Those who are under the control of the Virus and have been turned into into mindless instinctive drones. They're aggressive to a fault and act similar to zombies, attacking other wakas to spread the virus further across the synthetic world.
Important Distinction: While The Infected and Zoas may share atributes, they are not the same species.
The Infected are Wakatrics that have been infested by the Virus, they're sick and commonly mindless but can be cured with enough effort.
Zoas are created by the virus from the ground up, have a sense of individuality and aren't sick since rot makes up their very essence.
confusion
Difficulty connecting to the Web
ick drip
Unable to connect to the Web entirely
Tarnished shell
Ick overflow
Developed virus traits
Mindlessness
They fell into a host facility deep underground and got infected by the very source of the virus itself
They got attacked by an already-infected wakatric. Most infections happen through physical attacks yet on rare occasions an Infected is able to broadcast a signal that digs itself into the systems of anyone unfortunate enough to hear it.
Poking around at inactive models or technology can result in getting infected as it can still linger in inactive pieces. (lore fact: this is why most infected models are buried)
Curing an Infected and Virus infested waka is not a task for the faint of heart. They are exceptionally difficult to treat because of their aggressive nature and high risk factor. The chances of becoming infected yourself are far too high for most to even entertain the idea.
To add insult to injury: if the virus within realizes what's going on, it'll start to panic and become eratic. It'll try anything to survive, forcing it's host to develop new defensive traits, it can even trigger self destruction if the treatment isn't fast enough.
To clean out a virus, one must dig into the infected code and clean it one strand at a time while avoiding getting consumed themselves.
Any Virus traits the wakatric gained during it's period of sicknes usually remain as they're too dangerous to remove
Unless you use an item, starters cannot be infected upon creation! if you wish for them to go through the infection story-line you'll need to follow the Infection prompt
To remove Infection from a character you'll need to follow the treatment and rehabilitation prompt
If you've gotten a Pre-made design with virus traits it's upto you whether they're still infected or have already been cleared! it just means they were infected at some point.
Of course! Your waka can also be cured until stage 2 and receive no negative side effects.
In general, virus traits are frowned upon and feared by the average waka. Mokas meanwhile are often more curious than they are disturbed.