Nanite Phage

The Nanite Phage is the primary method by which the Mesitori control its human population. Bel'Zanar, their immense artificial planetoid home, is infested quite deliberately by nanites which are controlled by the Mesitori themselves and should any human dare step out of line, question a Mesitori or even out of sheer boredom and vindictiveness can be activated to inflict any number of punishments which include excruciating pain, blood boiling, combustion and a host of other horrific ordeals.

By this infestation, the Mesitori rule supreme, their human subjects kept in place.

The Phage has been a part of life within Bel'Zanar for centuries and generation after generation has been infected by the nanites. It is so ingrained in their very DNA that it is unlikely there exists a cure. And should a cure ever exist only the Mesitori themselves will possess it and they are most unlikely to even acknowledge its existence, let alone administer it. With it, they maintain absolute control over the human population of Bel'Zanar, ruling them with an iron fist and the ability to decimate any who dare challenge them.

The presence of the Phage is made apparent by the occasional flicker of silvery veins throughout the infected person's body, primarily the face and arms. Their eyes will also have a faint silver sheen to them. Even newborn infants will bear this mark and only in death will it fade away.

As the Mesitori are reclusive and never seen by their subjects, it is the Emissaries who serve as their proxies. These sinister cloaked masked clad beings are found across Bel'Zanar and wherever the Mesitori have interests in. It is said they speak with the voice of the Mesitori, that each is nothing but an avatar operated by one of that strange transhuman people from the safety of their lofty palace in Bel'Zanar.

For the humans under the dominion of the Mesitori, the Emissaries are objects of terror, cold, uncaring horrors that serve as a constant reminder of their status and that their lives are worthless in the eyes of their rulers. With a look or gesture, an Emissary can trigger the nanites within their target to activate, whether to punish or execute. And it is not just single targets who can be struck in this manner with large groups of people suffering likewise. This ensures that no large gatherings may form to protest their cruel treatment as the Mesitori will not hesitate to activate the Phage and kill anyone daring to challenge them, regardless of number.

The Phage is also used when the Mesitori go to war. Huge numbers of humans will be conscripted by the Mesitori and sent to whatever theatre of war they are needed and herded into battle, the Phage activated in a manner that transforms them into berserkers, their strength and pain tolerance greatly increased though few, if any, will live for long even if they do survive the battle to come. Another even more horrific use of the Phage is the Fusing which sees a number of nanite infected drawn together and melded into one huge and horrific monstrosity, a living weapon of war that screams with the tortured agony of dozens of souls. These are unleashed upon the enemies of the Mesitori, crashing through defences and weathering hails of gunfire before they are taken down or explode in a grotesque tide of bone and blood that causes even more damage.

Thus, the Phage is the most effective weapon in controlling the humans under Mesitorian rule. For many across the Sol system, the Mesitori are a byword for cruelty and evil and the Phage is prime evidence of the veracity of that belief.