The Touch of Beyond

Sometimes, normal animals become a vessel for something far beyond what they can comprehend. This gives them extraordinary new abilities, but at the cost of… well, themselves.
These creatures are what we call “Monsters”. They wander the land, fueled by an unknown rage that prevents them from returning to their normal lives. It’s currently unknown what controls these monsters- whether it’s the creature itself, some sort of divine force, or something else entirely.
It doesn’t seem to infect any sapient species (yet), but it is still heavily recommended to keep your distance from any sort of infected creature. This enforced even more for pets and livestock, as the sickness can leap from animal to animal like wildfire if the conditions are right.

THE SYMPTOMS

The touch’s symptoms only show up after a long period of incubation, then slowly get worse as the animal scumbs to the unknown presence.

HYPERAGGRESSION

Most animals under the touch’s influence are very aggressive, sometimes going out of their way to attack people. This isn’t just random attacks, either. Sometimes, a group of infected creatures will get together and raid villages and cities. Due to the sheer number of creatures, these raids are incredibly hard to stop.

PHYSICAL CHANGES

This can be anything from adjusting fur color to changing the entire skeletal structure. Either way, infected creatures are very easy to spot with how different they can be from their normal counterparts.
Most of the time, these changes work with the surroundings. For example, if an infected creature lived by a river, it may begin to develop gills or some other aquatic features.

NEW MAGICAL ABILITES

It is incredibly common for monsters to gain magical abilities that they could never have in their old form. This usually takes the form of more “elemental” powers (fire, water, earth, etc), but can progress into illusory spells, weather manipulation, and even teleportation in a very rare case.

Over time, these symptoms can start to take such a toll on the creature that they will start to physically deteriorate until nothing is left but a furious spirit made from whatever may be left of the origional soul.

Type

Magical

Origin

Divine

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired & Congenital

Rarity

Uncommon