Arcane Plagueborn

Arcane Plagueborn is a Plague and Arcane subspecies created by Illrathuleon and Beramode.

Lore
The Arcane Plagueborn are a glaring reminder that great love does not come without a steep price. In this case, it was the forbidden union of an apostle of the Plaguebringer and a student of the Arcanist which bore these infectiously magical creatures, by a combination of their talents and passions. The fruit of their union was not an offspring, but a purely fabricated force of intelligence, inherent magic, and mutating ferocity; the Arcane Plague. The existence of this subspecies is a result of its failed containment. Dragons with the Arcane Plague tend to have higher intelligence, and in turn, stronger magical power, at the cost of their sanity. Children born of the infected are inherently so but also have greater control over the unpredictability of living with the Arcane Plague.

Cycle of Affliction
The Arcane Plague is transmitted when an unaffected source of magic come in contact with an infected source. This can happen aggressively but it isn't ideal and is best done subversively, meaning that when a friendly dragon is infected they will unknowingly spread the Arcane Plague to the rest of their nest and if left unchecked, even unto other friendly nests.

Once a magical source has been infected, the Arcane Plague begins to unravel the careful layers of control that keep it stable. The result is a rampant increase in power and saturation of thaumatic energies throughout the dragon in question but come at the price of potential physical side effects and an increasingly unstable state of mind. Its effects are not unlike a magical steroid but with the results being infinitely deadlier, where you can blow yourself up by accident, but those who learn a measure of control are willing to take the risk.

The Arcane Plagueborn are born permanently mutated by the Arcane Plague. Due to having begun life in this state they are in a sense used to it; by no means are they more immune to the insanity, but they know how to ride through the highs and lows of the Arcane flow. It goes without saying that being a part of either of the two flights also gives a dragon the intrinsic knowledge to better survive this new enlightening. Using magic is quite pleasant, even more so when infected with the spell plague, and it can be easy to fall into its siren song. But any Plagueborn who find themselves significantly powerful have some degree of control, they’re all insane with their own little quirks of course, and power hungry all but they know how to be clever about it.

Certain types of magic strong in the arts of purification (like say Light) are better resistant to the Arcane Plague but by are no by no means immune. Once the Arcane Plague is caught it can be purged in the early stages but doing so may leave a dragon permanently crippled, much like taking serious damage to the physical body. While the spiritual body may heal it will never fully recover.

Additional
This subspecies thrives best in environments with high levels of magical energy. Their success is further dependent upon the type of tertiary they carry. Those with smoke genes are known to have more frequent insanity attacks as compared to their counterparts with circuit genes. The circuit is the proof of magic connected via organized ley lines and therefore slightly more controllable.

The Arcane Plagueborne have no hybrids or variants. The delicate mixture of science and magic that goes into their creation is fragile, if in any way unstable it will kill the infected dragon, or worse. However, the Arcane Plagueborne failures do not always die. Sometimes their fates are far worse. The increase in thaumic energy overwhelms their body, often mutating them to better suit the diseases own needs while slowly corroding their sanity. The worst of them are mindless brutes who only exist to serve the proper Arcane Plagueborne.
 * 1st June 2015: There may only be absolute Arcane Plagueborns, off-colored will be deemed as failures