The Rot
The Zirynavin—or the "Tree-People" as some nickname them—are humanoid tree or plant-based people descended from humans and are hinted at being the missing Tutmentari. They are steadfast followers of Avva'ai, and like the trees they mirror, they are unchanging in their beliefs.
And this makes the Undoer and his followers extremely angry.
Unable to corrupt their souls, the Undoer crafted up a new idea: if he couldn't corrupt them, he would remove them.
The Sorcerer Queen was tasked with this job. Filled with a hatred for the Zirynavin from a young age that she could never pin down the origin of, as queen she used her dark powers to come up with a heinious plan. She crafted a parasitic sickness in her darkest craftrooms located below her dungeons and plied it upon her Zirynavin prisoners to see what it would do. Once she was satisfied of how it functioned, she tasked her most trusted agents to go out and poison the waters near the Zirynavin settlements, where the tree people would then be infected when they drank the water.
Double agents within the Sorcerer Queen's forces learned of this and managed to warn three-quarters of the Zirynavin before they could be infected. Some chose to flee their homes while others chose to stay and fight and managed to kill some of these agents. The rest of the Zirynavin were, sadly, infected and died.
Transmission & Vectors
The Rot was first transmitted through the water when the Sorcerer Queen waged biological warfare on the Zirynavin. But from then on this disease has been transmitted through touch only.
The most common way that this occured is by accidentally brushing up against a Gloaming Gloat Shrub. A rarer way is if an uninfected Zirynavin is touched by or touches an infected Zirynavin.
Symptoms
The infection starts at the sight of infection, their bark-like skin becoming inflamed before necrosing and rotting, turning black in colour. The infection will then spread, inflicting pain that feels like their skin is slowly being peeled off. It eventually incapacitates the victim, sending them into a coma that wilts the leaves on their head and only accelerates the progress of the infection.
Treatment
There is no known treatment. It is a death sentance to those who are inflicted with this disease.
Hosts & Carriers
The Rot was insidious and infected both Zirynavin and normal plant alike. Any plant could suffer from it, but only a few became hosts for this disease without being affected by it.
The Gloaming Glow Shrub are one of these plants. The disease actually mutated some of these bushes and lead to a new lineage called the Gloaming Gloat Shrub, named as such because the leaves of this shrub have hardened in response to the disease and thus make an audible woody rustling noise (example: shaa-haah shaa-haah) that sounds like breathy laughs. If you don't know what to look for, it is easy to mistake a Gloaming Gloat for a Gloaming Glow—unless it's at night. The Gloaming Glow possesses bioluminescence that can be seen at night, while the Gloaming Gloat has lost it due to the mutated nature of their leaves.
Prevention
The only way to prevent being infected is to make sure to wear gloves while in the forest. This disease needs skin contact. Leather gloves are reccomended as any other fabric is too thin to keep the parasite out.
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