Magichem Poisoning

"I'm sure Grandma died of it. I know it wasn't that day, but it was only a year later. She got sick and never recovered, every time she ate or drank, she threw up. Her hair fell out, and she started getting tumors in all kinds of places, they were solid masses too - not an abcess you can lance and clear. And now I'm starting to get it too. Something bad happened that day, and I'm scared. I'm afraid it's going to kill me and I don't even know what it is.

— diary of Antella Desmondson resident of Johnstown

A Problem

During the Jordbani, the earth leyline was torn from its protective sheath, resulting in a huge volcanic explosion, spilling magic dust into the surrounding air and soil and contaminating freshwater supplies all over the continent. The magic laden clouds rained down on the continent, spreading the magic contamination across a wide swath of agricultural land critical to feeding the billion people who lived in Eryia at that time.

This was nothing short of a disaster.

The dust of that explosion, referred to as "Magichem " spread raw chaotic earth elemental magic across the world, a magic that human bodies were not designed to process, ingest or survive. Humans died in mid-boggling numbers, first the elderly in the areas closest to the Miorskrípi, then the younger population. People were moved with compassion, and tried to help the victims of the Jorbani thinking the problem was a regional disaster with temporary effects.

They were wrong.

Confusion

"What do you mean it's killing people? There's no more dead people than there should be!

— Arathew Golne, Director of Health and Medical Services

While much focus is on the initial violent blast of the Jordbani the genocidal aspect of this event was the continued spewing of Magichem into the air and the development of fields of slowly erupting field of magic-infused lava in the Miorskrípi. At that point the entire continent was covered with Magichem which brought about a decline is the life expectancy of humans. It was an insidious problem, with few tangible and attributable symptoms. Young people began to enter puberty later and later. The rate of tumors in the elderly initially doubled, then fell and flattened out into a steady increase of 20% per year. People were aging more rapidly, with traditional wisdom on homeopathic natural remedies working poorly at best, and often causing more harm than good.

The government spooked, and refused to acknowledge what wizards were telling them about the source of the problem. At first officials denied the problem existed, attempting to cover-up evidence of a massive decline in population. But the evidence was difficult to hide. People compared notes and when the same common experiences kept re-emerging it was hard to stay ignorant. Besides, your apartment building started smelling like a slaughterhouse from all the dead bodies rotting in people's residences. The notion that the human race was seriously in trouble took hold outside the normal crazy conspiracy theory junkies.

But the government doubled down. They acknowledged a local problem near Jorathar City attributed to a long dormant volcano erupting unexpectedly near the city center. There was no need to panic they said. This was temporary. It would pass, and the world would go back to normal.

That was the hope. But they had doubts. And the government elite, the university administrators and professors and wealthy businesspersons all began to withdraw to extremely well secured enclaves in semi-rural communities. They gathered resources, food, transport, luxury items and hid them in these "summer retreats." Against a rainy day, of course.