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Sir. Ma'am. Uhh, sa'am. I really love your ocs, especially Morrigan, so I wanted to ask if it would be possible for them to get a computer virus.

I know they're very human-adjacent, so if they CAN get viruses, I'm wondering if it would present itself like a regular sickness? Fever, dizziness, increased heart rate, at cetera. Or would it do things like screw up their perception by making it impossible to tell who their friends are versus their enemies?

And most importantly: Would it make their voice crackle and mix with static?

So far we've mostly just seen them being hurt by outside forces, like the hypothermia and the internal bleeding. The closest thing I can think of to a "virus" that's happened would be the cuddle glitch. So I've been really intrigued by the idea of something internal harming them.

Asking because I've become utterly obsessed with Morri as a whumpee. Very excited for future content!!

Hello hello hello! This made me so happy to see. I'm so pleased you love them as much as I do :)

Okay, so I did one of my really super long incredibly complicated reference pieces about this. I apologize if that's not what you're looking for, so I'll give you the short answers too: yes, yes and yes!

unspeakably long answer? take a look under the cut :)

Alright. So. Let's talk.

As noted, Morrigan is not immune to malfunctions, whether that be human responses to allergens or personalized attacks. We've already talked about the organic sides of things, so let's get into computerized threats.

First, Morrigan is not totally immune to viruses. They have a natural firewall, but there are several systems that run in the background, where they can't directly affect anything--so some choices are made without their input. With enough talent, a handmade virus could easily infiltrate.

Things to note:

Creators of viruses or worms often use psychological or social engineering to make it more enticing for victims. Curious, as Morri's built to manipulate.

Motivations for viruses are often profit, sabotage, or political messages. Morrigan is useless for these, unless the goal is terrorism, or directly undercutting the company-not-yet-named (CNYN) who created them.

Common effects of viruses include physical damage, loss of data, or leaked/stolen information. Lots of things that would greatly affect one Morrigan White.

Now, the meat of the issue. Or the ask, per se.

Virus makeup

Most often, there are three parts to a computer virus. The infection vector (the thing that infiltrates a computer), the payload (the harmful code that replicates itself, re:biological virus), and the trigger (an "if-then" code that tells the payload to execute).

The infection vector exploits and manipulates security weaknesses. I bring this up, though a mite obvious, because I love the image of Morrigan being at their weakest (physically, systematically, or emotionally) and getting kicked while they're down by a virus.

The payload can be any code. We've mentioned by passing how complex Morrigan is, just in general. So any target is dangerous--emotional vulnerabilities can mean friendly fire, physical breaks can mean imminent shutdown. And on top of that, all of the systems are intrinsically linked. One goes down? Expect several more to follow.

The trigger can be anything. I'm not going to say much more on that. But it can be anything at all.

Infiltration

A significant roadblock is finding a way to infiltrate Morrigan in the first place. Email and text scams are almost elementary to scan and avoid, and USB or cord connections are almost impossible, since they're actively mobile. So here are a few possibilities to think on:

1. Pure manipulation

Morrigan, as stated, is trained in manipulation, so to truly get ahead of them, you'd probably have to convince them of danger. Particularly danger of JJ's wellbeing. Or if you could give them an illusion, and state they have no other good choice, you might be able to accept it.

2. Manhandling/forcing

In the same way one can inject another with a syringe, if you were to get close enough to Morrigan, you might be able to physically inject a virus. However, that would be fairly noticeable--unless you're particularly adept at this kind of infiltration, or they're particularly incapacitated at the moment.

3. Technology improvements

With Morrigan being the birth of a futuristic technological era, there's no doubt engineers could come up with more creative ways to infiltrate. They are, in many ways, nearly human--how close could a computerized virus get to a biological one, in the future?

Cures and removals

Before we get into the really fun part, we should talk about how to heal Morrigan from a computer virus.

Depending on the payload or the target, any number of systems could be damaged. The first step is to neutralize the virus itself. Oftentimes, this means directly changing Morrigan's code--this can be done from their charging terminal, or by plugging in through a physical port, such as a USB. This is not comfortable for Morrigan, who has shown great discomfort in their code being altered, especially without permission.

If the virus has caused significant damage, a technical repair is required. This means finding a technician from CNYN and an excuse for their damage. Unhelpfully, if significantly impaired, Morrigan is far more likely to fail at lying when inflicted. So the best option is to power them down, give a sufficient defense to a CNYN technician, and collect them later.

All this to say, damage done to Morrigan is significantly dangerous not just to everyone else's wellbeing, but also to their cover--this is not just about how well they can fight. This is about whether or not they will be fully dismantled.

And finally for this section--certain viruses may be too quick to act. If so, finding a stalling agent or a countervirus to postpone shutdown is necessary. This will also need to be removed, and is far less comfortable coming out than going in.

Effects

At last. The part we were waiting for.

There are several significant effects of any computer virus, depending on what it's targeting. Here are several things I've considered:

Memory loss

Their memory banks may be significantly protected. However, loss of memory is a horrible thing to Morrigan, who uses past experience and analysis to affect their actions in the moment. Plus, they are not prone to feeling safe and secure at any given moment. Lack of understanding would contribute to hostility.

Behavioral changes

Possibly my favorite: Morrigan is highly specialized, but is first and foremost a weapon. Glitches in behavior can go from simply forgetting to blink to shooting an ally point blank. Personalized viruses can turn them into anything--killing machine or spy for the enemy.

Physical damage

If a line of code is even slightly out of place in the system it's run in, damage could be severe. Symptoms may include overheating, loss of material skin, unnerving eye colors, whistling, larynx malfunction (yes! static, crackling and mechanical whines when they attempt to speak), loss of motor function, and so on.

Infiltration and spying

Something interesting to note is Morrigan is an incredible piece of technology that absolutely must be kept secret. CNYN is not a benign company. Other groups, such as the Cages or vigilante systems underground, would take any chance at getting eyes on the inside. Morrigan, unfortunately, is a wonderful tool.

Here is a list of several symptoms that could occur directly as a result of a computer virus:

Hallucinations

Raspy, mechanical breathing

Overheating/heatstroke

Fevers

Lack of motor control

Lack of fine motor control

Lack of blinking, smiling, or facial expression

Unnerving eye colors (things that may be striking on a human face)

Speaking a different language

Inability to tell friend from foe

Lashing out

Sudden onset of extreme emotions

Whispering/shouting instead of speaking

Visible plating beneath their artifical skin

Memory loss or forgetting who/where they are

Loss of balance

Vertigo

Migraines

Nosebleeds (though they would bleed the thick substance that makes up their components instead of human blood)

Strange small behaviors (sighing at the wrong times, hiccuping)

Zoning out entirely

Shutdown (state of complete lack of function)

Stasis (state of low level sleep)

Uncontrollable worry

And many, many more

Increased heart rate

Crying

Notes

I'm so sorry if this isn't what you were looking for, but you greatly inspired me. I love fleshing out their technology and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it.

Thank you for the ask!!!