Vaarn’s microbiome is just as varied as its macrobiome, and aeons’ worth of genesculpting have left a fearsome legacy within even the smallest of Urth’s creatures. The biomancers and alchemists of the Long Ago devoted much energy to breeding pestilences to vex their enemies, and while the monarchs who funded the creation of such horrors have been forgotten, their microscopic scions live on. Other pestilences have been imported from distant spheres or through the apertures in reality bored by hypergeometricians, to further warp the flesh and spirit of Urth’s peoples.
Virulence
All afflictions have a Virulence rating. Add 10 to this number to find the target number for Saves to resist and treat the infection.
Diseases
Diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses, amoeba, fungal spores, or other biological parasites. Synths and Lithings are immune, unless otherwise noted.
Brain Coral
Virulence: 1
Effects: an infestation of psychic fungus, which sits over the neck and cranium like a strange pink helmet. Brain Coral boosts the psychic ability of the host, at the cost of vitality. The infected character loses -d8 STR and gains equal points of PSY.
Cure: antifungal medications will kill off the infection, as will extreme cold.
Infection Vector: Brain Coral has been cultivated for centuries by mystics, and most orders of Vaarnish psychics have at least one member who has deliberately infected themselves and can thus infect others. Brain Coral can also be found growing in the wild, usually in damp, sunless environments. Exposure to the spores can precipitate an infection.
Jellybones
Virulence: 2
Effects: a degenerative disease that afflicts the skeletal system, gradually softening the bones and teeth and ushering the victim towards a new, more flexible way of life.
Infected characters lose -d4 STR and -d4 CON per week, and lose one point of base Armour Defence. Any claw or bite attacks they have lose potency, as the keratin or enamel becomes rubbery and harmless. Infected characters can squeeze themselves through narrow gaps, and take halved damage from bludgeoning attacks.
Cure: the traditional cure is a good Stiff Drink, prepared from a mixture of liquor, wet cement, and the crushed shards of a Lithling.
Infection Vector: believed to be carried by soft, ooze-like creatures, such as Doppelgellers.
Wrathworms
Virulence: 2
Effects: a parasitic infestation, imported from a distant sphere. Wrathworms infest the brain and blood, spurring their host to outrageous acts of violence. The beasts and slaves who fought in the gladiatorial arenas of the Fallen Autarchy were often infected with wrathworms to boost their appetite for combat. Infected creatures have tell-tale blood red eyes, and are quick to anger. Mild-mannered fauna becomes aggressive, while already predatory or territorial creatures become maniacally dangerous.
Infected creatures fight with wild abandon, and deal and receive doubled damage. They must EGO save to retreat from combat.
Cure: de-worming tinctures are brewed by all Vaarnish apothecaries and alchemists.
Infection Vector: attacks by an infected creature, or contact with their blood and flesh. Some Cacklemaw clans deliberately infect themselves with this disease, and relish in spreading the infection with their bites.
Hivey Hump
Virulence: 3
Effects: victims are infected by Sable Bees, which twist the flesh of their host organisms to make living hives. The queen bee makes her home in the lungs, and begins to lay eggs within the chest cavity. New-hatched workers begin to warp the flesh and re-wire the nervous system.
An infected character loses one point of EGO per day. At 0 EGO they become a Hiveyman NPC, a slave to the bees. The bees fight to defend their hive: after three days of infection, the character can deal d4 unblockable swarm damage to an opponent per combat round. This rises to d6 after seven days of infection.
Cure: fumigation of the afflicted will drive away the bees; special herbs must be burned in the fumigate fires to properly kill the nest. All desert cultures know how to prepare this mixture.
Infection Vector: caused by a Sable Bee queen entering the airways, usually at night. There is little risk outside of swarming months, but during such periods anyone who sleeps without netting around their bed has a 1-in-10 chance of infection per night.
Hiveymen are another source of infection. After battle, secretly CON save for each PC to establish possible infestations.
Labyrinth Pox
Virulence: 4
Effects: a hypergeometric affliction, which emanates from the liminal flux-space behind and beneath Vaarn. Labyrinth Pox riddles the body of the afflicted with hypergeometric passageways, manifold gouges that multiply until the invalid is nothing but glitching labyrinth space.
Stage 1: a smattering of apertures appears on the skin. They are coin-sized, but appear to have infinite depth. After three days, Stage 2 begins.
Stage 2: the hypergeometric openings widen and multiply, riddling the affected area with painless manifold wounds. The character loses d8 maximum HP per week, and gains an equal number of new inventory slots, which are located inside their hollowing body. This stage lasts until the character’s maximum HP is zero.
Stage 3: the infected PC is no longer recognisable as a living being: they are nothing but a collection of gateways and apertures, which occupy the space they once did. Their voice echoes hollowly from the depths of these passageways. For the purposes of gameplay they are a Hypergeometric being, and follow the same special rules as Planeyfolk PCs. After three days they will vanish completely.
Cure: mundane antibiotics are useless, as are prosaic attempts at surgery. Excision of the afflicted flesh with a hypergeometric blade will arrest the infection, as will exposure to Normality Fields or other anti-hypergeometry measures. Seek planeyfolk, or those who hunt them.
Infection Vector: contact with an infected person, or the bite of any hypergeometric creature (insane planeyfolk are a common source of Labyrinth Pox).
Lumenrot
Virulence: 5
Effects: Lumenrot consumes the flesh, the feasting microbes creating a telltale green phosphorescence as a by-product of the destruction. Late-stage victims appear to be lurid phanstasms, their skin a mass of luminous sores.
Lumenrot victims must CON save at the start of each day. On failure, they lose one point of maximum CON defence. At 0 CON they dissolve into luminous slime. Victims glow in the dark, and their flesh can be used as a light source in extremis.
Cure: Lumenrot was a weapon, and the cure (three injections) was widely issued to the Autarch’s soldiers. The triad of syringes is stocked by Vaarnish apothecaries, although unscrupulous merchants will raise their prices if they see green light emanating from beneath bandages. Ulfire light is said to arrest the infection’s spread, although it will not cure it.
Infection Vector: Lumenrot lies dormant within infected water sources. Water with the tell-tale green phosphorescence is best avoided, although desperately thirsty animals and travellers will drink rather than die. Contact with the glowing pus that leaks from the victim necessitates a CON save.
VAULTS OF VAARN 