Red Blight

An affliction of unborn children that causes degrees of illness, varying from a mere cosmetic birth defect to a deadly and painful condition that dooms both mother and child. It affects all sapient species, but for some reason doesn't seem to affect animals, fae, dragons, or higher species.

It can first be noted by general malaise and loss of appetite, often in the second trimester. In mild forms of the illness, or well treated ones, this condition remains fairly asymptomatic and the child can be born healthy with the exception of a few unsightly red marks on the face or body. As it becomes more severe, the mother may experience vomiting, severe nausea, migraines, fainting spells, extreme fatigue or even complete exhaustion, excessive sweating, shortness of breath. As the affliction worsens, severe pains in the abdomen will keep her bedridden. In many cases, the mother is lucky if she miscarries before the third trimester comes to pass. These miscarriages often consist of large, veiny red clumps of blood and flesh. Sometimes this flesh has even begun to inexplicably rot within the body and the mother will often be required by a priestess to undergo a purification ritual and drink a series of teas to recover her body. Even so, she may remain sick and prone to bacterial infection or immune system failure until she fully heals.

In the case that the mother carries a badly afflicted child to term, it rarely survives a day after birth and appears as if it is covered in horrible bloody masses. The child's skin will be blood red and very thin, its veins abnormally pronounced. Sometimes the child's corpse will have signs of necrosis. If a mother does carry such an afflicted child to term, she is very likely to succumb to the same affliction over time, as it remains within her womb and can spread through her body like a cancer if it doesn't kill her by rotting her organs first. Such an advanced case is very difficult to heal even by the most experienced healers.

The disease is thought to be the result of a curse of some sort, as a completely healthy woman with no contact to anyone else exposed to the disease can suddenly come down with it in the second trimester. Some women have a single pregnancy cursed by the blight and continue to have many completely healthy children, others are left barren or have one child after another affected by the blight. There seems to be no connection between the women at all in the way they live, what they worship, what they eat, where they live, how wealthy they are, what race they are, etc.

Different cultures have different ways to combat the disease. The most common is practiced by followers of the Divine Trinity, who bathe the mother in a pool of water blessed by a priest of priestess of Viripotens. The woman is given a series of teas made with the different holy plants and a series of healing herbs. She is given constant attention by magical healers of the faith until she begins to show signs of health.

Another common method, though looked down upon by society in general, is to seek out the blessings of a Daetos whose powers might hold domain over the illness in some way, such as Liseth, Peritath, or Odema. This is considered more risky, however, as establishing communion with a Daetos in order to strike such a deal with them is hard enough before considering the price they might demand for such a miracle.

Other cultures might use teas with their local healing herbs, magical healing practices, purely medical practices such as surgery that removes the womb entirely or administration of different medicines, etc.

Causes

The cause is unknown, however this hasn't stopped wild rumors and speculations from coming about. Some believe that a mother, or in rarer cases the father of the child, are punished with the blight for some terrible deed that they committed and never received punishment for. Some blame acts of necrophilia or interaction with a necromancer, even if there is no evidence to suggest that the mother is involved with such things at all. Few claim that the blight is a sign that the mother wished to have no children and the gods are granting her wish in a twisted fashion. It is commonly thought in Anix to be a symptom of the Corruption, even though mothers with no exposure to Anix's Corruption are just as likely to contract the blight. The overly modest might blame female masturbation or lust for the affliction. A particularly wild belief is that the mother is having a false child, that she is having a child with someone who isn't her "soulmate." Some may say that it is caused by a mother or even a father being too young or old, especially if their partner is distant from them in age. Others claim it's a symptom of unfaithfulness and a woman will have such a child if she or her husband/lover have had an affair.

Prognosis

Mild cases can be easy enough to handle, and local healers might perform ritualistic healing measures to ensure the health of mother and child. Victims of mild forms ensure the birth of a mostly healthy baby and the full recovery of the mother. There's about a 33% chance of this outcome. 56% of cases end in miscarriage and complete loss of the child, as well as continued complications for the mother that last up to a year if they don't result in death. 10% of cases are severe and result in deformed and stillborn children, permanent damage to the mother's health and great risk of death to the mother if not sufficiently treated. Out of these 10% of cases, half of the mothers will die within a year no matter what the treatment.

Sequela

Mothers who give birth to the fully deformed and dead children have a 50% chance of dying within a year from the same condition, either by the disease itself which damages the internal organs, or by necrotic bacteria that destroys the immune system and encourages chronic infections through the entire body. Most of these unfortunate women can be predicted by examining whether or not the stillborn fetus has begun to rot or not, as well as by a high fever in the mother and a foul corpse-like smell from the birthing fluids.

Prevention

The only surefire way to ensure that a mother and her child aren't affected by this disease is through methods which are considered unsavory by most. A mother may forge a contract to ensure the life of her unborn child with a Daetos in exchange for whatever payment they ask for.
Many believe that if a woman drinks blood within the first month of her pregnancy, it will ensure a health birth. This isn't proven to be true.

Rarity

Rare