laden tissues of the Ozryel's body. A localized source of UVC light, such as a fluorescent lamp, can be used to repel an Ozryel, much as a burning torch can repel an animal. Complete exposure, either to direct sunlight or a powerful UVC source, will result in complete desiccation of the Ozryel's body, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

Silver, whether in the form of a metal weapon or even a fine chemical mist, can also wound or kill an Ozryel. Much like sunlight, this is due to the disinfecting properties of the element damaging the Ozryel's viral biology. While conventional weapons (lead bullets, steel blades) can cause physical damage, they will not repel an Ozryel. Silver causes Ozryel both debilitating pain and a certain amount of fear, and binding an Ozryel in silver will completely incapacitate it.

Severing the spinal column through any method is another effective way to destroy an Ozryel. While the Ozryel's simplified internal organ structure makes it difficult to harm it with attacks to the body, decapitation will result in the Ozryel's death.

Traditional religious protections against Ozryel, such as a crucifix or holy water, display no practical effect. The prevalence of this lore is explained as having been the product of Bram Stoker's "fevered Irish imagination."

Garlic, another common folk defense, has no noticeable use in repelling Ozryel.

Silver-backed mirrors, while they will not harm an Ozryel, will reveal its presence. While an Ozryel does indeed cast a reflection, it is blurred and distorted, akin to an image vibrating at an impossible speed. Modern chrome-backed mirrors, however, will not have this effect, and the Ozryel will appear normally in such a looking-glass.