Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease

Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease is a deadly disease that is believed to come from the Demon Lord Zuggtmoy. It historically ravaged the remnants of Dovria during the empire's fall in the Age of Audacity. Subsequent waves of the disease during the Age of Anxiety continued to kill thousands across what is now the Western Duchy of Dreibach. Decades of work by exorcists in the Age of Integrity largely relegated disease reservoirs to the deepest reaches of the Verlorenwode, but occasional cases are still seen today.

Transmission & Vectors

The methods of transmission of Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease are as yet unknown. Contact with the blood or vomit of someone in the acute secondary stages of the disease, or someone who has died of the disease, seems to be a reliable vector. It is also thought to be carried by miasma, fungal spores, or microscopic insects within the Verlorenwode.

Symptoms

Restlessness and difficulty getting quality sleep often appear in the incubation stages of Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease; these symptoms are shared with those of an allergy to the fungal spores of the Verlorenwode, where the disease is most often caught today, so they cannot be considered surefire indicators. The first acute stage of Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease is a sudden onset of vertigo and fever, followed quickly by convulsions, cramps, vomiting, and delirium. The vomit is often an unusually dark or slightly reddish color, a clear diagnostic sign of the disease.
In roughly half of cases, the patient's condition continues to deteriorate rapidly, entering the acute secondary stage of the disease in a matter of twelve to twenty-four hours. Post-mortem examination of these bodies shows that many of the victim's internal organs, primarily their liver and spinal cord, are liquefied completely before their death.
In the other half of cases, acute symptoms subside within 48 to 72 hours, and the disease enters a remission period. During this remission period, the affected person and those in their immediate vicinity occasionally experience strange psychic effects, such as an altered perception of colors or a brief sense of impending doom. Most famously, the affected experience sporadic hallucinogenic episodes. To bystanders, they appear to experience a sudden, brief paralysis and an unnatural change in appearance (most typically a shift in eye colors or a visible aura of colored haze). The person affected enters a vivid dream state that seemingly stands up to physical scrutiny. Visions range from slightly altered versions of ordinary life to horrifying visions of the destruction of all planes. These states seem brief to outside observers—lasting less than a minute—but those who experience the visions report them lasting anywhere from a few minutes to what seems like years.
Remission can last for years or even decades. Hallucinations tend to increase in frequency, unpleasantness, and apparent duration before the telltale ocular bleeding of the acute secondary stage. Even skilled soothsayers are unable to calm the patient's hysteria during the end; according to legend, their dying moments are spent experiencing—moment by moment—the centuries-long unraveling of the cosmos at the end of all things.

Treatment

Treatment within the first few hours of acute symptom onset is crucial, as cure with a spell or potion of Greater Restoration is possible during this time. Roughly half of those who show the initial symptoms of Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease enter a remission period that can last anywhere from several weeks to nearly two decades in extreme cases, buying the patient more time to seek this spell. Once Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease enters its acute secondary stage (characterized by ocular bleeding), it is invariably fatal without miraculous intervention. There is no known non-magical cure to Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease; one was likely developed in the disease's early waves, but it was presumably lost to mortal knowledge during the Age of Anxiety.

Sequela

Even among those fortunate enough to recover from mild cases of Zuggtmoyfan Wasting Disease or to be cured by strong magic, the disease's lingering psychological effects persist for months, years, or even decades.

Prevention

Due to their fungal symbiosis, druids of the Circles of Spores develop a natural resistance to the disease that lessens both the chance of infection and the degree of severity, though the visions of disjointed time associated with the condition still occur in most cases.

History

Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease has been known since ancient times. It is believed to have originated as the eighth and final of the Eight Plagues of Dovria, by the influence of the Demon Lord Zuggtmoy. After the devastation wrought by the wars and parasitic creatures of the earlier plagues, Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease is said to have swept quickly through enclave after enclave of survivors. Those who managed to escape immediate death of the disease would supposedly wander the land howling prophecies of doom. Archaeologists have unearthd a small number of tablets inscribed with prophecies, kept in the Rahvusarchiv Dunzhanim, thought to be written by victims of Zuggmotyfan Wasting Disease. They describe, with surprising accuracy, specific events of devastation from centuries and even millennia after they were written. Many prophecies detail the age-ending conflicts between the gods; others detail known battles or weaponry of the Blood Wars or describe individual liches by name. The tablets are kept strictly private by the Rahvusarchiv, as a few of their predictions have not yet come to pass.

Type

Magical

Origin

Alien

Rarity

Extremely Rare