Fungilus Hjarnilus

Fungilus Hjarnilus is a parasitic illness spread by a certain type of chameleon mushroom, the biting chameleon mushroom. Only mammals are affected by this parasite.
The chameleon mushrooms have the ability to disguise themselves as other mushrooms. Some are not dangerous, but the biting chameleon mushroom is. The biting chameleon mushroom will bite those that come near their mouths, which they can open anywhere on their body. Usually, the only effect of a bite from a biting chameleon mushroom is hallucinations, and some even use the mushroom as a drug. But sometimes, the mushroom might be infected with fungilus hjarnilus, and then spread it to whoever comes in contact with it.
The biting chameleon mushroom can be infected by fungilus hjarnilus through contact, just as other species can, but they mainly get the parasite from particularly stormy weather, when the ground they grow in is struck by magically imbued lightning cast by any being able to cast necrotic magic. The necrotic particles are carried in the lightning, and fastened to the mushrooms, only to, with the biting chameleon mushrooms own hallucinogens, create a parasite that attaches itself to any mammal. It can not be spread from mammal to mammal; it must be either ingested or spread in the bloodstream.
Initially, the only reaction a person being infected by the parasite has the same hallucinations that a normal biting chameleon mushroom would cause, albeit the effect may last longer. It's incredibly difficult to tell if these hallucinations are any different from normal hallucinations. The hallucination will eventually pass, and the infected can go about their life without being aware that the parasite is spreading inside them. It may take between three to nine days for the next symptoms to show. They are nausea, followed by minor hallucinations that after two weeks or so will grow more intense with time. After between two to three months, the infected beings mind will be nothing but hallucinations. Five months in without treatment, and the change is permanent.
There are cures to the infection. Some people are lucky enough to never know that they even were infected. This is because the fungilus hjarnilus hate onions, leek, and garlic of all sorts, and a hearty meal with a nice amount of any of these are the parasites worst enemy. People with a more long-gone infection have to live on a soup made of a mix of these ingredients. Vegetable soup is the staple treatment. But the patient can't eat anything else, and it's part of the parasites defense mechanism to cause the infected hallucinations that will make the patient refuse to drink the soup, so it can be difficult to treat them.
There are specialists that know exactly the ways to recognize if a person is infected with fungilus hjarnilus, and there are conmen who pretend to know. Although vegetable soup is easy enough to make, it's also easy enough for the common folk to be tricked into paying for a "special" soup that won't only cure the infection, but also make it impossible to get infected by the parasite again. This is a lie, but many are fooled by it and for those talented in the con, it can be a lucrative business.

Type

Parasitic