The Shivers
Port de la Lune, Akitania
Mist clung to Roger's boots as he trudged through the muddy alleyways of the city, the dim glow of his alchemical lantern reflecting against puddles and casting fuzzy shadows against the walls. As he rounded the corner, a figure in a slick sea-monk cloak and cocked tricorn leaned against a wall, the reddish glow of his pipe embers bobbing up and down like Faerie-fire. The figure, seeing Roger, straightened up, his hooves clicking on the cobbles. With a curt nod, George, the Teuz watchman acknowledged his presence.
"Bonser Roger," he said, his Occitan accent thick between puffs on the pipe. "Fine night."
Roger moved to disagree, but thought better of it and nodded.
"Bit of a disturbance on Rue Vacquellin" the goat-man continued, not waiting for Roger's imput. "Residents of one of Mssr. Albert's flats aren't paying their rent. He asked us to take a look."
"We're some landlord's errand boys now?" Roger scoffed "I thought the night watchmen served the city, not Mssr. Albert."
"Do you have somewhere better to be?" again, without waiting for a response, George clicked "Didn't think so. Stop your whining and follow me. Shan't take long."
The pair arrived at the tenement in question, a 3 story building on a back street. The landlord's lack of interest was apparent, with the windows boarded up and the stairs dilapidated. Roger walked up the three steps and rapped on the door. After several attempts, George urged him stand aside, pulling a small key from his belt and opened the door with a creak.
The pair entered the dark building, no sounds disturbing the silence save for the squeal of the old floorboards.
"City Watch" George called up. Roger balked
"Don't bring City Watch into this. This is a job for Albert, not Port de la Lune." George ignored him and pushed open the door to the empty kitchen, frowning and turning towards the stairs.
"No one's been in there for a few days."
"You can't possibly know that from a glance."
"I'm a Teuz, boy. I know my kitchens." George retorted "and no one's been in that one for at least 2 days."
The first door on the upper level was similarly deserted, and Roger held his lantern up as he approached the farthest door down the uneven walkway. He grumbled as he rattled the latch and pushed open the door, letting the blue alchemical light fill the room. The lantern fell to the floor with a flash of bright blue as the orb was dashed against the floor, the glowing liquid puddling on the floor. George rushed down the hall, glaring at the dumbfounded watchmen. "Damn fool. What in the hells is wrong with y..." He stopped as his eyes followed Roger's gaze.
"Gods..." the gruff Korrigan muttered as he scanned the room. The room was cramped and shoddily built, not unusual for the dodgy tenements of the port. Black and grey particles, thick in the air, hovered, reflecting the lantern glow. The bodies, at least 7, were clustered around the room,, discoloured and blotchy, with patches over their bruised skin resembling marble. Black circles and tears rings their eyes, noses and mouths, and at places, growths resembling crumbling black rocks pierced the skin in several places on all the bodies. The pair stared in shock before George slammed the door and bolted, stumbling over his hooves as he raced for the stairs. Roger followed as George scrambled down the street, fumbling with another key to unlock a small box on the wall of a nearby building. He pulled out a small paper dart and, using the embers of his pipe, ignited its fuse.
With a screech, the rocket zoomed into the sky, trailing a light blue line of smoke before exploding high above the rooftops. Moments later, another flash could be perceived some distance away, followed by a third. The first bells began soon afterwards, the city coming to life as more rockets and bells joined in.
The Shivers had come to the city.
Transmission & Vectors
The Shivers spreads through miasma, sometimes called shiverspores, a corrupted Foyson vapour that emanate from the rock-like fungal growths that appear on the bodies of late-stage victims. This vapour hangs in the air around decomposing matter, giving of a pungent, sickly sweet odor, dissipating in well-ventilated areas after several days. In sealed, poorly ventilated areas, however, the miasma can linger indefinitely. The condition is passed not from individual to individual, but to locales, with an infected host serving as a vector to a new area.
Causes
The ultimate cause of the Shivers is unknown, but fiercely debated. Some, especially the Staunchist Movement, argues that the plague is an offshoot of the Yellow Plague, a Sidhe manufactured bioweapon unleashed in Albia around 300 SI, although there is little direct evidence to support this and the Shivers affects both Bediz and Fae in equal measure.
Others argue that the cause is tied to the Veil itself, arguing that the disease is similar to the Fear Gorta, citing a similar dispersal pattern. This, however, is merely conjecture and the ultimate cause of the condition remains a mystery.
Symptoms
The condition first manifests with slight tremors in the extremities, typically fingers or hands. This stage is more easily hidden or passes unnoticed, making early detection and quarantine difficult. This progresses to more pronounced shaking, accompanied by chills and sweating, before resulting in seizures and violent convulsions. Once this late stage is reached, an infected person becomes their most infectious. Black, mold-like discoloration appears on their orifices, especially the mouth and eyes, with black tears staining the skin. Calcification of flesh is also common at this stage, making movement painful as joints harden with excessive calcium buildup. Skin, becoming tough and hard, also is severely discoloured at this time, with a loss of pigmentation and marbling from excessive bruising. Black, rock-like growths with crystalline striations appear on the body at this time, . Frequent coughing, sending out black spores that hang around the infected is common.
After a particularly violent seizure, an infected will drop where they stand, the hardening of skin to an almost stonelike consistency, continuing after death. The striated growths become more pronounced, rupturing the skin but causing little blood flow. These growths will spread up to 1 meter away from a corpse, but large colonies, such as found in mass graves, piggyback on one another and can create larger areas.
Treatment
There is little successful treatment for the Shivers, although alchemical and surgical options can prolong life expectancy and reduce pain. These are most often use to reduce or dissolve the striated growths and counteract calcification, but are unable to consistently treat the underlying cause of the disease.
Iron-dusted fire has proven incredibly effective at wiping out all traces of Shiverwracked corpses and is commonly used to counteract large outbreaks. This often causes significant tensions with the fae populace, however (See: Cultural Reception)
Prognosis
The shivers has an incredibly high infection and fatality rate, and, if improperly checked has been known to wipe out entire communities in a matter of weeks or even days. While no formal studies have been made, conservative estimates place the fatality rate around 50% - 70%, with 100% fatality in extreme cases.
Sequela
Continued respiratory failings and seizures are common for survivors of the Shivers, and combined with the social stigma of infection, as well as damages caused to an area by quarantine, social unrest and resource scarcity, the death rate for short-term survivors is high.
Fear Gorta, while not directly caused by the Shivers, often thrive in the conditions brought about by the quarantine and resource scarcity surrounding outbreaks. It is possible for a Shiverwracked to become Fear Gorta, but a Fear Gorta cannot contract the Shivers. These dual-infected sluagh are considered the most dangerous of all Shiverwracked, as they retain motor function and ambulation far beyond those of normal infected.
Prevention
The spores that cause the Shivers thrive in dark, enclosed environments, and brightly lit, well-ventilated locations reduce its spread significantly. Masks and heavy cloaks are often used by healers and bodymen handling Shiverwracked, and these are best burned with iron-dusted fire after each use. Anti-Shiver masks include long, beaklike noses, filled with a number of alchemically altered flowers to filter out the miasma.
Fires are burned at crossroads in an attempt to purify the miasma and limit the spread of the spores.
Epidemiology
The miasma that causes the Shivers thrives in tight, enclosed locations, spreading from hosts to inorganic material and compounding its efficacy and strength. Fully developed colonies typically spread faster and farther than weaker outbreaks.
The high fatality rate and symptoms of the Shivers actually helps reduce its spread, as its pronounced effect on motor-control effectively grounds a late-stage host, and its notable features announce its presence. As a result, outbreaks tend to be focused on tightly packed areas, such as cities, rather than larger regional outbreaks.
The danger comes in outbreaks aboard ships and windships, where an outbreak belowdecks can kill a crew and passengers, leaving the plague ship to drift into a harbour or wash ashore on a coastline. The miasma can persist seemingly indefinitely, allowing an outbreak to begin anew years after the original, when sealed rooms, abandoned buildings and collapsed caves can reignite an outbreak.
History
The original outbreak of the Shivers in lost to history, but it is thought to have originated from the Shatterlands. A fleet of ships, fully rigged and seemingly operating under their own power, drifted into the city of Zanclus on the Southern tip of the Golden Sea. Investigators and wreckers discovered that the entire crew of the fleet were dead, with large colonies of Shiverspores infesting the entirety of the ships, holds overladen with gold and silver. The resulting boon did not last, but brought in merchants and wealth-seekers, who spread the outbreak to the mainland. The outbreak began suddenly, the City of The Scythe descending into chaos as many attempted to flee the city. Similar "Ships of the Dead", scattered by a Wyldstorm, washed up along the Golden Sea and the Southern Coast of Tolosa.
It was upon reaching Tolosa that local fae populations were exposed to the shivers, spreading like wildfire through the unprepared populace, taken off guard by their lack of immunity.
Cultural Reception
The Shivers has had an enormous impact on life in Alvez, both for the Bediz and the Fae, reducing the population of Kornôgel by as much as 30 - 50%, with the Fae bearing the brunt of the casualties.
The Bediz - The impact of the Shivers on Bediz society is felt deeply, the massive death toll leading to the destabilization of long-held societal norms. The value of labour increased, leading to an upsurge in peasant wealth and giving rise to a wealthy mercantile and skilled craftsmen class.
The Sidhe
The Sidhe, largely immune to most Bediz-effecting contagions, were taken by surprise by the nature of the Shivers. Stemming from corrupted foyson, the resulting shock of the lack of immunity dealt a massive existential crisis upon some fae races.
To make matters worse, the use of iron-dusted flames to purge Shiverwracked locations and corpses, one of the most effective techniques of disposing of the dangerous spores, is seen by many Fae beliefs, especially among the Tuatha de Danaan as anathema, breaking the cycle of rebirth and reincarnation and obliterating the soul. This has led to the obfuscation and frustration of outbreak detection, as well the preservation of unknown colonies of spores. often sealed off from the outside world by the Tuatha de Danaan. Violent escalations between Tuatha and Bediz have resulted from the use of iron-dust fire of Tuatha corpses.
The Korrigan
None have been hit as hard as trouping Korrigan, especially the Kriores, whose tight underground settlements proved a deadly environment for the spread of the Shivers, and the Kornikaned, whose reliance on foyson made them susceptible to exposure. Other groups however, such as the Teuz and Poulpiquet fared better than the average bediz.
While the use of iron-dust fire carries less religious significance for the Korrigan, its widespread use has not been adopted, due to the Korrigan's severe and often fatal allergy to the material.
The Fomorii - Compared to the other Fae peoples, the Fomorians, had less expectations of their immunity and acted quickly, burning infected bodies at sea, preventing many prolonged outbreaks. Their open--decked ships also prevented the transmission seen in Bediz vessels.
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