Infected

Infected are creatures invested with the substance of the Bathybius, which gradually alters them until in the end they come to be made entirely of similar substance themselves. In the end, there's no practical difference between a fully transformed infected and a deepling—the only difference is the origin. Deeplings began as part of the Bathybius; infected began as other creatures entirely.

To begin the process of turning a creature into an infected, all that is necessary is to introduce a portion of the Bathybius's substance into the creature in question. The amount of substance necessary varies depending on a number of factors—the health of the creature; the temperature; some subtleties about the creature's anatomy—but as a rule of thumb usually comes out to roughly one liter per two hundred kilograms of the creature's mass. Usually, the introduction is made through the mouth, but any orifice will do, including an open wound.

The "infection" is seldom done by the Bathybius directly—that would, after all, involve the infected-to-be to venture deep under the ocean to where the Deepmind dwells. Rather, it's generally deeplings—or earlier infected—that carry it out, either by bringing a small quantity of the Bathybius's substance with them or, more often, by using a part of their own bodies—which, after all, are made of the same stuff.

Once the substance is introduced into the subject, the transformation takes about three weeks to go to completion. Over this time, the creature's color gradually fades, and he gets more and more transparent; also, his bones soften—as to a lesser degree does his flesh—and he progressively takes on the deeplings' characteristics. While the transformation is still ongoing, there are a number of magical means it can be halted, but once completed it is irreversible. The infected has effectively become a piece of the Bathybius.

Many people live in fear of being turned into infected against their will, but in fact this almost never happens. There have been a handful of instances in which deeplings have hunted people down and force-fed them bits of their substance to begin the process of infection, but so few that they are almost insignificant. For the most part, the infected undergo the process voluntarily; they willingly ingest the requisite substance because they want to serve the Bathybius, or at least because they want to become watery beings like the deeplings—or because they are offered something in return. Many infected, after finishing whatever task the Bathybius initially has in mind for them, then go down to the watery abysses to unite with the Deepmind, but others stay around indefinitely, acting as agents for the Bathybius or pursuing projects of their own.