The Gloss

The Gloss is a horrifying but thankfully rare disease, that strikes at the naive traveller or unwary healer. It's effects are subtle yet grotesque, and there are many who would take their own lives rather than suffer through the course of the sickness. However, there is but a short window between the onset of symptoms and the end stage, and most lack the courage or the means to die by their own hand.

Transmission & Vectors

The Gloss is transmitted between hosts by contact, as shortly after the onset of symptoms the entirety of the victim's body and any clothing of an organic material is covered by spore laden fungal pods, which are invisible to the naked eye. These spores can cross the skin, entering the bloodstream shortly after contact.
The most common vector for contamination are the bones or previous victims, which can take years to be fully consumed, or hardy organic items such as leather that the victim may have had on them when they were infected.

Symptoms

The victim is usually unaware of their infection, and can proceed with their normal lives for many days before the first onset of symptoms. Initially they may only notice a slight stiffness in their joints, or a reluctance to rise in the morning. The second stage of the disease usually occurs 5 days after exposure.
By this point, the fungus has spread to nerves around the body and, having reached critical mass, release a tetanic toxin leaving the victim unable to move. Uneducated onlookers may mistake this for rigor mortis, but in fact the victim is still capable of breathing and thinking, even if they cannot use any of their limbs.
As soon as the victim is immobilised, the fungus rapidly begins to reproduce, covering the entire surface of their body. As the fungus is microscopic this is an almost invisible change, though in the light there is a slight shine to the body, as though the victim had been covered covered in a thin layer of varnish or gloss.
The fungus then begins to eat away at the flesh of the victim. Thin layers of skin such as the eyelids, lips and cheeks are consumed first, leaving the face with a horrifying visage. Over the course of months the rest of the skin and other viscera are dissolved with the notable exception of the eyes, which remain even after the bones have been degraded.
Through some strange quirk of the fungal biology, the victims metabolism is slowed, and they may remain alive for up to a month after the onset of the second stage.

Treatment

There is currently no treatment for the disease, and most healers would recommend a painless euthanasia and proper disposal of the corpse.

Epidemiology

Contamination between individuals is thankfully uncommon, as the infective stage occurs only after the onset of clinical signs. However, those unaware of the disease may rush to help the victim, causing them to become infected also. Pandemics are extremely rare, but it has been known for small uneducated villages to be wiped out by the Gloss.

History

The Gloss was first noted 150 years ago by merchants from the Opes Federation, taking a shortcut through the marshes of Nazhgah. They noticed the perfectly cleaned skull of a black dragon. Seizing on their seeming good fortune, one of the merchants picked up the skull and put it in his caravan to sell at one of the trading posts. By the time he had reached the post, he and his mount had both succumbed to the Gloss.
Believing the skull to be cursed, the other merchants sent the skull to the priests at a nearby temple for consecration and destruction. As a 'cursed' item, the skull was kept in a metal container and never touched by uncovered skin, which may have prevented the fungus from becoming an uncontrolled pandemic.
The priests divined that this item had no evil upon it and so, still within its sealed container, it was sent to the alchemists of the Kazrak kingdom. Here, using the latest lenses and alchemical potions, the true nature of the gloss was laid bare, and its effects were demonstrated on many unfortunate test creatures. In the meantime, two more of the merchants had befallen the disease after reaching the trade hub of Latel-Fre, and the gloss began to spread across the continent.

Type

Fungal

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare