The Soul Parasite

Transmission & Vectors

The Soul parasite is a small squid like being that begins life in water, which is the way it enters a animal's body. As it enters a creature, it then attaches itself inside at certain areas in the body, using tendrils to ensure it stays. It then begins to grow as it feeds on the magical energy in its host, which is usually about a week after it enters the body

Symptoms

The symptoms of the parasite start benign but slowly get worse and worse, as the body can feel its functions fail because of the lack of magic. A person can begin feeling sick or nauseous, even perhaps having a small fever. As time goes on, it gets worse and worse, as the victim starts losing a lot of weight and feels much weaker, along with headaches becoming a common occurence. As it reaches it final stage, around two months after infection, the worse symptoms come forth such as inability to move, unable to properly think or concentrate, extreme fever and sickness, unable to keep food down, intense pains, and depression or other psychological state. As the parasite finishes, so does the creature's body finally fails, as the last of the creature's soul is swallowed up, leaving only the husk of what was once alive, with the parasite exiting through the mouth and leaving to find an egg in the ocean.

Treatment

There are a number of ways to treat the parasite if its discovered early on, which is incredibly rare to do but nonetheless. The most popular way is to eat Silver Spines, who, due to their acidic insides, can help make the creature's blood more acidic and thus uninhabitable for the parasite, forcing it to either die or escape through vomit. However, as the parasite grows larger, it becomes far tougher to treat, with seemingly only magic being able to kill the parasite while it is inside. There are rumors of some intense medical treatments that succeed, but those also come with the closeness to death. When it reaches the final stage, thats when it's too late, as there is no way to save the patient at that point and thus are no other options than death.

Prevention

As of this age, there is still no known way to prevent the parasite, while there are theories such as properly cleaning the water people drink from, it would not work due to it wouldn't be feasible in normal villages and due to the small size of the parasites when they in the first stage. There are some people who are attempting to design grates who's holes are small enough to stop the parasite, but nothing substantial yet.

Epidemiology

The parasite is especially dangerous for coastal cities, as the parasite reproduces in the ocean, and as they lay many many eggs, that means a city would be in even graver danger if even one survives, as it could spell doom for hundreds, or even thousands of people. The parasite primarily lives in warmer coastal areas, and then uses lakes and rivers to get in land and get swallowed by a living creature, so the parasite is limited in area at the very least.

History

The first true recorded case of the creature is but rumor, as many people's have stories of when they first came. What is theorized however is that they began to come forth around 56 AG, with its first victims most likely being the infamous village of Rekan. The village had reported sickness to the local imperium, but by the time they arrived a few months later, every person in the village had turn into husks, with their bodies being later analyzed by wizards where the parasite was theorized and later discovered.
The parasite has become a growing threat, especially due to the break up of the empire, as healthcare became far less available to the common man, leading to the parasite spreading like an epidemic to warmer coastal areas. For now, it is primarily found in Yiris, but people have reported the parasite spreading north and south.

Cultural Reception

It depends on the areas and the knowledge of the parasite, but in general it is most common for people to either feel sympathetic to a person with the parasite, or to be feared. Some areas go so far to quickly kill a person if there are in the later stages of the parasite, simply due to the fear of it.

Type

Parasitic

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare