Wormholes

During the cold and snow of the season of death, mysums  retreat underground to a system of tunnels that has been there as long as anyone can remember. Mysums spend most of their time in the caves sleeping and conserving energy, occasionally waking every few weeks to commune with each other. For the most parts these tunnels are safe and the mysums go unbothered, but on rare occasions devastation hits in the form of the white worm.

The White Worm

The white worm is a small parasite that burrows into a hibernating mysum and lays a single eggs inside them. It is a few millimeters long and pure white. Adults feed on minerals in the soil, but brood feed on mysums.
A single worm will often lay eggs in an entire clan while the clan sleeps before any of the mysums can wake. The worm's burrowing causes one entrance and one exit hole anywhere on a mysum, meerely called wormholes. Once the deed is done, the eggs hatch about thirteen-sixteen days later, and begin eating the host mysum from the inside out. In the past, a more fortunate clan died in their sleep. The less fortunate woke up in the middle of this with wormholes, and knew that their fate was to suffer and die.

A New Cure

A musca called Risha discovered that an application of salt rich soil to the wormholes can dry out and kill white worm brood. This method is unpleasant as it is dehydrating to the mysum as well, but once dead the mysum can metabolize the worm and begin to heal. Mysums have begun to hibernate close to salt deposits for this reason. If an infected clan wakes in time, they can apply salt to the wounds and live to see another year. 

Effects of the Cure

When a clan dies underground, it means that the clan is not there come the season of birth when their spores hatch. The orphaned mysums generally do not survive for very long, unless they stumble upon a clan of their same species that is willing to adopt them. Risha's discovery has greatly increased the mysum population over the last three years, preventing about half the deaths from the white worm, and preventing some of the orphaned mysums who must make their way in Kelunbar on their own.

Type

Parasitic

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Uncommon

Affected Species

• The Pupu
• The Ekon
• The Atos
• The Musca
• The Ciba
• The Podos
• The Bolet

Prevention

To prevent the parasite, mysums often bring pine sap with them underground and coat their sleeping cavern with the sap to deter the worms. Mysums also find the pine sap to be a pleasant smell and some species will consume and enjoy any extra. As the season progresses and the sap loses its scent and hardens, it becomes less likely to prevent a white worm from destroying the clan, and unfortunately this method doesn't always work.
Some clans, such as the podos, hibernate in overlapping shifts in an attempt to kill any white worms that make an appearance before they can infect anyone.
This practice continues in addition to the salt technique.