also I wanna work in butterflies/moths somehow so I’ll vomit up some basic ideas
1. the victim can’t eat bcz skill issue
some moths can’t eat as adults at all, while all butterflies can only drink. think this’d be early-ish
2. butterfly magnet (bad)
u become their best bud. this is not good
3. metamorphosis (even worse)
maybe some sort of comatose-esque state where they literally liquify. or just go crowned style and have it happen in like a minute
4. funkful physical changes
definitely ones that’d be moth-y. maybe developing small amounts of “fluff”, protruding shoulderblades, small bumps on the forehead, compound eyes, strange markings, etc.
5. owww ow owie :(
u die but it’s like chronic wasting disease where you don’t realize you’re dying. maybe after the metamorphosis, they lose most coherent thought and just become an overgrown insect
6. :0 hyperfixation
I think it’d be neat so that every infected one gets their own species based on stylistic coolness
also I think Saturniidae Syndrome would be a fun name (saturniidae is a group of moths)
and u get it from existing around infected moths (only a few lepidopterans are affected, don’t fret!)