The Deadly Raven
The Deadly Raven was a disease that ravaged all of Antarah for five years, decimating more than half the population in such a short amount of time.
The disease itself originated within Antarah's ravens, specifically from the Tolomo region. Out of nowhere, the Tolomo ravens began exhibiting signs of aggression and hostility. Their eyes turned blood red, and as days passed, a red, goopy substance began to leak out of their bodies, and then, they would die.
The ravens, sickened and driven mad by the disease, began to attack people. When bitten, the disease would spread. The person bitten would become aggressive and hostile, their eyes would turn blood red, and eventually, the red, goopy substance would begin to leak out of them and they would die. In total, this process took about a week.
For the five years that the Deadly Raven plagued Antarah, people were on their guard constantly. They wore masks, covered up their bodies, and tried to stay inside, for fear that they would make contact with either one of the ravens or one of the infected people.
The inventor Maxwell Fenwick was the one to discover the cure to the Deadly Raven. Toiling tirelessly for many long years, Fenwick studied, and experimented, and studied some more. He rarely got a moment's rest. Undoubtedly, the cure for the Deadly Raven is Maxwell Fenwick's claim to fame.
Fenwick found that the disease stemmed from a sickly red mushroom strain growing in Tolomo. Back then, Tolomo was known as an area of unchecked magical experimentation, and that arcane lawlessness had an adverse effect on the flora and fauna in the area. Most notably, the Tolomo ravens.
Fenwick and a team of researchers set up a base of operations in Tolomo for a while to study the mushrooms and their weaknesses. Eventually, the team found that the mushroom's effects could be weakened by exposure to a combination of materials: petals from Fidelian lilies, saliva from Kerite's giant turtles, and oils from Weymere's cave-dwelling fruits.
All of these items are known to have healing properties, but the process of finding the right combination of curatives was long and painstaking.
The curative worked. Unfortunately, it didn't kill the Deadly Raven's disease so much as it forced the symptoms to lie dormant. If exposed once more to either the mushrooms or other infected persons or ravens, the disease could very well resurface in that individual.
The disease died out primarily for two reasons: the cure and the extinction of Antarah's ravens.
Maxwell Fenwick's cure solved a lot of problems in terms of healing people and stabilizing the dwindling population. However, the ravens also died out. Many groups, instead of stay inside, went out to hunt the ravens to near extinction, but what finished the birds off was the fact that, out of aggression, they began eating one another.
Now, it is rare to see a raven in Antarah, and if you do see one, it's probably not a Tolomo raven.
(Note: The Deadly Raven briefly resurfaced in Fidelia. That can be read about here.)
Causes
A red mushroom strain that infected and warped the Tolomo ravens.
Symptoms
Red eyes, aggression and hostility, goopy red substance leaking from skin, pores, and orifices.
Treatment
A curative developed by Maxwell Fenwick: petals from Fidelian lilies, saliva from Kerite's giant turtles, and oils from Weymere's cave-dwelling fruits.
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