Power Description
Primary: Outwardly manifests as a very powerful, touch-based, general-purpose healing ability. The healing is regeneration-based, gradual rather than instantaneous. It can heal most wounds, including regenerating lost organs or body parts, as well as cure sickness. All "problems" are addressed at once, so developing illnesses and minor injuries unrelated to the primary wound or disease will also be cured. This ability can be used on others through touching the affected area, but is primarily for use on the self, with less severe side effects.
During the process of healing, the affected areas undergo erratic and unpredictable effects, including shifting unnaturally, expanding, pulsating, or necrosing. This invariably comes with intense pain, and often convulsions and muscle contractions, and grows worse the more power Theriac puts into the heal, though it also heals faster. When this process has ended, the previously-wounded areas will have healed and stabilized into tissue that is generic but distinctly reptilian.
This reptilian tissue functions mostly the same as the damaged or lost tissue it replaces, but is tough and scaly to the touch. The reptilian flesh remains until the body naturally heals over it, making the tissue a broadly temporary solution such as a scab or bandage, but tissue that the body cannot naturally replenish- such as organs and removed bones- will remain as such. Flesh that would normally scar heals cleanly, even after the body naturally regrows it.
Theriac keeps awareness of all of the reptilian flesh he has produced until that flesh is supplanted, even though this awareness is often relegated to the back of his mind. He maintains slight control over it, able to move it as if via a muscle. This includes instances of the tissue on himself, meaning he is able to move parts of his body which should not be possible due to lack of skeletal or muscular infrastructure. Theriac's body also slowly regrows flesh over that generated by his power, but only to a certain extent.
Although he typically uses wounds as a vector for the power as a path of least resistance, Theriac does not need to use the healing aspect of his power to implant reptilian tissue onto himself or a target; all it requires is for him to touch the target. He uses this aspect of his power in combat, to quickly "tag" enemies he hits. He also uses this as a way to tag other members of the cult every few days to keep tabs on them, on Splendor's orders. Individuals tagged briefly in this way do not suffer the earlier-mentioned adverse effects that happen during the healing process, and tagging can therefore be disguised as a casual touch on the shoulder.
Secondary (Theseus): Theriac can turn the full force of his power on himself, briefly becoming a vague form of indistinct reptilian features, roughly proportional to the amount of tissue his power has ever produced up to this point, granting him the physiology and neurology that goes with these features. However, entering this state causes a degree of permanence in the changes, and even when he returns to normal his body will not naturally replace some of the reptilian tissue with Demihuman tissue. At present, most of his limbs have converted, as well as patches of his back, his circulatory system (rendering him ectothermic), and his eyes.
Secondary (Tithonus): Parts of Theriac's body which have permanently converted into reptilian tissue can "shed" their outer layers (most commonly skin and scales) in order to naturally renew and regenerate themselves. This is a response to damage and general wear, and not a conscious activation of Theriac's power.
Comments