The Blue Flux

Disease is not uncommon on Ashiel, there are many which prey upon the mortal form. Some are slow and patient and linger for months and years, while others are vicious ravagers that destroy a person in days. Others are specific to a certain race, such as Scale Rot which afflicts dragonborn and those of dragonborn ancestry. Many diseases are easily handled by a healer, others run their course with time and rest, but there are some which are as hard to get rid of as they are deadly. Of those diseases, one in particular seems to be contained solely to the Kingdom of Merjoux. This disease is known as the Blue Flux, for the bluish tint to the skin that afflicts those who contract it. It is a strange disease for the cause of it remains unknown, and while it can spread and infect a large number of people, mostly the numbers tend to remain low. The largest outbreak in recent history was in the city of Guilier, where a district of the city was infected and several hundred suffered and died from the disease.  By far the worst part of this disease is how resistant it is to any sort of magical healing.
There are four stages of the Blue Flux and depending on the person it can run rampant for as little to 9 days and as many as twenty-two days, give or take. The first stage of the Blue flux is where someone contracts the disease, from the source or from another who is contagious. They will find themselves beginning to feel unwell and sore, they will be tired and lack the energy to do things. Their skin around their mouth and eyes will turn a bluish shade, this is the indication that the disease gives that they are contagious. This stage can last anywhere from a few days to a week, and when the bluish shade begins to fade, then it is progressing to the next stage.
In this stage those afflicted will begin to suffer through high fevers, their bodies burning up as if from the inside. The old and the young, the weak and the infirm are particularly susceptible to the fevers, and many people will often die to them. The fevers will cause their skin to blister and boils to form, the skin coloring a bluish tint as well. These blisters and boils will easily swell and pop, and those who survive will often find their skin pockmarked from this and slightly discolored. These fevers can last anywhere from a single day to as many as five, but not usually more than that.
Once the fevers have passed, then the sick are left ravaged and weakened, their body sore and in pain, their appetite gone and even the presence of food makes them nauseous to the point that eating anything or drinking anything is a monumental task simply to keep it down. This is the stage known as the wasting, as those who were strong enough to make it through the fevers will find themselves weakening from the strain their body has endured with no way to provide themselves with sustenance. This stage is where the majority of people who contract the Blue Flux will often perish. This can persist from three to four days to about a week.
The final stage of this evil disease is known as the tremors. Those who have survived this long must then face the hardest ordeal of this gauntlet, for a different sort of fever will begin to attack them. In some cases this will be an attack on the body as they will find their muscles burning and spasming uncontrollably, their body wracked with pain. These spasms will cause them to writhe and contort their body seeking a position of relief that is unobtainable. In the aftermath, should they survive this final attack, they will often find themselves scarred both outside and within, their muscles forever damaged unable to be healed. Their mobility stolen from them by this cruel disease. In other cases, however, the fever will attack the mind instead and that mind will suffer greatly. The afflicted will be subject to uncontrollable seizures which, like the fever of the muscles, will cause permanent damage to the mind. They will find themselves losing memories and skills they once had, their mind growing feeble and weak and in some cases the person who caught the blue flux was not the same person who was left after it had gone. It is a small blessing then that this stage only lasts at most around two days.

Type

Magical