Spore Season

When a moon seals itself in...

It's no secret that Barcino has some of the most abundant indigenous flora in the system, with literal forests of primitive proto-trees and fungus taller than any Terran. What's less talked about unless you live on Barcino or are planning to travel there is Spore Season. This typically starts in late spring and is full swing by summer, as the various "plants" of the moon fill the air with their gametes in an effort to reproduce. This is the reason why people raised on Barcino find places like orbital habitats and sub-surface deep sea complexes comfortable. Why their health and safety inspectors make CBRN experts take notes. They grew up having to seal themselves into their homes for safety.

Manifestation

The first warning sign comes weeks before the storm hits, and it's the larger fauna begin to move up into the thawing alpine areas to get away from the worst of it. Then the air becomes hazy and breathing unfiltered air for a few minutes makes your throat scratchy. Then your eyes begin to water and even if you don't have hay fever, it feels like you do. The air gets progressively thicker, the light from Tanit gets dimmer, and breathing gets harder. Then the wind picks up, and you see a wall of spores headed towards you. It's darker than dusk any exposed skin is itchy, and any mucus membranes exposed on are on fire. Then it's a brown out, vision is limited, breathing feels like hell in your chest, and it's going to last for at least a few weeks.

Localization

This is a Barcino only event, as no other area has the concentration of spore using flora that they do without waterways to act as alternate methods of transport. It's worse in the lowlands, a pressure tha tpushed major settlements into the alpine areas to escape it.

Medical Impacts

Asthmatics and people with breathing issues can die from unprotected exposure. Even healthy victims caught without respirators can pick up nasty fungal infections that can result in permanent disability or death. The worst cases involve open wounds, which some of the spores see as quick growth areas. In the aftermath of the Siege of New Geneva, corpses of the wounded who got infected and had their bodies consumed by fungus were being found for weeks.
There are several associated ailments that find their origin in Spore Season.
  • Barcino Spore Fever
  • Fungal Rot Lung
  • Genevan Blood Fungus


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