Superior Mutant Physiology

You are a lead researcher, physicist and bio-engineer that is tasked to create a biological weapon of any kind!

This could be a virus, parasite, animal, plant(?), anything! Just has to be possible through good ol' science fiction logic, feel free to use certain elements from worlds that you've created.

| Ancient Parasite: The Undead |

• Introduction & Info •

Because of the melting of the polar ice caps it will be released into the Southern Ocean. A very ancient alien parasite that crashed to Earth, with a meteorite as its transport, when life on the planet was yet to be "born". As there was no life form yet fully formed, the parasite went into a long state of hibernation. Eventually, the parasite was frozen in what would now be an islet covered in ice and snow. Once free and awakened, the parasite will quickly infect the fastest life forms in the ocean and thereby reproduce to infect more beings. From fish to penguins, from penguins to sea lions, from sea lions to orcas and so on until it get to the most developed life form. The humans.

Within a few weeks civilization as we know it will crumble. The parasite transforms living beings into an almost invincible zombie species. Vulnerable only to extreme temperatures and acids, the parasite will prove to be a formidable enemy for humanity. The parasite reproduces rapidly from individual to individual - some longer variations may occur. Fortunately, not everyone turns into voracious, flesh-eating creatures. Some infected by the parasites can develop supernatural abilities. And that's where humanity reacts.

At first these few individuals will be simple known as "Anomalies" and can either be considered paragons of humanity or aberrations.

Nearly a century after the fall of modern civilization, a new threat will appear. Self-named as Undead Lords, they are very powerful zombies with equal or superior reasoning abilities to humans. Both the few surviving humans and the anomalies will have to put their differences aside to face this new threat. Which might not be so bad, as the Undead Lords can heal and turn lesser zombies back into humans or others lifeforms (animals, for example). However, only to be their obedient slaves...

• Undeads & Parasite Abilities • [Year 0-99]

~ Undead-Alien Physiology: the parasite is of alien and undead origin.

~ Feral Mind: until 100 years have passed, zombies are essentially uncontrolled beasts that will attack anything "movable and noisy enough".

~ Conditional Invulnerability + Hibernation: the parasite is invulnerable while hibernating, the same goes for the undead while they're "sleeping".

~ Regenerative Cocoon + Goo Generation: during sunrise until one or two hours after midday, zombies "sleep" to regenerate or regain their strength into cocoons made from a type of hardened and invulnerable goo. This means that zombies will rarely have missing limbs, flesh or ogans.

~ Conversion Parasite + Asexual Reproduction: the parasites reproduce asexually as soon as an individual is infected through wounds caused by zombie teeth and nails.

~ Meat Consumption + Indomitable Lust: zombies are hungry for meat whether human flesh or not and are never satisfied by it - they lust for it - which means that if there is not enough food, zombies can become cannibals.

~ Weakness Change: from human/animal weaknesses to parasite weaknesses, which means lethal vulnerability to extreme temperatures and acids.

• Undead Lords Abilities • [Year 100+]

+ Except for Feral Mind, same abilities as above, including... +

~ Zombie Lord Physiology + Parasite Manipulation: the Undead Lords or Zombie Lords only appear when the parasite has been in a shell for a hundred years or more. They are much stronger, smarter and are much more resistant to the common weaknesses of other zombies and parasites. Some, however, are weaker than others; it all depends on the infected shell and other varied factors (like the environment, competition for food and resources, difficulty of survival, etc.). The Undead Lords' most frightening trait is manipulating and even mutating the parasites, which can hint at the appearance of new undead aberrations.

~ Enhanced to Supernatural Intelligence: as already mentioned, the Undead Lords can be as or more intelligent than humans or the species that the parasites infect. Normally, for an Undead Lord to possess a high intelligence they must prove themselves the Alpha of the race they're a part of and that means a brutal and political struggle for power.

~ Conversion Negation + Flawless Healing + Hypnotic Healing + Submission: the Undead Lords can turn inferior zombies back to their original state, however despite returning to their original and optimal state fully healed these beings are completely under the control of the Undead Lords. In other words, they are slaves.

| The Challenge |

With the information given above, your objective in this Powerset Challenge is to select and describe powers and abilities that fit this apocalyptic world. You will be considered an Anomaly, which means: a Superior Mutant Physiology whose powers are given through a Parasite, keep in mind that you are not immortal and do not possess any powers identical, related, associated with, or similar to those of zombies, Undead Lords and parasites. To lose one's parasite is to lose all powers and possibly die.

The rules are simple:

1} Nothing OP and/or stronger than the Undead Lords; Anomalies are anomalies for a reason and it's not to overwhelm the Undead Lords but to help themselves and uninfected humanity survive.

2} Supernatural Condition threshold is Type II, with some exceptions for Durability, Strength and Speed ​​that can reach Type III.

3} Until the appearance of Undead Lords, there is no possibility of curing or reversing the infection. And by killing the parasite the shell dies permanently.

4} Again, the challenge is to choose powers and abilities that fit this post. Other than that, you can choose any power within the given rules and information.

5} As in the previous challenge: You can create a Self-Insert or Oc if you want, but only the powersets are necessary for this post; you can also use any type of character sheet you know, still, if you create an Oc or Self-Insert RESPECT all info about the modern world and this post.

🧟🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🧟🧟‍♂️

Note: With rules will come those who will ignore or even circumvent them. I now ask you not to do that, as the intention is to test you to choose different powers to create a set for a given world theme. In case you wish to ignore everything I said, keep in mind that I will do the same. Thanks everyone and sorry for anything.

Note #2: Not all posts will follow the same templates. Some may be shorter, longer, simpler, more detailed, etc. Everything will depend on my available time and my inspiration at the moment. Hope you guys like it 😉!

It finally happened, civilization as we know it blew itself up and now everything looks like post-apocalyptic movies like Mad Max Fury Road or Terminator. What's left of humanity, is either hidden in underground bunkers or living as scanvengers nomads, but there's also Mutants. Due to the strange events that lead to Armagedon, a percentage of humanity transformed into all sorts of monstruous mutations. Only a few retaining their intelligence and even developing some supernatural abilities. You are one of these ''lucky'' mutants, still being smart and equipped with strange powers.

What is your new mutated appearance? What are your powers? How will you use them? Before start writting, try to limit yourself and create a few drawbacks or weaknesses that you now have as a mutant. Also, please avoid powers that allow one to resurrect the dead or alter the past. You can go back in time if you want, but reality will correct itself and prevent any change you try to enforce, never have any consquence in the future.

My mutation caused me to ressemble a vampire-like humanoid, sporting no body hair, as well red eyes, pointed ears, sharp canines, pale skin and due to the transformation harming my vocal cords, I was rendered mute. Thanks to genetic luck, I managed to gain some supernatural abilities, which can be described as ''Psychic Powers''. I can use telekinesis to manipulate objects, read minds (Except that the minds of ''Super Mutants'', which sound like static sound), ''comprehend'' other sapient creatures like dolphins (Not truly translation, but close enough) and withstand mental manipulation.

However, my telekinesis only works on objects within my range of vision and those I could move with my physical strength. When trying to read minds, I first need to touch the target and instead of detailed information, I will only receive short responses like ''Liar'', ''Killing Intent'' or ''In Love''. Another limitation, is that due to my pale skin and red eyes, I'm quite sensible towards sunlight, in fact my skin suffers severe burns if directly exposed to it.

Trivia: Dolphins mutated as well, developing the ability to fly (Still needing to live in the sea), talk through telepathy and release supersonic screams to stun his enemies. Regardless of mentality, powers or species, all mutants share resistance towards high levels of radiation akin to cockroaches.