Infected

The Infected are a techno-organic Clade of parasites, swallowing asteroids, ship fleets, and even in extreme

cases (as in Tau Ceti's case), entire planets. They are parasitic, controlling and torturing what unfortunate hosts they can find, and taking over all biological functions.

Origins
The Infected were created by the The Empire in the Solar System, the main system for infectious experimentation. They were regarded as the height of Empyrean engineering. The empire uses the infection to build cities, create weapons which can shatter planets and stars, and terraform worlds bathed in hellfire. During the event known as The Collapse, the infected in the Solar System broke free. Both Helminth clades and standard infected clades broke their chains, mutating the residents of the solar system. All of the survivors under Helios take refuge in a sanctuary known as Antichthon while the humans left on Earth will endure unbearable torture in the Age of Strife.

Mechanics
The Infected can spread by contact. As long as an amount of Siva from an infected can enter the body of a human, it will assimilate the host.

The first stages include seizures, internal and external bleeding, and encephalopathy. Then, all neurological activities are de-activated within the body, but they are not dead. The consciousness is moved into an engramatic device called a Hive Conduit, presumably used to grow and control more infected, or tortured for an astronomical period of time.

The next stages strongly resemble a human with rabies, as proper hive mind intelligence is not established. Behaviors in this stage include biting, clawing, and attempting to consume any vital organs. In the Sentry Project, no proper intelligence was used, leading to a rudimentary but efficient wave of killers.

The next stage include the host's skin being encased in a hard material; metal alloy, mycelium, or in the Empyrean Strain's case, gold. The older the infected is, the harder the skin becomes. Ancient infected are large and powerful, taking many blows of heavy artillery before being taken down.

behaviors
Infected behavior may vary greatly based on their strain. The Empyrean strain has noble and graceful movements, while the Sentry Strain and the Thallus strain is extremely violent. All strains except the Sentry strain are able to warp their surroundings, creating majestic structures suited to the will of the Hive Mind.

The hive seems to be sentient itself, giving orders and coordinating troops. Each strain may be viewed as a "single organism" rather than a colony due to its synchronous nature.

The Siva within the infected flesh is highly adaptive, preparing infected for any threat they may face. Elemental attacks have little effect on infected, extreme trauma is the most effective way of killing them.