Green Sickness

Kadjan’s days were filled with a sickness he could not cure. His Almaykery was full, all beds taken, all wearing the silver-blue day-armour of the Imperial Guard. Whatever secret task they had been given had not been kind to them, and they were dying as quick as flies in stuck-honey. Nothing he attempted did anything to pause let alone stop their suffering, and the wards were filled with horrid moans.

— Chapter Twelve: The Sun Thief

Symptoms

• Excessive sweating
• 'Limey' skin, or green jaundice
• Loss of hair
• Nausea and vomiting
• Weakness of the limbs
• Dry cough

Causes

Any imbalance to the Body Tropics can cause a substantial effect on the body. When any human who has not first been innoculated to seleen - the magic of the environment - through long-term exposure comes into contact with a large amount of magic over a short period of time, the sudden imbalance of the body tropics can cause substantial effects on the human body.
The green sickness is a manifestation of this sudden large imbalance.

Treatment

As the sickness progresses rapidly, there is no known cure to mortal physicians, who have not yet discovered how to re-balance the body tropics. There is however, pallative care, which will treat the symptoms of the disease. Many physicians have discovered that the leaf of the herb tarragon, gathered from the red soil of the Tarragon's Ridge can provide some comfort due to it's pain-reducing properties. Leaf from the Ghamiyah Plant can also be used in this manner due to its stronger pain-relieving properties, however, its side-effects can be uncomfortable.

Prognosis

The Green Sickness is a miserable disease. When not cured, it can kill in a matter of weeks. Some milder cases might resolve themselves thanks to the body tropics naturally rebalancing themselves.

Hosts & Carriers

Any living creature or plant can be affected by the Green Sickness.

Prevention

The Green Sickness is very rare, but is becoming more common, thanks to the banning of Magic in places in Meddlemark and Meraqia. Prevention can be taken by even a minimal exposure to Seleen. This could be eating food grown from Seleen enriched soil, or being in the area of an Illustrist, or any number of other ways.

Epidemiology

As the green sickness is caused by a large amount of magical energy, some of that energy remains in residue with the patient. As environmental magic (seleen) naturally radiates outwards, and naturally is attracted to living creatures (anything with a 'soul fire' that keeps it alive), creatures that come into contact with the patient can also contract the green sickness. Their condition can also be stronger depending on the new patient's magical condition, and the green sickness being inherently additional.

It didn’t help things that the disease itself was a chameleon. It would present as differently in a man as he had patients, and often it wasn’t realised to be the same disease until it reached the final stage, immediately before death, which was alike for all who caught it. All in all, if Kadjan hadn’t known the slow poison Usidra’s dream remedy was, he would have been partaking of the liquid himself. If this sickness turned out to be contagious, then he might be mixing a batch for himself all the same.

— Chapter Twelve, The Sun Thief

History

An outbreak of the Green Sickness occured in Barian, Umqher after Esiel's Chalice was dragged out of the waters off the coast of Laros by Usidra I Vringfeuer's Radiant Guard. The sickness was famously brought by those members of the Radiant Guard to the Red Cazaar when they brought the Chalice back to Laros, causing chaos to the strongest fortress on the continent.

Cultural Reception

Being something so rare and deadly and never before experienced condition, many of the populace of Laros attributed the Green Sickness to a divine bad omen against the Vringfeuer Court of Laros. In a way, they weren't wrong.

First came the sweat, that dampened the sheets until they dripped. Blood would pour from their tear ducts and their lips and ears, and scabbing at the scalp would be the sign that in a day or two, not a hair would remain on their head. If they were awake at this point, and often they would not be, the sclera of the eyes would grow to match the limey colour of their skin. At that point they would be in agony, as if flames licked every inch of them, and they would have hours left of life. Once Kadjan was certain there was nothing in his knowledge that could cure them in time, he would tip a vial of undiluted sleep draught down their throat until the screaming ceased.

— Chapter Twelve, The Sun Thief

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Extremely Rare

Affected Species

• Human