Good question! I know I talked about this more in-depth before, but for reason I can't find the post. In short, Zygrow has created "nymph farms" by artificially creating "optimized" environments where they are likely to spawn.

These farms can take many forms. A hydriad farm may look like a big aquarium, minmaxed to perfection with an optimal balance of plants and wildlife. A limniad farm might look like a big greenhouse, where plant growth is encouraged with grow lights, custom soil mixtures, and scientifically-optimized fertilizers.

Zygrow is perfecting the art of artificial wilderness, and in doing so, they can trick Gaia into spawning nymphs in unusual places like cities or even industrial zones. Gaia doesn't know that modern corn was selectively bred over centuries to create something totally different from its ancestor, because at the end of the day it's still corn, and it can still spawn corn nymphs. These GMO corn nymphs may look different from their wild ancestors, but they are still nymphs all the same, just like the modern corn is still a plant.

Zygrow has performed many experiments with nymphs, and have created all sorts of abominations and interesting new breeds as a result. Chemical fire pyriads, hybrid-beast faunae, slime hydriads, and GMO limniads are just a few of the things they're responsible for.

Aside from spawning new breeds of nymphs, Zygrow can also alter the properties of existing nymphs, transforming them into new forms with new properties.

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Lore Masterpost

Good question! Zygrow has made many genetic abominations, but nearly all of them remain in their secret laboratories and get terminated by employees.

However, once in a while one of these abominations escapes the lab or an employee blabs about them to someone. Once the media picks up on this, there is a lot of controversy and drama. Authorities get bribed and Zygrow remains in business.

Zygrow once tried to create a "super ogre" as part of their super soldier program, by genetically modifying ogres. What they made was essentially the Incredible Hulk...These creatures were ogres from a genetic standpoint, but in appearance they were three times larger than normal, their skin was twice as thick and covered in sharp bony protrusions, they had six horns instead of two, and they suffered from uncontrollable rage fits.

Rumor has it that a Zygrow employee felt pity for one of these super ogres and helped them escape, bringing them to an ogrish tribal colony in Noalen. Zyrow denies this, but no one can deny that there is now a population of ogres in the Blue Valley who are unnaturally large, strong, and ill-tempered...possible descendants of the super ogre?

Zygrow has also genetically modified nymphs to an extensive degree. They've made noxious flame pyriads, GMO limniads, slime hydriads, and even maenads who produce different types of wine...some of which are poisonous. Some of these nymphs were intended as weapons, others were meant to solve environmental problems. Many of these nymphs have escaped or have been intentionally released over the ages, and many can still be found roaming Gaia today. They are unnatural creatures struggling to find their place in the natural world, and so they are often shunned by other nymphs.

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Lore Masterpost

Place of Origin: Zareen Empire

Year Founded: 3563

Founder(s): Bronte Lorent, Yana Gitoni, Nel Adayamo

OVERVIEW

Zygrow is a Zareenite technology corporation specializing in genetic modification. It was founded by a team of 3 brilliant (and morally questionable) scientists. Their goal was to “improve” living organisms through eugenics and forced DNA mutations. Their first experiments on animals were promising, so before long, they received contracts from private companies as well as the Zareenite government.

Zygrow is most infamous for “Operation Ironfae”, an ambitious project to selectively breed elven slaves until an iron-resistant individual was born. Using their unique DNA-altering technology, Zygrow successfully bred an iron-resistant elf in the year 3807. This special elf was named Dami Jani, and he would be forced to sire thousands of offspring throughout his life to pass on his unique genes. These offspring were bred further, and the population of these new “red elves” grew exponentially. 

Zygrow made a fortune selling these red elves as slaves, for not only were they resistant to iron, they were also totally immune to burning or overheating. This bonus effect wasn't intended by Zygrow, but it made these slaves very attractive to Zareen Empire's many hazardous industries, where workers were subjected to iron equipment and brutally hot temperatures.

Zareen Empire abolished slavery in the year 4350, and all the red elf slaves were liberated. By this point, Zygrow had many more projects and contracts lined up, so the company continued to grow regardless.

Aside from red elves, their most notable accomplishments include ironjaw hounds, super soldiers, and vat-growing technology.

Zygrow has had many secret and ethically questionable projects in its time, but today it is best known for its “fertility service”, where customers pay to grow their children in artificial growth vats. Zygrow claims that the children grown in their vats are physically and mentally superior to naturally-birthed children, all while bypassing the health risks and discomfort of pregnancy.

Its fertility business is now the company's biggest money-maker. Most clients are wealthy and willing to spend big on “premium” services, but middle-class families also make up an increasingly large customer base. Zygrow has even attracted the attention of foreigners, who travel all the way to Zareen Empire to use the service.

SEE ALSO

Ironjaw (Dogs of Looming Gaia)

Ask: Zygrow

Zareen Empire

Red Elf (elves)

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Lore Masterpost

and then some bullshit like this escapes from their lab

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Lore Masterpost

Oooh very interesting concept! I like it! Totally sounds like something the Zygrow company would do...I could see them launching a secret program where they figure out exactly what chemicals/conditions created the red elves, then applying that to other species to give them iron and fire resistance.

Eventually some of these test subjects might escape the testing facility, hide out somewhere, and multiply for a few generations...

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Lore Masterpost

Zygrow's technology does require a sperm and egg to create a new life. This means they need genetic material from 2 different donors (or in some unusual cases, just one donor who can shapeshift between sexes, or maybe an intersexed donor with both ovaries and testicles).

This might change in the future though. Zygrow is currently running experiments, trying to clone creatures from parts like hair, skin, and bones.

Their experiments so far have not created what you would call "life"...more like "cancer". These controversial experiments draw a lot of negative attention from the public, who fears Zygrow will one day discover a way for mortals to create monsters like divines do.

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Lore Masterpost

I haven't finalized the concept for Zygrow's CEO, but here are my ideas so far:

-They are probably a vat-grown person themselves.

-They have an obsessive need for physical perfection, and this has led them to get monstrous amounts of plastic surgery and body augmentations. Ironically every procedure just makes them look more freakish and further from perfection.

-They are quite nasty and have low empathy for others. But this is the result of a vain and really messed up childhood being raised by people who are just as obsessed with perfection as they are.

-They are probably human, and they have an inferiority complex about it because humans are considered the squishiest and weakest of all commoners. Alternatively, they could be a dworf, a Dami elf, or a faun. I haven't decided.

As for the Zygrow nymphs...

I talked a little about them in this post. Zygrow has been experimenting with creating new races of nymphs with unique properties, in an attempt to solve some of the issues that Zareen Empire faces (pollution, trash disposal, resource shortages, etc.)

For example, they created a new race of pyriads called "whiteflames". As their name suggests, these pyriads burn white-hot, much hotter than their sisters, and require massive amounts of high-octane fuel to stay alive. These nymphs were "employed" (more like enslaved...) to power plants and used to incinerate objects that were difficult to dispose of, like tires and old fuel.

These nymphs are good at burning stuff very quickly. However, they produce toxic gases when they do so. Unlike other nymphs who instinctively seek natural materials like wood and straw to eat, whiteflames act like addicts with a desperate craving for more potent fuel sources...all of which are synthetic and highly toxic. They love jet fuel, plastic, coal, and rubber in particular.

Some of these nymphs once escaped captivity and wreaked absolute havoc across the empire. They made beelines for fuel storage warehouses, airports, tire shops, and more, committing a string of arsons and massive explosions in their wake. They ran amok for quite some time because they were so dangerous, there was no simple way to capture them. They burned so hot that throwing water on them did not extinguish them like normal pyriads, they just kept burning like a tire fire. They lobbed explosive fireballs that took out entire buildings. It took the Zareenite military weeks of time and billions of Z-credits to round them all up and neutralize them.

Zygrow denied any involvement with their creation.

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Lore Masterpost

Fun ideas! Sounds like the type of thing Zygrow would be up to. I wouldn't be surprised if they had mermaids and other Aquarians locked up in their labs undergoing these types of experiments.

If these experiments were successful, Zygrow would surely go public with the results. But since they haven't advertised anything, I would say that the results have been...less than perfect so far.

I'm imagining mermaids permanently stuck in their aquatic forms, or stuck in their terrestrial forms but with gills and no lungs, so they can't breathe air anymore. Perhaps sirenes with legs, though they can't walk very well due to deformities, so they are not very mobile in water or on land.

Zygrow does not want the public to see these horrific failed experiments, so these test subjects would be under heavy lockdown in a mysterious lab somewhere.

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Lore Masterpost