Rot-touched

Rot-touched is an affliction caused by exposure to the miasma pollution surrounding Overcity ruins of the Pre-Burn world and deeper levels within the Undercity.
 

Cause

The miasma that surrounds ruins of the Pre-Burn world are inundated with pollution. This pollution is different from the radiation zones in certain areas or the modern polluted zones. It is more a corruption of aether in the surrounding environment. This corruption extends even into the Spirit World, bridging the barrier from the Living World because of how the conterminous nature of the two realms. When exposed to this miasma, living creatures (people, plants, animals, and even spirits) become corrupted. Their physical features warp and their minds become untethered to a degree. They lose a sense of self and become an almost hivemind like entity that is connected to the local rot-bulb.
 

Exposure

A creature can be exposed to a certain level of the miasma without becoming rot-touched, but extensive exposure especially during emotionally volatile moments can increase susceptibility. Once a person is afflicted with the rot-touch they become tethered to a local rot-bulb which acts as a sort of central node or brain that controls the local rot-touched creatures. It seems to direct them to spread their corruption as well as coordinate the creatures within its sphere of influence.
 

Treatment

There are multiple ways to deal with the rot-touched.
 

Traditional methods of killing the infected creature.

Traditional aether cleansing which takes a great deal of time.

Destruction of the local rot-bulb to where they are tethered.

  This latter option is not always effective depending on the extent of time spent touched by the rot. There is no identified time frame that determines whether it is possible to cleanse or free a rot-touched creature. There are theories that perhaps some measure of strength of will or emotion is involved in the cleansing.