There are large teams of research scientists concerned with the question of what is a symbiote and perhaps thesimpler question of what a symbiote grants its host and what it requires of its host. Given the amount of contradictoryresearch and the political and social motivations for much of it, straight answers are difficult to extract buta majority of reputable sources will agree on some things.
The symbiote in raw form is a somewhat greenish jelly/slime like biomass. A viable biomass ranges from 650 to4500 cc outside of the host usually averaging about 1200 cc and in this form is slightly denser than water. Viablein this case means the minimum size that can be bonded to a human that creates immediate effects. Smaller symbiotescan be bonded but there is a time delay before the symbiote gains enough strength to provide benefits to the host.Once a symbiote becomes bound (either immiediately or after additonal growth) the host will enter a comma for 5-10days while the symbiote integrates with the host.
All symbiotes in existence are genetically identical to their parent symbiote, either the Oxford, Smithsonianor Osod Nazier alpha. Despite this genetic similarity the effects of each generation is different. Only the firstfour generations have any performance effects, the fifth generation has some very limited effects but they areminor compared its predecessors. The first generation are known as alphas the missing Osod Nazier is the only personwho has been bonded to an alpha. The capabilities and relative strengths of the alpha are largely unknown but aretheorized to be impressive. Second generation symbiotes are known as betas they are the most powerful of the availablesymbiotes. Due to their rarity they generally are sold for between 30 and 90 million $US in the black market. Thirdgeneration symbiotes, known as gammas, are much more common and usually cost between 5 and 10 million $US. Thefourth generation symbiotes, known as deltas are common and can usually be gotten for between 50,000 and 100,000$US. A Fifth generation symbiote, known as epsilons, usually run for about $20,000. They are the only symbioteslegally available in the U.S. to people who aren’t working for the U.S. government in military or law enforcementapplications. In the U.S. they are marketed by Merck, Pfizer, Upjohn and others as cures or treatments for a varietyof diseases as well as the ultimate in anti-aging agents.
The symbiotes are also classified into five broad aspects based on the physics that the symbiote can most easilybend. Symbiotes are classified as anima, elemental, fairie, flux or ley. This naming scheme was an informal classificationby the original researchers and was adopted by other scientific researchers. This quality doesn’t appear to beinherent to the symbiote so much as it is an interaction between the symbiote and host. A symbiote recovered froma host that exhibited elemental qualities in one host can just as easily exhibit flux characteristics when re-bound.A host, when receiving a lower generation symbiote, the new symbiote almost always retains the same aspect as theoriginal symbiote.
Anima symbiotes have power over emotion, spirit, and the host/symbiote link. Anima can see the aura of anotherbeing and through that aura manipulate the emotions of the target. Direct manipulation of the this aura can causeextreme pain and can even be fatal. In this aura a host can also a targets connection to its symbiote (if it hasone) and can deny the target access to that symb or augment that symbs power.
Elemental symbiotes have access over all sorts of energy. Light, wind, fire, magnetism, gravity, electricity,etc. all fall under the purview of the elemental symbiote. Elemental symbiotes generally are more apt at grosscontrol but with effort and with supporting information elemental symbiotes can do fine manipulations of ICs andother small detailed objects. Elemental symbiotes lack control over kinetic energy.
Fairie symbiotes have control over living things generally this is accomplished by temporarily manipulatinga body. Extremely experienced symbiotes can accomplish permanent changes. Fairie symbiotes can manipulate all livingthings from viruses (with specialized knowledge) to humans. Fairie symbiotes can heal bodies as well as shatterspleens.
Flux symbiotes have power over time, distance, and speed. Flux symbiotes can see through time and space as wellas move through space (time travel is theoretically possible but never demonstrated). The Flux symbiotes controlover kinetic energy provides a powerful weapon and defense against physical attacks. Flux symbiotes can build gatewaysto move more than just themselves.
Ley symbiotes have control over physical objects. They can shape, break and repair physical objects. Commonabilities are tunneling, bigby’s various hands, spikes, etc.
The most common way of producing a new symbiote is to split off about a quarter of an existing unbonded symbiote.The separation must be complete and a barrier must be erected between the parent (larger) and child (smaller) symbiotesor they will rejoin. The parent retains it’s original generation while the child is one generation higher. Forexample if you had an unbonded beta and split off a quarter of it’s mass the larger part would still be a betawhile the smaller part would be a gamma. If more than a quarter is split off there is a chance of getting two childreninstead of a parent and child. If you split a beta in half you’d end up with two gammas. Symbiotes gain sustenancewhich is converted to mass, by exposure to a broad spectrums of low powered energy spectrums (light, x-ray, gammaray, infrared, radio, heat, electricity, etc.). Any given unbonded symbiote is capable of producing about 1,000child symbiotes per year in ideal conditions where it is well supplied with food energies.
The other way of producing a new symbiote is for a woman who is bonded to a symbiote to become pregnant andhave a child. The child will be born bonded to a symbiote of the same generation as the mother. A beta bonded woman,who has a child, will give birth to child who is also beta bonded. This is the production technique used at therumored birthing camps throughout Asia.
A symbiote can bond to any animal with an reasonably advanced nervous system. About 3% of all beta bond proceduresencounter complications. With a beta symbiote this usually manifests itself as a form of delusional megalomania.With the higher generation symbiotes the complication more usually manifests as death. Gammas have about a 1% chance,deltas a .5% chance and epsilons a .1% chance of encountering complications. The insane ones are called incarnates,this name was given to them by the Children of the Ancient Astronauts who believed this had to do with an imperfecttransference of the ancient soul… At least some of them do. An additional 1% of beta hosts will become incarnatesat some point during their lives. There is little that can be done to effectively treat or study an incarnate withoutan unacceptiable risk. Usually they are shipped off to one of the special prisons. Usually they are kept in deepsleep for the duration, which under the current legal system is usually forever.
Once a symbiote has been bonded to an animal or human, there are only two known ways to retrieve the symbiote.The only way to retrieve a symbiote from a living host (that leaves the host alive afterwards) is to replace thesymbiote with a lower generation symbiote of a different genetic structure. If there is a host bonded to an Oxfordgamma symbiote and a Smithsonian beta symbiote is introduced into the host, the gamma will be displaced secretedout of the body. This process is by no means comfortable or painless. This process must use a stronger symbiotefrom a different genetic family, anything from the same genetic family would be assimilated into the body and thehost would be considered bonded to the lowest generation symbiote involved. If a weaker or equal strength symbiotefrom a different family is used it is rejected by the current symbiote. Due to the restraints on the process itis of a somewhat limited usefulness.
The second process leaves the host dead if it wasn’t dead before. It involves using an acidic compound to dissolvethe flesh of the host. The symbiote will retain cohesion and is pretty immune to the acidic effect. About 80% to90% of the mass can be collected and re-implanted. While this procedure is slightly more useful than the replacementtechnique, as it doesn’t leave the host bonded to a symbiote, it has the drawback of being quite fatal.
When a person is first bonded to a healthy symbiote, they will normally fall into a coma for about a week asthe symbiote integrates itself with the hosts body. Those bound to a Atlanta symbiote can wait ten or more yearsbefore the symbiote is strong enough to actually bond. Only when the symbiote is strong enough does the coma actuallyset in. Good symbiote feeding conditions will shorten the coma, but some of the best food radiation may be harmfulto the host until the bonding is complete. Once the bond is completed the symbiote will grant the following automaticabilities:
- Armor (not epsilon)
- Increased Stats (not epsilon)
- Increased Healing
- Radiation Resistance
- Disease Resistance
- Age Resistance
The host, with practice, can learn to have the symbiote invoke a great deal more abilities. With practice, theseabilities can vagrantly violate known physics.
Epsilons are the weakest of the symbiotes useful in bonded form. They can bend very few laws of the universe.What they do provide is protection from radiation, diseases, and poisons, a retarded aging process, and an increasedhealing rate. An epsilon symbiote is best understood as a supercharged immune system with a couple of perks thrownin. A lot of the abilities ascribed to symbiote hosts don’t apply to epsilons.
Given the cost and rarity there are only a limited number of ways of being bonded to a symbiote. The lower thegeneration the fewer the methods that are available. The easiest bonding method with the fewest restrictions isto have been outside of Atlanta during the nuclear fallout of 2006. This is the default bonding method for charactersand will accommodate almost any character concept. There are a few other methods but they all entail limitationon the character concept and may not be available in a given campaign (check with your GM).
Law enforcement or ex-law enforcement is one of the easiest to justify in most campaigns. This can be anythingfrom the FBI’s Symbiote Crime Division to to Division of Special Prisons to a local sheriff. All requests for symbiotesto support law enforcement would ultimately need to go through the FBI’s SCD or DSP. Before a request is grantedthere would be a lengthy medical, psychological and background check on the applicant. Applicants who have madelaw enforcement a career but still have several years of front-line duty left in them are preferred.
Military or ex-military are also common concepts that would allow a symbiote. Any soldier may request to serveunder SFSCOM and thus receive a symbiote. The character most likely would previously have undergone some sort ofa special forces training. Like law enforcement, career soldiers are preferred to soldiers just fulfilling theirfour year requirements. The request would clearly go through SFSCOM and generally confers an increased commitementof 8 years.
The character could also be a terrorist or ex-terrorist. This is going to have to involve some explanation,unless your GM is running a terrorist campaign. Some possible explanations are CIA, FBI, NSA deep cover, terroristsentenced to a brainwipe, or a repentant terrorist. The character can be either a national or international terroristorganization. Due to the expense and rarity of a beta, usually only rather well funded organizations would haveaccess to betas.
Organized crime set up their own production facilities in 2010, however these facilities are based off betasas the top level, so being bonded to a beta would be extremely rare. Usually a beta would only be given to a donor someone working directly with a don. Also keep in mind the well documented difficulty in leaving this organizationespecially if they gave you a gift with that kind of value.
A less restrictive option is to have the character bonded to the symbiote between 2001 and 2005, before theproject was fully taken over by the military. This would require a certain test pilot like concern for your life,but the character could be from almost any walk of life.
There are about 2,000 betas bonded to military and law enforcement officials that decended from the SmithsonianAlpha. About 15,000 gamma, and 150,000 deltas and about 2 million epsilons also are bound children of the SmithsonianAlpha.
There are estimated to be 2-5 thousand Oxford beta symbiotes currently bonded to hosts.There are probably 10-15thousand gammas and as many as 100,000 deltas and less than a million epsilons. These numbers do not counting thosegenerated by the Atlanta incident.
The Atlanta incident generated an estimated 10,000 beta bonded hosts, 150,000 gammas, and 2.1 million deltasand about 4 million epsilons. There is also an unknown number of animals in the Atlanta area that are bonded tovarious generations of symbiotes.