#guiltology

[guiltology]

Ugh, hate that like. Nothing makes sense. Because. "Gangliated" means to have ganglia nerve cells. "Utrophin" is a strange choice, its big brother "Dystrophin" is a structural protein that muscle cells need to survive - utrophin occurs in usually only in human fetuses and is replaced, except in the cases of muscular dystrophy. "Immuno-," just means it relates to the immune system, "Latency" refers to a dormant period inside the host. Together it means that the immune system creates it, which is does, we'll see more of later. Finally, "Toxin" means it is produced by a living organism such as a bacteria or a virus (though viruses are considered nonliving, the one exception). Compare to a "Toxicant," which is something man-made. There is a difference. In short, GUILT is a toxin that, when injected into a host, tricks the body into synthesizing its own personalized killing machines. But. That's a virus. That's virus behavior. So it's just. What the hell? My best guess is that it could just be a toxic solution carrying viral DNA. basically the exact opposite of a vaccine. Which means.. The first instances of GUILT could be transferred through fake vaccines. Eidoth Pharmaceuticals is a medical company, they could probably get away with making a shot that gives you GUILT. Hooray. THAT, and imagine all the anti-vaxxers up in arms because "Oh, this vaccine gave me a deadly virus!" It'd be a fucking nightmare.

[unluckyerror404]

A PFP I made for @guiltology :3

Victor Niguel Pony... because we like Trauma Center and My Little Pony

[guiltology]

I've kinda exhausted a lot of my. Well. Research at the moment, which. Again, feel free to ask me questions. Also! Fun Victor fact: I hate all of the Hands of Asclepius, I hope they go to hell. “Oh you can use GUILT for medicine!” I have written four papers on this, and you have written none, so shut the fuck up.

[guiltology]

GUILT: An Analysis and Treatment Guide

Gangliated means having ganglia, which are little densely-packed bundles of nerve cells. Utrophin is a gene. It's a component of the cytoskeleton, which is like a regular skeleton but for your cells. A cell-aton if you will. Immuno is easy, it just means dealing with the immune system. Latency is the stage where the virus is dormant. Toxins, as you probably know, are chemicals that disrupt the body’s functions.

Therefore, a Gangliated Utrophin Immuno-Latency Toxin (GUILT) is a set of dormant toxin-like artificial diseases that attack the immune system.

GUILT is unique among other organisms because it appears to be designed to almost target victims and then the people operating on them, ignoring its own self-preservation to harm as many people as possible before perishing.

Each strain most likely triggers a cytokine storm [1] which essentially makes the body attack itself, it's why the healthiest patients die the fastest due to their immune systems being strong enough to tear the body to shreds. Essentially what that does is makes the body's immune system attack itself, which would explain why GUILT hits hardest on people who are in the best health. The stronger your immune system is the more damage it can do to itself.

It comes in multiple different strains: Deftera, Triti, Tetarti, Pempti, Paraskevi, Savato, Kyriaki, and Bliss. [2] These strains, although sharing the same similar cytokine-activating effects, also have their own unique behaviors and infection patterns.

A common misconception about the Defera strain among doctors is its organism classification. Deftera, although appearing to be a virus that spreads through cells like several other types of GUILT, is in fact a fast-growing tumor. [3]

The Triti strain's calcification is caused by the buildup of calcium salts and is mainly caused by vitamin deficiency, or more likely, a disruption of the body's calcium homeostasis, leading to the buildup of calcified plaques.[4]

Tetarti infections cause a build-up of poisonous materials in the infected organ and require a steady hand and practiced memory to remove, as each tumor type only responds to a specific variant of antiserum [5] and reckless injections cannot be given.

Pempti manifests as a gelatinous mass on the affected organ. It is by far one of the hardest strains to cure with an incredibly high fatality rate, and surgery should only be attempted by a skilled doctor equipped with the Healing Touch [6] if possible. The scalar laser [7] should be used during treatment as a normal surgical laser will have no effect.

The Paraskevi strain is highly dangerous due to its infection pattern [8] and rapid movement. It burrows through organs until reaching the heart, and an infestation of the patient’s heart is almost always fatal. Therefore, removal should be attempted as soon as possible to avoid any casualties.

Savato causes a web of strands around the heart that need to be carefully cut with the scalpel. Use caution when releasing the heart from the webs, as any mistakes that lead to a puncture of the heart will most likely result in a fatality, and a skilled doctor should be chosen to perform this procedure to avoid unnecessary casualties.

Kyriaki creates serrations on the patient’s heart that if not treated lead to cardiac arrest. Quick treatment is crucial as treating the wounds created by Kyriaki causes the main virus body to emerge.

There are also four enhanced strains of GUILT known as Neo-GUILT that are used as illegal enhancement drugs. However, they are just as deadly as normal GUILT strains and should not be used as medicine. They include Nous, Sige, Aleithia, and Bythos.

It is believed that Nous enhances learning abilities; this would explain why its original host became brain dead. It causes severe cancerous tumors.

Bythos enhances bodily functions and motor skills. Bythos attacks with lacerations and creating internal hemorrhages. If Bythos's shell is shattered, it releases spores that protect the Bythos core until it can regenerate.

Sige enhances the speed and accuracy of the host's thought processes, allowing them to quickly learn. It also enables the host to use an artificial Healing Touch. When agitated, it causes internal hemorrhaging, along with a gas that is a harmless thick fog. While on the organ surface, Sige races and bounces across it, producing pus that causes inflammation. When it gets desperate, Sige also starts creating clones that, when attacked, create pus.

Aletheia halts the host's aging process, but when activated it spawns Aletheia-GUILT and Aletheia-Neo-GUILT to attack the host. Aletheia can regenerate itself via blood vessels.

The Twisted Rosalia superinfection, found in only one patient, is a superinfection resulting from a combination of post-GUILT syndrome and the Rosalia virus. Curing the Rosalia infection will remove PGS from the body.

The Rosalia virus is a Group V RNA virus of the Filoviridae family, and superinfections of Rosalia and GUILT are known to be highly deadly. Only one superinfection has ever been found and operated on by Doctor Erhard Muller with the help of his assistant Maria Torres.

FINAL NOTE: All strains of GUILT and or GUILT outbreaks should be reported to Caduceus immediately so further action can be taken. [9]

In the event of a suspected GUILT outbreak, run a Chiron test for chiral reactions. A result of G-1 to G-7 confirms infection.

Symptoms vary but can include: - Tumors - High fever - Lethargy - Mood swings - Internal bleeding - Lacerations - Polyps and diverticulosis - Fluid buildup in organs - Tissue buildup around the heart - Pus clouds - Inflammation - Suicidal ideation - Loss of inhibition - Brain death (in severe cases) -

[1] Cytokine storm and cytokine release syndrome are life-threatening systemic inflammatory syndromes involving elevated levels of circulating cytokines and immune-cell hyperactivation that can be triggered by various therapies, pathogens, cancers, autoimmune conditions, and monogenic disorders.

[2] Bliss is named differently due to being essentially an “origin point” for the other seven strains, and whose classification as a eighth strain of GUILT is hotly debated among scientists researching the pathogen.

[3] Treatment notes: Due to its nature as a tumor and not a typical virus, new doctors should be advised that extraction of Deftera GUILT is incredibly difficult as even a small piece of Deftera can reform into a new tumor colony. Intense care should be taken to avoid leaving any trace of GUILT in the patient, and the surgical laser should be used as needed to burn off any remaining pieces. Antibiotic gel can be used to "direct" Deftera colonies into clumps for easier removal.

[4] Treatment Notes: Calcium plaques created by Triti are most likely a result of GUILT-induced Vitamin K deficiency, and supplements should be administered to the patient after a successful removal to decrease risk of relapse.

[5] The color of the tumor should match the label of the antiserum used during treatment.

[6] The Healing Touch is a mystical power that is believed to have originated from the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, and all users of this skill are believed to descend from him. It allows the user to perform superhuman feats while doing surgery, as well as giving the user medical knowledge.

[7] The scalar laser should be used with intense care as prolonged usage can cause irreparable damage to the patient’s tissue.

[8] Treatment Notes: Paraskevi cells are immune to scalpels at first and can only be cut and removed after treatment with the laser. Using scalpels before this point will only cause unneeded damage to the patient. Focus the laser on the infected cell’s tail for best results.

[9] Many cured GUILT hosts start to show symptoms years after infection, which have common characteristics such as toxicosis on the attacked organ and buildup of tumors. This was named Post-GUILT Syndrome or PGS for short. Keep a close eye on recovering GUILT patients to find and treat PGS before it becomes lethal.

[guiltology]

GUILT is a fast-acting, deadly strain of diseases and a major threat. However, there is another set of diseases that also poses a significant threat. This disease strain is named Stigma, and it consists of a set of six diseases: Cheir, Soma, Ops, Onyx, Brachia, and Cardia.

Although Stigma strains appear to follow some common rules of pathogens, they form their own category of unique pathogen known as culuriophiles due to their ability to feed off of and thrive in the mineral culurium. Without culurium, the virus cannot grow or thrive. This is why persons who had been given artificial blood donations were more likely to contract Stigma, as the artificial heme was created using culurium. Although it is unsure what sort of properties allow the virus to spread in culurium, it is one of its main transmission forms. The disease follows very little of the proper structures of most viruses and it is hypothesized it is in fact some form of Archaebacteria. If this theory is proven correct it would call the story of Markus Vaughn's "accidental" creation of the pathogen into question, as archaea cannot be manipulated easily due to their lack of a nucleus as well as the fact that “immunogenic properties of archaea as part of the human microbiota is generally rare”. (Schmitz et al) To summarize GUILT, a Gangliated Utrophin Immuno-Latency Toxin (GUILT) is a set of dormant toxin-like artificial diseases that attack the immune system. Each strain most likely triggers a cytokine storm which causes the body to attack itself. This explains why the healthiest patients die the fastest due to their immune systems being strong enough to tear the body to shreds. Essentially, the virus causes the body's immune system to attack itself, which would explain why GUILT hits hardest on people who are in the best of health. The stronger your immune system is the more damage it can do to itself. Stigma strains were created by accident using the research of Concordia researcher Markus Vaughn. As they mainly feed on the metal culurium, their transmission is somewhat limited and can be halted by simply starving the disease of its food source. GUILT, however, has no such limitations and its spread is only halted by the complete eradication of all virus colonies. It was specifically created to act as a bioweapon and used in biological terrorism, while Stigma was only used in biological attacks after its accidental creation and subsequent discovery by the terrorist organization Parnassus. GUILT and Stigma are both named after foreign language terms, GUILT being named after the Greek days of the week and Gnostic terms such as the neo-GUILT strains Nous "The Mind", Bythos "The Depth", Sige "The Silence" and Aletheia "The Truth". Stigma strains are named after the body parts they affect, such as Cardia “Heart” and Soma “Body”. While GUILT and Stigma are both deadly diseases in their own right, there are some differences in the two diseases that alter how they would need to be treated. For example, because of Stigma’s reliance on the mineral culurium, treatments of synthetic blood would only worsen the patient’s condition. This is because giving the virus more culurium to feed on would only cause its rapid spread. GUILT, however, does not feed on any sort of metals, and therefore synthetic blood can be given. , GUILT is also specifically designed to target surgeons as well as patients and has many self-destructive behaviors, quick work must be done to avoid the death of the patient being operated on. In conclusion, even though there are many differences between the two diseases, from the methods of transmission, differences in lethality, and in cellular composition, they are both large risks. The fight against them is both a difficult and long one and it has only just begun.

[guiltology]

A reminder that even though most GUILT strains are not airborne, you should still WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS. This goes for other diseases as well.

[guiltology]

The Twisted Rosalia superinfection, found in only one patient, is a superinfection resulting from a combination of post-GUILT syndrome and the Rosalia virus. Curing the Rosalia infection will remove PGS from the body.

The Rosalia Virus is a variation of viral hemorrhagic fever, capable of killing patients in days. The virus was originally found in the blood of Rosalia Rosselini by Cumberland College professor Albert Sartre. Sartre and his son Erhard attempted to use the virus to cure all diseases, but instead found that it could not be used for positive means. An outbreak of the virus occurred, resulting in the Cumberland College Incident, where Sartre and Rosalia escaped to Mexico. His son lost all memory of the incident but was arrested and sentenced to 250 years of imprisonment for bioterrorism under the ID "CR-S01".

However, Sartre was infected with the virus, causing him to fall to insanity, killing Rosalia. Rosalia's blood splattered onto nearby flowers which monarch butterflies fed upon, acting as vectors that caused a second outbreak. A variation of the Rosalia virus was encountered once when one of the Rosalia patients, Naomi Kimishima, also had a pre-existing incurable genetic disease (thought to be related to GUILT). Interactions between GUILT and Rosalia gave birth to a "Twisted Rosalia" strain, of which only one case was known to be documented.

The Rosalia virus is a Group V RNA virus of the Filoviridae family, and superinfections of Rosalia and GUILT are known to be highly deadly. Only one superinfection has ever been found and operated on by Doctor Erhard Muller with the help of his assistant Maria Torres.

[guiltology]

GUILT presentation for anyone's usage.

[guiltology]

Thinking about how cularium-based heme would flat out either give you horrible blood poisoning, just plain not work due to the way oxygen is transferred, or essentially set on fire inside you and cook you from the inside.

[guiltology]

Was doing some research about immune checkpoints today and latency would explain Post-GUILT syndrome. Because even after the eradication of the primary colony latent GUILT cells would still remain in the host, and since they're dormant they wouldn't be detected. Which explains why GUILT can come back even after the main infection's cured because. "Latent viruses not only avoid elimination by the host's primary immune response, they also remain with the host for life in the presence of strong acquired immunity, often exhibiting periodic reactivation and recurrence from the latent state. the continual battle between reemergent infectious virus and immunological memory cells provides an essential virus-host regulatory loop in latency." Which is where the "immuno-latency" part of GUILT comes from. Why I didn't think of this before is beyond me.

(If you're curious, the article is on immune checkpoints in viral latency, you can probably find it online.)

[guiltology]

Also, genuinely, do not be afraid to ask questions. I may seem grumpy as fuck but I don't bite.

[guiltology]

What do you think are the easiest and most difficult forms of guilt to treat?

There really isn't an EASIEST, we're dealing with killer biological weapons here, but. As for the hardest. FUCKING PEMPTI. You have NO IDEA how long that shit took.

[guiltology]

Apparently the GUILT strains being sent in the mail is similar to the Anthrax viruses distribution. Who would’ve thought.

[guiltology]

Do you think GUILT and Stigma together could make some weird superinfection like Twisted Rosalia?

If they can, may Asclepius have mercy on us all. Genuinely though, how the fuck you'd even TREAT something like that is beyond me. GUILT is already lethal, Stigma is based off a bacteria that's so old it predates a nucleus, it's the absolute worst of both worlds. So... I don't know. Probably, yes, but I never want to see it in my entire life.

[guiltology]

The four strains of Neo-GUILT are named after the four Gnostic aeons. Bythos Βύθος (the One) and Sige Σιγή (Silence, Charis, Ennoea, etc.) and Nous Νοΰς (Nus, Mind) and Aletheia Άλήθεια (Veritas, Truth)

[guiltology]

I guess strains of GUILT and some types of Stigma have some similarities, both Kyriaki and Cheir create gashes and lacerations, Cardia covers the heart with membrane kind of similar to Triti... while they're not completely the same, they're obviously different diseases.. it's probably interesting that there's similarities between strains.. maybe. I'm not in R&D, I'm not good at this kind of thing.

Holy fuck yeah you're actually right, I genuinely didn't think of that. I suppose there could be some similarities? Explains why the treatments are so damn similar. That and. Well. Dr. Stiles' healing hands.