Whiskers

Did you see Belinax? She's got the whiskers. Her family has her holed up in the barn with the goats.

  From an unknown source, about 30 years ago a new disease started to afflict the people of the Central Empire. It started in the Western Marches and spread slowly but surely across the entire empire. It is a driving force of the expansionary policies driving the Central Empire, attempting to seize healthy lands and peoples in an attempt to prevent total collapse of the nation.   Whiskers is an odd disease, and many question whether it is a disease at all. Many chalk it up to a form of magic or witchcraft, or a punishment from the Gods. The truth is that Whiskers is a viral infection that transforms DNA characteristics over time. However, since understanding of DNA is simplistic in even the most learned of institutions in Doax, the odd characteristics of this disease do look like magic.   Effectively, after a long period of infection (5-10 years), those infected will start to exhibit cat-like features and behaviors. The most common being that whiskers will start to grow on their face. In rare cases, this is the extent of the disease. In most cases, the changes will continue. Primarily, behavioral changes will start to impact diet and social interactions. Everything from aloofness, to refusing anything but meat, to abandoning civilization to live in the wilderness. These changes can be innocuous or they can become deadly, leading to the death of the viral host.   There is no known cure. The magi have determined that the ailment is not of magical origin and healers from other regions have traveled to the Central Emprei to attempt to ply their skills against the disease. They have been unsuccessful, but are sure that they are on the verge of creating the cure.