Bloodtide

Transmission & Vectors

The bloodtide is transmitted by ingesting or exchanging contaminated fluids, or by prolonged mental exposure to an infected specimen. (eg. Conversation)

Causes

The bloodtide is an alteration of the fluids in the body of the infected, infusing them with the rage and madness of Uthalos.

Symptoms

The Bloodtide starts with a high fever, and increased irritability. The infected then becomes increasingly delusional and psychotic, until they believe that they themselves are Uthalos, come to purge the land of all those who mock him. By this stage the infected have started to bleed from their pores, and will eventually die after 1-4 weeks from the internal and external injuries caused by their blood forcibly exiting their body. Those who are extremely strong may manage to live indefinitely in this final stage, eventually becoming mindless corpses puppeted by their own blood.

Treatment

The divine taint must be purged from the infected, generally by calling upon another divine power. This often leaves the subject scarred or changed for life, depending on the method used. Even in the first stages, a full purge is required, as even a single drop of infected blood will replicate and spread almost infinitely.

Prognosis

If the taint is purged, then depending on the stage it was cured at, the Bloodtide will leave behind anything from nothing to major psychological and physical scarring. If untreated however, it always results in either death or the puppeting.

Sequela

While under the effects of the Bloodtide, the infected is basically immune to any other diseases. Afterwards however, the user’s immune system may be irreparably damaged, and they may require extensive mental and physical rehabilitation.

Prevention

Not coming into direct contact with the fluids, and not considering the infected as anything other than the living dead.

Epidemiology

The bloodtide is essentially a biological weapon, and as such spreads through closely packed populations with ease, however the true strain remains within the ruins of Coranis. Outbreaks often spread due to the infected attacking others and tainting water supplies, as for a short while, the infected are cognisant enough to form complex plans, but fully under the sway of the destructive urges of the bloodtide.

History

The bloodtide was first created by Uthalos in order to destroy Coranis, whose people shunned him. It wiped out the city and was not intentionally used since, however since the city’s burial and the shifting of the water table, weaker strains of the Bloodtide have seeped into many settlements in the north, causing the residents to be driven slowly insane by the divine poison.

Cultural Reception

The infected are generally seen as nothing more than undead monsters, as none have yet encountered them who could uncover their true nature.

Type

Divine

Origin

Divine

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Extremely Rare