The Drowning Sickness

When the Taxlatl People of Cartyrion first Awakened, they joined a world already populated with many races of Folk. But the lands chosen for the Awakening by their Reptisssar deities was far removed from the lands occupied by most others. Their settlements grew rapidly, sped by their skills with large domesticated beasts. By the time encountered Humankind for the first time, theirs was a thriving civilization. Sailing and trading with the Dwarves around the world, their influence was significant. But this would all come crashing down when that first encounter with Humans introduced them to a hidden enemy. A malady that was nothing more than a minor inconvenience among the Humans would come very close to spelling the end of the Taxlatl Folk entirely.

Beginnings

The industrious lizardfolk were left to themselves, and, with the guidance offered by their creator deities, wasted no time in establishing themselves in the remote homelands chosen for them. Their forests and marshes provided materials for building shelters. Hunting and fishing provided bountiful food.

They made use of some of the reptilian creatures also provided by the Reptisssar. Smaller creatures were domesticated to become hunting companions. Larger ones became beasts of burden, and were even used to clear whole forests. They also quickly discovered their sensitivity to the magical energies flowing through the world allowed them to shape those energies to reform their surroundings.

It took only seventeen years for the Taxlatl to be "discovered" by other Folk - the Dwarves of the Second Delve. But in those years, the Taxlatl were already building the basis of a true civilization.
Dwarves had been on Cartyrion for thousands of years, and their love for the sea had also been long established; it was Dwarves seeking a place for a port on the Sea of Storms that first encountered the lizardfolk.

The two peoples established trade in goods, but also in technologies. The Taxlatl learned how to shape and build with stone, and soon their log and reed hut villages grew into cities of brick and stone. Fascinated by tales of other peoples such as Elves and Felisean folk, they sailed with the Dwarves to far off parts of the world. Other folk came to highly desire their prowess in magical arts; the many magical devices made by the Taxlatl were in high demand.

On one of many such voyages, exploring the Inner Sea in the year 14180 BCR, Taxlatl and Dwarves would first meet Humans. Though the encounter was peaceful, it marked the beginning of the end of the civilization the Taxlatl had been developing, and came very close to being the beginning of the end of the entire Lizardfolk people. Inadvertently, in addition to seeing and obtaining woolen goods from these new Folk - fabrics woven from the hair of creatures called "sheep" - the Taxlatl would also acquire the Drowning Sickness.

The Sickness

Like all of the Folk of Cartyrion, Humans were, for the most part, healthy. But also like all, they were susceptible to occasional maladies. One of these, an illness the Humans simply called "the Cold", as it was more prevalent in the times of year when the northern snows stretched downward to their homelands. It was little more than a minor inconvenience to humans; excessive nasal swelling and mucus production brought discomfort.

To this day, the origins of this malady are not known with certainty, but the common belief is that either a minor Astralar or careless mage among the Folk created something unseen and released it in the world. It seeks out creatures to live and thrive in, and can be transmitted from one creature to another by almost any form of close contact.

Symptoms and Prognosis Among the Taxlatl

The progression of this disease is quite different among the Taxlatl. In Humans, symptoms appear within a day or two of contact, and after a week, the body drives out the source of the malady and good health returns. In Taxlatl, the disease develops much more slowly, but much more relentlessly. It may take weeks for symptoms to appear, but once they do, they continue to worsen. It can take as much as a month, but eventually, ever increasing mucus secretions will fill the lungs of an untreated Taxlatl, literally causing death by drowning. Unfortunately, the disease is as transmissable among Lizardfolk as it is among Humans, and that transmission is possible even before symptoms are recognized.

Societal Impact

The Taxlatl traders that first encountered humans and this terrible disease were near death by the time they returned to port in Fen's Edge. Had they succumbed, they would likely have been buried at sea by the Dwarven sailors they travelled with, and the catastrophe to come would have been averted. (It should be noted that Dwarves are, apparently, completely immune to the Human's "cold".) But the traders did survive long enough to reach shore and rejoin their families, and thus began the first spread of what would come to be called "the Drowning Sickness" among the Taxlatl people.

Within a year, between ninety and ninety-five percent of the Lizardfolk would die from this affliction. It spread rapidly in the Taxlatl cities, and was carried to almost every settlement they had established. In less than a year, the Taxlatl went from a thriving, highly organized civilization to a scant scattering of devastated survivors.

Remedies

Apparently, less than five percent of the Taxlatl alive at the time were either naturally immune, or had sufficient constitutions to permit their bodies to defeat the malady. Fortunately, this capability seems to be inheritable, as the children of these fortunate ones are also immune.

Finding a remedy for others proved difficult, mainly because those studying the disease and possible treatments were often infected themselves, succumbing before they could complete their work. It took nearly a year for a mage-physician to stumble on a treatment, though this treatment was not without risks. By extremely careful application of the magical spell "Destroy Water", it was possible to dry up the mucus discharges in the lungs of the afflicted for a time. Repeated castings of this spell daily for a period of twelve weeks proved to be enough time for the afflicted's body to finally expel the disease.

The danger, of course, came from improper application of the spell. The dessication effects needed to be carefuly controlled. Too much, and the lung tissue would be damaged; this only hastened death. Too little, and the mucus drowning would inevitably occur. Over the years, a new group of mage-physicians dedicated specifically to treating this disease emerged. Today, every Taxlatl village maintains at least one such healer whose skills are passed down.