What do you think hybrid Eccles would be? I already began a character out of my speculations myself :D
a hybrid eccles would be interesting, but complicated! there is a character in my story that is sort of like that, but not in the way you'd think!
Theres a few ways someone could be considered a "hybrid Eccles": a pallie made with part the clay of an eccles patient, someone who's half-pallie (difficult, but not impossible), or someone halfway through the process of developing the illness.
Without spoiling, i will say there's somebody in the story that was made of the clay of a recycled eccles patient. They do not show any of the same symptoms, because their body was baked at a high enough temperature for the eccles chemical to be weakened. Not dead, just dormant. If the dormant chemical comes in contact with a newer, stronger chemical, it will re-activate and begin the "transformation" process.
there arent many known ways to create a hybrid pallie, though the DNA can be injected into the veins of a living thing. With the character Bagologist, he has the DNA regularly injected into him to have him be able to live alongside the pallies, with some side effects: hes cold all of the time, he ages much slower, and his skin is tinted yellow. If somebody like him were to be infected with the eccles chemical, it would immediately work to kill all the living cells in his body, and he would die before it could manifest into the "zombie-like" state it does in pallies.
The Eccles Virus has 4 stages to it: dormancy, flu-like symptoms, vegetable state, and the zombie state. During the middle two, the patient will have their personality, motor functions, memories, and senses begin to decay. This is the chemical eating away at pallies' life-rich clay from the inside out, starting with their softer insides and eventually killing the bacteria that keeps them alive and gives them their color. the process can last from a few days to a few weeks, though the process can last longer depending on how many times the pallie's clay has been recycled.
i think of eccles like rabies: the symptoms are slow, gradual, and subtle. Once you see clear signs of it showing, its already too late.
I also feel the need to mention: not just pallies can carry Eccles, but they are the only species that can reach the zombie-state! Any material creature can contract it, and so can any creature with an living body, including anomalously living things! (aka things that have a living body with little to no reason for why! zombies are the only example i can think of rn...)
