I would like to see a chronically painful genetic connective tissue disorder in lions!

An example image: (You may find the image disturbing, extremely stretchy skin is a symptom of this disorder, it is shown on a cat here, with some loss of fur due to damage.)
http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=File:Cutaneous_asthenia.jpg

I’ve been working on this for the past few days, and I’ve managed to scare up some fascinating research!

First off, I don't even know if it's possible for lions to have this. The best I can find, after googling "EDS in animals" are a few articles about how it seems to occur very rarely in dogs? Since I see a lot of mutations with only human examples, I figure all the dog examples won’t be a problem here. And I found at least one article specifically about EDS in cats, which was interesting to read.

An article about EDS in animals, in general:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24443030

Right out of US National Library of Medicine! Sounds official!

Some interesting parts in that article, which may help us to determine how it could affect gameplay:
"-affects mainly skin in these animals. The involved skin is thin and hyperextensible with easily inflicted injuries resulting in hemorrhagic wounds and atrophic scars. Joint laxity and dislocation common in people are less frequently found in dogs. No systemic complications, such as organ rupture or cardiovascular problems which have devastating consequences in people have been described in cats and dogs."

Since it affects the connective tissues, perhaps we would have lineart of wrinkled, saggy, or loose folds of skin, a droopy mane, and abnormally bent joints. Since the skin is so soft and vulnerable, it could result in higher scar decor chances, as well as the following:

- Very high chance of lethality, perhaps?

- Huge negative impact on stats?

- Random chance of scar decor, with flavor text, when visiting the lion for the first time every day?

- Inability to spar with, train, or tussle with this lion, or alternatively a higher chance of scar decor when doing so? One would be unable to send them on hunts or patrols, and they cannot be made king (or maybe kings simply suffer far more damage from NPC battles).

- Joint pain could lower stats, like speed or agility, or even prevent them from hunting or patrolling.


Also, lots of ideas from this article, about dogs with EDS:
http://www.chronicpainpartners.com/a-dog-with-ehlers-danlos-syndrome/

Some interesting parts in that article, which may help us to determine how it could affect gameplay:

From the article: "As a result, the skin is weaker and may tear easily, be very loose and may not seem as attached to structures under the skin. The mildest amount of trauma may cause a large wound. Wounds will heal but are more likely to leave scars. The skin of dogs with EDS can be stretched to extreme lengths. You may notice that you can stretch the skin on the back high in the air or the skin around the neck may seem to hang low. Some dogs will develop instability in the joints, bleeding under the skin or fluid accumulation around the elbows."

Another article, specifically about cats! (contains the same image as above, may be disturbing) http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=Cutaneous_asthenia
This talks specifically about cats with a variety of EDS, and once again we see loose, easily damaged skin, lots of scarring, hyperflexible joints, and so on.
“Clinical features include fragile skin from the time of birth, wounds that heal with thin scars, delayed wound healing, pendulous skin, and haematoma and hygroma formation.”
So all these things occur in cats! High chance of lethality, maybe?



TL;DR: A chronically painful and sometimes lethal connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, causes skin to be very soft, stretchy, and easily damaged, with a ton of scarring. It also causes hyperflexibility of the joints, as well as joint pain. Fluid accumulates in the joints, and joints get inflamed.
The ways this could effect gameplay are:
Lineart of soft, saggy, stretchy skin with tons of scars, and awkwardly bent joints.
Huge negative stat impact.
Higher chance of scar decor.
Possibly a lethal mutation.

The wiki article about EDS in general, and all the dozens of health complications and the negative ways it can affect people and animals: (One last time, imagery in this article provides examples of extremely stretchy skin and hyperflexible joints, which quite frankly looks real freaky, and may be disturbing to some)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers%E2%80%93Danlos_syndrome

There's so many problems it causes, it seems to have a lot of potential. If you go to the "genetics" section of the above article, you can see that it is clearly a "mutation".

In conclusion, this condition seems full of mutie potential! I eagerly await suggestions, feedback, support or no support, and maybe even the great Xylax to tell me if it’s any good as an idea!

Edit:
There are three different types of EDS, differences between them explained in this extremely helpful article:
https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/e/eds#contentmaster_1_pagemaincontent_1_columnprimary_1_rptAccordion_pnlSectionBody_1
The genetics portion is particularly interesting! 50 percent chance to pass from a parent to a child, though that percent chance seems way too high to put into gameplay. I guess exact medical accuracy isn't necessary?

Suggestions:

Revenge {0/165GB} (#4695) :
The cub survival meter would drop faster without protection, with more negative encounters.

cake ⛱ (#53239), (Their comment is full of good info and suggestions, some highlights here) :
Begins affecting lions as adolescents, dies randomly between 4-7 years due to organ prolapse.
These lions could get specific events like the personality ones that are like "X is happy and smiling today, bouncing around with the cubs like there's nothing wrong with them." and "X is curled up and whimpering. In your heart you wish you could help them with the pain."
Perhaps with females they can have a small chance of aborting their pregnancies as some EDS sufferers can have their womb tear during pregnancy. Or pregnant females could just flat out die if not nested?