Ink Bloom
Developed by Nalin Marit This is a Rare disease that originates in Havardr.
Usual Prognosis: Depending on what stage you are at with this illness, the application of care is different.
Contagious: This illness does not appear to be directly contagious, and seems to be more, some sort of genetic disease that hides in its host from birth.
Appearance: As the name suggests, it looks like ink blooming across the skin of the infected. Black along with other discoloration of the skin slowly seem to bloom across the infected person's body. Common places to for it to first be seen are the chest, the face, the back, the shoulders, and a little less common, the thighs and the arms, as this disease tends to stay close to the heart and head.
Symptoms: Stage 1:
Invisible Bloom; Undetectable spots start to show, looking like moles or birthmarks, the inflicted seems to look constantly tired due to a darkening of skin around the eyes, the inflicted seems to eat more in this stage, but this is normally attributed to a big appetite because this typically happens when the inflicted are children and are growing. Only suggestion at this point is to leave it be.
Stage 2:
The Blooming; Black and Pale patches of skin slowly form and grow. If seen from far away, this skin condition can easily be mistaken for a strange or indiscernible tattoo. Commonly found near the heart, to start, it spreads at an incredibly slow pace (about an inch to 5 inches gain in diameter per every 2 arcs). The skin feels leathery and dry, as if all the water has been sucked out. This commonly starts to show around the ages of 18-30 and less commonly any other age based on written statistics.
During this stage the inflicted may experience mild pain. Common complaints from inflicted have been documented as burning, itching, constant thirst, trouble sleeping, too much energy, nightmares. Less common complaints documented were prickling in the skin, occasional numbness, blackouts, passing out, and stabbing pains.
Suggestions for treatment at this stage are to just help ease pain and itching with creams from different plants to see which helps the most, incense or potpourri to help calm the nerves and assist with sleep problems. Basically dealing with each problem separately.
Stage 3:
Endless Black;This stage is hard to tell when a patient has passed into this phase, as it seems to be different for most. And some never get to this point, dying from other causes. The bloom grows more aggressive, tearing skin from the body as it encroaches blackness upon the victim. Often in this stage, it is found that the inflicted will kill themselves just to rid themselves of the pain.
Little is reported on the effects this stage has on the inflicted, but some notated have been extreme pain, constant sweating, frequent blackouts and or passing out, loss of skin, bleeding, hanging skin, faster spread of black splotches (torso), spread from torso to arms and/or legs. In more extreme cases, sudden death, shakes, seizures, loss of mind.
Again, suggested treatment is to just try and ease the pain as much as possible, as at this point, death is inevitable. Unfortunately, there is no exact tell as each event of the illness has been different. Some live 2 years after reaching this point, some live 40 years after reaching this point, there is no knowledge as to why this is.
Cure: No Known Cure
Details:Only cases that have been seen and documented to this day are all of male descendants of the Marityne, Marity, Havmarit, Havmar, Mar, Amarite, and Marit's. All part of large line of inbred families that seem to have one thing in common, a love for their pale skin and hair. They find this a deep wound in their long line of beauty, often casting out those they have found to have this disease.
Not much is known about this disease other than these writings of what was observed as the different stages, and due to the nature of the families that this disease involves, they haven't done much to try and fix it either. Those who sought help never found it, at least none that has been recorded. Please keep in mind that thorough documentations are found seemingly only in Havardr and Almund while scattered across the lands are some less detailed writings that might list this illness as something else as the predecessors tried to find healers that could find the cure. There is still much more to learn about the illness.
Further Info
The information past this sentence can only be found by those with master level in at least three of the listed skills.
- Medicine
- Chemistry
- Detection
- Research
- Surgery
- Poisons
This disease is entirely due to a blood mutation that basically creates a parasite that remains dormant until the right conditions are met. This parasite grows inside males and females of the stated bloodlines.
Three conditions must be met before the parasite will start leeching actively from its host and causing this host to show the symptoms of Ink bloom:
First, it must reside in a male. Something about the female chemistry does not meld will with the parasites that grow in their blood and causes the parasites to forever lie dormant.
Next, it must latch on to the host, it has to be able to fight against the currents of blood that surge around it, and must survive the hosts natural immune system. Which is why it's typically able to survive in the sited people, as inbreeding has caused a weakening of the immune system, causing them to be more vulnerable to such diseases and parasites.
Last, it must reach maturity, meaning it must go through 5 phases of growing, The Seed, The Sapling, The Floater, The Cocoon, and the Feeder (these are temporary names for these stages and can be renamed by the first IC person that finds this in their research). It can be found that the Seed stage is when it sets its roots into the walls of the infected's arteries, The Sapling is when it's grown a bit, taking a bit of nutrients and water from the Arterial walls. The Floater is a stage where it detaches and finds a space where it can safely start on its next stage. The cocoon is just that, it's morphing into its final form. And the Feeder is the last stage, basically feeding on the host as it likes, how docile or volatile depend on a few factor, including temperature outside the body, mental state of the host, and a few other factors.
