Exo/Exoderus

Exoderus, (x-oh-dus), or more commonly referred to as “Exo”, is a race-like group of individuals with the codominant trait of the same name. Since it is a trait, it can affect every race while not being considered a sub-race. Those with Exo genetics are more relatable to a person with albinism, than being a new race type.

While it is closely comparable with Vampirism and Lycanthropy by its violent nature, it isn’t a curse. Exo is purely genetic: meaning one with it cannot transfer via a bite, scratch, or gash wound. It can, theoretically, be transferred to another by blood-transfusion but no such cases have ever been officially reported. Many stories have been recorded of sudden “transformations” yet the most likely reason for this is very low-expression of Exo traits.

Those with Exo have varied physical traits, but essentially all afflicted have the same biological changes. Most noticeable differences in their biology are their blood cells. Exos have a heightened level of white blood cells, making their immune system fairly faster than a standard person of the same race. Fighting infections faster, and giving skin platelets an easier time to scab over smaller wounds, or large wounds that have been closed/stitched up. Their red blood cells are in lowered numbers, and don’t transfer nutrients as well-which lead to adapting their dietary needs. Leading to a meaty diet (fat and protein heavy, with calcium derived from bones and marrow.)

Adaptations have also been made to track prey better-the senses sight and smell most noticeable. The cones in a standard eye dilate depending on light, the darker the wider the cone and more dilated, the lighter the thinner and less dilated (most prevalent examples are in cats.) Exos eyes follow the same type of logic, but much more extreme. The standard iris’s pigment usually doesn’t change much from birth to death, but an Exo can change their eye color in almost a minute. Iris’s can lighten the pigments, shifting colors drastically. Brown eyes lighten to yellowy amber, blue lighten to a lavender, green to a silvery white, and red/albino eyes lighten to a snowy white. This causes the pupil to thin by stimulating light, making their eyes sharper and easier to detect movement.

Some Exos can develop line traits (similar to how angel or demon families may share similar traits between them. Ex: Every being born from the demon Moliserva have black-tinted tears, blood, and other bodily fluids, and their horns are skin-toned.)

Another example, only of an Exo family, the Rodgers family have an extra one-three rings of teeth in the back of their throats to help with eating.

Naturally, there are biological downfalls. With such a strong immune system and such a set-diet, many Exo’s cannot digest complex foods, or ones with high levels of calories, sugars, and vitamins. Even in cases where they digest such foods- it’s almost like eating large amounts  of candy or sour things all at once. Not to mention-many high expression Exos usually can’t even eat or smell complex foods without getting nauseous, or becoming very hungry. Leading to the next problems, feeding.

With their limited diet, heightened senses, and advantages in hunting: Exos need to feed very regularly in vast amounts. They are even subjected to hallucinations and high levels of adrenaline and testosterone if one goes too long between meals. Parts of the brain are stimulated, creating chemical imbalances. Typically a high-expression Exo will experience  positive stimuli in the left frontal region and negative all through the right side of the brain; extremely similar to how anger is examined and created. The same effect can cause extreme euphoria during hunger, resulting in a unique phenomenon: starvation-highs. While they are very hard to come by, three in one hundred Exos experience addicting starve highs, and thirteen in fifty Exos have experienced at least one high from feeding, if not more. This unfortunate event has led to mass killings of humans and livestock, which resulted in a severe purge of anyone with Exo traits, or it in their bloodline.

A two-sided coin of disgust and fear from and too Exos has led to low numbers. Now, if a human were to hunt and kill an Exo; they would be eliminated by any Exo around. Creating a very tight knit bond between those of the gene, even if they have never met, and making a generalized enemy of humans, as they were the most violent towards their kind. Some humans even turned their back on other humans with Exo blood-not being an Exo-but just it in their family lineage. The relationship between human and Exo has become that of prey vs predator. Leading to humans being the main target of Exo-getting their relations to vampires and werewolves.

Physical traits are vast, ranging from permanently altered eye colors, permanently thinner pupils, different pigmented sclera (grey and white tones), ranges in blood color-high expression have dark navy-purple blood that turns blackish red when exposed to oxygen. Lower- expression have blood similar to the same race but slightly darker, while very high-expression Exos (often called “super Exos” or “pure Exos”) have blood close to dark violet without oxygen, and inky black with oxygen. The same color variations apply to the entire blood system-so often veins in their eyes look different, and will have different tints in their skin-most noticeable in their ears, cheeks, and lips due to high vein count in said areas.

With Exo being a codominant trait, it can be a little hard to understand. Exo is a trait, but it’s most commonly found in humans and demons. Other races can have Exo-but Angels. Exo is a trait originally formed in demons (why its adaptations happened so fast-and why Exos has many traits demons have) so it’s simply not possible in full Angels. Having said that; since Exo is genetic, it cannot be found in other species than where it originally evolved from-demons. With the unpredictable nature of demons, it was ultimately inevitable before a human child was produced with it. The only reason it happened was because one parent was a Cambion, and the other a regular blooded-demon. Thus one offspring was a low-expression Exo Cambion, that later along the lines bred with a human. Producing a human with the Exo trait. So on and on, the trait started being found in more than one human, leading to high-expression Exo humans.

As far as their codominant vs dominant traits work, let’s take an Exo and a human's genes. When a child is born, regardless of the species, their parents have a set of genes. These pairs of genes look like two lines pinched together at their middles to look like an “X” (One set each for each different trait, eye color, hair color, hair type, ext.) As for their child, their genetics are made up of one copy of one of each parent's traits. That forms the child's own pair of genes.

With an Exo and a human, for this example they will be fully human and fully Exo, both have 100% of their genes the same. Meaning: their children will always get one human gene, and one Exo gene. Since Exo is a codominant trait, a child only needs one of those genes to be Exo.

However if you were to take that child with one human and one Exo gene and pair them up with another person with one human and one Exo gene, they will have different odds. They have a 25% chance of having a human child (both passing down the human trait), a 50% chance of being a low-expression Exo (one passing down human, and one passing down Exo), and a 25% chance of having a high-expression/Super Exo (both passing down the Exo trait). This means that two Exo humans can still have a non-Exo child.

Now-there's where the grey area starts to show up. If a human can turn Exo by Cambion parents, then theoretically an angel could be Exo by a Nephilim. Which-is possible. If a human Exo (High-expression) had a child with a Nephilim, they would be a Nephilim with Exo. Though if that person had a child with a pure angel: the child would be a Hybrid. (Angel and demon child) There’s no real explanation as to why-but mostly believed to be since Exo is a demon-evolved trait.