The MagiBlight Plague

The Cost of Progress

At the height of the Ravessian Empire's progress, they were lauded and respected as both magically and technologically advanced. For this purpose their empire stretched from Qutarnan and Silas to Valklema and Mashhad in the North. Ravessus was a power unlike any other that the continent of Loris had seen before. With progress came power and with power came ambition. Ravessus's ambition became the source of its downfall. One organization, calling themselves The Order of Unerring Sight, had been tasked by the current Ravessian Emperor to pursue and research various ideas and topics. No one knows for sure what they'd been investigating that lead to the sudden explosion of magical energy, now known as the MagiBlight Plague, but some speculate they were experimenting with the fabrication of an artificial Lumite, others believe they were experimenting with a ninth school of magic, and others believe they were trying unlock the secrets of 10th level spells or ancient Cirruan technology. Nothing is certain though, as the resulting blast wiped out much of Virolamium and decimated the vast majority of the kingdom of Ravessus in sweeping waves of energy that transformed and blighted the land.

Ravessus After the Plague

Directly following the plague that swept across the land, many of the various baronies and counties of Ravessus fell. The Five Lords of Ash, and their respective baronies of Raetia, Galatania, Hispatus, Mauretium, and Darus, stood against the initial wave of energy, battling The Blighted, people and creatures mutated by the energy of the plague. Eventually, one by one, the baronies and their lords fell, corrupted by the plague itself. Curiously, the lords eventually returned as now powerful nightmares known as The Blightlords of Ravessus. It seems that the MagiBlight Plague has a strange effect on those with a stronger willpower and penchant for power, transforming them into more powerful servants. Only Jeressus, within the province of Osriana, still stands, held by Cicero, the Craven King, the last and only descendent of the line of Spurius, and those few Ravessians who remain. Cicero lives on somehow, last and youngest son of the Spurius household, believed to be kept alive and youthful by his RuneWitch wife. Cicero and the other members of his struggling empire are not wholly unchanged by the blight, receiving strange gifts and powers such as The WitchEye, a third eye that allows them to constantly see and sense magic, and access to corrupted magics themselves. Those who meddle with such powers, under the aid and tutelage of the RuneWitches, are known as Shades and are kept close by Cicero's side. Cicero has made his goals clear that he seeks to remove the Blight from his land and retake Virolamium.

What the Plague Takes

The MagiBlight Plague has a strange effect on those it infects, transforming them and mutating them to its will. Many have said that they can hear voices and whispers once they are upon Blighted land, while many hear nothing. Something, however, lurks just beyond human perspective and many believe that a demon lord has turned Ravessus into its domain of play. However, the Blight does change those who are susceptible to its influence. The Blight spreads in three stages. Initial contamination, the first stage, begins with the Blighted individual beginning to hear voices and see strange things lurking like shadows. A contaminated person will begin to hallucinate and change. They'll feel less of a desire to eat and sleep, and more of a desire to run wildly and drink much water. The second stage, transformation, is when the Blighted individual begins to transform. Their arms become longer, their shoulders more hunched, and their eyes begin to glow faintly orange. They also become much stronger and do not respond to pain. At this stage, they begin to hate sunlight and pure water, preferring dank stagnant drink instead. The third stage, evolution, begins once a Blighted has been Blighted for some time. Most evolutions begin around a year of infection, though these transformations are less dangerous and permanent. Those who transform within a year become Sorrowsworn. Those who transform within two years become Conjoined, Filthy, or Chimeras. Those who transform within five years become Witchlings or BlightLords.

Symbol of the Order of Unerring Sight