Character Profile: Bassam Hussaini

[Chrysalis]

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||Mind To Power - Adaptations and Abilities - Part II

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Outwardly, Hussaini seems entirely normal, his blemishless, rosy skin, meticulously arranged hair and fit physique painting him a prime example of the human race. However, all of that is merely a skin deep mask, a thin veil concealing the inner workings of his being. On the inside, the chaotic and unchecked progression of the incubus' tissue has completely transformed Hussaini's physiology, up to a point where he can barely be considered human anymore. A myriad of physical adaptations born through trial and error, continue to develop at a constant pace, turning him into a chrysalis of sorts, heralding the emergence of a creature whose end form is unknown and unknowable, yet a definite certainty. The most notable changes are as follow.

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||The Eyes

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The eyes are the windows to the soul, and the main windows through which most humans perceive the world around them. Hussaini is no different, his eyes are still the main tool of perception of the outside world, now having reinforced optic nerve connections, transparent nictating membranes for added protection of the eyeball, and muscular structures that afford the ability to voluntarily dilate and constrict pupils. Further down the optic nerve, the chiasma is replaced by the mind's eye, a new knotlike organ that filters visual information, and has the ability to convert different types of sensory input from other organs into visual information, before forwarding it to the brain down the optic tract. Eyes are likewise the main avenue for the manifestation of the incubus' energy discharge in times of high cerebral activity, leading to the well-known, stereotyped phenomenon of "glowing purple eyes" by which infectees are known. Hussaini also displays this phenomenon occasionally, though the manifestation is much less intense as compared to regular infectees, appearing as a simple color change in the iris in well-lit conditions, and as a glow in poorly lit conditions only.

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||Subdermal and Skeletal

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Hussaini's entire body is encased in a subdermal layer of webbed muscular tissue and nerve endings, affording increased resistance to cuts, though at price of a higher level of perceived pain as a result of injury. This subdermal tissue and its nerve endings also act as a form of conduit for Hussaini's telekinetic and telepathic abilities, and as a tertiary sensory apparatus used to detect the presence of more exotic phenomena, such as electromagnetism, radiation and even radio waves. The bones are similarly encased in, and filled with exotic tissue that displaced and replaced the bone marrow, reinforcing the skeletal system to such an extent where fracture from trauma seems an unlikely prospect at best. In the case of fracture, however, the enhanced circulatory system quickly transports the necessary building blocks to the site of injury, and a regeneration process, assuming optimal dietary practices, is complete within a week, as opposed to several months. Finally, the chest plate and ribs are completely fused and further reinforced to provide increased protection to the organs below.

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||Circulatory System

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The Lymphatic system, and by extent the immune system, is one of the first things that are subverted and neutralized during the infestation process, to disarm the body's natural defense system and afford the invader's xenobiotic components an unopposed reign over the body. The interference usually stops there, but in Hussaini's case, this continued to the complete replacement of the lymph vessels, the lymph nodes and even the liquid itself, now consisting of an entirely new, xenobiotic compound that circulates through the system. This lymph system produces a host of xeno bacterium and propagates them all over the body via the nodes and new lymph hearts that pump the bacterium bearing liquid. The bacterium pass to the bloodstream, and from there to the rest of the body, where they regulate a myriad of functions and act as the main vector of human cell mutation through a retroviral delivery system.

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||Major Internal Organs

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Barring circulatory rearrangement and nerve endings, most of Hussaini's major organs are left untouched by the infestation, notable exceptions to this being the lungs and the digestive tract, both being enhanced in numerous ways to support the cumbersome new physiology of the ever changing organism. However, in other regions, new organs have been grown, starting first as cancerous growths then slowly taking shape and form. The first of these was the second heart, an atrophied and mostly inactive organ that stays dormant under normal circumstances, but quickly activates when stimulated by a surge of adrenaline in fight-or-flight situations, providing that extra kick when its needed.

[[WORK IN PROGRESS]]