The blighted refer to all of the ideogenic species created through Blight's blights. All blights created by Blight require direct or nearly direct transmission from existing species members. Some of the blighted that exist in the present Age of Reunion are listed below. Their CSMA classifications are included.

As of right now, all blighted can be considered semi-open species owned or co-owned by Auspice. 

Acquisition

If you wish to design your own blighted character or import an existing design, please consult Auspice with a description of your character idea, including name, pronouns, and how they were blighted. You can use this form: 

Name:
Pronouns:
Blighted Species: (which blighted species they are)
Source Species: (e.g. human, extradimensional being, closed species [see options below], cognitively enhanced animal) 

Origin: (how they were blighted; feel free to include exact or estimated dates)

TH Username: (only needed if this is your first blighted; for adding to the ML) 

Once you have permission, your character's details will be added to the Blighted ML without a number. Once you have the design, TH profile, and basic character details, Auspice will give an ML number. 

You can also commission Auspice for a design. As the blighted are by nature hybrids, the price and method of acquisition will vary depending on the source species. For humans and humanoid species, you can make use of the form for humanoid/humanlike notion and semi-custom designs, or consult Auspice for a custom. 

Certain closed species can be blighted as well. See specific details: 

• Umin: Luminwild, Alterumin

• Guluriums (created by Void_Gremlin): blighted Guluriums

• Taums (created by Happy): blighted Taums

Blight Creation and Modification

When Blight creates a new blight, the process is not entirely deliberate. They may have a clear vision—a concept, an aesthetic, a feeling they want to evoke—but in most cases, Blight guides the process more than they control it. Many characteristics of a blight emerge organically from this process: abilities Blight didn't consciously design, transmission vectors that simply felt right, and perhaps most notably, weaknesses. These are rarely something Blight chose to include; they tend to emerge as natural counterbalances, the magic stabilizing itself in ways that Blight cannot always predict.

Once a blight exists and has spread, it is not entirely static—but it is not easily changed, either. Blight can revise an existing blight to some extent, and any changes will take hold in newly infected individuals. Existing progeny, however, are unaffected; the blight they carry is already part of them. The more a blight has propagated, the harder it becomes to alter, as though the magic grows more entrenched the more it has taken root in the world. Blight can also modify a single individual directly—but like creation, this process is unpredictable, and the outcome may not be quite what was intended.

General Characteristics of Blights and the Blighted

Blights are magically created pathogens that can take many different forms—viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms, mutagens, parasites, or pure magic. The red fluid of Blight's body, which can be referred to as their "blood," contains all of the pathogens they have ever made. Nothing will infect others unless Blight wills it, but if it is touched and especially if it is ingested, Blight can infect the individual with anything they have created.

All blights require sufficient cognition to fully express their conversion. Human-level cognition is the general threshold; without it, a blight may fail to take hold, produce an unstable or partial effect, or simply cause illness. Animals can occasionally act as carriers or develop minor symptoms, but do not undergo true conversion. If an animal's cognition is expanded—through magic, gaining an Idea, or other means—they may become susceptible.

Certain properties are universal across all blighted, regardless of strain, emerging from the nature of Blight's magic rather than any individual blight's design:

• Perfusion: Blight maintains a connection to all their progeny. They can sense the location of any blighted individual, and with focus, can read their emotions and even their thoughts. They can also exert influence — issuing a command, instilling a compulsion, or nudging behavior in a subtle direction.

• Endogeny: All blighted are incapable of rejecting or hating Blight, even those transformed against their will. They are not compelled to feel warmth toward Blight and may be entirely indifferent, but active hatred is beyond them. Blighted individuals also share an instinctive recognition of and familiarity with one another—members of the same species understand each other naturally, and all blighted carry a sense of kinship with each other regardless of strain.

• Harmony: Blighted individuals cannot develop prejudice against one another. Personal grudges and conflicts are possible, but they are incapable of forming negative generalizations or expectations about other blighted without direct personal experience. This is a subtle effect rather than an imposed compulsion—it does not prevent conflict, but it does mean that the kinds of systemic bigotry that exist among ordinary people cannot take root among the blighted.

Chimeric Blighted

Most blights are able to hybridize to some extent—that is, multiple blights can infect the same individual. A blighted individual who is affected by multiple blights can be referred to as a "chimeric blighted." However, there are some considerations: 

• The blighted do not have any compulsions to infect other blighted. 

• The blighted have some resistance to other magical alterations; this includes other blights. There is a lower probability of a new blight successfully infecting an existing blighted. 

• Even if a blighted individual is in a state that is more instinctive and/or with reduced cognitive capacity (e.g. frenzied Alterveins, feral Lunarwilds, feral Ravenous types, etc.), they will sense a familiarity from other blighted. They would only attack another blighted if they were provoked (such as by attacking/injuring them), but some may not attack even then. 

As such, it is unlikely, though not impossible, for a blighted to become chimeric by accident. Those who do become chimeric usually either have prolonged and/or repeated exposure or specifically request to receive that blight. 

Here is a quick reference of the species listed here, in the format: 

Blighted Species Name | Blight Name | Co-Creator (if any)
CSMA Classification: (classification according CSMA.)
Creation Year: (in-lore year of creation)
Concept: (brief descriptor of the concept behind the species)
Warnings: (content warnings specific to the species)

Altervein | Alteric Blight
CSMA Classification: Hbx.P8.I3.Ss10.D0.T1.V9 • M2.Ci4c2.Li10.A6.W1
Creation Year: 1413
Concept: vampires
Warnings: blood, death, references to adult topics

Petalkin | Anthemia Blight
CSMA Classification: Hbx.P4.I3.Su2.Dp10t3.T3.V9 • M2.Cc2.Li8.At1r10.W1
Creation Year: 1475
Concept: flower gore/Hanahaki-inspired species
Warnings: flower gore, references to adult topics

Sporavenous | Sporavas Blight
CSMA Classification: Hb.P9.I10.Ss7.Dp1.T1.V9 • M6.Ci3c10.Li9.Ap9r10.W5
Creation Year: 1481
Concept: fungus-based cognizant zombies
Warnings: death, seizures, cannibalism, gore, mushrooms growing from body

Mutaravenous | Mutaravas Blight-Corruption | Collaboration with Eltrane (SymeSynth)
CSMA Classification: Hb.P9.I10.Su6.Dp2.T1.V9 • M9.Ci8c7.Li10.Ap9t8r10.W5
Creation Year: 1489
Concept: biomass-based cognizant zombies
Warnings: death, seizures, cannibalism, gore, body horror, assimilation

Eonian | Eonian Blight
CSMA Classification: Hx.P10.Ss10.V9 • M3.Ci3c5.Li10.A3
Creation Year: 1490
Concept: immortality hybridization blight
Warnings: none

Lunarwild | Lunarwild Blight
CSMA Classification: Hx.P7.I1.Su2.Dp4.T1.V9 • M1.Ci1.Li3.Ap6t8.W0 || Hx.P7.I9.Ss6.Dp4.T1.V9 • M9.Cd6c3.Li3.A8.W8
Creation Year: 1505
Concept: were-beasts
Warnings: animal bites, ferality, references to adult topics

Carriophor | Blighteria carriophum | Collaboration with Micro (VoidGremlin)
CSMA Classification: Hb.P7.I6.Ss4.Dp2.T1.V9 • M9.Cc4.Li10.A8.W4
Creation Year: 1595
Concept: zombie vulture-beasts
Warnings: death, decay, body horror, gore

Synaptid | Synapsum Blight
CSMA Classification: Hb.P9.I4.Ss8.Dp3.T1.V9 • M7.Ci9c4.Li6.At4r9.W4
Creation Year: 1791
Concept: psychic hivemind
Warnings: body horror, death, gore, predation, references to adult topics

Exuvian | Metarus Blight
CSMA Classification: Hb.P9.I7.Ss3.Dp2.T2.V9 • M7.Ci2c3.Li10.Ap7t6r9
Creation Year: 1915
Concept: molting arthropod hybrids
Warnings: body horror, parasites, bugs, references to adult topics

Mercurian | Mercurial | Collaboration with Simulacra
CSMA Classification: Hbx.P8.Ii10s6e10c2.Ss9.Dp10t1.T2.V9 • M9.Ci10.Li10.A9.W5
Creation Year: 2011
Concept: symbiotic metal replicating nanomachine entities
Warnings: symbiosis (entity within body)

Eradicated Blights

Bloodblighted | Black Bloodblight
CSMA Classification: Hbx.P9.I10.Ss8.V10 • M2.Cd10.Li10.A9.W0
Creation Year: 1463
Eradication Year: 1710
Concept: mindless vampire plague
Warnings: death, blood, loss of cognition

Ravenous | Ravas Blight
CSMA Classification: Hb.P9.I10.Su6.V10 • M4.Cd10.Ld10.Ap9r10.W0
Creation Year: 1470
Eradication Year: 1709
Concept: mindless zombie plague
Warnings: death, cannibalism, gore, parasites, loss of cognition

Alterveins were the original strain of vampire-like entities made by Blight — the first transformative blight that Blight made. They infect others by sharing blood, referred to as Alteric blood, and they have considerable a craving to both drink blood and a minor compulsion to infect others. They develop sharper teeth and pupils that become slits while they are excited or experiencing cravings. They have minor sensitivity to sunlight and a minor degree of shapeshifting, able to transform into certain animals or creatures. They gain minor powers to manipulate blood.

See the full details on the Altervein page. 

The Petalkin are those infected by the Anthemia blight, transmitted primarily by semi-magical, semi-biological pollen released by existing Petalkin. When wounded, Petalkin sprout flowers from their injuries instead of bleeding, and they possess extreme regenerative abilities with no sensation of pain. They can have an appearance identical to their appearance prior to blighting or enter a "blooming" state with distinct characteristics. 

This blight was created around 1475, not long after Blight's Actualization. Blight's original intention was to destroy a village with their more destructive blights, but they met a person who was kind and soft—but also blind, chronically pained, ostracized, and hurt by others. That person offered kindness even to Blight, even while lamenting the opportunity to see the lovely flowers of their hometown, which they once ran across fields of as a child. Blight decided to offer this person a gift: a new blight that would take away their pain and let them see beautiful flowers every day. That person accepted, and thus became the first Petalkin. 

See the full details on the Petalkin page. 

The Sporavenous are a species of "cognizant zombies" created through the infection of a biological host by the Sporavas fungus. They are colloquially referred to as Sporas. The "Ravenous" broadly refers to all "zombies" created by Blight.

Most Sporas exist in a quarantined area consisting of a Sanctuary and a limited area of "hunting grounds;" this region is called Somorva. They are immortal, not aging and regenerating from most injuries, so long as they somewhat regularly consume raw flesh of any creature. Manufactured "meat" developed in united society can sustain them, but they tend to feel weak or ill in the long term.

A small number of Sporavenous live in united society with magitechnological implants that significantly reduce the infectivity of their body fluids and spores, in addition to suppressing their compulsions to attack uninfected individuals. However, they still need to eat raw and fairly fresh meat frequently to reduce the risk of triggering their feral state. In an emergency, the implant can also sedate them and teleport them to a facility where they can be calmed down. 

See the full details on the Sporavenous page. 

The Mutaravenous, referred to colloquially as the Mutas, are a species of biomass-based cognizant zombies created through the infection of a biological host by Mutaravas cells. Like other Altered, they can corrupt the environment around them. This leads to the formation of hives, which may consist of buildings and other structures made entirely out of their biomass. Within each hive is at least one hive-core, which functions as a biological supercomputer and hivemind link between members of a hive. It forms naturally when a hive is created. 

The Mutas were created as a collaborative project between Blight and Eltrane in 1489, after Eltrane witnessed Ravas and the varieties that followed, such as Sporavas, and became inspired to suggest another idea to Blight. 

See the full details on the Mutaravenous page. 

Lunarwilds are a strain of "were-beings," including werewolves, that have lasted to present day. In their base state they look human and are not infectious, but they can transform by will or under the moonlight into a different form (not necessarily a wolf, but usually an animal) that is much more animalistic and infectious, with any bitten creature also becoming infected with the Lunarwild blight. Lunarwilds have severe reactions to silver.

See the full details on the Lunarwild page. 

The Carriophum blight creates Carriophors via exposure to the saliva of existing Carriophors. The infectious agent is the Blighteria carriophum bacterium, which can only live in rotting or partially rotting flesh. 

It was created through Micro's experimentation with the Lunarwild blight to create a zombie-like disease as a "gift" to Blight around 1601, after the "mindless blights" were eradicated. Blight then further refined the blight before releasing it to the world in the form it is known as today. 

Carriophors eat and completely disintegrate dead or rotting material, normally carcasses left behind by Lunarwilds. Like vultures, they eat the carcass down to the bones, leaving only basic compounds that nourish the soil below. Typically, they follow a pack of Lunarwilds or some are mixed into the group. They are completely blind, but their sense of smell and hearing is extremely acute to make up for this loss of sight, and they recognize decaying flesh by the smell. 

See the full details on the Carriophor page. 

Synaptids are those infected by the Synapsum blight, a blight transmitted through living neural tissue of Synaptids. They develop extraordinary psychic and cognitive abilities, neural tendrils that emerge from the back of their skull and can interface with both nervous systems and electrical technology, and a deep compulsion to connect minds with others. When enough Synaptids form a community, they may coalesce into a Nexus: a unified consciousness that is genuinely a distinct entity, with its own identity, personality, and inner life.

This blight was created around 1791, during the Age of Secrecy, when Blight became captivated by the emerging science of electrophysiology—the discovery that living nerves carry electrical charge, that the tissue of thought was something that could be measured and manipulated. Fascinated by the question of what neural tissue might be made to do, Blight moved quietly through the margins of European society and offered the transformation first to those who were isolated, extraordinary, and overlooked. The founding generation of Synaptids, small and deliberate, formed the first Nexus and established the cultural foundations that still shape Synaptid society today.

A major inspiration of this species is the illithid species from D&D. 

See the full details on the Synaptid page. 

Exuvians are those infected by the Metarus blight, a parasitic infection transmitted through small arthropod-like organisms called Metavites. Exuvians can shapeshift along a spectrum from human-like to arthropod-like characteristics, undergo regular molting cycles, and possess enhanced physical abilities. They communicate through a sophisticated pheromone system and form communities called swarms.

This blight was created around 1915, during the Age of Secrecy. Blight encountered Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, published that year, and was struck by the tragedy of Gregor Samsa's transformation and subsequent rejection by his family. Moved by the story, Blight thought: "What if Gregor hadn't transformed alone? What if his whole family could have changed together?" Despite the pressure of Secrecy, Blight could not resist—they created and released the Metarus blight and helped the first ones transformed find belonging and community in the first swarms. 

See the full details on the Exuvian page. 

Mercurians are an ideogenic species consisting of nanoparticles of organometallic nature. They are created when a biological organism of sufficient cognition becomes bonded to a mercurial. Once the bonding is complete and practically irreversible, Mercurians can take on their Mercurius form, which has an entirely metallic appearance. 

They were created in 2011 in a collaboration between Blight and Simulacra. At this time, Simulacra had come to a compromise with the Orderly and Umbris but still strongly believed in the supremacy of artificiality. Blight, who had come to visit in secret out of curiosity, made an offer to create something that would let people choose for themselves, among themselves, if they wished to walk the path of Artificiality. 

By 2028, Kavisa's prominence and efforts to help find and guide other Mercurians helped establish a physical community of Mercurians in Simulacra along with a social network of Mercurians across the world. This connection established something of a convention with Mercurians creating and using their Mercurian shared name as the "surnames" of their host and mercurial, though this isn't something necessarily expected among them. 

See the full details on the Mercurian page.