Physical-Assimilation Parasites are a type of parasite infection oriented around assimilating the non-infected into a type of hive mind. It spreads by entering the body’s bloodstream through a cut, injection, et cetera. Once there, it begins absorbs the anima circulating through the body as it travels to its host’s core. By the time it reaches said core, it has absorbed enough anima to achieve sentience or, in certain cases, a mild level of sapience. There is still time to reverse the infection, however. The Embassy calls this stage of infection Tainted.

Curing a Tainted comes without cost, provided one has the right ingredients. The type of ingredients differs based on the infection, however. Using a Black Psyche Chestnut, for example, will fail to produce a proper cure when mixed with a Damask Gutweed Pulp and Green Newt Spit, which are two main ingredients required to brew an Anti-Physical Carnivorous Parasite cure. It is absolutely vital for paladins to memorize the recipe for infection cures, no matter which blight has happened to infect their world. Very rarely have two or more infections inhabited the same planet, but that is neither here nor there. Too many paladins have fallen prey to invading infections due to consuming an incorrectly made cure.

The Anti-Physical Assimilation Parasite cure requires two and a half pips of urchin fat, three cepips of hearty dame apple mush, five cemagnols of Green Newt Spit, one magnol of water, and three mipips of the parasite itself. Extracting the parasite is a simple process; one just needs to coat their hand in anima, reach inside the body and pull a piece of it out.

One might be encouraged to wholly disinfect themselves of the parasite by pulling the entire thing out, but the method is messy; the parasite will struggle against such forceful removal, flinging bits of itself to ensure that not all of it is gone from its host’s body. Once that happens, the parasite will regrow from several different pieces, thus spurring even faster growth than before.

Should this happen, the chances are that the Tainted will not be cured in time and the parasite will have reached the host’s core.

Once it assimilates the core, it now essentially controls the host’s source of power. However, it’s function has not yet been completed. The host is still fully capable of using most of their body and, if they’re a high enough rank, can reclaim their core and eradicate the invading parasite. So the infection must continue toward the host’s brain. To do that, it must alter its structure, shifting from an amorphous blob to a tadpole-like body.

Unlike a Mental-Assimilation Parasite, the PAP must absorb and replace the host’s brain manually in order to effectively command them. It swims through the body until it reaches the spine. After entering the spinal cord, the parasite begins feeding on cerebrospinal fluid while crawling up to the brain stem. There, it latches on and begins to feed on the grey matter, while slowly replacing the brainstem’s functions with its own and fusing its lower body to the top of the spine.

When it is finished, the entire upper spine and the lower brain are replaced by the parasite, which then controls the body as a go-between the brain and the rest of its functions. This traps the host’s slowly degrading consciousness within itself, watching as some…thing hears its every thought and performs actions using their body while they can only watch. The host is unable to speak, unable to blink, or even breath without its permission. At this point of infection, the host has now become a Rotted.

There is still hope, however. A cure may still work, but the chances that the host will survive are less than 53%. Extracting a piece of the parasite will be even more difficult now that it has had time to accumulate a powerful force inside the host’s body.

Not to mention that even if a cure is properly made and forced down a Rotted’s throat, purging the parasite from their body may even kill the host if the parasite has incorporated enough of the brain into itself. If the host is not killed when the parasite is purged, the majority of ‘cured’ cases are left braindead.

Once the host reaches the next stage of infection, there is no known way of curing them. The longer the parasite inhabits their body, the worse the deterioration of the host’s consciousness gets. They lose most of the advanced mental functions that allow them to feel emotion, problem-solve, and the use of anima as the parasite continues to absorb and replace their brain. This stage turns the Rotted into a Defiled.

It loses these functions but the parasite, in turn, gains them, aside from using anima. The parasite itself is incapable of using the Maker’s gift, nor can it force its host to use it once it has undergone a complete takeover of their body.

The infections are blights upon the worlds our Makers have so graciously created for the Embassy. It is only natural that such evil should not be able to utilize the blessings They have made for Their people.

However, if the core is still intact, it can still gain anima whenever the host kills something. It is presumed that infections use the anima gained from their hosts to rank themselves up, just as a paladin might rank their core up. Animus is still largely unknown to and unused by parasites and other infections, thankfully, but some older paladins recall certain mental types forcing some animus-like power out of their host. Luckily, that infection had been dealt with and no more have shown such wicked abilities.

It is important to note that however dangerous a ranked up infection can get, a horde of low-ranked Defiled can and will kill a powerful Paladin. No one is immune to being overwhelmed, except, perhaps, the Underlings. But as most paladins can’t even dream of achieving such power, they should take care not to underestimate low-ranked infected.

The infections are deadly, numerous, and, most importantly, unholy. Remember that, paladin, for there are worse ways to die than infection.