#fallout fev

Polymelia is a rare birth defect in which the affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs, usually five or more. In this congenital defect, the extra limb is most commonly abnormal in shape and size and may appear as a shrunken limb. The presence of extra limbs, higher than the normal number is technically termed as supernumerary limbs. 

Polymelia can be in the form of dipygus deformity, which is a severe congenital anomaly in which the body axis forks along the abdomen and the lower extremities such as the pelvis and legs become duplicated, giving rise to two pelvises and four legs. The type of polymelia depends on the position at which the accessory limb is attached to the body. Thus, polymelia can be classified as follows: 

Cephalomelia: Extra-limb attached to the head 

Pyromelia: Extra-limb attached to the pelvis 

Thoracomelia: Extra-limb attached to the thorax 

Notomelia: Extra-limb attached to the backbone 

Polymelia can be caused by one of several factors but the most common of which include Genetic Factors: These include defects in the chromosomes and transgenes. One or more genes may undergo a change, technically termed a mutation. Sometimes, a part of a gene may be missing. These changes can result in improper cell division and/or proliferation, leading to polymelia. In this genetic birth disorder, conjoined twins can sometimes be formed in which one of them undergoes degeneration while still in the womb, but its shrunken limbs may remain attached to the remaining fetus, thereby giving rise to polymelia. 

In the case of Mutation exposure to infectious agents, medications, and chemicals during pregnancy can influence the pattern of gene expression that can lead to polymelia. In the case of Functional Polymelia, a condition found throughout many mutated bird species in the world, it is caused by the introduction of the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) or similar mutagenic's. Why it is only birds that present with Functional Polymelia is unknown- but as with many various species, exposure to variant's of mutagenic chemical's or such have a tendency to affect different species in various ways. 

In the case of many bird species it affects them by giving them a extra pair of legs and while many creatures will present with some form of Polymelia, Birds are one of a very few species in which the limbs are actually functional, leading many to call it the Gryphon Gene, after the famous 4-legged bird beast from Greek Mythology. 

Functional Polymelia presents itself in a number of various birds species across the world. Most famous are various species of Owl (famously Barn and Snowy Owls), a majority of the Vulture family and smaller birds such as hawks, falcons, swifts, robins, swallows and finches as well as pigeon's.

A while back I had an idea of making a fanfic following sort of an altered timeline of the fallout 4 story with the basic concept change of the Enclave and the Institute having opened Vault 111 and only leaving Nate or Nora in stasis while the rest of the residents were extracted for the Enclave and the Institute got to keep Shaun as payment for the location.

The idea is the Enclave are using the Vault dwellers as FEV experiments like Frank Horrigan. 

More then likely to continue their mission by using these experiments as special agents to assist in wiping out the inhuman abominations on the surface so that “true humanity” could take its rightful place as the “real” nation of America.

I have it in my head that three of the vault dwellers actually survive through the experiments but at the cost of extreme mutations or cyborgization, perhaps the three are second or third gen from the original vault dwellers forced to breed in order to give the Enclave Scientists more humans to test their Modified FEV on.

My idea was around the time of the events of Fallout 3 the three survivors escape from the Enclave and during their travels in the wastes tend to gain numbers in their group like a Regulator and her charge, an explosive obsessed woman wearing a vault 106 suit and raider like armour, and a disabled mechanic with a mr. handy wheel chair and a heavily modified Gen2 synth.

I thought about having the one of the experiments get captured by the raiders of Nuka world and due to their modifications giving them a more beast like appearance is subjugated into being an animal for The Pack raider group.

anyways shenanigans all around and horrid stuff only the wasteland can provide the group eventually find themselves in the commonwealth and end up getting real split between the warring factions, one of the survivors even becomes split about their spouse who they have found to released from cryostasis and wandering the wasteland. 

(Long Post)

The Forced Evolutionary Virus, also known as FEV, is a virus artificially created by West Tek's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Division.  As the name suggests, the FEV was developed more or less by accident - it started as an immune system booster to make American troops resistant to the biological weapons they were sure China was developing because America sure as hell was. As time went on however, they found it also turning test subjects into musclebound giants, so they changed the name and started pursuing its potential as a super soldier serum instead, using it to forcibly advance a genome into its next distinct stage of evolution. But when a human is exposed to it they gain incredible amounts of physical strength and endurance but they regress in intelligence and many become completely infertile (such as in the case of a Super Mutant).

This is because a notable feature of FEV is that it partially relies upon the DNA of the individual coming in contact with it in order for it to determine the course of action it should take. Coupled with portions of its own recursive code, effects of exposure can be unpredictable, with many resulting in the creations of various creatures, with prolonged immersion in the virus resulting in the most stunning transformations, such as the super mutants that live in both the west and the east, as well as the Kronenberg monstrosities dis-affectionately dubbed centaurs to all the new creatures such as the Snallygaster that call Appalachia home and dot it’s ever expanding wilderness. 

However, an interesting, yet seemingly unheard of effect of the FEV is the introduction of an evolution working backwards, resulting in the de-evolutionizing of it's hosts. Often dubbed FEV-Pre1, this effect results in a new evolutionary path, creating a creature that is both old AND new but different all the same.

No one knows why this happens, or how often it occurs in the world.

However, it has had a remarkable effect on keeping one such pre-war creature alive. One thought too have been long extinct, unable to cope with the drastic world-wide changes. 

The Dorse

The Dorse, Equus Poeciloaglao (the Horse of Varied Beauty), is one such result of this backwards evolutionary path caused by FEV-Pre1, with its ancestor, the modern horse which was long thought to be extinct, being subjected to the FEV virus, but instead of evolving forwards, like many others, it evolved backwards instead. The effects of this transformation, resulted in what is now known as the Dorse, a small ungulate (hoofed) animal seemingly out of prehistory whose appearance greatly resembles that of the Mesohippus, an extinct genus of early horse, which lived some 40 to 30 million years ago from the Middle Eocene all the way to the Early Oligocene. 

Sharing many traits with it's ancestor, the Dorse truly does appear as a creature out of prehistory, even though it was never like that originally. One interesting biological adaptation is that this equid stands in, as a new-fully tridactyl horse in the evolutionary record, with the third digit of it's foot. being longer and larger than its second and fourth digits; completely ridding itself of the typical hoof of modern-day equids. Along with this new foot-gear, it also shares traits of both horse and pre-horse ancestors, it stands roughly 34 inches (86 cm) at the withers at around 4 feet long and weighs anywhere between 75-80 pounds, while larger individuals can weigh roughly 100-200. With wide-set eyes that sit high atop its long, horse-like skull, the Dorse is also equipped with slightly longer legs than its predecessors, and is endowed with what is a relatively large brain, about the same size, proportionate to its bulk, as that of modern horses.

Changes in physical appearance, as well as changes in breeding, gestation and how often females can produce foals compared to their modern-day ancestors have also helped to aid this animal through its long and treacherous journey to the future, but the most important change that spared the horse from a slow painful trek to extinction involves literally looking these gifted horses in the mouth.

Something interesting to note about the dorse, that sets it apart from its pre-war ancestor, is the arrangement of its teeth, which allows the Dorse to have a wide-ranging diet, best suitable for life in the wastes, where food is scarce and you must eat anything you can get, with the arrangement of the teeth suggesting a diet akin almost too that of a bear, making them opportunistic omnivores who tend to consume more plant than animal matter allowing them to eat anything from leaves, roots, and berries to insects, carrion, fresh meat, and fish, while also having the digestive systems and teeth adapted to such a diet. If the animal stayed on the path of a modern-day horse, limitations in their diet would have affected their survival in a big way, as modern day horses are not as suitable for eating a wide-variety of food if the cause to need too would arise compared to the diet their ancestors once had. 

As it stands the FEV-Pre1 has benefited the modern-day horse in a huge way, but they are not the only ones.  The discovery of the Dorse has not only proven that the FEV virus is capable of more remarkable things then once thought, but the discovery of this particular anomalous result of the FEV has opened the door to the notion that it’s not only horse’s that could have been affected by it. Many species since the war have been thought to be extinct, unable to cope with the vast ecological and environmental changes that came from the result of the great war. However, the appearance of the Dorse, opens the gate to the idea that many other species might also be affected by FEV-Pre1 in the same way. And given how long and magnificent certain animals treks were to the future, 

The possibilities are endless as to how far back in evolution FEV-Pre1 can take you

About FEV