Oil Slick

Oil Slick is a Plague Subspecies created by tinydobes

This subspecies is the unintentional result of Lightning engineers working on Plague grounds. Employees exposed to industrial accidents often found themselves irreversibly imbued with their own crude oil products, which had become contaminated by the surrounding Wasteland environment. The hardiest employees survived and continued working even as their bodies underwent drastic chemical and physical changes. When these original survivors had offspring, their altered traits were passed down.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances which created Oil Slicks, Lightning workers view them with something like affection and pride—an unorthodox gift from the Plaguebringer! Their Plague colleagues, meanwhile, believe they possess the best of both flights, where one supplied a potent and volatile raw material and the other gave it the means to spread and thrive. Members of both flights eagerly track the spread of Oil Slicks out from contaminated sites with scientific interest.

Extra Breeding Specifications

 * Any breed can be an Oil Slick. The larger the dragon, the more hazardous it is, due to the amount of oil it releases.
 * Midnight may look too purple with certain combinations, use discretion.
 * These tert ranges cover different types of crude oil according to density and composition. Lighter-colored oils are highly volatile and evaporate quickly, diffusing their toxins while making them more flammable. Darker-colored oils are heavy and sticky, and pose a larger environmental threat due to their high toxicity.

Lore
This subspecies constantly oozes a petroleum-like substance which varies depending on the original oil compound and proximity to the Wyrmwound at the time of contamination. At its most benign, this secretion simply trails wherever the Oil Slick goes. More often it has a tendency to spread outwards from its source and seek both organic and inorganic subjects to soak into.

Symptoms
Exposure to secretions and fumes can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Long-term exposure can result in nervous system damage, organ damage, ulceration, bleeding, seizures, and cancer. Feathered and furred dragons risk hypothermia due to their coats matting and sticking together. Their ability to fly is often hindered, and they may preen or pluck compulsively to attempt cleaning their coats. Weakened dragons are highly vulnerable to other infections and natural dangers.

If a dragon is completely consumed by tainted oil and still hasn't succumbed to its detrimental effects, it will become an Oil Slick itself. Its body mutates to resemble the original oil compound, becoming resistant to physical damage as well as subsequent chemical hazards or infections.''' '''

Lifestyle
Original Oil Slick survivors coming from Lightning and Plague clans tend to be apathetic and don't seek to deliberately spread their unique contaminant, except in controlled experiments. They'll avoid their clanmates as a basic courtesy and are well-suited to solitary work in hazardous environments. For this reason, many have remained in the Scarred Wasteland and raised hatchlings there.

Subsequent generations have shown an increase in aggression and mental imbalance, due to being imbued with their parents' toxic secretions from egghood as well as sustained exposure to Wyrmwound contaminants. Several groups have begun roaming out of the Scarred Wasteland, spreading tainted oils to other territories under the brusque claim "for science". There have even been reports of Imperial cults banding together in hopes of creating an Oil Spill emperor of disastrous proportion. Despite their hostility to outsiders, these feral Oil Slicks find safety and strength in their own numbers and are lax about the territories they share.''' '''

Regions
Oil Slicks are relatively benign to Plague and Lightning territories, which are naturally barren and well-equipped to deal with their secretions. Earth territories rich in natural crude oil reserves are prime targets for Oil Slicks looking to breed and spread their taint. They present a significant threat to complex ecosystems in Water and coastal regions—a passing Oil Slick can contaminate entire marine and wildlife habitats and inflict long-term damage on food chains. An Oil Slick will never approach any Fire territory, however; the smallest flame is enough to ignite its chemically volatile body, burning it alive and sending noxious smoke into the air for days or even weeks as its oil reserves are depleted.

Controversy
Since their accidental creation, Oil Slicks have been the subject of political and environmental debate between flights. Lightning clans believe they have a right to employ Oil Slicks and their offspring both for their hardiness as workers and for the petroleum they secrete, which can be collected and used as fuel just like the original product. Surrounding flights have ceded this right on the condition that Oil Slicks register with their clans and have strict restrictions placed on their travels.

However, when later Oil Slick generations began ignoring these regulations, widespread outbreaks occurred well beyond agreed quarantine limits. This brought outcries against both Plague and Lightning flights, who had been expected to contain their subspecies, and suggestions were even made to employ Fire flight dragons to exterminate potentially dangerous Oil Slick groups in "controlled burnings". This was met with vicious backlash from original Oil Slicks, whose grandchildren and great-grandchildren were the subject of dispute. Ultimately these plans were never carried out, due to concerns about toxic smoke emissions as well as ethical implications.

Today, Plague and Lightning flights continue to offer shelter to their subspecies. Lightning clans are developing methods of containing Oil Slick secretions, using floating booms in Water regions with moderate success. Plague clans remain divided on whether to encourage the spread of Oil Slicks according to the Plaguebringer's philosophy, or to help their Lightning colleagues contain them. Plague scientists are hopeful about recent experiments using oil-eating microbes, which in combination with Lightning equipment could prove a safe and reliable means of cleaning up Oil Slick contaminants.