Blight Sickness

Exposure to the Blight has many adverse effects on those either foolish or brave enough to risk the associated dangers that are found there. The negative energy that manipulates the corpses of the Void Walkers is highly infectious on its own, and any open wound exposed to the energies of the fringe of the Blighted Lands or the more concentrated internal energy found deeper within risks infection.
Diagnosis The first visible signs of the disease are black lines that begin to trail outwardly from the point of entry. These usually begin to show within 24 hours. The wound will itch and become inflamed in the following days, followed by the issuance of pus and tissue fluid from the entry point. The host will begin feeling gastrointestinal discomfort within the first week, as the soft tissue of the digestive system comes under attack, leading to a lack of appetite and restlessness. The discomfort grows exponentially over the remaining days getting quickly worse until even breathing is a laborious process and the host can no longer keep any food down at all, their body rejecting all sustenance. By the time the host passes the halfway point, their eyes become sunken and every orifice and wound shows the signs of the black infection radiating outward from them. This continues until death.
Pathology The infection itself is a parasitic form of consumption. The energy finds root within the internal viscera of the host, gaining entry to the body via the bloodstream, which allows it to spread rapidly. Once the parasitic infection has successfully rooted, it will begin to grow and feed upon the soft tissue of the host. The process is quick and excruciating, leading to death if not found and treated quickly. The infection, if left to spread, will continue in this manner until the host's body expires. This usually takes a number of days equal to the host's constitution score, each day living with the infection dropping this score by one point. Once the host reaches zero, they are dead.
Epidemiology The parasite will reanimate the body in 1d4 days following death, literally using the host body as a vehicle by which it will try to return to the herd in the Blighted Lands, though it will deviate if the chance to spread itself presents an opportunity to bite or scratch another potential host. Additionally, every round an open wound is exposed to Blight energy, there is a 5% chance the wound will allow the infection to enter the bloodstream.
Etiology A full round of antibiotics and rest will offer a chance to cure the disease over the course of 1d10 days, but only if the infection is diagnosed and treated before the host's constitution is reduced to half. If that point is already reached or passed, the only possible solution would be a long term series of antibiotic treatments and the full removal and replacement of any organs that have been damaged beyond repair. Should the host die over the course of any of these treatments, a Benevolent with the proper mortuary science skills will need to properly prepare and dispose of the corpse to keep the parasite from reassuming control and animating.
Thanatology Post mortem requirements are fairly simple, as the body must be entirely immolated within 24 hours of expiration. Furthermore, the corpse must be cremated in a controlled environment in order to contain the pathogenic remnants from being expelled in a gaseous form and causing further spread. A proper metal bound furnace will suffice, allowing not only a complete cremation, but enough ambient heat within to destroy any virulent contaminants that are released in the process. Failure to do this in an enclosed furnace will result in a 15' x 15' cloud of infectious gas cloud that will hang in the air for approximately an hour. Any living creature entering the cloud risks a 15% of infection every round they remain.

Type

Viral