Whalers' Wyrd

The crew's final words;
a covenant of revenge;
so they sold their souls

"[...] but it is the eyes that show the haunting truth. For the Wyrding, mortality becomes a petty joke. If beauty exists in the eye of the beholder, what horrors have these eyes beheld?"

Excerpt from "A Treatise on the Unfortunate Wyrding", Chaplain Proust, 1150th Year of Enlightenment

Transmission & Vectors

Once "contracted", it spreads through the sufferer's speech to any who are susceptible. Those afflicted by the Wyrd are known as the Wyrding. There are particular phrases which when spoken are known to be associated with the sickness, notably: "Hell's bells' a'ringing," and, "The Ferryman demands his dues". The maligned shanty "Pearls are the Prize" is also a known infection vector. Any heard uttering thusly should be reported immediately to the Mariner's Chapel.

Causes

Outnumbered and on the run, the Whalers were desperate and disillusioned after Culligan's Turn. It was following those world-altering events that the Wyrd was first seen afflicting the Imperials. Though the exact date and circumstance of the Wyrd's creation are lost to the fog of war, a letter written by Captain Waldemar Hark to Mary Culligan shortly after her betrayal of the Whalers does suggest an origin; excerpt below -

"[...] you've damned us all you traitorous whore. You know the options left to us, and though our very souls are forfeit we pay the price gladly. With our broken hearts we petition the Devil to drag you to hell with us, that we might drown your turncoat spirit for eternity in the Black Sea."

Though this does not conclusively prove that Hark's crew invoked the Wyrd, the condition has since its first appearance been associated with the Devil Barnum, and the timing of the letter lends credence to this theory.

Symptoms

whimsical fatalism, irrepressible laughter, recklessness, chanting of certain phrases/songs, shock-like mental state (early), incoherence and violence (late stage), suicide.

Treatment

The most common treatment for the Wyrd is known as "Silencing", in reference to the contagious gibberish spouted by late-stage Wyrding. To prevent the disease's spread, the Wyrding are normally culled by the Chaplains. In order that the Chaplains are not infected themselves while delivering Last Rites, the Wyrding are gagged and muzzled with an anointed iron cage.

There have been remarkably few recoveries from the Whalers' Wyrd, it being a particularly desperate and potent curse. The only known effective treatment is the rebirth ritual of the Mariner's Chapel. This treatment is not always successful, depending so crucially as it does on the mental fortitude of the sufferer. There are many who cannot be saved, far fewer who can. Apart from one exceptional case - the details of which are a closely guarded Imperial secret - following the ritual the sufferer bears no memory of their previous life - in fact, no memory at all. Those cured of the Whalers' Wyrd are reduced to the state of infants - mewling, crawling, self-soiling creatures who would surely starve and perish if left to their own devices. For this reason the cure is rarely enacted, the alternative being considered more merciful.

Prognosis

The Wyrd is a wasting mental disorder that starts with recklessness and culminates in suicide. A whimsically fatalist attitude infects those who have been affected, urging them at first to risk their own lives, and as the condition worsens the lives of their squadmates, all the while smiling and laughing as if there were no consequence to their increasingly foolhardy actions.

Eventually, the sufferer becomes violent, angry, and incoherent. If they are not suitably restrained at this stage, they can inflict a horrific amount of violence on their surroundings before their psychosis turns inward. The most dangerous symptom of this stage however is not the aggression, but the contagion. At this stage, the sufferer chants or sings nonsense, with the intent to spread the Wyrd to any listeners. Susceptibility varies between individuals, but it is generally held that if the Wyrding finish their recitation of "Pearls are the Prize", the curse will be passed on.

At the condition's zenith, the Wyrding loses all semblance of sanity and does everything in their power to end their own life. The most common cause of death for the Wyrding is drowning; sailors simply jumping overboard, sinking away, ne'er again to break the water's surface. As the condition has made its way back to the mainland, it is common to find the Wyrding drowned in wash-basins, canals, or even rain-puddles of sufficient depth. Without access to water, Wyrding will throw themselves on swords, jump from high windows or roofs, ingest poisons or lethal amounts of alcohol, or in extreme cases when prevented from suicide via these "easier" methods, the Wyrding will bite through their own tongue and choke to death on it.

Prevention

There are two methods of preventing the Whalers' Wyrd which have been tested successfully, though neither are guaranteed to be effective. The first is a purely corporeal defense - earplugs. The Whalers' Wyrd is spread mainly through the sound of the Wyrding's haunting songs and chants, so if a person cannot hear them, they are quite protected. This cannot be considered a fool-proof method however, as there have been cases wherein the Wyrd has spread through the lip-reading of a Wyrding chant. Guards with earplugs, considering themselves immune, soon found themselves with the virulent lyrics of "Pearls are the Prize" running through their heads, as they stared too closely at the whispering lips of the Wyrding, silently poisoning their thoughts. Despite this, it became common for Imperial troops to enter battle with Wyrding sailors with earplugs fitted, and while screaming war cries at the tops of their lungs to drown out the Wyrding songs.

The second method is more ethereal. Chaplains of the Mariner's Chapel began offering blessings of protection against the Wyrd soon after the first Wyrding were encountered on the mainland. Though detractors and atheists decry their validity, the Chaplains are yet the only entities capable of curing the Wyrd. As such, the faithful clamor for these blessings, and many who have never bent knee at the pew seek their protection as well. Just a few uttered words and a tiny sliver of carved whalebone, a mariner's prayer is a humble thing, but to those who honor their intent the blessings have proven effective against the Wyrd's insidious vectors.

Epidemiology

At the close of the Whalers' War, the Wyrd appeared to have vanished. By the time the last Whaler ships were sunk, nobody had seen or heard of a Wyrd outbreak in nearly two full years. It was hoped that the curse had died with the Whalers' fighting spirit. Unfortunately the merciful period of absence did not last, and it was less than another year after the war was declared officially over that the Wyrd reappeared in Brigands' Landing, causing the quarantine and slaughter of more than a dozen families before it was eradicated.

Though all songs and phrases associated with the Wyrd are banned on pain of death, the occasional outbreak still occurs and must always be ruthlessly culled by the Chaplains. The Brigands themselves are largely ignorant of the sinister curse that now preys upon them, for the Coinlords and their lackeys do not speak of it, other than as a "virulent flu" which must occasionally be dealt with.

"For men who stare seaward with greed in their eyes, pearls are the prize, pearls are the prize!"

Type

Neurological