The Shard Bitten Cough

Thankfully it is not infectious. Although, people still tend to avoid those they know to have it as seeing someone sick with it is rather distressing and is seen to be bad luck.

It is believed that the magical storm that blankets the Soighir mountain range  causes the illness.   The exact method of acquisition is unknown. It is debated as to whether it is solely being in the storm gives them the illness or whether the people affected were cursed by a magical animal that lives within the mountains.

The signs and symptoms include severe fatigue, wheezing and the coughing up of sharp magical shards. Later coughing up blood, and eventual death by internal bleeding in the lungs. Pain escalates from minor discomfort to excruciating. There is one recorded case of a person that was nearly driven to insanity because of the pain. The person will become increasingly disorientated and confused as the illness progresses. Most will be prone to emotional outbursts.   If the person attempts to speak of things they saw through the storm they will immediately start coughing up blue shards of magic, rendering them unable to speak. After this the illness will advance a lot quicker.

There is no treatment known to work.   The following have been tried: -Attempting to make them throw up the shards. Had no effect, led to the realisation that the shards were coming from the person's lungs.   -Pouring extremely hot water down the persons throat to try and 'melt' the solid magic. This was very painful for the person and had little to no effect on the shards.   -Getting them to swallow known coagulants to try and stop their throat from bleeding. This started off well, but could only prolong life as the blood was given little time to clot properly before more shards ripped it open again.

It is feared greatly by those who live in the highlands of the Soighir mountain range.   No one understands the condition and many fear the storm may someday advance into the highlands and make them all ill. As a result of this fear whenever the snow gets particularly bad in the winter people lock up in their homes or if they can, travel further south until the storm has passed.    Due to the fact the illness can be very violent many people avoid those who have it even though they know it's not contagious. Children especially are kept away from those ill with it as it can be very distressing to see.    Some parents even tell stories about it to scare young children into staying away from the mountains.