According to the internet, ichthyosis vulgaris is a rare hereditary skin condition that causes dead skin to build up into thick scales on an individual’s skin. While there are no known cases of lions having it, it can occur in both dogs and cats and is not life-threatening.

In Lioden, this mutation would be called “Ichthyosis” and would not show at birth, but would start to manifest once the cub becomes an adolescent. Bald patches would appear on the young lion’s body, and the exposed skin would clearly show a scaly texture. In male lions, the scales would be crocodile-like in appearence, while in females they would be much finer, almost like a snake or a fish. Whatever the gender, the scales would be the same as whatever Skin color the lion has.

There would be a 5% chance of a unique pose being given to the lion once the mutation shows, as well as a similarly slim chance of it being inherited by offspring.

Flavor text for this one would be along the lines of:

“You went to nuzzle [cub] in greeting, but then you noticed how weird their skin felt. There’s big scaly patches all over their body!”

“According to [cub], other members of the pride are calling him/her ‘Crocface ’(male)/‘Snakeskin’ (female) behind your back. You’ll have to address that; it’s so rude!”

“Despite your attempts to stop it, [cub]’s siblings are still only bringing him/her lizards to eat and snake skins to play with. He/she asks you what they should do about it.”

(I’d add more but I can’t think of any )

There’d be no in-game effect for Ichthyosis, but the place where it would show on your lion would probably be randomized. Possible locations for the scales to show would be:

-Head
-Neck
-Back
-Belly
-Forelegs
-Forepaws
-Hindquarters
-Hindpaws
-Rump

1st gen Ichthys would only have a max of 2 scale patches, but the chance for an additional patch to appear would increase with each subsequent gen. This chance would double if both parents are same-gen Ichthys.

What do you guys think? Does this sound like a good idea? If not, how could it be improved?

EDIT 11/15/21: It’s been brought to my attention that another type of Ichthyosis already exists in Lioden, so I should clarify that this is something different.

The biggest difference is that my version of Ichthyosis IS NOT LETHAL! I think it’s outright bizarre that the canon version is a lethal mutation, since it’s just a skin condition and shouldn’t result in your cub dying from it.

I personally think the canon Ichtyosis mutation should be remade/renamed into Fibrodisplacia, which is a condition that turns other body tissues into bone and is most certainly deadly. This both allows the non-lethal Ichtyosis to exist and grants the many requests I’ve seen for Fibrodisplacia to be included on the lethal mutations list.

Another difference is that my version of Ichthyosis would have it’s own element of randomness to it. The scaley patches have the potential to appear in many places on your lion’s body, but only a couple will be picked at random once the mutation manifests. As I previously stated, the chance for more patches to appear increases when to Ichthy lions are bred to each other, provided the mutation is passed down at all.

I also had some ideas for items related to this condition.

1. Crocodile Tears would be an item that allows you to change the texture of an Ichthy’s scales to that of the opposite sex. (I.E. a lioness with croc scales or a king with snake scales.) This would purely be for cosmetic purposes; if an altered lion were to produce more Ichthy cubs, they’d still have the default scale texture, regardless of whether or not either parent had Crocodile Tears used on them. As for how to obtain them, I believe this would be best in Monkey Buisness, though I can also see it being put into the Oasis.

2. Black Snakeroot is an Oasis-exclusive plant that can be given to Ichthys to increase their chance of passing along their condition the next time they breed. It does NOT increase the chance of the cubs having more patches; only the chance of inheritage. Only one lion in your pride can benefit from BSR at a time; if you try to give it to another, the first one’s effect will end immediately.

I hope that clarifies some stuff! Thanks for the support you guys!