Demon's Plague
After the Fracture, a planar fissure opened to the west of Cradlecrown, allowing demonic energies to enter the city. This magical miasma caused a plague to rip through the population, killing tens of thousands. Symptoms included cracked skin all over the body, embers in the lungs, and blood filling both the sclera and iris. These red-eyed, disfigured afflicted were isolated and eventually sent to a quarantine around the fissure to die. At night, quarantine echoed with the screams of the afflicted, wracked with visions of the demonic plane, convulsing and screaming. The cracks in their skin would smolder, and the burning in their lungs caused untold pain and coughs expelling thick, black smoke. Most died screaming, crying tears of blood.
Pregnant women who contracted the "disease" gave birth to children with gray skin, horns, and glowing eyes: the first Veiled Ones. Despite not being a vector for the plague, these children were also outcast to the quarantine sector. As they grew, some of the quarantined resented their strange appearance and apparent immunity, while others adopted them as their own after their true parents inevitably died. This mixed treatment caused most of the children to mistrust all humans but their "parents", and keep to their own if at all possible.
Transmission & Vectors
Direct exposure to the extraplanar energies is the only known method of transmission.
Causes
The plague is caused by demonic energies leaking through a planar fissure to the west of Cradlecrown, which human bodies are unable to process or integrate.
Symptoms
Symptoms include cracked and bleeding skin, embers smoking in the lungs, and night terrors. The sclera and iris fill with blood, and wounds begin to smolder in the later stages.
Treatment
The condition is fatal with few exceptions, but life can be extended through a series of blessings and enchanted amulets.
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