Blight
In the late days of the Old Wars, a disease cropped up that ate away at crops and grasses. It was so efficient and prolific that it soon became the bane of any tribe whose crops caught it. Even nomad tribes who lived by hunting feared it, steering away from forests and plains that held it's signature blue color.
Symptoms
When a population of crops contracts the disease, parts of the crop begin contracting dark blue bruises as the contagion eats away at the exposed fruits and grains. Eventually, the spores reach the center of the fruit and the crop rots from the inside-out. Afterwards the crop will slowly disintegrate and turn to flakes of ash-like substance that blows away in the wind, potentially spreading the blight to other populations of fauna.
Treatment
When a tribe found that their crops were infected with blight, sometimes it would be sufficient to simply cut off the infected parts of the crop. In more advanced cases it would be prudent to uproot the infected crops and burn them to separate them from the rest of the harvest, and in extreme cases the entire crop must be burned to prevent the spread of the disease.
Hosts & Carriers
Small plants such as grass and wheat are particularly vulnerable to blight. Trees tend to be immune, but fruit-bearing trees can still have their crop tainted by the blight. In addition, any mammalian creature can very easily get windblown spores caught in their fur, potentially transmitting the blight to any susceptible plant they come into contact with.
Prevention
The only knon effective way to prevent crop desrtuction by blight is to completely enclose your crops from outside air; a tricky notion considering that most edible crops need sunlight to survive. Many tribes of Norvus switched to farming mushrooms exclusively in the late days of the Old Wars as fungus could be grown in complete darkness and was less susceptible to the blight's effects. More ingenuitous tribes, including the newly formed Conflux, developed greenhouses to protect their crops. In addition, tribes that feared blight would usually have their farmers thoroughly wash themselves before going to tend the crops, just in case any blight spores had found their way into their fur.
History
Historically, Blight has been a death sentence to any tribe who's crops were touched by it. The Conflux can attribute much of it's rapid growth to refugees fleeing blight-infested lands, seeking food from the Conflux's newly developed blight-safe greenhouses.
Blight has also seen use as a biological weapon; Two tribes that were at war often tried to plant their own infected crops within the enemy's food supply, effectively destroying it and forcing retreat or total surrender.
Type
Fungal
Origin
Natural
Cycle
Short-term
Rarity
Common
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