Transformativism

Transformativism is invariably spread through means of a bite, though the reason for this is unknown due to there being very little possibility to study it in action. Once bitten, an infection takes hold quickly, becoming irreversible after about 30 minutes to an hour.

An infection can only be passed on by something already infected with it, as it is a magical condition. It is not enough for an creature to be bitten by another to be have their species gene infected, they have to be bitten by a creature of its own species that is already infected. For example, it is not enough for a human to be bitten by a wolf to become a werewolf, they have to be bitten by another werewolf. It should also be noted that an infected creature is still genetically the same species they were before, just with a magical infection from the other species. A werewolf is still a human, just an infected one.   All types of transformativism are also hereditary and congenital. If two organisms with the same infection have offspring, the child will also have the infection. This leads to self-contained families and communities of the infected being self-sustaining without needing to convert others to gain members. If an organism with the infection has offspring with one that doesn't, whether or not the child has the infection depends on the type. For single dominant and double infections, the child will also have the infection, but if it is single recessive they will not. Mostly, though, organisms with an infection will avoid have children with the uninfected, so this does not often occur.   Two organisms with different transformative infections having offspring has not been observed (and ORCHESTRA would like to keep it that way), but it is theorised that the child would have the infection that was strongest, in the manner of double>single dominant>single recessive. Alternatively, it could come down to diploid number or random chance. Few people believe they would cancel each other out and the child would have no infection. It could even be none of these and be something completely unknown, or it may be that conception of such as child is impossible, and it would die prenatally from genetic and magical disorders.

Scientifically, (as defined by ORCHESTRA), transformativism can be explained by imagining all creatures having an extra, imaginary, pair of chromosomes that dictate their species alignment. For the vast majority of living things, these are their species' own ones, and there is no abnormal effect. However, if bitten by an already afflicted creature, the species gene can become infected, whereupon one or both of the genes changes to that of the infecting species. Note that this extra set of magical species genes doesn't actually exist, they are just a helpful way to explain transformativism as a phenomenon. There are three types of infection: single recessive, single dominant, and double.   Single infections are where only one of the chromosomes becomes infected, double is where both do. Single recessive is where the infected gene is recessive, single dominant is where the gene is dominant. Each species' infection is always either a single or a double, independent of what they are infecting, whereas whether a single infection is dominant or recessive depends on what is being infected. A chromosome is dominant if the infecting species' diploid number is greater than the one being infected, it is recessive if the diploid number is less. If the diploid number is the same, then it will be either one or the other randomly. If the infection is double, it doesn't matter whether the chromosomes are recessive or dominant, the effect will be the same.   Single recessive infections are where the mind of the organism becomes taken over by the mind of the infecting species, but not the body. The organism will still retain the memory and some of the personality they had originally, but mostly their behaviour will change to match that of the creature. An example of this is transformative hyaenidism, which is a hyena-human infection. A hyena infection is a single infection. A hyena has 40 chromosomes whereas a human has 46, so it is single recessive. This means the single recessive hyena infection from an infected human will cause the afflicted to behave like a hyena. They will be more aggressive, carnivorous, pack-like, and laugh more.   A single dominant infection is where the body of the infected is taken over, but not the mind. This means that they will retain all their memories and personality, but will gain some physical attributes of the animal, and can, by will or by force under certain conditions, transform into that organism. When transformed they still keep their personality (as their mind has not been affected), and are the same being, but have all the physical capabilities of being that organism. An example of this is transformative lycanthropy (werewolves), which is a wolf-human infection. A wolf is a single infection. A wolf has 78 chromosomes whereas a human has 46, so it is single dominant. This means an infected human keeps their personality, but also have improved senses, speed, and stamina, and others things. They can also change into a wolf, either by will at any time or without choice under the full moon, whereupon they have all the attributes of a normal wolf but still possess their personality and memories.   A double infection is where both of these effects take hold. Both the organism's mind and body are taken over by the infecting animal, meaning they behave like them, gain some of their physical characteristics, and can transform into them. An example of this is transformative hemovorism (vampires), which is a vampire bat-human infection. A vampire bat has only 28 chromosomes, but the infection is a double, so this makes no difference. A vampire's personality changes to that of a vampire bat, such as being nocturnal, bestial, and blood-thirsty, among others. It also gains physical characteristics like a dependency on blood, and improved speed and stealth. Vampires can also change into a vampire bat, thus being able to fly and have fangs. It should also be noted that a double infection involves a higher concentration of magic, and thus its symptoms can be more unstable, for example changing the anatomy of both the infected's forms, or affecting other parts of them, such as fertility.   Transformativism has only been observed to occur in select pairs of creatures. If a hybrid tries to bite a creature the infection is not compatible with, nothing will happen, for example if a werewolf were to bite a cat, the infection would not take hold; as it only affects humans. Most transformation pairs involve humans, in fact, in all known instances of transformativism it is an extremely high proportion. Humans are also always the infected species, and there is no known case of an animal being infected by human species chromosomes (and ORCHESTRA would like to keep it that way). There is also no immediately obvious pattern as to which creatures are the infectors, though it has been suggested they are the animals that humans have had lots of historical proximity to and contact with. There are a few cases of transformativism affecting pairs of other animals, though they are rare and largely unsustainable, due other animals being mostly too confused or panicked about the effects to reproduce or infect others. If a transformative infection exists one way between two creatures it cannot exist the other way (for example, humans can be infected with a wolf's species chromosome but not the other way around). It is not known why this is the case.   When it comes to subspecies, instances of transformativism only feature one. If a species has multiple subspecies, all with the same diploid number, any transformativism that exists for that species will only involve one of the subspecies, usually the most common one. It is not known why this occurs. For example, wolves have multiple subspecies, but transformative lycanthropy invariably infects a human's with that of a grey wolf (canis lupus).   In the process of transformation, the creature's DNA will magically convert themselves to the DNA of the animal that they have been infected by and are about to transform into. After this, the rest of the body will metamorphose into the animal to fit the new DNA. This process is quite quick but uses a large amount of magical energy, which can be detected. Depending on the change in mass, transformation can either give or take energy from the transformer.   If they are transforming into a creature with less mass, the excess matter is turned into magical energy to enact the transformation. This means that transformation may not require energy from the affected, and may actually bolster them, which is why some infected intentionally transform when weakened to gain energy to fight back or escape. However, if they are transforming into a creature with more mass, the process will take energy from the affected to power the transformation. This will somewhat weaken the affected (though it is not noticeable if they are at full strength), and can mean if the creature is exhausted, transformation may be impossible. This can also be dangerous if the creature is forced to transform but exhausted, as the final energy being taken out of them could result in organ failure and death.   Finally, it is true that plants and other flora also contain chromosomes, so an infection from them is theoretically possible. However, this has obviously never occurred, primarily because most flora don't bite. For the few that do, nothing of this sort has ever been observed or even rumoured. It is unknown how such a thing would even work, as flora are by and large static organisms and have no mindset.

Transformativism is uncurable, and its physical and mental effects cannot be alleviated by any known means, magical or otherwise. This is mostly due to the magic involved in transformativism being very poorly understood and difficult to study.

After being infected with any type of transformativism, a hybrid will invariably gain an acute allergy to something, depending on the creature they have been infected by. Every infection has the same allergy that affects all those infected by it, and is always extremely dangerous and easily fatal. For example, werewolves have an acute allergy to elemental silver, while vampires are allergic to sunlight.

Due the infection process being very quick and internalised, understanding of the magic involved is minimal, and prevention magic and prevention amulets do not exist. Once an organism has been bitten, the process is mostly unstoppable; the only prevention is to be immersed in a strong magical nullification field before the infection is complete, though this is always a short time frame, rarely in excess of half an hour, and is therefore often unfeasible.

How transformativism came to be an existing affliction is unclear, as well as why it affects some species pairs but not others, why it disproportionately affects humans and why it works as it does (being ordered by diploid number and explainable through chromosomes). Some theorise it was begotten by periodical historical cases of bestiality in the presence of magic between humans and animals they encountered regularly, which would explain the pairings, but not the complexity. Others theorise that transformativism was created intentionally through black magic, using animals that would be near to the humans performing it, which would explain the pairings and complexity. However, there are doubts as there is no records of such magic, and if it did exist, its secrets have been lost.

Most instances of single dominant hybrids were accepted in magical society, as they behaved like normal humans, but with extra unique magical abilities. Some single dominant infected people even tried to integrate with normal human society, such as some werewolves, keeping what they were a secret. These people often lived in relatively sparsely populated areas to make it easier to hide, but acted as full members of society. They were mostly non-malicious, and didn't try to infect others, only trying to live a normal life behind the masque. There were occasional cases where single dominant hybrids were aggressive, but this was mainly with those that had gone wild or been born into the wild. They mostly existed outside society and rarely attacked if not provoked.   Instances of single recessive and double infected hyrbids were less accepted, as they behaved much more like the animals they had been infected by. Historically, these people were much more bestial; difficult to reason with at best, and outright aggressive and predatory at worst. Some of these infected were such a threat to the rest of humanity they were actively shunned and hunted, such as vampires, as they were consistently hostile. These people could never integrate with either normal or supernatural society, as they only lived like the animals they had been infected by.   However, none of these nuances and differences matter to ORCHESTRA, who saw all of them as abnormals and things to be rectified. ORCHESTRA systematically hunted down all hybrids, though they quickly prioritised the single dominant ones, as they were more sapient and intelligent. Lots of single dominant hybrids aided The Enneagram Alliance in The Unseen War, but in the end they still lost. Populations of all types have now dwindled or been extirpated, with ORCHESTRA committed to hunting down the rest.   Despite the dominance of ORCHESTRA and the destruction of most hybrid populations, they are still treated largely the same from the magical community. Single dominant infected people are still accepted and still try to integrate, while single recessive and double infected people are still shunned and fought, as they are still aggressive and primal, even if more intelligent nowadays.