Entskin
Entskin is a condition brought on through curses, specifically those given to their targets by ents or dryads. When afflicted, the patient slowly undergoes a process called metadentrosis, where all their flesh, bones and organs are replaced with plant matter. This can take many forms of severity, but if left untreated for a long period of time, the patient will transform into a dryad and fall under control of the ents.
Reception of such a process demands on the species and culture concerned. Most are more than welcoming of the term 'disease', but others actively aim for such an end to their lives. Factions of light elves refer to it simply as 'recycling', giving their essences back to nature from whence they were created, and are in open discussion with ents and dryads to achieve their end of life plan. The Durmok have a similar attitude towards their birthing places but only those biologically conceived seek out ents to begin the conversion process. Even so, dark elves and orcs are far more likely to see this transition as one of shame or resignation than the virtuous rebirth their counterparts imagine.
Dwarves and humans, forever unfamiliar with the concept of immortality, fear entskin. Their antagonistic history with ents and nature in general can partly explain this attitude, but perhaps the most fear-inducing part for them is the loss of autonomy. Becoming a tree makes one unable to move conventionally without the assistance of aether, which only adjusts to demand in the final stages of the disease. Not only that, but their fate from then on - subservient to the very creatures that they are fully aware of angering - is not appealing, to say the least. Much of their efforts have gone into finding cures for the condition, after hundreds of years of building pyres and watching their loved ones slowly walking into the long abandoned groves.
Transmission & Vectors
Entskin is transmitted through touch. This contact has to be initiated by someone already suffering from the condition or, more likely, from an ent or dryad. Someone is far more likely to contract the disease from the latter since there is far more aether to use in actualising the curse, though most infections occur by accident. In the early stages of entskin, the patient may touch many people and pass it on without realising. This is especially true if the infected passes it onto someone whom they openly dislike.
Prognosis
Entskin, when left to progress without the necessary treatment, will consume the patient and slowly turn their tissues and bones into plant material. If the patient is completely overtaken by the disease, they will complete the transformation into a dryad - a spirit of the forests that are often servants of ents and handle all the work concerning the upkeep of wild trees. They will have to gain sustenance from the power of the sun and without it are forced to hibernate, becoming indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Those infected are often compelled to leave their homes to the nearest woodland and wait for the ent that cursed them to shepherd them away. A person given the disease by a dryad or another sufferer will be drawn into the service of the ent who originated the curse, resulting in herds of dryads gathering in forests after a local epidemic. Though memory of their former selves is fresh at first, the longer they take on the form of a dryad, the harder it is for them to remember who they used to be. If left in this condition for more than five years, their insides harden and it becomes irreversible.
Epidemiology
Someone putting an ent in a foul mood can easily trigger an epidemic if the sufferer of the initial curse isn't careful, which is almost always. Provokers don't fear the consequences - or believe they don't apply - and thus live carefree after the incident. It is possible to avoid being touched by an ent after offending them, but they have impressive lifespans and memories, making evasion unlikely.
These curses spread far more freely in rural communities where there are plenty of trees, untrodden paths and youths looking for an amusing way to spend their time. Negotiating with ents and dryads over using the land for agriculture is also more common in these areas, since ents avoid towns and cities. That being said, any time when touch is a likely time for outbreak - especially in the summer months when ents go roaming.
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