The Pathogen, Concept, but wat do?

Actually, I think I'l use obsidian portal

Here's the Obsidian Portal link. If you have an account, feel free to join. If you don't, feel free to make one and join. Make your character (no unfairly overpowered ones), and I'll see if I can get it so some other certain people can add NPCs or items.

Yeah, but I was reminded of it by the "Sapient Virus" idea.

Agck, scratch that. I deleted The Obsidian Portal campaign, so the link no longer works. I'm now thinking my best option would be a shared universe. Would anybody else be interested in writing?

I'm interested in the setting, but as a writer (what little of it I do) I'm better suited to something comedic, I think, which doesn't seem right for this setting.
But there's no reason you couldn't just make a bunch of the stuff for it for the fun of it, like Mortasheen was originally. And look how that turned out.

New Character idea: Patient Zero
Most attempts to merge human and Ze'bul (sapient virus) DNA end up with one or more casualties. However, once in a great while, the merging will be successful, and a new organism will be created. This organism is known as a Patient.
The first Patient (Patient Zero) is a horribly disfigured yet immensely powerful humanoid, capable of firing explosive tumours and spraying chemicals at its enemies. The creature is sentient, but has no way of expressing its thoughts.
Upon Patient Zero's creation, the Pathogen declared him a saviour and put all of their hope behind him. However, despite their belief that he was a 'chosen one', Patient Zero was driven mad by his inability to communicate and the constant pain his body was in. He eventually evolved into an even more inhuman creature, resembling little more than a gnarled, fleshy tree of lesions and boils.

Buh? XD A virus is just DNA or RNA in a crunchy protein coat, which invades and tells cells to make more protein-coated genetic code bundles so they can repeat the process. What the hell would a hybrid be, a couple organs crammed in a ball of keratin? =P

In fact, the only way your virus aliens could possibly think, communicate, or do anything else is by inserting themselves into the genome of the host itself across many cells (a la actual retroviruses) and controlling them that way. In other words, the sentient form of the virus ITSELF would be the hybrid.

(On a side note, thanks to retroviruses, you're genetically more "virus" than you are human. We even have virus-stolen genes [that is, genes we stole from one of the many viruses cluttering our genome] to thank for a unique spin on the primate uterus, which helps keep the embryo from being rejected by its mother.)

Yeah, the idea has more pseudo science legitimacy if it is a provirus instead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provirus

It could work; it might be that the virus modifies the genome in such a way as to create an alien intelligence out of the host's own mental systems. It's not hard science, but it sounds legit enough for a sci fi setting.

Keep in mind that the virus isn't from Earth, and the way it works is vastly different from most terrestrial viruses. The sentience of the Ze'bul can not be explained by any science discovered as of yet. The Ze'bul still can't communicate directly (through speech), so it has to find some other way.
I admit my wording was a bit off on Patient Zero's story. By merging human and virus DNA I meant Intwntionally infecting humans with the virus. The amounts they use would often be fatal, but they are kept alive artificially so as to let the alterations get more and more extreme.

HUMAN IS THE VIRUS ON EARTH AND WILL GOING TO HELL BECAUSE THEY ALL IDIOT

I feel like you're hearing "they all idiot" in Hong Kong a lot.