Rune Curse
A curse that will really bug you.
"I now believe I have made a dreadful mistake when I took that artifact from that ruin site. My body has been doing strange things. It is wracked with pain, and my body has mutated terribly. I've grown antennae, my skin is morphing into a hard shell, and I fear it won't be long before my hands can no longer hold a pencil."The Rune Curse is a magical protection on the the Fossil Stones that turns humans who come in contact with them into insects or Miinu.
Transmission & Vectors
The curse is transmitted through direct physical contact with the a fossil stone by a human. The stones use Spirit Magic to draw energy from user and activates the curse. It's unknown if this is a deliberate attack against thieves, as the stones are important for Miinu to exist as they do, or byproduct of their original spell and rogue magic.
Brushing against the stone or involuntary contact doesn't seem to trigger the curse, but grabbing the stone with the intent to take it or move it will. If the stone is out of place, it will coerce humans into being drawn closer so they can move it back to it's original location.
Symptoms
The indication that someone has been cursed is that they will feel pins and needles in their limbs, almost like insect crawling under their skin. They also may start to hallucinate insects around them when there are none, or hallucinate the stone 'talking' to them. Nightmares involving insects will also become a recurring issue.
The victim will start to feel ill within days, often even overnight. This starts with flu-like symptoms like a fever and nausea. They will feel aches and pains all over, which will gradually increase until they are no longer ignorable and actively effect their ability to move around. They will also develop stomach issues as they will likely be unable to keep down normal food, and instead developing cravings for off things like plant sap, leaves, insects, or even rotten food.
Soon their will start to undergo painful physical changes that make them more insect like. i.e developing mandibles, antennae, extra limbs, wings, compound eyes, etc. It tends to be a pretty ugly and messy process, and will make the victim appear monstrous. The mutation process depends on the Bug kin that has been assigned to them, and they will develop the physical traits of that insect's nymphs/larvae. Mentally their behaviors may also be significantly altered, making them more aggressive, and coming anxious of light and open spaces.
The mutation will eventually turn them completely into an insect, where one of two things will happen. Either they will molt and hatch as a miinu, often without their memories, or their mind will decay completely until they are literally an ordinary insect with none of their humanity left.
Treatment
Once a human is cursed, there is little they can do about it. There is no medicinal cure that will stop the transformations from occurring. Pain medications can be used to somewhat dull the pain, but as the body it literally breaking and rearranging itself, there's only so much pain relief can do.
Show spoiler
There are rumors that after the curse has taken it's course, a Miinuized human can pray to the spirits to be returned to normal, but comes at the cost of taking the energy from another miinu, effectively killing them.
Sequela
It's unknown what causes someone to become a miinu or an insect with the curse, though it's believed mental strength and willpower are factors in saving your humanity. Those who give in to the mutation without a fight are more likely to succumb and become a mindless insect.
Those who become a miinu will eventually recover from their illness. The fevers and aches will die down after a few days of rest and recuperation. They may need time to adjust to their new body and senses, and will often be dazed and confused due to the memory loss. Some who interact with the stone again may regain their missing memories, but most will not outside of dreams and brief flashbacks that give them bits and pieces. Most will still remember basic information about themselves, but not remember days, weeks, or even months prior to their transformation. It's believed this is the brains way of protecting the miinu from remembering the traumatic nature of the transformation.
After a week or so, the newly formed miinu should be back in good health, barring nothing went wrong during their mutation.
Prevention
The biggest thing you can do to prevent it is just... don't touch random magical artifacts with your bare hands.
History
It's likely that the curse is a side effect of the spell the Paruparo used the stones to cast. It's believed the spell was designed to turn their enemies into insects to protect their home, from invaders and colonizers from other regions, but the spell went out of control and effected the entire area at once, turning everyone in the area into Miinu. This effected both the tribe and the invaders alike. The side effect of memory loss meant that none of the new species could remember their origin, but felt drawn to the stones as a source of great power and importance.
Some very few Miinu who regained their memory, opted against making the information public, as to not collectively traumatize their whole society. These few took on the burden of watching over the stones to keep them safe and disperse their magic to others. These original inflicted miinu became known as Stone Keeper, a title that would eventually be passed down to generations of non-inflicted miinu.
The curse lingers inside the stone as a side effect of the original spell, but now it is used as a defensive tool, effecting anyone who would put a miinu society in danger by stealing their primary magic source.
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